Jenn Wert | Parent Coach
What are your strategies for a conversation about your child’s day after school?
First ground yourself, even with a few breaths, before reuniting. Second, please let them know how happy you are to see them. Third, instead of bombarding your kiddos with questions right away, please offer them time to become embodied again, process a bit, and land. Remember how much school asks of them and just how many firsts they experience every day on their own. Stories will appear more naturally, during snack or after they’ve had time to reset. Your job is to let them know you’re there to listen when they are ready to share.
How do I handle my child’s big emotions?
Children are born with ALL the feelings but they are not born with the ability to manage or navigate them. That’s where we come in. It’s up to us to model how normal it is to have the spectrum of feelings and what we do when we have the uncomfortable ones, in other words how we self-regulate. We can be examples in how we take care of ourselves when we have big feelings and in how we share what we need to with those we trust. We are their guides. I promise, if we’re okay, they’re okay.
Recommend a podcast, article, or book in the child development space for families to read or listen to.
I suggest Lisa Damour’s Untangled, if you have Daughters and The Conscious Parent by Shefali Tsabary for any parent of a young one.
What is your go-to parenting hack?
Slow down, set your phone down, on silent, in the other room. Get on eye level with your kiddo and BE with them. Simply, neutrally name what you notice or see or appreciate, with the only agenda being connection. Listen more than talk. And as they open up, be slow and patient, reflecting to them what you hear to be sure you understand correctly. Use the phrase, “Tell me more…” often and with genuine curiosity.
BIO
With a Masters in Education, I taught for many years. After having left the classroom, I continued, through all of my professional endeavors, to support and empower young families. I ran nonprofits to do with promoting global education, ran a for-profit business helping women to express themselves authentically, and attended over a hundred births as a birth doula. Through extensive post-graduate work, I became an expert in social and emotional intelligence. Today, I combine my vast experience with my passion to raise the collective consciousness. I host moms and daughters in parent circles, do speaking engagements, mentor young teachers, and run my private practice as a professional parent coach for parents of children (aged 3-11) who want to understand their children better and connect more deeply, during these foundational years.
Find Jenn Wert
Website: jennwert.com
Instagram: @jennwertparentcoach
Facebook: parentcoachjennwert