Hear from Rhea on her background with kids and families, her offerings through Raising Rooted Kids, and why she’s passionate about parenting in a community.
We look at parenting styles from authoritarian to permissive and set our compass right in the middle: a place that’s compassionate, not passive, resilience-building, not rescuing, a parenting style that prioritizes connection and teaching within a boundaried container: a warm and firm leadership style.
We can think of our hand as a model of our brain. The closed fist is a regulated brain with the prefrontal cortex engaged. The open fist is a "flipped lid" with our fight or flight response driving. By giving language to our body's protective response we can work with our kids through big feelings.
In contrast to “being bad” looking below the iceberg helps us understand kids are simply trying to meet their emotional needs in unskillful ways.
To build resilience, a positive parenting approach doesn’t shy away from a child’s experience of challenge. Instead of rescuing them from discomfort, we stay with them as they navigate it, demonstrating our confidence in their capability.
The foundational mindset of RRK is that all effort toward a new way of parenting matters. We will make mistakes. We will wobble and lose heart. But with the support of an intentional and heartful community, and a practice of self-compassion, we can bring forth more evolved ways of being for our children.