Episode 6: Engineering Parenting and creating resilient children

2020-08-19

As parents of two boys, both Drs Nick and Sonya look for ways to better connect and understand how to create self motivated, resilient, and kind children. The task isn't always easy so getting some guidance from those that have been there before and have tools to share to make their life easier as parents is a necessary step in their parenting journey. They interviewed Sue Groner, a mother of two young adults who knows how stressful and overwhelming parenting can be at times. She founded The Parenting Mentor to provide an ally for parents ...

They interviewed Sue Groner, a mother of two young adults who knows how stressful and overwhelming parenting can be at times. She founded The Parenting Mentor to provide an ally for parents in their quest to raise confident and resilient children. Sue is also the creator of the CLEARR™ method of parenting, developed through years of trial (and her fair share of errors!) with her own family. CLEARR™ adheres to the belief that parenting strategies should be grounded in six important pillars: Communication, Love, Empathy, Awareness, Rules, and Respect. This has become the cornerstone of her practice as The Parenting Mentor.

wrote Parenting with Sanity and Joy to provide clear, easy instructions about how to handle yourself as a parent without sucking the joy out of the parenting journey - a lesson she learned the hard way after second-guessing every parenting decision she made as a young mother.

Knowing that most parents have trouble finding precious moments of “me” time in a typical day, Sue designed Parenting with Sanity and Joy to be an easy-to-read, pick-up-every-now-and-then guide that may help parents look at their parenting style in a different light. The book offers practical, actionable tips that can help parents improve their approach while helping their children feel safe, loved, and to grow up to be confident, capable, caring adults. In the book, she outlines simple tips that are meant to help parents relax and find more enjoyment on the route to raising resilient, self-sufficient young adults - in the uncertainty of recent events and beyond.

Through her accessible, non-judgmental approach to parenting, Sue offers effective strategies that do not suck the joy out of being a parent, with topics including:

Parenting Golden Rules - From turning off your phone, doing something for yourself, to avoiding bragging about your child or disciplining other children.
Life Skills - Teaching your kids how to hydrate, how to use an alarm clock, how to do their own laundry, how to be patient, etc.
Family Time - Making room for cherishing your time together as a family by creating new traditions, celebrating important milestones, trying something new,and even scheduling a regular call with distant family members.
Perspective and Judgement - Practicing an accepting attitude over small mistakes, avoiding comparing your children to others, having realistic expectations, and steering clear of judgemental parents.
Food and Dining - Branching out from the kids menu, letting your kids order their own meals, having your children participate in meal-prep and clean-up, and having family dinner often.
Gratitude and Attitude - Practicing empathy with your children when they do not get what they want, engaging family service projects and donations, and modeling gratitude for your kids to follow.
Rules and Respect - Saying NO with conviction, setting boundaries, speaking eye-to-eye with your children over an important conversation, and letting your kids help make the rules.
Forbidden Phrases - Some of these include “What did you do in school today?”, “Leave me alone”, “Go to your room”, and “What were you thinking?”