BE YOU Parenting - Be You Parenting tips-tools-strategies for parents with kids of all ages.

What's Your What if...?

4/4/2018

What's Your - What If...?

We all have our What if's that we use to project our thoughts, dreams and fears. It isn't uncommon for parents to focus more on the What If's that are generated out of fear or worry than to use the What Else is Possible-What if's.

Check in with the message you receive when someone goes to the worst case What if. It might sound like: What if you fail? What if no one likes what you do? What if they leave you? What if you get hurt or even die?

How do you receive such comments? Do they contribute to being confident or do they bring you into doubt and fear?

Teaching Children How to Handle Situations

3/22/2018

I wonder…

How many times have you rescued your child when they were presented with a difficulty? How many times have you brought a lunch or homework to school because they forgot? Have you ever fixed something just so they would quit crying?

If you do, you are not alone. Have you bought into the idea that it is your job as a parent to keep your child from having struggles, difficulties or what we often call problems? How realistic is that?

Do you live a life that is without difficulty or struggle? Did your parents prepare you with the skills to handle situations as they came about?

Part of being alive in today's world is to encounter challenges, which I am going to refer to as situations from this point forward. This is true for your children too. What if your role as a parent is to give them the tools to be able to handle situations as they arise? This is what empowered parents do to raise empowered children.

Giving Your Child Choice

3/10/2018

What is it that kids really need from a parent or guardian? This is a question that I would ask myself as I was raising my 3 sons. Although the question really went more like how can I be the best parent? Or how can I love my kids so they get all that they need or desire? Or maybe even more- How can I get my kids to do what I want them to do and be happy?

Looking back I see how controlling I was for my kids in many ways. I would tell them what to eat, what to wear, what to watch on TV, what time to go to bed, and the list goes on.

I have a feeling that I am not alone.

Taking Gratitude to a New Level

2/23/2018

All this month I have been playing with gratitude and asking to get on a deeper level with BEING Grateful. For empowered parents, being grateful and having an active gratitude practice will create more joy and ease in parenting and be a strong model for your children to follow. In my series, I have asked others to do the same. I am in awe at the ways that people find to open up and BE different as gratitude takes on an essence of showing us how we can BE more of who we BE!
Each month I host an opportunity for people to explore more and to have conscious conversations with one another. For me, this is such a gift, as I am challenged to take my empowerment practice to a greater level. And this month was no different as we delved into Being more Grateful.

A Bully's Biggest Secret

2/20/2018

Guest Blog Post by Gary Douglas
The only reason a bully has power is because you are not willing to expose what is actually
so.
The one thing that allows bullying to continue is the fact that you keep it secret, you
have to be willing to put it out there and acknowledge it. If you do, you can seek help; if you
don’t, you are in trouble.
Bullies will only accuse you of what they themselves are guilty of.
In order to judge something or someone, you have to have been it or done it in one lifetime or another. So the next time someone is being a bully, listen to what they are saying. You will see that
everything they say is actually the judgments they have of themselves.
So what do you do if you are being bullied?

Eliminating Judgment from Your Life

2/11/2018

Before we talk about eliminating judgment from your life, perhaps we should explore why you would want to eliminate judgment. After all, haven't we all been taught that one way we decide what is right or wrong is to judge? Are we teaching our children the value of judgment?

My question is then, how is that working for you, for us, for our children, for our planet?

What is beyond judging and being judged? If you ask most people what they fear most in life and what stops them from choosing for themselves, they will tell you that they fear being judged. So, how valuable is judgment? Do we really need to judge others or ourselves.

What Does it Take to BE an Empowered Parent?

2/9/2018

Being an empowered parent doesn't come easy in today's world. It takes practice and acknowledging the value of empowerment for both parent and child. It also takes receiving support and being surrounded by people who continue to inspire and encourage parents to stay the course, when much of the world doesn't.

The BIG G

2/4/2018

Undoubtedly, you have heard the benefits of being the attitude of GRATITUDE. You may even be tired of hearing, "Just be grateful."

I want to ask to what level do you experience gratitude? I have made every effort to keep a gratitude journal expressing all the events, people and connections that I have been grateful for throughout the day. And while I may not be as consistent with it in the past, I recently discovered a way to go deeper into my gratitude.

What I found is that gratitude is all about receiving and acknowledging my capacity to receive. In this discovery, I have been excited to write down in detail at least one thing that I am grateful for each day and WHY I am grateful for this person, event or circumstance in my life.

Talking About Bodies

1/7/2018

One of the things parents often aren't aware of, is how they teach their kids about being in and with a body, by how they react to their own bodies. Ever notice how your children are constantly in tune to you and how you respond to life and its situations? Do they see you honor and be grateful for your body? Or do they see that you are never happy with how you look, how you feel, how you move? Do they see you frustrated with your body?

What if you could be different with and in your body that would not only create more ease and joy for you but would also be an example to your children of how they can be in their bodies. As a matter of fact, what if you looked to your children for some ideal clues of how to be with and in your body with joy, not judgment or complaint?

Loving Our Bodies-True Embodiment

1/1/2018

Adults can go into all kinds of judgment when it comes to talking about our bodies.
Not so with kids. Until children are taught how to judge their bodies, they don't. They are free to explore and discover their bodies in ways that allow them to BE with their bodies.
AND then...parents, culture, religion, society, step in and take that all away changing from being in allowance of our bodies to judgment, comparison and criticism.
Ask yourself, "If my body were my best friend, is this how I would treat it, talk to it and relate to it?"
"Do I want the children of the world to grow up judging their bodies as never good, perfect or right?"
"What can I do to stop and change the way that I relate to my body?"

Mary Dravis-Parrish, CCF, CFMW

Mary shares her desire to create different possibilities for families and individuals who are looking to live a more conscious and aware lifestyle. BE YOU Parenting is for parents who want to BE all that they truly BE and to allow their kids the same privilege.

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