
Today I’m sharing a little bit more about my parenting style and what it’s like raising 6 kids. I realized early on in this journey that once I figured out how to parent one child, that meant I figured out just how to parent that one child. While each child (and family) are unique, these are the processes and guidelines that have worked well for us.
I’ve actually been working on a parenting book that draws from my past 16 years of experience as a mom. While that can sometimes be an outside of the box approach, I’m completely okay with my children being different. It’s certainly been a growing process, and I’m not at the end of the road yet, but hopefully, my approach will give you some insight and inspiration for your own family!
Episode Highlights From Katie
- Why and how our family created a family culture
- The importance of having kids be proud of themselves (versus me being proud of them)
- How my parenting style is unique and based on “first principles parenting”
- What radical self-sufficiency is and how I don’t do anything for my kids that they can do themselves
- Ways we encourage them to eat healthy and provide nutrient dense meals for our kids, but we allow them to make their own food choices
- Why I have very few rules and rarely use the word “No”
- The verbal contract we have with our kids on having their own phone and/or car
- The tools we give our kids to help them process, understand and feel their emotions
- Why I highly encourage my kids to ask and answer questions and to always ask better questions
- Why I never used “Because I said so” as an answer to my toddlers
- Our family traditions and what we do now
- How we value experiences instead of gifts
- What Unstitute is and how I developed the school curriculum for our kids
- How 10-20 minutes of one-on-one time with each child can make a difference
- What I want my kids to remember about me and their childhood
Resources Mentioned
- It Didn’t Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle by Mark Wolynn
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
- Positive Parenting Solutions
- Ben Greenfield Podcast
More From Wellness Mama
- 360: Four Questions to Change Your Life & Doing The Work With Byron Katie
- 344: Get Your Kids to Listen Without Nagging, Yelling, or Losing Control With Amy From Positive Parenting Solutions
- 424: Amy McCready on Navigating Virtual School, Homework, & an Unpredictable School
- 544: Amy McCready on 5 Hard Truths About Parenting (& Steps to a Calmer Home Life)
- 390: How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kids for Success With Julie Lythcott-Haims
- 545: Mariah Sage on Enjoying Parenting and Releasing Mom Guilt Through Simple Shifts
- 657: Meditations of Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids With Ryan Holiday
- 364: Mindset Strategies to Survive and Thrive as a Homeschooling, Working Parent With Carrie Husse
- 576: Todd Kashdan on The Art of Insubordination: How (and Why) to Dissent and Defy Effectively
- My Parenting Rule to Foster Independence (& Save My Sanity)
- Overprotected Childhood: How Keeping Kids Safe is Actually Harming Them
- 46 Ways to Give Experiences Instead of Stuff This Year (Even Last Minute)
Did you enjoy this episode? Please drop a comment below or leave a review on iTunes to let us know. We value knowing what you think and this helps other moms find the podcast as well.
Hi Katie! I really enjoyed the podcast and found it to have a lot of helpful information. I have three children, which I homeschool, and my husband and I run a pretty demanding home-based business (a dairy farm and cheesemaking operation). I am having a hard time right now creating structure for my kids’ day because I’m too distracted with work to provide constant oversight. They’re well behaved, get their schoolwork done (but take too long to do it), they help around the farm, but I feel like they’re left wandering around aimlessly too much of the day and I feel like I’m operating at about 50% mental capacity throughout my day. My kids are 12, 10, and 5 and we have always homeschooled, but my husband keeps telling me it’s time to consider alternative school options- that I can’t do it all. I admit, I have days where I agree, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet! Any tips on organizing your time throughout the day to get it all done?? How do you effectively structure your children’s day while performing well at your own work (and not going crazy)?
You might find these posts/podcast episodes helpful! 17 Practical Time-Saving Systems for Parents (& How I “Get It All Done”) https://wellnessmama.com/podcast/316/ https://wellnessmama.com/organization/block-schedule/ https://wellnessmama.com/motherhood/homeschool-schedule/