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A Parenting Manifesto
Episode 1413rd October 2024 • Become A Calm Mama • Darlynn Childress
00:00:00 00:28:39

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A manifesto is a list of principles to help guide you how you want to live each day. Maybe you’ve made one before and didn’t even realize it. Today I’m sharing my parenting manifesto and showing you how to create one of your own.

You’ll Learn:

  • What a manifesto is and why it is so helpful in parenting
  • The commitments behind my parenting manifesto
  • What I would add or change if I wrote mine over again
  • How to create and use your own parenting manifesto

I first went through the process of creating a manifesto in a business coaching program years ago. And I realized that, if raising my children is the most important thing in the world to me, I also wanted to have a list of principles to commit to as a parent. 

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The Calm Mama Manifesto

This manifesto is included in the Calm Mama Handbook that all of my clients get. You can also click here to download a printable PDF.

This particular manifesto is not our family’s. It is mine. This is what I wanted to commit to as my kids’ mom. It’s also represents what I help other moms do inside my programs

Parenting is my opportunity for growth. I wanted to look at this experience of raising children as an opportunity to become a more whole and healed person. To invite learning in and not fight against the obstacles that come with parenting. 

Demonstrate love without condition, no matter what they say or do. I didn't want to be a parent that only showed love, kindness or care to my kids when they were being good. I would not just love my kids. I would demonstrate that love, and I would never pull it away. 

Listen with curiosity and compassion. I wanted to commit to listening to my children and being curious about their lives, their thoughts and their interests. I chose to think that they are really interesting people and to listen to them because I want to get to know them. I also wanted to listen with compassion to understand what is driving their behavior.

Model work, play and rest. I wanted to be a parent who showed them what hard work looked like. I also actively chose to be a playful parent and bring in strategies that teachers would use to connect and play with kids. And I let my children see me rest. 

Provide. I always say that you can give your kids access and opportunity, but you can’t make them take the opportunity. My manifesto includes providing food, shelter, education, opportunity, support, advice, guidance, modeling and love. 

Take care of myself so they don’t have to.  My mom didn't always really take good care of herself, and she allowed her health to deteriorate, which created problems for me in adulthood. I decided I was going to be healthy and strong. I would eat well, move my body, manage my stress, have a good social life and have meaning and purpose in my life. 

Be comfortable with my kid’s discomfort.  No matter what is going on for them, no matter how overwhelmed or stressed or sad or mad or hurt or confused they are, I am going to be okay with the mess that they bring to me. I'm not going to let it rile me up or tip me over. I’ll be the anchor in a storm of their life. 

Show up for them, not for me. I didn't want to make their life about myself. I wanted to parent for them; not because I got something out of it. They have a whole life and a whole set of choices that I actually don't control. I'm letting myself be okay with that.

Respect myself and my boundaries. I believe that what I want is valuable and important, and I am worthy of my boundary. I don't have to wait for my children to respect me in order to feel respected.

Be forgiving, and admit when I am wrong. I will forgive my kids when they make mistakes and not hold it against them. When I’ve done something wrong, I will admit it. 

Speak kindly. I don't swear at my children. I don't insult them. I don't criticize them. I'm not mean. I wanted to speak kindly and patiently and lovingly as much as I possibly could.

Be 100% honest. I still let my kids believe in fantastical childhood things, but I wasn’t a sneaky mom. I decided to tell it like it is when tough things were going on in our lives. If they ask me a question, I give them an honest answer. 

Radical love, radical grace, radical listening. I am willing to go above and beyond to show love where it doesn't even make sense anymore. I'm willing to give grace, the benefit of the doubt, forgiveness and mercy. I listen on a deep level to what my kids are saying (and not saying) without judgment. 

Let them make mistakes. I actively chose to let my kids fail (and they have). I let them make mistakes and then let them fix those mistakes. 

See them as they are and allow them to change. It’s hard for a lot of parents to parent the kid in front of you - not the one you wish you had or the one you’re afraid they’ll become. Meet them where they are. Observe the behavior rather than judging. Then, leave space for them to grow and change without pigeonholing them or assuming they’ll become a certain way.

If I wrote this manifesto today, I would also commit to holding my kids to a high standard. I thought this would happen inevitably because my husband and I both have really high standards for ourselves. But I think that in trying to be so gracious, loving and compassionate, I didn’t hold them to the same standards I hold myself to. 

If we had a set of family values, it would also include things like being generous, kind, open and loving. We hold these values as a family, and I trust that my kids are going to catch those values. I trust that they’ll become whoever they’re meant to be. 

 

Create Your Parenting Manifesto

What you focus on is what you create. What you spend your time thinking about is what you end up doing. I encourage you to create a parenting manifesto of your own and put it somewhere you’ll see it often.

Of course, you are welcome to borrow my parenting manifesto. But it becomes even more powerful when you make it your own. 

Remember, these are the guiding principles you want to follow, but none of us is perfect. If you make a mistake or don’t show up the way you want to, forgive yourself. Then revisit your manifesto and try again. 

Grab a pen and paper, and let’s get to it! 

Here are some prompts to get you started:

  • Make a list of 10-20 things that you are committed to as a parent
  • What's important for you to model for your kids?
  • What kind of parent did you need or want? What did you love that your parents did? What do you wish they had done differently?
  • What kind of parent do you want to be?
  • What kind of parent does your kid need you to be?

I still look at my manifesto quite frequently because it reminds me of my values as a parent. 

I’d love to see what you come up with. Send me an email at hello@calmmamacoaching.com with your parenting manifesto.

 

Additional Resource:

Free Resources:

Get your copy of the Stop Yelling Cheat Sheet!

In this free guide you’ll discover:

✨ A simple tool to stop yelling once you’ve started (This one thing will get you calm.)

✨ 40 things to do instead of yelling. (You only need to pick one!)

✨ Exactly why you yell. (And how to stop yourself from starting.)

✨A script to say to your kids when you yell. (So they don't follow you around!)

Download the Stop Yelling Cheat Sheet here

Connect With Darlynn: 

Transcripts

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Welcome back to become a calm mama. I'm your host. I'm Darlene

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Childress, and I am a life and parenting coach. And on today's

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episode, I'm actually gonna combine the two parts of

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my brain and my skill set from the life coach part and the parent

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coach part, sort of put them together because could it today, we're gonna

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be talking about what I call a parenting manifesto.

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And in my program, in the commama club and in my 1 on

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1 programs, when you work with me, you get the commama handbook, which is like

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a 100 pages of all my thoughts about parenting

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all put together in one place. And the first

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page of it has what I call the Come Momma manifesto. And

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I've kinda designed this, manifesto, so it

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looks kinda cool and kinda, interesting with different

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bolded words. And so it's like the word cloud looking thing.

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And I've always thought, oh, it'd be so cool to get these printed and, like,

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you could put it up in your house somewhere or in your desk or

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whatever. So if you're a member of my newsletter

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or on my Instagram, you'll see we posted the Calm Mama

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manifesto on our social media, on my social media, as

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well as sent it as a document that you could download

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in the newsletter in the email. But, essentially,

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a manifesto, what is that? Okay. So a

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manifesto is a list of principles to help guide

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you how you wanna live each day. This came to me originally

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Well, I realized I actually made a few manifestos in the past but didn't call

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them that. But how this came to me was I was in a business

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program, a program that teaches you how to run an online business

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because I'm a good coach, but I didn't know anything about business. So I needed

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to learn how to, like, do what I do in a way that helps

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people hire me. And so I took a bunch of different programs throughout

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the years. And one of the programs I took, one of the first programs I

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took, I got a paper, a poster that said the

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doers manifesto. And it was essentially a list, a

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guideline for people who were gonna

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create an online business and, you know, promote their business and what they were committed

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to. You know? And it said things like focus on the

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task, be willing to fail. I don't even remember what it all said, but

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kind of those ideas. And I was staring at this for a while and I

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was thinking, okay. If I have a business manifesto

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or a work ethic manifesto, why would I not

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have a parenting manifesto? Which is the thing that is

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the most important thing to me was raising my children. And I wanted

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to have a list of principles for how to I wanted to

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live my life, how I wanted to to, like, make sure I

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was committed to as a parent. So what I did was I just

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sat down with a piece of paper and I wrote down a list of

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20 things that I was committed to as a parent.

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And that's what I want to invite you to do in

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this episode. I want you to actually you can borrow mine for sure.

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Go, you know, go to Instagram or download it on the newsletter, whatever.

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Message the team if you need can't get a copy, we'll give you one. You

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know, so you can copy mine. It's pretty good. You know? And I'm gonna read

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it to you. But you can also spend some time looking at your

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own life and thinking about what it is it that you're committed to

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as a parent. So this isn't really a family manifesto. It's

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not like I was saying as the Childress', we

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are committed to taking care of

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our items or something like that. Right? It

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wasn't anything like we're gonna serve as a family, or we're gonna

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commit to being kind to each other. This was

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more for myself, what I was committed to as my kids'

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moms. Of course, if I made a mistake, if I didn't show up the way

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I wanted to, I would forgive myself. Absolutely. And then remember,

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wait. No. I have principles. I have values. I have things that are

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guiding me each day. And so I wrote it up. I made my

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own manifesto, and I called it my parenting manifesto.

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And now this is really the call mama manifesto in the program.

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So I wanna read to you a couple of them just to get your brain

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going and start thinking about maybe what are your

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values. And then I'm gonna talk a little bit about what now that I've kind

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of raised my kids, what I noticed was missing here. And then because it

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wasn't what I focused on, it actually didn't happen.

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Because what you focus on is what you create.

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What you spend your time thinking about is is what you end up

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doing. And so I just think that's kind of interesting. I'm not beating myself

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up about it. I just thought, well, what was missing from this list? And then

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I realized a couple of things. And then I'm gonna give you some prompts of

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help you to ask yourself some of these questions. That way you can make your

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own manifesto. I could have called this the Darlene manifesto or

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whatever. But really it was about me being a mom, not a person. Well, I

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mean, I am a person and a mom, but I wanted to focus on my

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parenting. K. So the first thing that I committed

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to is that parenting is my opportunity for

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growth. I wanted to look at this

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experience of raising children as an opportunity

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to become a more whole and healed

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person, to let the learning

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that I was going to have with my kids, to

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invite that learning in and not fight against parenting, but

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realize all these obstacles. They're just opportunities for me to grow and

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heal. That actually came to me that concept came to

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me around the time that Lincoln was 4 when I started to explore all

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these parenting conversations and get parent education.

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And I was struggling so much as a mom. I was becoming a reach for

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mom, mad mama. I was like, I think I was

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fighting against the, uncertainty and constant work of

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parenting. I was just frustrated by it. So when I sunk in

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and realized, you know, this is gonna be challenging, and this is gonna be

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good. All the things that I'm gonna experience while being a parent,

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they're my opportunity for growth. So that is the top of my

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manifesto, just kind of framing the entire parenting

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experience as this way that I can

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become more whole and more healed. Some of

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the other commitments I made to my kids was that I would demonstrate

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love without condition, no matter what they say or

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do. So this was really important to me because I didn't

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wanna be a parent that only showed love

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or showed kindness or showed care to my

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kids only when they were being good. Right?

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I chose to not just ignore their

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misbehavior and instead see, of course, that feeling strive behavior.

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And that I would I would love I would not just love them, but I

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would demonstrate love. I would take action without

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condition, no matter how what they said or did. I

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would never pull my love away. That's a commitment I've

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made. That's a foundational principle of how I approach parenting.

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That's the second one. Okay. Another one is I would listen

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with curiosity and compassion. So I wanted to

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commit to listening to my children,

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either being curious about their life, their thoughts, being

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interested in them, finding them fascinating, choosing

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to think they were interesting so that I could stay curious. Do you

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hear I am saying choosing to think they're interesting?

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Choosing it. I had to choose to think these are really interesting

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people. And when I was thinking that, then I was like, oh, my gosh. What

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are they saying? What are they thinking? What's going on in their lives? And I

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became genuinely curious. And I would listen to

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them because I want to get to know them. So it's listen with curiosity

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and compassion, really being committed to listening

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to them from that compassionate place where I could see

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where are they coming from, what is going on, what lens are they

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looking at the world through, what is going on that's

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driving this behavior or whatever they're saying.

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So, listening with curiosity and compassion was another

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commitment. That was my third one. The 4th one was

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model, work, play and rest. So, I wanted to be a

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parent who showed up and showed them what hard work looked

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like. So I was willing to do hard work, and I modeled that. I

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also was willing to play. I want to be playful. I

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actively chose to be a playful parent. I read books

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called Playful Parenting and How to Bring More Play. I adopted

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kind of an idea, like, that like, I was a preschool teacher. I was an

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elementary school teacher. I was like a middle school teacher. I kind of brought in

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to my parenting some of the strategies that, you know, teachers

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and camp counselors would do just to connect

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and play. Of course, I love the outdoors. I love the wilderness,

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and I love being outside. I love being by the pool. As you guys

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know, I love being outside and doing all those things. And that's really play for

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me and rest for me. So I brought my kids into that world of

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mine. Whatever I did for play, I included them in a story when

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they were really little. And then I modeled rest. So

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I would let my children see me rest. Not as

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much as I think I could have because I was they were so rambunctious

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and wild. But they did see me like, I'm gonna, you know, I'm

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gonna lay down for a few minutes or I'm gonna take the week off of

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work and we're gonna just rest and recover. And we chilled

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out on the weekends a lot. We weren't busy all the time because I wanted

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to model all three of those things. So that shows my values. I value

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work, I value play, and I value rest. So I modeled those.

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That's the 4th one. The next one was what I was willing to

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provide. So I always say this that, like, my job as a

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parent and I know I'm going fast. You might need to pause this. But remember,

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you're gonna get this, manifesto. You can download it. So

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you can see it and study it on your own. I'm just kinda going over

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some of these things that I was committed to so you get the idea of

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what maybe what you're committed to. So what I wanted to do is I I

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would say you get you give your kids access and opportunity,

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but we can't make them take the opportunity. So I can give my

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kids access to piano lessons and the opportunity

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to learn the piano. I cannot actually make them

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play the piano. Cannot I mean, I could put my hands on top of

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theirs. But I'm just gonna expose my children. I'm gonna provide for

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them. So I am willing I'm committed to providing,

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obviously, food, shelter, education,

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opportunity, support, advice, guidance,

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modeling, and love. So I'm gonna provide these things. What am I

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gonna provide for my kids? Obviously food, obviously shelter. I could have put

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healthcare in there I guess. That one's missing. But, you know, whatever you

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wanna write. The next one that this was really important to me

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because of how I grew up that my mom

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was she didn't always really take good care of herself, and she

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allowed her health to deteriorate, you know, in in taking

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care of kids and stress and all that. And then that actually did create

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problems for me in adulthood because I had this parent who was

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unwell. And I don't I'm not blaming her, like, whatever.

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It's fine. But I just made a commitment to take care of myself, so my

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kids didn't have to. I just decided I was gonna be healthy. I

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was gonna be strong. I was gonna eat well. I was gonna move my body.

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I was gonna manage my stress, have a good social

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life, have meaning and purpose in my life that I was gonna

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take really good care of myself so that I didn't deteriorate as I aged. Now,

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you know, jury's still out. But, so far so good.

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Another one, I'm committed. I talk about this on the podcast. I will

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be comfortable with my kids' discomfort.

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That is a commitment I have made.

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So it's not just a thing I say all the time. I'd be comfortable with

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your kids' discomfort. This is a commitment that I've

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made that no matter what is going on for them and

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how overwhelmed or stressed or terrible they're

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behaving or sad or mad

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or hurt or confused. Like, I am just

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gonna be okay with the mess that they bring to

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me. That I'm gonna be comfortable. I'm not gonna let it rile me

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up or or tip me over. Just gonna

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stay like an anchor in a storm of their life.

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And that's what I think about as being comfortable with your discomfort. You

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could say be an anchor in your emotional storm of life, whatever you want.

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I also committed to showing up for them, not for me. So I

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didn't wanna make their life about myself. I didn't wanna live

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vicariously through them. I didn't wanna make, you know, your grades

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reflect on me, Your behavior, if you're not kind, that means I'm

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a bad parent. I just really didn't wanna create any of that,

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sort of, you should behave because it's good for me.

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I wanted to just show up for them, not for me. I wanted

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to parent for them, not because I got something out of it.

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Like, you know, that there was some sort of tether

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between how they acted or how they performed

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and what I would get from that. Now, I know that's really tricky. I could

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do a whole episode on how to do that. But just sort of unwinding

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as much as I could that they are an individual separate from me,

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and they have a whole life and a whole set of choices that I

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actually don't control. I'm letting myself be okay with that.

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I committed to encouraging their passions as they grew. I didn't

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even know what that meant. Now that it's all said and done, I'm not even

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sure what my kids were passionate about. Like, I don't know, Pokemon

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and Lego and stuff. Like, what were they like,

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passion for children. I don't know. But as they've gotten older and

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teenagers, you know, one loves the guitar and one loves fashion. And

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so I am I do encourage their passions as they

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grow. Here's another one that I think is really important, and

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it's respecting myself and my boundaries.

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So the more that I respect myself, that

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I believe that what I want is valuable, what I want is

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important, and that I am worthy

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of my boundary. The the more inner work I do on my self

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worth, the stronger my boundaries are, the stronger my self respect

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is. And then I don't have to wait for my children to

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respect me in order to feel respected. I bring the

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respect to the relationship and I hold my

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boundaries and I'm committed to those. So that was a

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commitment. I also am committed to being forgiving of them.

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So I will forgive them when they make mistakes. And I will also another one

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that says admit when I'm wrong. So I will admit when I

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have done something wrong, and I will let them admit it as well and

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forgive them and not hold it against them. I am

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committed to speaking kindly.

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I have actively chosen. I don't swear

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at my children. I don't really use I didn't really start swearing

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in front of them until they were, like, late teens. I

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don't insult them. I don't criticize them.

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I'm not mean. And I I just

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wanted to speak kindly and patiently and loving

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as much as I possibly could. It's been very rare that I have gone outside

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that boundary. And I think it's a lot because I just chose, like, I was

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gonna speak kindly to my children. I know you guys do too,

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but I'm just not everybody does. And then this is one

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that's very unique for me and I don't think this is true for every parent.

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But I chose to be 100% honest with my kids.

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Obviously, not about, like, fairy tales and things like that. I let them

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have a childhood and let them believe in fantastical things.

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But I didn't lie to them. So, like, I wasn't a sneaky

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mom. I didn't, sneak vegetables and brownies

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or tell them your friend isn't coming because

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their mom said no. I would just whatever was going on. I don't have good

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examples, but I would just say the truth. And that's

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because from my childhood, I was really wounded by people not

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being honest with me and telling me what was going on. And as a

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kid, I knew things were weird and not right,

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and nobody would talk about it. And so I just kinda chose as a

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family. We're gonna be honest. We're gonna put stuff out there. We're

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gonna say how it is. Like, Kevin and I were fighting at a certain point

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in our marriage. It wasn't going well. And I didn't put it on the kids.

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I just was, like, narrating. Yep. Your dad and I are in

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a stressful time. We're working on it. If they said, are you

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guys gonna get divorced? I'd say, I don't know. There's no plan

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to. There's there's no intention to do that. And I'm

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not making any promises. We are gonna work as hard as we can.

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So I just was, like, really straight up with them. They asked me a

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question, I would be honest. I don't know how else

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to talk about that. This is something I actually have

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as a value in my work and in my

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life and with my relationships. And it's it's radical

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love, radical grace, and radical listening.

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So I am willing to go above and beyond

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to show love where it doesn't even make sense

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anymore. I am I'm willing to go above and beyond,

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giving someone grace or the benefit of the doubt or forgiveness or mercy

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We even when it doesn't even make any sense, like, you

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like, they deserve differently. I just choose radical

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grace, radical love, and radical

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listening, deep, deep listening, listening on a deep

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level. What are they saying and then what are they not saying?

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This is how I do approach my work even with any of the moms who

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I work with. I listen to you so carefully, so

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so deeply with so much love and so much grace.

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There's no judgment in the listening. There's just that, like I said, curiosity

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and compassion. I've committed to let my kids make mistakes.

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Not everybody does this. I actively chose. I'm

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gonna let my kids fail. And boy did they

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do and have they done. They have failed and failed and failed.

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I mean, when they were littler, way less failing.

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But it prepared us possibly for some of the bigger doozies that

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we had in adolescence. And I just I just

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let them make mistakes and then let them fix their mistakes. So that's the

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second part of it. I have written here, I would commit to teaching

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you how to admit when you are wrong and letting you fix

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your mistakes. I wanted my kids

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to not just use blame as an excuse like, well, you didn't tell me

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or it's your fault or, you know, I did it because you didn't do that.

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I just was like, nope. That's on you. Where what part is

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yours? I'd own my part if there was any part of it. And then it's

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okay. So how are you gonna fix it? You made a mistake. No problem. Mistakes

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are normal. And I'd give them the opportunity to fix the

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mistake because I know that that feels really good. Okay,

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last one. I am committed to seeing you

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as you are. So that seeing you

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it's almost I think now if I would have write written this I would say

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accept you as you are.

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That's so important for a lot of the parents

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I work with. That's one of the things we work on is like parenting the

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kid in front of you. Right? Not the one you wish you had or

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the one you're afraid they'll become. Where's your kid right now? Let's meet

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them where they are. But the second part I have written here

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is see you as you are, allow you to change.

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I never wanted to pigeonhole, is that the word, my

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kids and saying, oh, you're an extrovert, or you're friendly,

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or you're grumpy, or you're selfish, or you're whatever

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behavior. Right? You're you're a stingy kid or something like that. I would

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say, well, looks like you don't want to share right now. Let's talk about that.

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I'm curious. Tell me more. What's going on? Or I'd make a guess. Makes

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sense you wouldn't want to share because you love your toys, and you

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probably worry that you're not gonna get them back. That makes sense. Of course, you're

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worried. You don't know. You want to try it? See what

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happens? So I would meet my children

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where they are and not judge their behavior.

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Just kind of observe it. Listen to

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what's going on with curiosity and compassion. But then the second

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part is allowing them to change, assuming you

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are going to become a person who is very

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generous. I hold these high values. If I

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had like a family value list, which I don't right

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now, maybe I'll do one. But if I had a family value set of

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values, it would definitely be generosity,

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Because that's something that's really important to my husband and I. We're very

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generous. We're very kind. We're very loving. We're very

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open. Right? So we have all these values and I just trust

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my children are going to catch those values. And

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that they're gonna be instilled in them. That even if it doesn't happen on

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my timeline, I allow them to change. I trust they're gonna

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become whoever they're meant to be. Okay. Isn't

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that cool? That's the Come Momma manifesto. I love

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this. I look I still look at it, to be honest with you, quite

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frequently because it's really important to me to remember what my

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values are as a parent. Now, one thing I noticed,

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I said I would tell you, like, you know, Easter egg, here it

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is, Of what was missing.

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And you know what I did not commit to was holding my kids to high

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standard. And I wish I would have. I wish I would

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have committed because I think I thought it was gonna happen

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inevitably because I have really high standards and my husband has really high standards.

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But I didn't really hold my kids to the same to the standards I hold

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myself to. And, probably because I was trying to be so

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gracious and so loving and so compassionate. But I didn't, like,

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expect the I don't even wanna say expect the best of them. But, like,

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anyway, hold you to a high standard is probably what I write would write today.

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And I didn't. And I don't think my kids are, like, standardless or anything.

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But I think I could have done better at holding them accountable and having a

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better work ethic, work habits. So that's, you

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know, revision is history. Revision is parenting.

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I'm not gonna do too much of that. But it's just something I noticed. I

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was like, oh, that's a gap in maybe my

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parenting over the years. And also, maybe it's a

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gap in my kids' lives, and they're learning it. They're figuring out their own standards.

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Anyway, that's interesting. The whole, like, reflecting back

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on parenting and maybe where I what I would have

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changed, that's a fascinating conversation. I don't know if you guys want me to talk

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about that on the podcast, but I don't even know if I can yet. I'm

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just still processing it for myself. But it's been very

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interesting. As the boys are gone and out of the house and I have more

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time to think about, like, where are we? What happened?

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How'd it go? You know, that kind of thing. Okay. I'm derailing. How do

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you do this for yourself? That's what I wanna give you is some tools

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of how to make your own manifesto. Like I

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said, you can download mine. You can copy it for sure. I made

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it on Canva. So if you're really interested, we can give

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you the Canva link so that you can make your own, you know, using

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my model and make make your own. Connect with me if you want that.

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Okay. Here's your prompts. Okay. Here's your action

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steps. The first thing you could try is just making a

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list of 10 things that you are committed to as a

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parent. Just like I'm committed to

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10, these 10 things. I think I have like, I have like 16. So

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anywhere between 10 to 20 things that you're committed to as a parent.

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Now, if you aren't sure what to write, here's some

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questions you can ask yourself and these will help get you to

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those commitments. One is

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what's important for me to model for my kids.

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Like, when your kids grow up, you want them to be like, what type of

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people? So what do you need to model to get them there?

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So taking care of myself, respecting myself,

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modeling work, play, and rest, listening, things like

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that. Those are sort of my values showing up in like, I

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wanna model these things for my kids. Here's the next question.

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What kind of parent did you need or want? Like,

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what are some gaps that you reflect on with your the way you

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were parented that you wish your parents would have done? That's a really

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good way for you to see, like, oh, that's what you're committed to. The things

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you want to do differently from your parents, those are your

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commitments. Flip side, things you love that your parents did.

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My mom, honestly, she 100%.

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For one, she thought I was amazing. So she just thought I was, like,

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the best thing ever. So that was super cool to

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have somebody who just thinks you're amazing. So I I just had that in

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me. That's a cool thing to give to your kids. And the other thing is

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that I felt her unconditional love. Like I feel like I,

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I felt like I could never ever do anything to lose

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that. So that was really beautiful. So that was my demonstrating love without

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condition. That's like an homage to my mom. And I only talk

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about my mom because I didn't have a relationship with my dad. He abandoned our

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family when I was 5, or 6. I don't know how old right now. I

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can't remember. And, I was I went into reunion with

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him at the age of 30. So I didn't speak to him for most of

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my childhood and young adult life. And then reconnected

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at the age of 30 after I had kids already. So totally different

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experience with him. You want to see what kind of parent did you need or

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want and or what kind of parent did your parents how'd your parents

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show up? Another question you could just ask be like, what kind of parent do

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I want to be? I want to be the type of person who I want

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to be the type of mom who I want to be the type of parent

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that Right? You just get to write out what do you

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want. Who do you wanna be? Write it out. Make a

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list. And then another prompt could

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be what kind of parent does my kid need me to be? So you

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could start with, like, my child needs me to be or

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to do or to say whatever that is, and

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then fill that out. And you can kind of build up your manifesto

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by using these prompts. Okay. I am glad I had

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a chance to do this episode because it's been on my mind for a long

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time. And I realized I've never done an

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episode where I lay out, like, the values

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that the commitments we have as moms. Right? Like, it's I think

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I kinda thought it was it didn't need to be said. But

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then, of course, I say it when I work in my programs. So I wanted

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to just have this episode where we talked about it and we talked about the

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Calm Mama manifesto. If you have any

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questions at all, please, of course, if you're on the newsletter, reply to the

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email. That goes right to my inbox, to be honest, and I just

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reply right away. If you need anything, like you can't get the download

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working or whatever. And also my team, it gets that in inbox too, so

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they'll reply and help you. And, or you can message me

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on Instagram, book a discovery call, a consultation.

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All that is available to you. So, yeah.

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I'd love to see your list if you're also like, you kinda wanna share them

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with me. I'd love to see them as well. I'm sharing mine and I don't

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know. Curious to see what yours is all about, what your commitments

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are. Okay. Great job. Heavy work, but

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I think it's worthwhile. Yeah. If you don't do it, that's fine too.

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Like, don't give it. Don't put this on your list if it's not something you

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need. You just start thinking about it, to be honest. Like, what am I committed

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to? Just let that go in your brain and it'll kinda worm its way

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into your heart and into your values, which is so cool. That's how

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mindset works. You know, just small shifts. Alright, mamas.

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I hope you have a great week, and I will talk to you next

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time.

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