Lucy

I really love to reference Janet Lansbury’s podcast, “Unruffled” for this type of situation! As a teacher, I have confidence modeling and redirecting behavior in the classroom setting, but agree that everything gets muddled when my group role switches from “group leader” to “fellow parent”. Lansbury’s podcast has helped me shift my perspective to better understand child behavior/motives, and I now feel more equipped to respond kindly/firmly to other children to help manage behaviors. A lot of it has to do with being close and present enough to the child(ren) in order to intervene before safety issues/bodily harm arises, which is something not all parents want to do when we’re distracted together trying to enjoy adult conversations.

The other part of her approach has a lot to do with managing our own feelings so that we’re responding to children without judgment or shame, just clear redirection to uphold our boundaries. I highly recommend a listen because her tone/attitude is better conveyed through her podcast than my second-hand comment haha!

I guess I don’t truly know how I come across to other parents, but I will say that as a teacher, I receive few (if any) concerned emails about how I deal with student behavior ever since I’ve started adapting my approach like this… knock on wood…

Hi everyone, I’m Lucy! Mom and music teacher/designer living in Los Angeles. My toddler is almost two, and I’m due with my second baby in May. I’ll echo others’ sentiments that reading Emily Oster’s books has been pivotal in helping me reduce my parenting worries and find my inner strength/voice. If there are other ParentData community members in LA, I would love to find a way to be friends!