100: Helping Your Teen Be the Best Version of Themselves

10/21/24 • 34 min

A very special 100th episode! Thank you to all of you, our amazing listeners. Whether you’ve been with us since the beginning in 2020, or you’re just tuning in now, you’ve helped make our podcast the success it has grown to be. I am grateful for your continued support of our programming!

I can’t think of a better guest today than the person I’m about to introduce. She has been by my side on this parenting journey, my incredible wife, Suzanne. In addition to being an amazing mom, she is the Director of Customer Experience & Channel Marketing at Revolution a REV UP BRANDS Company; a leading B2B organization that serves dance studios and educators world-wide.

She has a passion for leading growth, innovation, and change. Suzanne has been published in over 100 business articles for Dance Teacher Magazine’s "Ask the Experts" as a contributing columnist for over a decade. She regularly speaks and presents workshops at leading dance industry conferences and events.

Suzanne earned her undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Child Development from Colby-Sawyer College. She has an MBA from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in Growth & Innovation. She is also a Certified Change Management Professional, CCMP.

This past July, we celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary!

Each child is so different and the way we communicate with them needs to be too.
How we open up the dialogue with them to communicate can be done in a variety of ways.
Keeping family values in the forefront is essential in building a foundation for communication.
Asking open-ended questions, then listening to what they share, can help you know how to support them.
Are you giving advice, coaching them, or just listening?
Every child’s stage of development is at their own pace.
There is no “finding balance” as a parent, it’s about going with the ebb and flow of activity, seasons, sports, interests, and hobbies of each child.
How to recalibrate when your teen gets too involved.
There’s no one way to parent, we’ll make mistakes, we’ll learn. It takes a village.
It’s important to apologize to your teen if you’ve not been at your best.
Help them leverage with what they’re great at!
There is so much we can learn from our teen’s.

Sponsored by EdGerety.com

Resources

Book: How To Raise An Adult
Book: The 5 Love Language’s

This past July, we celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary!

Each child is so different and the way we communicate with them needs to be too.
How we open up the dialogue with them to communicate can be done in a variety of ways.
Keeping family values in the forefront is essential in building a foundation for communication.
Asking open-ended questions, then listening to what they share, can help you know how to support them.
Are you giving advice, coaching them, or just listening?
Every child’s stage of development is at their own pace.
There is no “finding balance” as a parent, it’s about going with the ebb and flow of activity, seasons, sports, interests, and hobbies of each child.
How to recalibrate when your teen gets too involved.
There’s no one way to parent, we’ll make mistakes, we’ll learn. It takes a village.
It’s important to apologize to your teen if you’ve not been at your best.
Help them leverage with what they’re great at!
There is so much we can learn from our teen’s.

Sponsored by EdGerety.com

Resources

Book: How To Raise An Adult
Book: The 5 Love Language’s

Previous Episode

99: Parenting Teens with a Coach Approach

Elaine is a Master Certified Coach and co-founder of the global coaching resource for parenting neurodiverse kids, ImpactParents.com. The co-creator of Sanity School® for Parents, she is passionate about guiding parents of complex kids and the professionals who support them with training and coaching. A mom to three complex young adults, she is the author of Parenting ADHD Now! and The Essential Guide to Raising Complex Kids with ADHD, Anxiety, and More.

By teaching adults to take a coach-approach that is informed by a simple understanding of brain development, Elaine guides parents to let go of judgement, access compassion, set realistic expectations and dramatically improve the way they communicate with teens.

What’s different about parenting teens? They are growing and exploring; this is an exciting time!
As a parent, are you Directing or Collaborating with your teen?
"Whose agenda is it?" Become more interested in their agenda than your own.
Help is only helpful if it’s on their agenda.
Transferring fear onto your teen.
Why the coach approach? As a coach, create a place for your teen to explore by asking questions and guiding them into their own insights.
What you need to know about the teenage brain.
The ways in which parents and kids tend to fall out of trust with each other, and with themselves.
When we know better, we do better.
Self-care is vital in parenting teens. Elaine shares insights to help you be a calm & loving parent.

Sponsored by EdGerety.com

Resources

Resource Guide: 12 Fool-Proof Tips to Parent a Complex Teen - Resource Guide
Website: https://impactparents.com/
Podcast: https://impactparents.com/podcast

Next Episode

101: Bridging the Gap: Communicating with the Teenage Brain

Do you ever feel like you’re speaking a different language when you’re trying to connect with your teen? You’re not alone. In this episode, we dive into the fascinating science behind the teenage brain.

My guest today is Natalie Bedard, also known as NatNat, a beacon of resilience and empowerment. In 2019, she founded Lift OneSelf, offering profound energy healing services. Despite grappling with life-threatening illness and single parenthood to three boys, Natalie is a steadfast mentor on the journey of self-discovery and healing. With her profound understanding of the nervous system, she specializes in unraveling emotional blockages and reigniting intuitive connections. Natalie's trauma-competent approach is truly transformative. She guides individuals to embrace their fullest potential through small, actionable steps toward growth and transformation. It's about empowering people to navigate their healing journey with compassion, resilience, and a deep understanding of their unique experiences. Safety and radical honesty are the keys to unlocking the mystery.

As a solo parent of three boys, including twins with severe ADHD, Natalie navigated the challenges of the education system and personal adversity. She shares her story of using meditation to heal after a near-death experience and guide a live session to demonstrate how breathwork can facilitate emotional shifts. Whether you're a parent or educator, this episode offers practical tools and insights for connecting with teens.

Being a parent is about understanding yourself.
How to be willing to experience pain as our teens mature through their learning experiences.
Let curiosity take the lead allowing the space to see what is going to happen next, rather than being reactive.
Develop trust with your teen by taking an active role in listening to their experience.
Being a teen is the time when they begin to make their own decisions, they are going to make mistakes. Keep an open dialogue to talk about risks and how they can manage them.
We are feeling bodies that think. It’s important as parents that we process our own feelings.
Two-minute mindfulness breath mediation example as a way to balance yourself.
Natalie shares an abundance of knowledge in energy healing and what that has to do with being supportive parents.
Looking at the shadows. Change can only come from within.
Ed and Natalie talks about a listener’s question on what to do when your teen shuts down.

Sponsored by EdGerety.com

Resources