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Welcome to Randi Rubenstein’s Mastermind Parenting Podcast. So, the big question is this - How do parents like us know that we aren’t messing up the biggest role of our lives, especially when we happen to have a strong-willed kiddo that is constantly pushing our buttons? We’ve all heard that kids don’t come with a manual, so how can we know for sure that we are saying the right things or that we’re getting this parenting thing right. On this podcast for parents of toddlers to teens, we’ll be ...
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Monica J Sutton talks about the good, the bad and everything in between those early childhood years. She brings fresh approaches and solutions to real childhood topics. Dive into stories from early childhood classrooms and conversations about topics like child behavior and development. There are even occasional interviews with some pretty amazing guests.
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I'm So Ugly! How Can You Handle Kids' Insecurities?
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When our kids are talking down about themselves, of course our first instinct is to push back. But even though we say “you’re so beautiful,” or “you’re so smart,” or “you’ll get better if you practice,” the message we send is “I’m not listening and understanding your experience.” If you want to know the secret to tackling your kiddo’s insecurities …
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What If My Kid Seems Oppositional And Defiant?
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26:42
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If you’re a parent with a kiddo who’s constantly angry and acting out, a diagnosis of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) can seem like an explanation for a lot of disruptive behavior. But what if that defiance and opposition are actually caused by other sensitivity? I’ve worked with so many parents who struggle to understand why their strong-wille…
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Empowering Children to Participate in Essential Matters at Home (with coach and author Lori Sugarman-Li)
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Housework. Homemaking. Chores. Whatever you call it, it’s hard work to maintain a safe, clean house, and it’s made so much harder by the expectations around that work. So many moms, whether they’re employed outside the home or not, find themselves in charge of a lot more of those household tasks than their kids or their partners. If we’re going to …
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Portrait of Randi As a Young Mom (with Author & Podcaster Kimberly Samson)
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Kimberly Samson is the author of F*Ck This, a candid and hilarious collection of essays about the journey through midlife. She’s also one of my oldest friends, who has witnessed a ton of my formative moments as a person and a parent. In this conversation, Kimby shares what motivated her to write a book about the midlife experience and what she’s le…
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Why Following Through on Boundaries is So Hard
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37:48
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Every parent has some version of this story. Your kid crosses a line that’s important to you. You exchange angry words, but eventually you talk it out and repair your rapport. Now you’re stuck with conflicting feelings. You don’t want to cause further disruption to your relationship with your child, but you also know their behavior isn’t likely to …
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Therapy can be a big help for some people. But for stressed-out parents, healing our old wounds and stepping up for our kiddos often requires a different approach. One of my Masterminders, Dr. Shawn Hondorp, has experienced this disconnect from the inside. Shawn is an experienced clinical psychologist who isn’t satisfied with the tools and techniqu…
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Last week’s conversation about ADHD got my brain firing about what a diagnosis can and can’t do for the parents of a highly sensitive child. Getting that label can be a starting point, but our mental health system doesn’t train medical professionals - or support struggling parents - to understand what those kiddos need to adapt and thrive. Membersh…
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Talking With Pediatric Neuropsychologists About ADHD
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56:03
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An ADHD diagnosis can be a welcome answer for parents who are struggling to understand their child’s behavior. But a diagnosis doesn’t come with a user’s manual, and kids especially can have a hard time understanding what all the clinical terms mean for them and their needs. This time I’m in conversation with pediatric neuropsychologists Dr. Katia …
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The "Do Less" Approach To Raising Confident Kids with Michaeleen Doucleff
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1:09:27
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We all want our kids to grow up confident and self-sufficient. But by doing too much and protecting our kids from failure, so many well-meaning moms and dads end up discouraging the autonomy they want their kids to achieve. Welcome to the first episode of an ongoing conversation with my friend and fave, Michaeleen Doucleff, author of the phenomenal…
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No parent loves to admit feeling annoyed by their kids. It’s tempting to dismiss little problems, and try to ignore the frustration they cause inside us. This is extra hard if we’ve experienced gaslighting in the past. If we’ve gotten the message from partners or parents that our emotions aren’t trustworthy, it can be so easy to repeat that pattern…
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Pack Leadership: Real Families, Real Change
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23:47
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Emotionally immature parents set us up for lots of challenges in our own role as family pack leaders. One of the most difficult ways that shows up is when our actual kiddos act in ways that echo behavior we endured from emotionally immature grown-ups. This week I invite you to listen in on some coaching I did with two of my amazing Masterminders. T…
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Breaking The Cycle of Emotionally Immature Parenting
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Look out, listener, I have another new book crush, and I can’t wait to discuss her work with you! I’ve recently been captivated by Lindsay C. Gibson and her book Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. It spoke to so much of my experience with my own parents and their resistance to reflecting on how they raised me, and it also explains the …
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If you’ve listened to the podcast, you’ve probably heard me mention how much I love television. Since I was a kid, TV has been a place where I could escape from reality for a little while. But it’s also helped me to understand what kind of family relationships I want, and modeled the kind of parent I want to show up as. I recently rediscovered The …
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Invisible Mom Jobs are the Real Bottleneck
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28:41
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My mind is on fire with all the things we’re discovering in my new Pack Leadership group. One of our newest Masterminders is experiencing a very familiar kid scenario: pulled in too many directions, never enough time, her energetic daughter is seeking attention by acting out. Usually, I’d send her to our NICE Framework, to help her better understan…
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Parenting in 2024: What’s In and What’s SO Out
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We’re coming into 2024 with a whole new perspective on the pack leadership our families need. We’re done performing robotic perfection. We’re rejecting the script, tips, and how-tos that reinforce our feelings of inadequacy. We’re giving ourselves the grace to feel our feelings, and granting ourselves permission to fuck up sometimes. We’re embracin…
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How To Make Parenting Resolutions That Last
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35:25
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It’s a brand new year, and a new opportunity to set goals for ourselves. It’s a chance to work toward being the kind of parent you want to be, and to step up as the pack leader your family really needs. But traditional New Year’s resolutions usually don’t cut it when you’re talking about a lifetime project like parenting. This time we’re resharing …
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From Surviving to Thriving in The New Year
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We all know that holiday festivities can be stressful. When you’re navigating a sensitive, strong-willed child through extended family get-togethers and seemingly endless days with no schedule or structure, it can be especially nerve-wracking. What your family needs is leadership. The episode we’re resharing this week will give you the tools to ste…
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Prevent Judgey Relatives from Hijacking Your Holiday
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18:37
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The holiday season is a time for making lovely, warm memories, and nothing pours cold water on holiday cheer faster than other adults judging you for the way your kids behave. This week’s episode is a throwback to one of my most powerful tools to build up your confidence, keep judgment in perspective, and short-circuit the defensiveness before you …
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How to Survive and Thrive During the Holidays
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Even the most joyous holiday events disrupt routines. Getting together with family and friends, sitting down for extra-long meals, and observing rituals and traditions are all out of the ordinary. Of course your kiddos might have a hard time knowing how they’re supposed to behave. They need you to step up as pack leader even more than usual, to set…
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The Winter holidays can be a struggle for parents. We want to provide plenty of space for our kids to relax and de-stress. But too little structure can quickly turn into restlessness and boredom and tension. This week we’re listening back to a classic episode that features the timeless wisdom of the sage Lorelai Gilmore. Her example will help you f…
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Parenting Kids That Don't Always Seem Grateful
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Our Mastermind Monthly calls are always eye-opening, but this one was so on point I had to share it with you. In this season that’s so focused on gratitude, it can be especially frustrating when our kiddos don’t understand how fortunate they are. There are all sorts of popular ways to practice gratitude, but what good are they if your child takes t…
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But Really... Growing Doesn't Happen Alone
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58:49
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It’s no secret that I love my Mastermind community. The ways we support and challenge each other are just magical. Masterminder Aryn is a perfect example of that. She came to us in total overwhelm, so focused on being available for her family that she couldn’t even let herself close the bathroom door to take a shower. Through honest, vulnerable con…
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But Really… Breaking Up With Perfectionism
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I didn’t know exactly what I was going to talk about with Masterminder Liz, but I just knew it would turn out to be a real and revealing conversation. Like so many of us modern moms, Liz is a recovering perfectionist. We run ourselves ragged trying to get everything right all the time. That’s not sustainable anywhere in life, and it’s especially im…
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Treating our kids fairly makes a lot of instinctive sense. It’s natural to want everybody to get equal everything. But different kids have different needs. When they all get the same attention and resources, they’ll often wind up with very different outcomes. Effective pack leadership requires an equity approach. We need to see our children as the …
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But Really… Turning Judgment Into Compassion
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29:06
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Judging other parents is so natural, so human, and so not helpful. I can tell you from experience. When you learn a better way to do things, it’s really challenging to not give side-eye to those who haven’t gotten on your level. Which is why I had to have Masterminder Samantha on to tell this story she shared in a recent call. Sam was caught up in …
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