"How do I connect better with my kids?" [Ep 475] :: Summer of Mentorship Week 1

Welcome to week one of the Summer of Mentorship! This summer we are answering your questions with guests from past episodes. We are starting off with an episode from April of 2020 (ep 280) with Rachel Macy Stafford, the founder of Hands Free Mama.

Rachel’s Hands Free Mama mentality is all about finding balance in a media-saturated, perfection-obsessed world. And it’s about seizing the little moments that life offers us to engage in real and meaningful interaction.

She shares a realization that she was not connected with her own people. How she was believing a lie that she needed to hide certain parts of herself, the messy parts, the imperfect parts, in order to be loved and accepted.Her “ah-ha” moment came when she vulnerably shared this belief with her daughter and found acceptance.

“Opening that door to being human actually brings us closer together. Then we can connect from that place of 'I'm struggling' and that doesn't mean there's something wrong with me. That doesn't mean I need to hide it. It means I need to reach out and talk to someone about this so we can work together to see how we might go forward.”

From that place she has chosen to extend that same acceptance and found real connection. Which then helps keep the lines of communication open as they grow up.

“This is all about redefining what our role is as a parent. It is not the authoritarian model anymore. It is the guide, the truth teller and the encourager. Not the enforcer, not the half listener, not the critic. That those roles are only going to get us further and further from each other when the idea is right now we need to come closer.”

Connect with Rachel:

• Website: handsfreemama.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/TheHandsFreeRevolution
• Instagram: @handsfreerevolution
• Twitter: @handsfreemama

FREE LIVE LOVE NOW LISTENING PLAN:

• Click here for special 7-day listening plan for Don’t Mom Alone Listeners

Links Mentioned:

• Live Love Now [BOOK]
• Only Love Today [BOOK]
• Amy McCready--Positive Parenting Solutions
• Pre-order Bonuses--21-Day Self-Care Listening Plan AND 4 Downloadable Tools for Connection

1. Ask “Heart Questions vs. Performance Questions”
2. Practice phrases that take you “From Conflict to Calm”
3. Consider if you are an “Easy-to-Be-Around Adult”
4. Exclusive Phone Lock Screen - “Connecting by Protecting”
   
   

Summer of Mentorship Podcast Club Discussion Questions:

• What kind of parenting model did you grow up with? How has that model influenced your parenting today?
• Do you see your role as more of an enforcer or an encourager?
• What are some problem areas for your child(ren) that you can bring them in on finding a solution?
• Could taking the time to listen to them make a difference in how you both respond?
• What is one thing you’d like to implement this week from Rachel’s talk?