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What happens when we slow down long enough to actually listen to children?

In this episode of The Advocate Podcast, Dr. Kristi Love unpacks a powerful social media post that sparked strong reactions and uses it as an entry point into a deeper conversation about communication, authority, and emotional development.

Allowing children to explain themselves is often misunderstood as permissiveness or loss of control. Dr. Love challenges that narrative, clarifying that letting a child speak does not mean removing boundaries, surrendering authority, or excusing behavior. It means teaching a skill.

Drawing from lived experience, generational context, and school-based realities, this episode explores:

• Why many adults struggle to let children explain themselves
• How fear-based parenting and survival strategies show up as silence
• The difference between validation and agreement
• Why assuming children are lying shuts down honest communication
• How lack of voice at home often leads to discipline issues at school
• Why adult accountability, including apologizing when we’re wrong, models integrity and trust

This episode is especially for parents, educators, and school leaders who want to raise and teach children who can advocate for themselves without aggression, speak without fear, and disagree with respect.

Because advocacy isn’t about being loud. It’s about being intentional.

🎧 Listen, reflect, and join the conversation.

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