68. How Parents Can Support Their Child Transitioning to a Healthier Lifestyle: Ending 'Toxic' Friendships

Parenting Post-Wilderness: Parenting a Struggling Teen Before, During and After Treatment

The journey your teen is on isn’t an easy one. They’re trying to make healthier choices, also when it comes to the people they hang out with. As a parent, you might feel relief when your child decides to cut ties with a ‘bad influence’, making it hard for you to empathize with them. But remember that it’s a completely different experience for them.

Even if your teen realizes that this person they’re cutting ties with isn’t a good person to be around anymore, it isn’t an easy process for them to go through. It’s a loss they’re experiencing and they go through a mourning process.

Remember that your kid is learning and establishing what is healthy for them. That’s huge! That’s what we want our kids to do, right?! We’re trying to raise self-governing adults and this is a very important part of that.

In today’s episode, we dive deeper into how to support your child when they’re going through the loss of ending a relationship even when it feels hard for you to do. Let’s give our kids the support they need.

In this episode on supporting your teen in making healthier choices and ending ‘toxic’ friendships, we discuss:

• Putting the experience of ending a ‘toxic’ friendship into perspective;
• Relationships are not as black and white as we think;
• Learning to listen for the sake of listening, instead of for the sake of responding;
• Realizing what you have control over and what not;
• Your labels of friends might not be right;
• Gaining an understanding of your teen’s feelings around a transition in a relationship;
• And more!

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

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