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Learn, Teach, Live

podcast May 16, 2023

This is Going to Be FUN: the Podcast

Episode 47: Learn, Teach, Live 

 

Episode Summary:

Learn, Teach, Live

Want to teach your teen to be resilient, confident and determined but don't know HOW? Today I am sharing the 3 step framework I use inside of my ENJOY community to teach parents everything they need to know to raise an emotionally healthy teen.

Find out why lectures and nagging still aren't working to get your teen do do what you want and what you can try instead. And, find out why it is actually important NOT to be a perfect parent.

If you want more support figuring how to apply this framework to your unique situation, that is exactly what we do inside the Enjoy Coaching community. Join us inside today.

 

Helping our teens develop a strong foundation of emotional health is one of the most important things we can do as parents. We want our teens to learn confidence, resilience, conflict resolution, social skills and how to cope with challenges.

Most parents are trying to teach these skills, but the strategies their parents used don’t work with today’s teens. They want to do better for their kids, but they just don’t know how.  

The Learn, Teach, Live Framework

In my ENJOY parenting community, I use the learn, teach, live framework to help parents learn everything they need to know to raise emotionally healthy teens without a lot of extra time and effort.

In fact, they learn how simple changes to their parenting make a BIG difference in their teen’s emotional health. And those same changes build a stronger connection with their teen and make parenting a whole lot easier. 

This framework is based on the research-backed idea that our kids learn more from what we say than what we do. Our teens are learning the most from the way they feel around us, the way they are validated by us and the way we handle problems and challenges.  

LEARN:

Since our kids learn the most from what we do, we have to make sure that we are modeling good emotional health skills for them. Most of the parents I work with were not raised with a strong foundation of emotional health.

In fact, most of the moms I work with are trying to undo the effects of emotional damage from years of fear, shame or authoritarian parenting by well-meaning parents. 

In order to teach these skills to our teens, we have to learn them for ourselves first. We have to know what it feels like to be confident before we can teach them confidence. We have to know how to handle our own big emotions if we want to teach them how to handle theirs. We have to be willing to experience failure and challenges if we want to teach them how to get through hard things. 

TEACH:

Once you have learned these skills for yourself, you have to teach them to your teen. They aren’t going to learn it anywhere else. The challenge is that teenagers are not that open to what you have to say.

In fact they are developmentally trying to differentiate themselves from you. They want to form their own ideas and opinions and figure things out on their own. So if they aren’t going to listen, how do you teach them?

There are so many easy ways to incorporate teaching into the way you parent. You just have to be aware of how strong your influence really is so you can be intentional with how you use it. 

How you handle uncomfortable topics will shape how comfortable your teen feels with those topics. How you handle mistakes they make, will determine how willing they are to try new things. 

The approach we take to parenting our teens really shapes their emotional health more than anything else.  

LIVE:

And finally, your example is one of your most effective teaching tools. You need to model these skills by the way you live your life. 

You are a busy mom, and you don’t have time to add more to your already overflowing plate. My goal is to help you incorporate the learning and the teaching into the stuff you are already doing in your life, so you don’t have to do a bunch of extra work.

Your teen is learning the most in the NON-teaching moments. They are learning from the way you react when you stub your toe. They are learning from the way you handle disappointment. They are learning from the way you let people treat you. 

And this doesn’t mean you need to be perfect. In fact, it is crucial that your teen sees you make mistakes, feel sad and work through challenges.

They learn from you what emotions are acceptable…and which ones aren’t. Part of emotional health is understanding that it is ok to struggle and having the tools to overcome the challenges when they come. 

I hope you have lots of ideas for how you can apply the “learn, teach, live” framework to your parenting. If you want more support figuring how to apply it to your unique situation, that is what we do inside the Enjoy Coaching community. Join us inside today.

 

Mentioned on the Show:

  • Ready for an easier approach to raising emotionally healthy teens? Join the ENJOY Coaching Community now and get immediate access to the simple strategies and support you need to make the most of the teen years.
  • Follow me on Instagram and Facebook