Sustainable Parenting | Raising Confident Kids with Positive Parenting Strategies
Are you tired of power struggles, whining, and tantrums with your kids? Does it seem no matter what you do, they just. won't. LISTEN?!
Friend, you are not alone. I have been there. And I can't wait to share with you the pathway to more joy and ease, showing you how to get kids to listen in a way that is still loving, kind, and connected.
Welcome to Sustainable Parenting.
Here we bridge the gap between overly gentle parenting and overly harsh discipline, so you can parent with kindness and firmness at the same time.
In this podcast, you’ll learn positive parenting strategies that actually work, so you can focus on raising confident kids while practicing parenting without yelling or shame.
With my master’s degree in counseling, being a mom of 2 young kids, and 12 years of experience coaching and mentoring parents internationally, I have found the secrets to being a calm confident parent.
These 15 min. episodes will drop each Wednesday and boil down parenting theory and psychology into bite-size strategies that are easy to understand and implement, and for that reason...finally feel sustainable.
Sustainable Parenting | Raising Confident Kids with Positive Parenting Strategies
68. The Simple Phrase That Gets Kids to Listen the First Time
Having trouble figuring out how to get kids to listen without repeating yourself a dozen times? Do you feel stuck between reminding and nagging, but still not getting the cooperation you’re hoping for? 😫
This week’s episode of Sustainable Parenting with Flora McCormick is all about shifting from commands to curiosity. 🌟 By asking simple, curiosity-driven questions, you’ll discover how to spark your child’s thinking, encourage cooperation, and bring more calm into your home.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- How curiosity-driven questions work as a gentle discipline tool for guiding better choices.
- Ways this approach can transform everyday moments like morning routines, homework, and chores.
- Real examples from parents using positive parenting strategies in raising confident kids.
🎧 Tune in to explore how calm parenting tips like these can reduce stress, strengthen connection, and set the stage for raising resilient kids with kindness and respect.
✨Want more?
✨ Schedule a FREE 20 min clarity call with Sustainable Parenting, so we can answer any questions you may have. Together, we'll make a plan for your best next steps to have more calm & confidence in parenting - while having kids that listen!:)
✨ Download the FREE pdf. on getting kids to listen, for strategies that take you out of the "gentle mom - monster mom" cycle, with effective positive parenting strategies.
✨ Sign up for an upcoming LIVE ONLINE workshop with Flora, or purchase a past replay: https://sustainableparenting.com/workshop where you get 30 min. of learning and 30 min. of LIVE Q & A time, with replays sent afterwards.
✨ Buy a 3 session Coaching Bundle (saving you $100) - for THREE 30-min sessions 1:1 with ME, where we get right to the heart of your challenges, and give you small, powerful shifts that make a huge difference fast.
Hello and welcome to the Sustainable Parenting Podcast with me, flora McCormick, licensed therapist and parenting expert of over 15 years, and in just a few minutes I'm going to give you exactly what to put into action today to see change in your child's behavior. Today I want to highlight Alyssa and Martin, amazing parents who worked with me as a parenting coach, who said that when they use today's tool, they went from a space where they were nagging or reminding their kids to get dressed and get dressed to using this tool and their child saying oh, and moving their body quickly up the stairs, finding their shoes, getting them on and getting out the door quickly. I remember Martin telling him me that he literally had to pick his jaw up off the floor. He was like what Is it really that easy? I never thought it was possible to see different results in my kids being more cooperative just because I asked in a different way. I thought it was all about them. They needed to just know that they needed to be more respectful, know that they needed to be better quote behaved when really it was all about them. They needed to just know that they needed to be more respectful, know that they needed to be better quote behaved when really it was all about my asking. That was driving them to be more likely to tune me out, ignore me.
Speaker 1:And not, it's so easy. Here it is. It's the tool of asking instead of telling, asking instead of telling. And I don't mean can you, can you please come over here and empty this dishwasher with me? Can you get your shoes on please? No, and it's not just asking with a nice tone, it is asking in a way that piques their curiosity. That's why we call them curiosity questions, and a curiosity question starts with a what or a how. So hear me out for just a minute on this. The ineffective style sounds something like this Go, brush your teeth, pick up your coat, stop fighting with your brother, get your plate off the table for dinner. So notice what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that. The curiosity question, now with asking with a what or a how, sounds like this what do we need to do so your teeth won't feel scuzzy? Oh, where does your coat belong? How could you and your brother solve that? What was our agreement of where our plate goes after dinner? What and how questions? This is so simple. Martin said to his son when he still didn't have his shoes on. He just said oh, what are you missing on your feet? And he immediately went from not listening to the several nagging things Martin had just said to moving upstairs, finding his shoes, getting them on and coming downstairs.
Speaker 1:I see it all the time with my kids. Sometimes I'll say at dinner, when they're not eating, hey, what are we supposed to be doing right now? And their little hands just go right down to the plate with the fork and up to the mouth and I just can't believe how magically it shifts their behavior. Or if my daughter's being whiny and I say, well, how can you say that so I can hear you, she will pause and it really gets those wheels turning for her to self-correct. Or I look in her backpack and I notice that her gloves are there, and then she did not hang them up when she first got home but is going to need them dry. I'll say honey, come over here. What do you notice in your backpack?
Speaker 1:And as kids get older, a great one for cleaning up or getting homework done or getting their chore done is what's your plan for Okay, honey? Well, what's your plan for getting this done? When you ask your child with a what or a how question what's your plan for? How can you solve this? What ideas do you have? What's our agreement? What's on our routine chart? How can you solve it? What and how?
Speaker 1:You get their brains moving and it gives this place where they feel like confident and excited to have the answer because they are able to um, they're able to give it, they're able to tell you what's supposed to happen, instead of feeling in that place where you're telling them what needs to happen. And it makes them feel more empowered, more appreciated, more like seen as an intelligent being instead of a golden retriever, and everyone wins. So this is a small shift with big, powerful impact. If you can shift today, practice anytime you're about to tell your kid to do something, ask it, try out using a what or how and tell me the results. And, friend, if you've gotten value from episodes previous to today or after today, please make sure that you download, subscribe so you don't miss future episodes, and that, if you haven't yet leave a review, by going to the main page of the of the show and scrolling down to the bottom of all episodes you see for a chance to leave a four star review. We could select you in an upcoming episode for a free course.