Episode 4: Three Ways to Practice Social Justice through Parenting & Promote Your Child's Development At the Same Time

Episode Summary:

What if supporting your toddler during a meltdown lays a foundation for navigating stress throughout their life and gives you a chance to practice solidarity instead of savorism. What if the ways you reconnect with your child after making mistakes models what resilience and compassion look like for you and your child and give you a chance to practice accountability instead of cancellation? 

I believe with my whole heart that you can parent your child the same way you advocate for equity and social justice so that you don't have to pick and choose between the two. 

In this episode, we explore what it's like when your parenting decisions are driven by equity and liberation, no matter what sleep, feeding, and soothing techniques you swear by so that you can practice parenting in ways that support social change in the community and promote your child's development. 

Access the full episode transcript here.

What You’ll Learn From this Episode:

• The 3 Rs: reciprocity, regulation, and reconnection

• Reciprocity: Meeting your child where they’re at so they feel seen and heard

• The two developmental benefits to reciprocity

• Choosing to de-center your power and invite reciprocity

• Resisting the dominant norm of power over by practicing power with instead

• Regulation: learning from a place of calm, curiosity, and compassion.

• Reenvisioning the domains of development as a layered cake instead of a pie

• Flipping the script and asking: What do I need to do to be in my bandwidth first so I can help my child get back into theirs? Instead of: How do I help my child become regulated? in order to practice solidarity

• Regulation is the foundation of development because it's the space where our children are open and curious, and it starts with us

• When you anchor yourself in your bandwidth first, you're honoring your own safety, energy, boundaries, and dignity

• Resisting patriarchy's idea of mothers as martyrs, or parents as productivity perfector 

• The “Feel it to Free it” technique to experiment with when helping your child back into their bandwidth

• Reconnection: Understanding that disconnections are an organic rhythm in parenting

• How the disconnect and reconnect rhythm is essential for your child's development

• Instead of setting a parenting goal to be doing it right 100% of the time, I invite you to get it right 30% of the time and keep showing up consistently to reconnect

• Connecting the dots between reconnection and social justice practice with accountability

• Two questions you can ask yourself when reconnecting with your child

• A recap of the three Rs, reciprocity, regulation, and reconnection