Wise Stuff from a Humorous Ph.D.

SUCH a busy couple of weeks...blogging may suffer a bit. Will attempt to keep it strong!  Ramping up for our community workshops, AND I'm planning my daughter's big 16th birthday! Fun stuff. Good stuff.

In the midst of all that, I'm SOOOO glad I took the time to go hear a speaker at Holland Hall last night. Dr. Wendy Mogel is an internationally acclaimed clinical psychologist, parenting expert and the author of the New York Times bestselling parenting book, The Blessing of a Skinned Knee. Her new book, The Blessing of a B Minus, is about raising teenagers. (I copied that off her website because I'm hoping everyone goes and checks her stuff out!!)

She is hilarious first of all. Made it all just so funny. Raising teenagers can be so entertaining from her perspective. We were laughing and relating, yet gaining practical tools and confidence along the way. My favorite part is that her advice sounded so common-sensical (is that a word?) and so different from many sources I hear that kind of rub me the wrong way.

She's so calm. And relaxed. It's really all okay. Everyone survives and most teens turn into decent human beings. That's good news!! I love her approach.

Her basic theme of life has to do with NOT overparenting (a balanced approach of course. We have to know what's going on and be "strict and kind"). But instead of trying to save our children from all possibility of suffering or pain, she says not all pain is bad. Life is hard sometimes. Pain is where our children can become equipped to deal with real life.

Sentences I perked up on:

1.  Parents want to prepare their children to be a problem solver, but don't want them to have any problems to solve.

2.  Prepare your child for the road, not the road for the child.

3.  W.A.I.T. "Why am I talking?" (listen more)

4.  H.A.L.T. (Am I hungry, angry, lonely or tired when I'm trying to deal with teen issues? Solve that first).

5.  Let your teen daughter hear you compliment other women more. Praise normal women in front of them. Praise women for their kindness and character. They will see these ladies as the role models.

So much more. I hope that perks your interest enough to make you go read her book. I am!