What if trying to control your teenager is actually pushing them further away? As kids grow into teenagers, something begins to change. They want more independence, they start questioning decisions, and the parenting strategies that once worked don't seem to work anymore. For many parents, that loss of control creates fear, frustration, and constant power struggles.

In this episode of The 5 Star Life Show, Coach Seth and Coach Mia discuss why parenting teenagers requires a shift from control to influence—and why believing in your child's future matters more than you might realize.

Drawing from real experiences with families in Five Star Life's LIFT program, Coach Seth explains how parents can unintentionally create cycles of conflict when they respond to their children's mistakes out of fear instead of love.

Together, they explore how to recognize whether you're parenting from fear, why teenagers need opportunities to make their own decisions, and how asking thoughtful questions can help kids develop responsibility, confidence, and critical thinking skills.

They also discuss why allowing appropriate consequences is important, how parents can rebuild trust after difficult moments, and what it looks like to maintain a healthy relationship with your children through major life changes, including divorce.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why teenagers naturally begin seeking more independence
• The difference between controlling your kids and influencing them
• How parenting from fear can create unnecessary conflict
• Why your child needs to know you believe in them
• What your facial expressions and body language communicate to your kids
• How to recognize when your emotions are affecting your parenting decisions
• Why parents need to gradually give teenagers more responsibility
• How excessive control can contribute to rebellion
• Why teenagers need opportunities to make mistakes and learn from consequences
• The importance of asking questions instead of immediately giving answers
• How to help your child take ownership of poor decisions
• Why being a safe place matters when your child is struggling
• How to repair relationships after difficult conversations
• Why parents need to work together and stay consistent
• How to navigate parenting after divorce while protecting your relationship with your kids
• Why the relationship matters more than any single mistake

THE BIG TAKEAWAY:

Your job as a parent isn't to control every decision your teenager makes. It's to prepare them to make good decisions when you're no longer there to make those decisions for them.

Believe in who they can become, give them opportunities to grow, and be the person they know they can turn to when life gets difficult.

The mission at Five Star Life :

Transforming Students' Lives by Challenging the Way they Think, Act, and Lead.

Go to fivestarlife.org to learn more about how we’re changing students' lives.

The Five Star Life App: Download "Five Star Life" on the App Store or Google Play Store.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on mindset, personal leadership, emotional intelligence, parenting, and the power of rising above your circumstances.

Connect with us on Instagram, TikTok, and all platforms @TheFiveStarLife

What if some of the most important things your kids are trying to tell you are the things you're not paying attention to?

Between busy schedules, school, sports, work, and everyday responsibilities, it's easy for parents to get caught up in everything that needs to be done. But sometimes, the moments that matter most are the ones we never planned for.

In this episode of The 5 Star Life Show, Coach Seth and Coach Mia explore the power of being present, recognizing the small ways kids reach out for connection, and creating meaningful relationships in the middle of everyday life.

Coach Mia shares a personal story about her granddaughter's simple invitation that turned into a powerful reminder about making time for the people we love. Coach Seth also shares an experience with a student whose seemingly random comments revealed something much deeper.

Together, they discuss why children don't always know how to communicate what they're feeling, how parents can become overly focused on correcting mistakes, and why genuine connection often happens when we're willing to be interrupted.

They also explore how sports, family experiences, emotional awareness, and intentional time together can help kids develop confidence, resilience, and stronger relationships.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why parents sometimes focus more on correcting their kids than connecting with them
• How our communication styles affect the way children respond
• Why recognizing effort matters just as much as addressing mistakes
• The importance of choosing which parenting battles are worth fighting
• How to establish expectations without constant nagging
• Why grandparents play such an important role in children's lives
• What Coach Mia calls the little “whispers” from kids and grandkids
• How seemingly random comments can reveal a child's need for connection
• Why some of the best relationship-building moments are inconvenient
• How busy schedules can prevent families from spending meaningful time together
• Why new experiences help families stay curious and connected
• How sports, performing arts, and extracurricular activities develop important life skills
• The importance of creating unscheduled time for your family
• How technology can interfere with genuine connection
• Why understanding emotions can help parents respond instead of react
• How Five Star Life's RISE curriculum helps students develop self-awareness and envision their future
• The power of visualization, intentional thinking, and choosing growth over remaining stuck

THE BIG TAKEAWAY:

Your kids won't always tell you directly when they need you. Sometimes it's a passing comment, a simple question, or an unexpected interruption.

The question is whether we're willing to slow down long enough to notice.

The mission at Five Star Life :

Transforming Students' Lives by Challenging the Way they Think, Act, and Lead.

Go to fivestarlife.org to learn more about how we’re changing students' lives.

The Five Star Life App: Download "Five Star Life" on the App Store or Google Play Store.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on mindset, personal leadership, emotional intelligence, parenting, and the power of rising above your circumstances.

Connect with us on Instagram, TikTok, and all platforms @TheFiveStarLife

What do you do when your teenager stops listening, starts rebelling, or makes decisions that leave you feeling completely helpless?

For many parents, the teenage years can become a constant battle of arguments, frustration, broken trust, and feeling like nothing you do is working.

In this episode of The 5 Star Life Show, Coach Seth and Coach Mia tackle one of the hardest challenges parents face: what to do when your child is heading down the wrong path and you don't know how to reach them anymore.

Drawing from real experiences with families in Five Star Life's LIFT program, Coach Seth shares powerful stories of parents who felt like they had tried everything, only to discover that changing their own approach could begin transforming their relationship with their child.

Together, Coach Seth and Coach Mia explore why teenagers push back against control, how learned helplessness affects parents, and why building trust, asking better questions, and becoming a safe place for your child can make all the difference.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• What to do when your teenager is rebellious, dishonest, or making dangerous decisions

• Why parents often feel helpless when nothing seems to work

• How learned helplessness can keep families stuck in unhealthy cycles

• Why parenting has to change as children become teenagers

• How your tone, body language, and emotional responses affect your child

• Why trying to control your teenager can create more resistance

• How one family began rebuilding their relationship in just one week

• Why parents need to become a safe place for their children

• The importance of asking questions instead of immediately giving answers

• How allowing teenagers to make decisions builds confidence and responsibility

• Why failure doesn't define your child's future

• How one struggling student dramatically improved his grades after changing his mindset

• Why parents need to separate their identity from their child's decisions

• How to maintain influence and connection as your teenager becomes an adult

• Why it's never too late to begin rebuilding your relationship

THE BIG TAKEAWAY:

Your teenager doesn't need you to solve every problem or control every decision. They need someone who believes in them, supports them, and gives them the opportunity to grow.

Sometimes the biggest change in your child's behavior begins with a change in your approach.

Go to www.fivestarlife.org to learn more about how we're changing students' lives.

Our mission at Five Star Life is simple: Transforming Students' Lives by Challenging the Way they Think, Act, and Lead.

What if the thoughts running through your mind aren't actually telling you the truth?

In this episode of The 5 Star Life Show, Coach Seth sits down with Cherri Kulp of Internal Garden Coaching & Leadership Solutions for a powerful conversation about the connection between our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and the way we experience the world around us.

Inspired by Max Lucado's Tame Your Thoughts, Cherri explains why we don't have to give every thought permission to take root in our minds. While we may not control every thought that enters, we can become more intentional about which thoughts we allow to stay.

Together, Coach Seth and Cherri unpack how unhealthy thought patterns can lead to learned helplessness, fear, control, hopelessness, and cycles that can follow us into our relationships and parenting. They also explore how self-awareness, emotional intelligence, curiosity, hope, and faith can help us challenge those patterns and begin thinking differently.

The conversation also turns to parenting—why failure doesn't make a child a failure, why constantly protecting kids from consequences can rob them of growth, and why parents have to learn to believe in who their children can become.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why you shouldn't believe every thought that enters your mind
• The connection between your thoughts, emotions, and behavior
• How to become more aware of the thoughts you allow to “land”
• Why learned helplessness keeps people stuck
• How hopelessness can change the way parents see their children
• Why failure doesn't make someone a failure
• How better questions can help kids develop ownership and self-awareness
• Why parents sometimes try to regain control when they feel helpless
• The importance of allowing children to experience consequences and grow
• Why parenting has to change as children become more independent
• How unhealthy beliefs and thought patterns can be passed from generation to generation
• Why emotional awareness matters—especially for young men
• How past pain can become a stronghold in the way you think
• The difference between understanding your triggers and expecting others to manage them for you
• How your thoughts can influence the way you perceive conflict and relationships
• The role social media can play in comparison, anxiety, isolation, and escape
• Why emotional intelligence is becoming increasingly important in life and the workplace
• How faith and renewing your mind can help break unhealthy patterns

Cherri Kulp is the founder of Internal Garden Coaching & Leadership Solutions, where she helps individuals, leaders, and organizations cultivate healthier mindsets, stronger leadership, and lasting personal growth. Drawing from neuroscience, leadership development, sociology, and faith, Cherri equips people with practical tools to overcome limiting beliefs, regulate emotions, and lead with authenticity and confidence.

Instagram: @UnearthedCC

C#: 574-213-2143

E: info@internalgardencoaching.com

W: https://www.internalgardencoaching.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherrikulp/

The mission at Five Star Life :

Transforming Students' Lives by Challenging the Way they Think, Act, and Lead.

Go to fivestarlife.org to learn more about how we’re changing students' lives.

The Five Star Life App: Download "Five Star Life" on the App Store or Google Play Store.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on mindset, personal leadership, emotional intelligence, parenting, and the power of rising above your circumstances.

Connect with us on Instagram, TikTok, and all platforms @TheFiveStarLife

Are you actually enjoying your life—and your relationship with your kids?

The teenage years can leave parents wondering what happened to the child they used to know. Attitudes change, emotions intensify, conflict increases, and suddenly the parenting strategies that worked when they were younger don't seem to work anymore.

In this episode of The 5 Star Life Show, Coach Seth and Coach Mia unpack what's happening during adolescence and why parents have to adjust the way they communicate, respond, and connect as their children grow.

They discuss how staying calm can help regulate your child, why fear can distort the way you see your teenager, and why constantly solving their problems can actually keep them from developing the confidence they need to thrive.

Most importantly, Coach Seth challenges parents to stop parenting from the worst-case scenario and start believing again in who their child is capable of becoming.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why so many people struggle to actually enjoy their lives
• How being present changes your relationship with your family
• Why adolescence can feel like the toddler years all over again
• Why parenting strategies have to change as kids become teenagers
• How your emotional state affects your child's emotional state
• Why parents should pay attention to what their bodies are telling them
• How fear can change the way you see and respond to your child
• Why teenagers need opportunities to solve their own problems
• The danger of constantly projecting your fear onto your kids
• How asking “How do you feel?” can completely change a conversation
• Why your teenager needs to see that you still believe in them
• How to help kids develop confidence and self-efficacy
• Why being present matters more than parents realize
• Two powerful questions every parent should ask their teenager

THE CHALLENGE:

1. Ask your teenager:
   1. 2.“What is one thing you wish I would stop doing?”
2. Then ask:
   1. “What is one thing you wish I would start doing?”
3. And then—listen.
   1. Your teenager is growing and changing. Your relationship with them can grow and change too.

The mission at Five Star Life :

Transforming Students' Lives by Challenging the Way they Think, Act, and Lead.

Go to fivestarlife.org to learn more about how we’re changing students' lives.

The Five Star Life App: Download "Five Star Life" on the App Store or Google Play Store.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on mindset, personal leadership, emotional intelligence, parenting, and the power of rising above your circumstances.

Connect with us on Instagram, TikTok, and all platforms @TheFiveStarLife

When your child makes a bad decision, falls behind in school, talks back, or simply refuses to listen—what happens next?

Do you react, or do you respond?

In this episode of The 5 Star Life Show, Coach Seth and Coach Mia have an honest conversation about one of the biggest challenges parents face: staying calm, clear, and intentional when raising kids gets difficult.

As children move into adolescence, their natural desire for independence grows. But when parents respond by tightening control, nagging, fixing every problem, or parenting from fear, it can unintentionally create even more resistance.

Coach Seth shares real examples from Five Star Life's LIFT program and explains why a child's past mistakes shouldn't become the lens through which parents see their future. Instead of constantly reminding kids of what they've done wrong, parents can learn to ask better questions, create space for them to think, and allow consequences and failures to become opportunities for growth.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The difference between reacting and responding
• Why adolescence naturally brings a desire for independence
• How too much parental control can create more resistance
• Why parents need to choose which battles are actually worth fighting
• How fear about your child's future affects the way you parent today
• Why nagging can turn a child's decisions into a battle with their parents
• How asking questions can be more powerful than giving another lecture
• Why you shouldn't hold your child hostage to their past mistakes
• How failure can become one of life's greatest teachers
• Why parents shouldn't immediately fix every problem for their children
• How to create a safe place for your child when they fail
• The importance of believing in who your child can become
• How emotional regulation changes the way you parent
• Why parents need to extend the same grace and belief to themselves
• Your child's mistakes don't have to define their future—and your fear doesn't have to determine the way you parent them.

The mission at Five Star Life :

Transforming Students' Lives by Challenging the Way they Think, Act, and Lead.

Go to fivestarlife.org to learn more about how we’re changing students' lives.

The Five Star Life App: Download "Five Star Life" on the App Store or Google Play Store.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on mindset, personal leadership, emotional intelligence, parenting, and the power of rising above your circumstances.

Connect with us on Instagram, TikTok, and all platforms @TheFiveStarLife

What if the biggest problem in your communication isn't the other person?

In this episode of The 5 Star Life Show, Coach Seth sits down with Cherri Kulp of Internal Garden Coaching & Leadership Solutions for an honest conversation about why communication breaks down—and what our words can reveal about what's happening inside of us.

Cherri shares a deeply personal realization from her own life: she recognized that unresolved pain was causing her to "bleed" onto someone she loved. That moment forced her to choose between protecting her pride and protecting the relationship.

Together, Coach Seth and Cherri explore how pride, past experiences, trauma, fear, emotional states, and the need to be heard can quietly influence the way we communicate. They discuss why listening matters just as much as speaking, how psychological safety changes conversations, why vulnerability can be a strength, and how healthy conflict can actually deepen relationships instead of destroying them.

They also unpack the role faith plays in communication and why understanding your own heart may be one of the most important steps toward changing the way you relate to others.

• Why good communication is about more than choosing the right words
• How emotions affect the way a message is delivered and received
• Why there's "power in the pause"
• How unresolved pain can cause us to bleed onto the people around us
• Why Cherri had to choose between her pride and an important relationship
• The connection between emotional regulation and healthy communication
• Why psychological safety matters before difficult conversations happen
• How body language, tone, cadence, and nonverbal cues affect communication
• Why vulnerability can be a strength instead of a weakness
• How your past experiences can shape the way you respond to conflict
• Why healthy conflict can create deeper connection and growth
• How criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling damage relationships
• Why asking questions can be more powerful than defending your position
• The importance of taking responsibility for your own words
• How faith, identity, humility, and self-awareness can transform the way we communicate
• Healthy communication doesn't begin with changing the other person. Sometimes it begins by having the courage to look inward.

Cherri Kulp is the founder of Internal Garden Coaching & Leadership Solutions, where she helps individuals, leaders, and organizations cultivate healthier mindsets, stronger leadership, and lasting personal growth. Drawing from neuroscience, leadership development, sociology, and faith, Cherri equips people with practical tools to overcome limiting beliefs, regulate emotions, and lead with authenticity and confidence.

Instagram: @UnearthedCC

C#: 574-213-2143

E: info@internalgardencoaching.com

W: https://www.internalgardencoaching.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherrikulp/

The mission at Five Star Life :

Transforming Students' Lives by Challenging the Way they Think, Act, and Lead.

Go to fivestarlife.org to learn more about how we’re changing students' lives.

The Five Star Life App: Download "Five Star Life" on the App Store or Google Play Store.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on mindset, personal leadership, emotional intelligence, parenting, and the power of rising above your circumstances.

Connect with us on Instagram, TikTok, and all platforms @TheFiveStarLife

What happens when a child is told what they’ll never become—and refuses to let that label define their future?

Fifteen years ago, Audri Leer entered middle school with an IEP, a learning disability, low confidence, and people telling her family she may never graduate high school, attend college, drive, or live independently. But Audri had something more powerful than those predictions: a family that believed in her, mentors who poured into her, and a growing belief that her circumstances did not have to determine her future.

Today, Audri is a college graduate, a graduate student pursuing social work, a full-time case manager, and someone who now pours the same hope she received into the lives of others.

In this episode of The 5 Star Life Show, Coach Seth sits down with former Five Star Life student Audri Leer to look back at where her journey began—and what can happen when a young person has people in their corner who refuse to give up on them.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• What Audri was told about her future as a young student
• How her parents refused to let a diagnosis or label determine her potential
• Audri's struggle with confidence, identity, and fitting in during middle school
• The impact Five Star Life and Coach Ashley had on her life
• Why having adults who believe in a student can change their trajectory
• How Audri went from being told she wouldn't graduate to earning a bachelor's degree and attending graduate school
• Why she chose a career helping others through social work
• What Audri would tell students who feel limited by labels
• Her message to parents raising a struggling child
• Why teachers, coaches, mentors, and volunteers can have an impact that lasts for decades
• How the encouragement Audri received as a student is now being passed on to the next generation

Audri's story is a reminder that a label can describe where a student is today—but it doesn't have to determine where they go tomorrow.

The mission at Five Star Life :

Transforming Students' Lives by Challenging the Way they Think, Act, and Lead.

Go to fivestarlife.org to learn more about how we’re changing students' lives.

The Five Star Life App: Download "Five Star Life" on the App Store or Google Play Store.

Subscribe for weekly conversations on mindset, personal leadership, emotional intelligence, parenting, and the power of rising above your circumstances.

Connect with us on Instagram, TikTok, and all platforms @TheFiveStarLife