Greetings! I've got a whole slew of awesome questions for you today (you can read the questions in their entirety just below : )
Here are the Key Links that come up in today's episode, located at weturnedoutokay.com/353
You should go to that link above if you would like to see the video of this episode (instead of just listening in audio)…
Cheers and thanks for listening!
Karen
Links that come up today:
My free guide to raising happy readers: weturnedoutokay.com/readers
If you'd like to get useful tools and parenting ideas in your inbox each week, without the guide to happy readers: weturnedoutokay.com/weekly
Click here for one of the many wonderful Elephant and Piggy books by Mo Willems
Click here for a book that your family might enjoy with new readers, You Read to Me, I'll Read to You
How NOT to teach your child to ride a bike: https://weturnedoutokay.com/092-how-to-teach-your-young-child-to-ride-a-bike/
Click the following link for one of the very early episodes I did, about how kids develop grit:
https://weturnedoutokay.com/002/
Click the following link for my conversation with Amy Anderson, about how to know if your young child is consenting:
https://weturnedoutokay.com/066
Click the following link for my conversation with Carey Andersen, sharing her story of her child's nonconsent to a bad kindergarten situation and what they did about it:
https://weturnedoutokay.com/045
Click the following link for my conversation with Debbie Reber of the TiLT Parenting Podcast:
https://weturnedoutokay.com/350
Okay, just below are the questions!
Thanks for reading and listening! Cheers!
Tish: What do I say to my 6 year old who can't seem to keep his hands out of his pants?
So we are in survival mode but going to make the most of the holidays!
[Karen:] FYI I have discovered some biases in myself, and as a result I'm going to do some more research into this whole issue – meds, ADD, ADHD, coping mechanisms both for kids and parents. This deserves at least an episode, and possibly a series. Stay tuned <3
Jen: My daughter, age 8 already, wants to ride a bicycle again. She had a typical bike fall a year ago (a scrape on the knee, just a run of the mill slow-speed fall that comes from learning how to balance) and has been avoiding the bike ever since. Typical for her high anxiety. She tells me she's afraid of falling again and she wants to ride on the school running track, which we did one time when she was 5, before we knew it wasn't allowed. She is also concerned that the training wheels send an unpleasant rumble into her body when she rides on asphalt. Uneven pavement or rocks or sticks make her afraid of falling. My concerns are the school rule, and driving 15 minutes or less. Our rural home has no paved areas at all, and so any riding involves packing up the car and driving to a safe place. But every time we talk about biking, and try to work out where we might go, she gets frustrated that nothing meets her criteria. We simply can't use the running track. She understands that intellectually, and she isn't asking me to break the rule. She's hoping, I guess, that I have some amazing cushiony place where she can fall without risk of hurting herself. Since I don't, she gets frustrated and cries that she'll never be able to ride a bike. She wants to get good enough to remove the training wheels, because she sees her 6yo sister without training wheels having a ball, and she doesn't want the unpleasant rumble that comes with leaning onto the training wheels. I'm at a loss here. How can I support her desire to practice, when the practice itself is too scary for her?
Thanks so much for all of your support this year! I have high hopes for your 2021 :)
Q: "Perhaps we should be instilling resilience by still expecting them to try their best. Because being emotionally healthy and trying one’s best are not mutually exclusive during Covid."
Today I am so thrilled to share this conversation with a returning champion – Erik Wagter – and his wife, author Sally Wagter.
Together Sally and Erik are raising a family, and their older son has autism. (My conversation with Erik, way back in episode 75, is located here.
In fact when their son was young Erik and Sally were told "he will never live a normal life" because his autism would prevent him from using language meaningfully or even making meaningful connections with anyone.
Thank goodness, Sally and Erik refused to believe that. They charted a different path for their family. Now their son has gone far beyond anyone's expectations, playing music beautifully, enjoying deep and meaningful friendships, and living a truly examined and thoughtful life.
Sally has written a book about her experience raising their son, called Miracle in Slow Motion. You can find the link to this book, as well as Erik and Sally's podcast, at releasingmychildspotential.com.
We talk about all this and more in today's conversation, even diving into one of my favorite topics, the toll raising children takes on parents (whether kids are typical or diagnosed with special needs).
It's part of a digest episode, so you'll hear our wonderful conversation and then I will read you a recent newsletter that I wrote called "Changing bras," which looks the toll parenting takes on us from a slightly different angle (Click weturnedoutokay.com/weekly to get newsletters like this delivered into your inbox each week : )
Find this post, and the links we discuss, in your browser by going to weturnedoutokay.com/352
If you're interested in subscribing to the We Turned Out Okay Playbook, which I share about during today's episode, go to weturnedoutokay.com/playbook
I hope you enjoy this episode!
Cheers –
Karen
Enrollment is OPEN for the 2021 Year of Empowerment!
Enroll now to save 33% on your Year of Empowerment:
This special ends New Year's Eve, December 31 2020 at 11:59 PM EST. Don’t miss your chance to empower 2021 for you and your family.
Details at weturnedoutokay.com/empowerment : )
"In 25 years, what will matter to me?" When Katherine Reynolds Lewis, author of the outstanding book The Good News About Bad Behavior and today's guest, shared this question during our conversation, I knew it had to be the title of the episode.
It encompasses all the most important ideas that Katherine brings. The ones that keep reminding me about what's most important. It's not grades, or how perfectly our kids sit during online schooling. It's not the world's cleanest house, or how perfectly we manage our home.
The most important thing – the thing that will matter most even 25 years from now – is the connection and the relationship that we have with our loved ones.
Today's conversation is so full of connection, and love, and hope.
It's part of a digest episode, so you'll hear our wonderful conversation and then I will read you a recent newsletter that I wrote called "Kind words." (Click weturnedoutokay.com/weekly to get newsletters like this delivered into your inbox each week : )
I hope you enjoy this episode!
Cheers –
Karen
PS you can watch our conversation (instead of just listening) by going to weturnedoutokay.com/351…