4 Principles That Help You Parent More Positively with John Trent, PhD and Dewey Wilson, PhD

Raising Mentally Healthy Kids with Michelle Nietert

Over the past two episodes, I’ve been speaking with doctors John Trent and Dewey Wilson about how we can raise relationally intelligent kids. In the last part of our conversation, we focus on four key principles that positive parents think and practice that are effective for all ages. We also discuss how both we and our children can get swept up in “culture currents” without even noticing and the hope science gives us about the power of neuroplasticity.

4 Principles That Help You Parent More Positively:

🔎 Focus on the children first. Become a student of your child. The secure attachment will strengthen as you learn more about them. It’s never too late to start.

🗣️ Be proactive instead of reactive. Healthy boundaries are the ones that are established before the problem occurs.

📚 Develop and learn themselves. We need to know and understand what’s happening in our kid’s worlds. Take the time to intentionally learn good parenting skills.

🔀 Make midcourse corrections. When you realize something you did had a negative result, apologize and take ownership. Empathize about how it could’ve affected them. If you want something different, you have to do something different.

Resources mentioned:

TheRelationallyIntelligentChild.com FREE empathetic listening printable

Connect with John: website | Instagram | Facebook Connect with Dewey: website | Instagram | Facebook

You can find more resources about mental health, parenting, and coping with anxiety at MichelleNietert.com.

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