This episode is a little all over the place, but we talk through triggers, doing our personal work, and learning how to respect the opinions and ideas of others.

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This conversation talks about grades and how we use them in school. Alfie Kohn, a leading researcher in behaviorism and rewards has articles posted here and here. Our education system puts a lot of focus on grades and achievement, regardless of the research showing that they may not actually accomplish what we think they do.

So how do we deal with or talk about grades as parents without projecting our own feelings about our own achievement and intelligence onto our kids. We have some thoughts.

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How do you validate your kid's feelings without validating their negative beliefs about themself? How do you remain curious and compassionate while also managing your own regulation?

Ultimately, we need to be detectives and get to figure out the underlying cause of the behavior. This can be easier said than done...

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What do you do when people start talking to you kids about things or in ways you don't agree with? This episode explores when Lincoln's pediatrician made comments about his weight in front of him.

Say it with me: we do not comment on people's bodies!!!

There are absolutely ways to talk to kids about health, nutrition, food, and more in ways that shares information and guides behavior without shaming them or making them self conscious about how they look.

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We're back, baby!

We needed some time away for our own sanity, so now we're back and ready to keep sharing our conversations!

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We cut last week's episode short, so we needed another one to finish our conversation about expectations.

In last week's episode we talked about the need to lower expectations if our kids are showing us with their behavior that they can't do the task. But what if your kid has done it in the past and now all of a sudden they are refusing or saying they can't do something anymore? There is still a function behind this behavior, and I choose to see this behavior as a CAN'T do as opposed to a WON'T do. This helps me view them in a more loving, compassionate way, as opposed to simply getting frustrated about their behavior.

We just CHOOSE to assume positive intent. This allows us to enjoy our kids as opposed to always being upset or believing such negative things about them and their behavior. It prevents us from having to chase their behavior and just look for ways to correct them on a regular basis.

If you have a behavior you're trying to change or an issue you want to address, it is almost always helpful to include your child in this discussion and planning. You can communicate what you want to do and let them give ideas or communicate their thoughts and feelings about how things might be going. Be prepared to explain your reasoning, more than simply, 'because I said so.'

Is there ever a time when digging in our heels to address a behavior is appropriate? For us, that is usually only appropriate if there's a safety issue. If you as the parent are digging in on other behaviors, that is almost always your stuff, your work to do, and your own history coming up within your relationship with your kids. Our kids are not responsible for our stuff or our work, and responding to them in ways that are out of proportion with behavior and issues, is not theirs to take. This is what breaking generational cycles is really about.

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This episode talks through the expectations we have for our kids, how to make sure they're realistic and look at them differently, through this new parenting lens.

Can we differentiate our DESIRES for our kids from the EXPECTATIONS of our kids. Expectations feel like boundaries or rules, which can lead to the punishment, control, shame, or coercion we're trying to change in this type of parenting.

If we truly believe that "bad" behavior is a lack of a skill, lack of connection, etc. and that all behavior makes sense, then it's impossible to truly expect "good" behavior all the time. It is necessary to lower expectations if we truly believe they are always doing the best they can.

Many times parents shift the way we're practicing parenting (gentle, conscious, respectful, etc.) but we haven't shifted expectations at the same time, which makes it hard to make those two line up, and can lead to more difficulties feeling good about this approach and staying in the new kind of interventions.

Sometimes we come up with reasons for requiring kids to live up to our expectations when really it's more that we just want them to do what we say or think they should do.

Our kids will tell us, with their behavior, about the expectations we have for them. It's on us to listen to them, get curious about their behavior, and try to determine why they might be struggling consistently to meet certain expectations or follow through with certain tasks. Bottom line: an expectation is unrealistic if their behavior tells us they can't do it.

Because we drop the expectations, it allows us to stop chasing behaviors, because we no longer expect near perfection from our kids and can instead become more of a coach and supporter as opposed to a task driver.

Instead of identifying expectations, which are usually an either/or situation, what if we looked at this as goals, which is something we work towards together. As long as we have expectations for other people's behavior will always leave you feeling disappointed.

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