Ep #46: You Are Not Alone: Keep Calm and Parent On During The Holidays

Welcome to Real World Peaceful Parenting, a podcast for parents that are tired of yelling, threatening, and punishing their kids. Join mom and master certified parent coach Lisa Smith as she gives you actionable step-by-step strategies that’ll help you transform your household from chaos to cooperation. Let’s dive in.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to today’s episode. Today’s message is pretty short and sweet yet is full of impact. Here’s what I want you to know. I see you, and you are not alone.  I want you to know that I see you with no judgement or shame. Just 100% pure love. I know how much you love your kids. Yet I so appreciate how real the struggle is to raise strong willed kids.

It can be exhausting and at times painful and frustrating. I know at times things feel really out of control for you, for your kids, maybe your marriage or your coparenting relationship. I know that sometimes it feels like no one listens unless you yell. After yelling you get upset and you feel bad. Maybe you think to yourself, “Lisa, this isn’t how I thought it would be.” You so, so, so want to do it differently, to do it better, to do it more peacefully, to do it easier, to do it more fun, to have more connection, and ultimately much, much, much more cooperation.

If you’re anything like I used to be, you see other families that don’t seem to be struggling and you think, “What am I doing wrong? What?” I see you. I want you to know I understand the struggle. I too have a strong willed child. Really, really strong willed. I get it. I see you, and you’re not alone.

As I prepared for today’s episode, I had a couple of hours to reflect on my family, my son, on my parenting. Again, the message today is simple. I want you to know you’re not alone. I walk this journey with you. Now I may be a few steps ahead of you because I’ve been doing this work longer, but I assure you we walk the same path.

I want to leave you with this. It truly can be different. You can have what you want. You deserve to have the family you want, the family you dreamed about. You can. I promise you. Here’s the fine print though. You have to be ready. You have to show up and you have to do the work to make the changes. It’s not easy but it’s so, so, so, so worth it. I promise you.

I just finished listening to Katie Couric’s memoirs Going There on audible. Ah I love me some Katie. I loved her trip down the memory lane of the 80s and 90s. In her book, she was very candid about many things, including her parenting. Some of the struggles she’s faced raising two girls while in the spotlight, while losing her husbands while her daughters were little, and while having an incredibly demanding and time consuming job.

As I was listening to her memoirs, I had time to reflect on my journey as a parent. Reflecting has reminded me that the tools I use and teach to walk the peaceful path for parenting strong willed kids works and is so, so, so worth it. Deep connection is the reward. It’s the payoff.

When you can value the relationship over the behavior in that exact moment, deep connection is the reward. It’s so amazing. I want it for you. I want maximum cooperation in your home for you. It’s possible. I promise you. When you’re ready, I am here to guide you. I will be with you every step of the way because we’re walking the same path. I see you and you’re not alone.

Now if you feel ready right now, you feel ready to try something new, to do something different, to move forward, then you are in for a real treat. Because as we head into what can be one of the most stressful times of the year, I want to help you create cooperation in your home.

The first step is to calm the chaos with my free three day Keep Calm and Parent On holiday challenge. It’s F-R-E-E 100% free. It’s online, and I designed it specifically exactly personally for you. Yes, you. I want you to feel deeply my personal invitation to come and join the three day challenge.

You can participate from anywhere in the world, anywhere. I don’t care where you live. If you’re listening to this podcast, you can participate. It requires a very minimal time commitment. One hour a day for three days. Sounds amazing, right? The three day Keep Calm and Parent On holiday challenge is all about understanding where our anger comes from as a parent. We’re going to work on that. We’re going to dig into that. I’m going to teach you where your anger comes from.

I’m also going to teach you why your kid’s storm. “Lisa, Lisa, why do they meltdown? Why won’t they listen? Why do I have to yell? Why do I get the sass? Why does she roll her eyes? Why does he tell me no? Why does she hit her brother? Why do they talk to each other like that? Oh Lisa.” Yes, in the three day Keep Calm and Parent on holiday challenge, I will help you understand why your kids storm. There’s a reason. Once you understand it, you’ll be like, “Oh why didn’t someone teach me this before? I had no idea. That isn’t why I thought that was happening.”

During the three day challenge, we’re also going to work on getting a handle on our frustration. Where does frustration come from? Why am I exasperated, frustrated, upset all the time? What can I do about it? Yep. Inside the free three day challenge, we’re going to work on that. Through the challenge, you’re going to learn tips, tools, and ideas that are going to immediately move you and your kids from chaos to cooperation. Sounds amazing, right?

All right. Here’s how the challenge works. I want you to go over to thepeacefulparent.com/challenge and sign up. Once you sign up, you’re going to get daily challenge reminders, and you’re going to get the three day challenge Keep Calm and Parent On During the Holidays workbook.

As I mentioned, during the challenge I am going to share, coach, and teach you tips, tools, and support for how to create connection and cooperation in your home. Each day, we’re going to take on a different topic. On day one, which happens to be Monday December 6^th, we’re going to cover why does my kid storm? Then on Wednesday December 8^th, day two, we’re going to cover how do I create connection? Then on Friday, December 10^th day three, we’re going to talk about how do I get maximum cooperation in my family?

I will go live each day of the challenge in the Keep Calm and Parent On During the Holidays popup Facebook group and over on Zoom. Now if you don’t have Facebook, do not worry about it. We will send you the invitation to join us for the live calls over on Zoom.

I will teach a class, and then I will come back later that day to provide real coaching. This will be your chance to come and ask me any question you want about you, your parenting, or your kids. You’ll get a chance to interact with me live. We can dig deep into what’s going on in your family and work on creating connection and cooperation in your family.

Don’t worry. If you sign up and you can’t make the live classes, the recording will be available inside the Facebook group for a limited time. You do not want to miss out on this. So either click on the link in the show notes or head on over to thepeacefulparent.com/challenge and sign up.

I absolutely, absolutely, cannot wait to work with you. It’s going to be amazing. You’re going to love it. You’re going to get tips and tools and support and coaching on creating deep connection and cooperation in your home.

If you know another friend, parent, grandparent, teacher, nanny, or guardian that you think could benefit from this, invite them to join us as well. The more the merrier. When you sign up with an accountability partner, someone you want to go through the challenge with, it will deepen the transformation for you and for them.

So grab a parent, a coparent, a friend, a fellow mom that you meet at the playground, a dad from the baseball team, and do the three day challenge together. I promise you, you will not be sorry. The more we have in the group the merrier.

So once again, I want you to know that I see you with no judgement, no shame. Just pure love. I absolutely cannot wait to start working with you. So sign up, and I’ll see you inside the challenge. Until we meet again, I’m wishing you peaceful parenting.

Thanks for listening to Real World Peaceful Parenting. If you want more info on how you can transform your parenting, visit thepeacefulparent.com. See you soon.