When we recognize the root of our feelings, family life can be more manageable for everyone involved. Help your kids deal with their big feelings and set yourself free from extra guilt and shame.
Bio
Michelle Nietert MA, LPC–S is an author and speaker and Clinical Director of Community Counseling Associates in Dallas, TX. She’s a former educator and school counselor with over 20 years of experience in private practice treating individuals, couples, children and teens. Michelle’s writing can be found on the MOPS blog, in Lifeway’s Parenting Magazine and she is the Mental Health columnist for Just Between Us Magazine. To discover more about Michelle as Your Mental Health Coach, the Raising Brave Beauties podcast, and her energetic speaking expertise that empowers and inspires, please visit www.MichelleNietert.com.
We begin by talking about how 2020 has impacted families everywhere and Michelle affirms why it’s okay to spend time away from our kids.
- Major milestones of the tween and teen years
- Empowering children to struggle well
- They will experience disappointments, rejection, and all the awkward moments we faced. We can’t bubble-wrap them from those things.
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Struggling well vs. just struggling.
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Brave flexibility and plasticity. We want our kids to be flexible like pipe cleaners, not breakable like popsicle sticks.
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Keeping a good perspective so emotions don’t go everywhere.
“Your kid’s behavior is not your parenting report card. Your behavior is.”
- Emotional Management & Self Regulation
- The most important skill you can teach a 2 year old
- The difference between a tantrum based in disobedience vs. a sensory meltdown.
- Consider the components of children’s behavior in these areas:
- Strengths & Weaknesses
- Temperament (introvert or extrovert)
- Considering special needs
- Learning the degrees of emotion and the coping and calm down techniques we can practice alongside our kids.
- The change that happens with older kids and why we need to become a coach and ask more questions
- Important information about brain development
- When to check for abnormalities like learning disabilities, auditory processes
- When to check with the experts for “typical” teen behaviors
- How to help prepare our kids for the inevitable.
Emotion is energy in motion, and depending on how you’re wired, it’s easy to catch that emotion.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode
Loved and Cherished Devotional
Raising Brave Beauties Podcast
Untangled: Guiding Teenaged Girls through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood
Episode 112 | Pregnancy Loss and the Christian Mom
There is hope and support for grieving mothers, experiencing pregnancy loss. Rachel shows us how to be compassionate with our loved ones.
Episode 111 | How to Equip Your Kids to be Wise with Technology
Jonathan McKee gives parents practical tools on how to approach technology with wisdom and grace instead of constant correction.
Episode 110 | How to Raise Resilient Kids
What the link between family schedules and life expectancy tells us about teaching kids to be resilient adults.