There comes a sense, mostly with kids, “Am I going to disappoint someone?” “What if I don’t reach the outcome of that goal if I don’t succeed in that goal? And then, if I disappoint someone, I’m not going to be enough for my parents.” I know a lot of the families I work with; they’re like, “No, my kids …
From Screens to Dreams: Empowering Teens’ Inner Drive
Where do we help these kids to really go into that internal drive and start recognizing it? So first and foremost, we have to get them off their devices and spend less time on phones, scrolling mindlessly, and watching videos that aren’t really adding any value to their lives. Because in my experience, especially more recently, phones, silly videos, and …
Learning from Mistakes in Teen Development
A lot of parents asked me, like, “What do you mean by safe space? Does your child feel safe sharing with you?” Most parents, we all want to say, “Of course they do. Of course my kids want to talk.” No, not everything. And one of the key things that you brought up several times is the element of being …
Continuity of Traditions in the Family
What are some of the things or kinds of rituals you guys do with your family? Some of the things that I still do that I got from my mom are that, like, I never grew up cuddling, but, like, on the weekends because my mom was so busy, I would lay in bed with my mom and I would …
Balancing Support and Independence in Teenagers’ Lives
I read an article about how a lot of teens today actually have less independence than previous generations had. Because now parents can, like, track on their phones. You know, you’ve got college kids where their parents are contacting the professors, their parents are finding roommates for them, their parents. There’s actually a Facebook group for parents at different colleges …
From Expectation to Appreciation
Exchanging expectations or trading them in for appreciation. I never understood what it meant until I started to realize all the times that I was angry, all the times that I was frustrated, and all the times that I felt like I didn’t have control over things. And I realized that there were so many expectations that I had from …
Adolescent Adventures
What is going on with teenagers nowadays? Like, especially with these teens, “Oh, sex is not a big deal. I’m curious about it.” I’m seeing it more after COVID. Like, once people are able to get out after being closed up for a year, they’re going out. But it’s so mind-blowing how much they want to experience it now. It’s …
Meditation to Calm our Kids
This is how we do meditation with kids. We get a very quiet place just sitting. I let kids either sit or lie down. I love to do body scans with kids, which basically focus on one part of their body at a time. So we’ll start with the head. I’ll be like, “Close your eyes. Focus on your head. …
How is Gratitude Growing with Us
One of the things that I would say to your children and to my children is that they know that our goal is to set them up to win no matter what. Like, whatever input we’re going to give to them, there isn’t an agenda. The agenda is so that “You can win in that,” that you can grow through …
Pressure of Perfection
How many kids are under the pressure of perfection? And by no means do I want to sound cliche by this, but we have social media, where only the best survive. Only the best thrive. Those with the greatest numbers are the ones with the greatest qualities. Now, we don’t get to see what’s behind the screen, but what’s presented …