Eps 511: Avoiding fear-based parenting with Dr. Tina Bryson

Dr. Tina Bryson is BACK today! I love her work, and I’m so excited she’s here to talk about launching our teens, which is incredibly timely after I dropped my youngest child off at college yesterday! 

Dr. Bryson shares her wisdom on avoiding fear-based parenting & reminds us that development & maturation happens no matter what - maybe we don’t need to worry quite so much. She explains what the “right” amount of support is and why kids need to make mistakes & take risks to become wiser and more responsible. Dr. Bryson shares her own personal stories about launching two of her teens to college and how & why they were so different.  

Dr. Bryson wraps us up by giving dos & don'ts for when your adolescent is in distress. We want to problem solve, criticize, or minimize, but instead, we can respond in a way that invites them to keep sharing things with us: by offering empathy & letting them solve their own problem.  

Takeaways from the show

• How do you know when & what you need to really worry about regarding your child(ren)? When are you wasting energy? 
• Avoiding fear-based parenting 
• Kids have to make mistakes & take risks in service of becoming wiser and more responsible 
• “The way our children build resilience is through adversity with the right amount of support from us” 
• Not burdening our teens with our feelings 
• The excitement & hopes we have for our adolescents and the grief & anxiety we have when they leave 
• How to respond (and how not to respond) when your adolescent reaches out to you in distress 
• We’re not launching full formed adults - we’re launching baby adults who will keep learning & developing

For more show notes, including transcripts, visit our website here.

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