If you read the title of our podcast this week and thought, "Huh? What does politics have to do with parenting," you aren't alone!

Elle asks this too after Abigail gets an email about parenting feeling "radical."

Do we mean marching for rights, or championing parenting causes? Not exactly.

We are talking about the change you are making in the world every day. Through parenting.

What Does My Parenting Have to Do with The World?

Did you ever feel life got, kind of, small, after you became a parent? Elle and Abigail talk about how easy it was for them to get caught up in the daily grind of parenting - the cutting up the quesadillas, the back and forth between school and activities, the constant tidying toys and checking schoolbags - and the negative impact that can have on us as parents.

What changed all that for them was realizing that when a parenting approach fits with our true selves, our ideas and philosophies, we can marry our before-parent selves with our now-parents selves. That does seem a little, well, radical!

But there's more.

In showing up, day after day, in allowing your child's feelings, in responding with empathy, and in making decisions for and with our kids, our role as parents can have a bigger footprint. For sure, it starts small, in the playground, or at the park, when another parent notices you responding playfully, or sitting quietly supporting a child as they cry, but it soon moves out.

Perhaps it's your child next time that sits with another while they cry, and then later, it's your child sitting with their child, your grandchild, and their friends noticing. The circles spread.

That, to us, feels like making a difference, making an impact.

All the small decisions you bring to raising kids can have a big, good impact - and it's an idea worth remembering the next time you slice a quesadilla.

Join us this week and feel brighter about your everyday role as a parent. 

Help Hand in Hand Make Positive Change For 29 years, Hand in Hand Parenting has inspired change. Please help us keep that change going. Your gift today helps us provide free resources, programs, and support to parents in communities that need it most. The 29 stories Elle mentions today are here - also the place you can give a gift too!   Join the Hand in Hand Community

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