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Check Your Child’s Sleep Before You Worry About Behaviour

If your child is struggling with behaviour, big emotions or focus, sleep is the first place to look. In this video Donna explains how tiredness shows up as “bad behaviour”, the signs that sleep is the real issue, and what to change first.

Step Parenting: Navigating Blended Families & Conscious Parenting

Step Parenting: Navigating Blended Families & Conscious Parenting

  • September 29, 2025
Parenting in blended families Building relationships with stepchildren takes time, Connection grows through small moments of care, listening and showing up consistently. Every relationship develops differently so give yourself and your stepchildren room to find your own way without forcing closeness. Children need time to adjust between two homes.  Moving between homes can mean different routines, expectations and family dynamics. In this episode, Chris shares how allowing extra patience during the first day back helps her family settle. A quieter afternoon and time to reconnect can make the change feel gentler. Every child needs to feel they belong.  Children who spend part of their time elsewhere still need to feel that this is their home. Having their own space, being included in family life and knowing their stories matter can help build that sense of belonging. Connection and boundaries can work together.  Being a caring stepparent can include setting clear limits. Talking with your partner about your role and household expectations helps you approach boundaries together. When decisions affect the other home, communication between adults matters too. Make room for different needs within your blended family.  Younger children may want attention while teenagers need space or time to talk. Preparing children for transitions and making room for individual connection can help everyone feel considered without making older siblings responsible for younger children’s happiness. Notice what parenting brings up for you.  Blended family challenges can bring old feelings of rejection, guilt or not being enough to the surface. Conscious parenting invites us to notice those feelings and seek support so children do not become responsible for reassuring us. Children learn emotional skills through practice.  Pausing, breathing and naming feelings are skills children learn through repeated examples. You do not have to get it right every time. When you lose your patience, taking responsibility and reconnecting afterwards gives your child another chance to learn about repair.

Chapters

Parenting in Blended Families: Building Connection, Trust and Belonging, Navigating Blended Family.

Parenting in blended families can bring deep love alongside challenges you never saw coming. There are different routines, children moving between homes and moments when everyone needs you at once. Finding your place as a stepparent can take time too.

In this episode of The Parenting Collective, I chat with Chris about her experience as a stepmum and mum of four. We explore blended family challenges, building relationships with stepchildren and how conscious parenting can help us respond with more understanding. This is an honest conversation about showing up, making mistakes and creating a home where every child feels they belong.

Building Relationships With Stepchildren Takes Time

There is no set timeline for becoming close to your stepchildren. Some children welcome a new adult quickly while others need more space. Trust grows through everyday experiences of being listened to, included and cared for.

Chris shares how her own childhood experiences shaped the kind of stepparent she wanted to become. She describes the love she has for her stepdaughters and the importance of consistently choosing to show up for them.

Let Connection Grow Without Pressure

Building relationships with stepchildren does not require grand gestures. Remembering something important to them, listening to their stories or spending relaxed time together can help connection grow.

Let children have their own feelings about the relationship. They do not need to show affection or use a particular name to prove that your care matters.

Helping Children Transition Between Two Homes

Moving between homes involves more than packing a bag. Children may be adjusting to different expectations, routines and ways of doing things. Even when both homes are loving, that change can take some settling into.

Chris explains how her family allows extra patience during the first day back together. Rather than expecting everyone to immediately slip into the same rhythm, they make room for tiredness, excitement and big feelings.

Create Space to Settle and Reconnect

A quieter afternoon, a familiar routine or a chance to talk can help children feel welcomed. Some children want closeness straight away while others need time alone.

Try asking, “Would you like some time together or a little space first?” Their answer may change from one visit to the next.

Setting Boundaries in Blended Families

One of the common blended family challenges is knowing how to balance connection with boundaries. Caring for a child includes helping them understand what is expected while treating them with respect.

Discussing household expectations with your partner can help you work together. Clear conversations about your step parenting role also reduce the pressure to figure everything out during a difficult moment.

Communicate About Expectations Between Homes

Different homes will sometimes have different rules. Focus on making expectations clear in your own household and communicate directly with the other adults when a decision affects their time.

Children should not have to carry messages or manage disagreements between parents.

Making Every Child Feel They Belong

In a blended family, younger children may want attention just as older children return home with a week of stories to share. Meeting those different needs takes flexibility.

Chris shares how preparing her younger children for their sisters’ return helps everyone make room for one another.

Balance Family Time With Individual Connection

Shared moments matter but so does individual attention. Children can enjoy being together while still needing privacy, quiet or time with a parent.

Older siblings can be loving without being responsible for keeping younger children happy.

Conscious Parenting Begins With Our Own Responses

Step parenting can bring up feelings of rejection, guilt or not being enough. Noticing those feelings helps us pause before reacting and seek support when we need it.

You will not handle every moment perfectly. Taking responsibility after losing your patience and reconnecting with your child shows them that relationships can recover. Parenting in blended families grows through patience, clear boundaries and the everyday choice to keep building connection.

When to see your GP: if your child snores most nights, stops breathing in their sleep, or is very sleepy during the day despite enough time in bed, talk to your GP. Donna is a sleep consultant, not a medical practitioner.
Donna Moala - Conscious Parenting & Sleep Coach
Parenting is hard enough, but what happens when you are navigating a blended family? In this heartfelt episode, we dive deep into the realities of step-parenting, co-parenting across two homes, raising teens and toddlers with love, boundaries, and conscious parenting tools. Host Donna Moala sits down with Kris Byrnes a mindset coach, mum, and step-mum, to unpack.  How to build strong, loving bonds with stepchildren.  The challenges (and joys!) of blended families.  Tools for managing big emotions in kids and parents.  Why conscious parenting is key to breaking generational cycles.  Balancing discipline, sleep routines, and family harmony.  Protecting kids in the age of social media If you are a parent, step-parent, or caregiver looking for real talk, practical strategies, and heart centered advice, this episode will leave you feeling supported, inspired, and less alone in the journey.

Keep reading

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Hello, beautiful soul, and welcome to Parenting Collective, the space where overwhelmed meets supported, where sleepless nights meet real solutions,
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and where we remind each other that parenting isn’t meant to be done alone, even if it sometimes feels that way. I’m your host, Don Moana. I’m a certified
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secure sleep specialist, conscious parenting and relationship coach, proud mom of three teenage girls, married to my husband Dave, and your go-to girl for
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keeping it real when it comes to raising little and big humans without losing your mind in the process. Here at Parenting Collective, we get real, raw,
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and a little soulful, and yes, a little cheeky. Each week I sit down with experts in their field from sleep to child behavior, relationships to
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self-care. All the stuff that actually matters when you’re in the thick of it.
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No judgment, no perfect parent, just honest chats, expert wisdom, and a whole lot of support. So grab that lukewarm
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coffee, take a deep breath, and let’s figure this parenting gig out together.
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You’re not alone, and you’ve just found your people.
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Welcome, Chris, to the parenting collective.
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Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here.
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Gosh, I know. What a whirlwind. So, uh you’re here in Perth, which is so exciting. Um our beautiful hometown town, but we you’ve had our beautiful Eloise look after your kiddos.
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What a connection. So cool. It’s so crazy how the world works and how everything just came together. The stars have aligned for us today. But yeah, Eloise has been amazing. My little ones
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have loved spending time with her. She’s so beautiful. Um, and yeah, they’re having good time. She was there at 7:00 this morning and I’m like, “Okay, bye.”
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She said to me, “Oh, mom, you’re meeting up with Chris. I have to go be there at 700 in the morning.” And I’m like, “Oh, sorry, babes.” Um, but yeah. So, then
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Heidi, which is fantastic. And then yesterday, I just said, “Hey, let’s let’s go to a studio.” So, here we are.
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Here we are. Better than Zoom. Love Zoom. Still still potency. Can like drop in with podcasts. As you know, I have my own podcast and it’s just like, you know
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what? But when it’s in person, you really feel the energy with the other person, the guest, the person that’s interviewing.
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Love it. And this is actually my first studio studio. Like I’ve had one small one, but this is Yeah. I was actually
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just about to be able to do it here in Perth a bit. Yeah.
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Awesome. You’re going to love it. You’re going to love the energy. You’re going to love the results you get from it.
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Like it’s just a different vibe and you want more of it every time.
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I can’t wait. So I’d love to share um I’d love for you to share a little bit of your backstory. Um of course you’ve got a big backstory, I’m sure. um
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talking about parenting, stepparenting, uh mindset coach that you are um and have lots of similarities in the way that we think.
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Um so yeah, if you wouldn’t mind sharing to the listeners a bit of your backstory.
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Yeah, of course. So on the surface, I have my beautiful husband Steve, my four kids. I’ve got two stepdaughters in there. They are in year nine and year
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eight. Um and then I have my two littleies, Jesse and Lola. Jesse is in year one now, and Lola goes into kindergarten next year. Um, bit of a whirlwind, bit of an age gap there.
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Busy, busy as always. It was teenagers and toddlers for a minute. Now it’s teenagers and mini terrorists, I like to say. But my little ones are very busy kids.
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And look, I have a very very close relationship with my stepdaughters. We um have an unbreakable bond and I’m very very proud and feel really honored to be a part of raising them.
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Um, but to take it all back to you and share the journey, I suppose it started with me. It started with me being 8 years old and having my parents
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divorced, going through that. Um, it started with my my mom repartnering later in life when I was about 12 years old. Um, I moved in with a man with two
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kids. He had two sons, one 12 months older, one 12 months younger about.
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And we had I had brothers. I had, you know, people and a family and it was blended and it was beautiful. Um, that
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relationship unfortunately didn’t last at that time. It was heartbreaking when it ended and I grieved the loss of my my
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step brothers because we were also really really close.
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Um, so I suppose for me blended and stepparents were normalized. It wasn’t something I was
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afraid of and it wasn’t something that I it felt uncommon. It was like end like people got divorced, people break up.
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Um, it was something uncommon for a lot of people in my life because I was one of the only kids in my primary school who had a divorced family at that time.
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Gosh, now it’s like the other way around. Correct. Yeah. Um my dad when I when he was in my life, he’s no longer in my life and I’m open about that as
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well. I can speak more on that if if because of, you know, generational traumas. Yeah. Well, he’s not in my life
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now, but by choice. Your choice.
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By choice. Yep. My choice. Um and he had partners when I was little. Different girlfriends. There’s three that come to
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mind that I can recall. Uh, one tried because she had a son, but she wasn’t a very healthy minded person.
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Um, and the others weren’t weren’t very open to me and my brother at the time.
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Um, that’s tough. It is tough.
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And pre-teen to teens, you know, that is a big thing to reflect on.
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Yeah. I remember one woman um when they dad was telling her to leave basically um she turned around to me and she goes, “I hope you’re happy now.” And I was like,
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“What do you mean? What did I do? You’re the [ __ ] 14, 15. Can you remember?
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A bit younger than that. No, I would have been primary school. No, that’s even worse.
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Yeah. And I remember she said something like, “Oh, cuz we’d sleep on a mattress in the lounge room.” And it was always just like, “Oh, you are only here every second weekend. You just don’t need a room. Like, we’re not paying rent for a
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room for your kids.” And so those moments and those notions and those narratives and that shame and that guilt that played such a big part of my
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experience as a little girl whilst I had mom normalizing blended families and a stepdad and a step family and you know these are my brothers. We are a family
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and mom, you know, mom went and got a five-bedroom house. She went and bought one with this man. She went and got a turago to drive around in so that everyone could have room in a car. Like I’m not driving a [ __ ] Turago.
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There’s some hot ones.
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you know there’s options but what I found was mom was normalizing this environment and normalizing my comfortability in this and whereas the
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women that I was experiencing in my life were also having me bring a my consciousness and awareness to I don’t ever want to be this person I don’t want
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this to happen to a child in my life so you know whilst at what 10 11 12 I wasn’t going hey I’m going to be a stepmom when I grow up
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totally you wouldn’t have seen that and you’d probably think you wouldn’t want that maybe well it wasn’t it was ever. Not that I wanted it. That wasn’t even an option
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for me. It was just normalized. I wasn’t afraid of it. Okay.
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Even when your dad was doing that with all the women.
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That with all the women. Well, my dad’s I’ve got a story, too. Yeah. Very different, but I understand. Yeah. Um it
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that is completely bipolar. I was going to say polar opposites, isn’t it really? So, yeah. So, keep going with that.
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Yeah. Um so I suppose it was normalized and then I met Steve and we fell in love. Um we were friends for a long time.
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Uh which was really beautiful and then I so I did know the girls because and um yeah I I grew to get closer to him over time and we got together.
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Um and then things sort of went really quickly from there. Moved in together. I didn’t I’ve always said I didn’t just fall in love with him. I fell in love with his daughters
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and that’s beautiful. You know, I am so grateful to be a part of their lives in the way that I am.
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I’m grateful that I met them at the age that I did. They were four and six. That’s a nice little age.
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Yeah. So, out of nappies, out of bottles and things like that, that in between and before they get to the pre-teens.
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Yeah. And I think they were just so open to me as well, which is really special.
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So, they’re beautiful girls. We all we’ve got 50/50. So, we have them week on week off. Um, as you know, we’re here in Perth without them. This is the
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longest I have been away from them and since they were little. Um it’s interesting, you know, it’s the same for them and I spoke I’ve spoken to them a couple of times. Haven’t wanted to sort
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of harass them because they’re getting some extra time with their mom, which is nice for them.
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Um but just spoke to them this morning and they’re like, “What what time will you be home though?” Like and I was like, “I I want to see you too. I really miss you guys and I don’t like being
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away from you for this long and I probably won’t do it again cuz they’re on my mind a lot.” It’s like what are they doing? You know, what is it cold there? What are I don’t know just little things.
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Oh, they are. And they are yours. You know, I know that’s probably I don’t haven’t delve deep into that I suppose myself. I don’t have a lot of people
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that are in step situations, but I can only imagine that they feel like yours even though they’re not. Blood’s yours. They do.
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Like I Yeah, I could imagine that.
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When you do all the same things, the love, but then you go, “Oh, no. Now you go.” And then you come back. And now you go. Now you come back.
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And what we’re going through at the moment is I’m noticing it’s not impacting in a negative way. Like no one can control this. It’s so normal. But for other women that might be in it, my
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little ones are noticing that they have to somehow split me when the when sissies come home.
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So sissies come home and we they want time with me. They want to talk. They want to tell me about their week that we’ve they’ve got stories. They’ve got experiences and you know in the same
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time my I’ve got my five and sixyear-old coming home from school wanting to tell me about their day and their stuff’s you know Jesse’s telling about a friend that fell over and then he helped him.
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It’s not a bit not an important story or relative but for him it’s important. And Susie’s like I’m in the middle of talking to mom about something like let me speak. I haven’t seen her for a week.
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Yes. And he and like for him to then feel like, oh, can I not speak when you’re like because you haven’t seen her for a week? And just noticing that we’re we’re finding a different way to deal
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with things always change, you know, like I think like I said, it’s your family. So even if it’s only 50/50, there’s still
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family, you know, and the thing is um having to find a new norm all the time, I would say.
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If I put myself in your position thinking just having so many children in your house, um it changes all the time. It does. It must be harder.
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Um, yeah. How do you kind of, it’s probably a bit of a tough question, but obviously when you have step kids and you’re 50/50, each house is different.
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So, there would be that little bit of adjustment for the kids, but also adjustment for how maybe the other parent parents in the other house. And
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can you deep deep dive into that a little bit?
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For sure. Look, I think that um the way the vis to visualize it or adapt for an adult to consider how it might be for a child is they’re wearing two hats. So they’ve got the hat that they wear at moms and the hat they wear at dads.
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Whilst both houses are healthy, happy, all the things. There’s different caps.
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You’ve got different expectations, different lifestyle choices, different ingredients or or there’s milk in the fridge at one and then someone forgot to buy milk and how are they supposed to know that there was no milk and they
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just wanted cereal so they’re throwing a tantrum because there’s no cereal.
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Little things like this like just the intricacies that we don’t really consider. I think um for me there’s a 24-hour period and now that my little
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ones are getting that bit older, I’m communicating with them sissies are home tomorrow and they’re so excited like oh my god they we count the hours down when sisters are coming.
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Um but I don’t like to project that onto the girls cuz then they feel respons I don’t want them feeling responsible to having to make the little ones happy when they’re home. So they can just come
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home to their home and be free to do what they need to do. And they they naturally just get along.
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Uh yes, they all Yeah, I mean they’re siblings. Siblings normal [ __ ] like Yes.
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And siblings should argue that’s what happens and they should have as they as they get older they want that independence. That’s another tough thing, you know, as they get to that
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sort of teen. So yeah, look, and I think that um the 24 hours of grace has always been worked really well in our house where I will communicate on both sides. Hey girls,
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your brother and sister haven’t seen you for a week. They’re really missing you.
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When you get home from school, would you mind? Let’s 30 minutes phone’s down. No tech time. I know you’ve had a big date at school. It’s probably been a big week. And then after 30 minutes of time
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where they’re just un they’re not distracted, it’s like I’ll then take over and I’m happy to take over from the start if need be. Communicate it. Here’s the open table. Tell me what you need.
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I’ve had a bad day. I want to be alone.
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I’ve had a bad day. I want to go call my mom. I’ve had a bad day. I just need you. I don’t want to like I don’t want to talk about it. What can we, you know, or can we go do this this afternoon?
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Like talk about it is really important. Oh my gosh. Absolutely.
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To manage everyone’s expectations. And now for Jesse and Lola at the ages they’re at. I’ll have a chat. Hey, when sissies get in the car, you know how me and you have had this time, this 10
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minutes to talk about your day and you’ve told me what you got up to and I’ve asked lots of questions. When sissy’s get in the car, just remember I haven’t seen them for lots of days and they’re going to have lots of days stuff
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to tell me and they might want to tell you some stuff, too. So, can we put our listening ears on? So, we have those conversations to make it a little bit easier and
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seamless with that 24-hour grace period because there’s often big feelings from everyone. There’s often everyone’s tired from the week. I’m tired from the week.
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Um, there’s more people in the house, louder. Um, we are really lucky in our home. The the property we bought a couple of years ago, there was a shed
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that we converted into a beautiful, incredible spoiled rotten my two girls teenage retreat. They’ve got a little two bed down the back.
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Oh gosh, stop. They do. They’re really awesome. Their bathroom’s nicer than mine and I’m not not You have to take sometimes when they’re not there, but you know, goes down
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there. So they’ve got space is is the point is that they need and normal families can’t don’t have this but we do have capacity to create space.
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Well we are but like you know most so when sis is like I just want time on my own. I’m like cool in a normal household you just be going downstairs to have time on your own.
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You’re actually going into a completely other location. Totally. So just be mindful of that. Like just invest time with your brother and sister. And they do they’re amazing with them. So good.
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Um when we came over my oldest actually um I don’t think she’ll mind me saying this. I don’t share too much about the intricacies, but she gave them the kids
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two teddies and put her cuddles in the teddies. So that you cuddle the teddy and that’s my cuddles if you missed right there.
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That’s That is love right there.
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She’s so thoughtful and so [ __ ] beautiful to do that. So beautiful. Makes me cry. Why am I crying? So weird.
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So because it’s really those small things um is as parents we get so busy you know and uh and you’re an
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entrepreneurial woman you know and you want to look after yourself as well and that’s what we all want to do but um those small things are just they’re not
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even glimmers they’re actually the heart of what she is for her to do that to think on her own like you didn’t ask her to do that to consider that to know that might help
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them if they’re feeling sad to know that might help her if she was feeling sad um And look, she’s absolutely totally fine.
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But they’ve cuddled those teddies to sleep every night. Um, and she’ll love hearing that if she ever hears it.
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Um, yeah, that’s so beautiful. And the thing is, me being in the conscious parenting, conscious relationship space, um, and obviously sleep’s always very important.
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Having three teenage daughters, gone through mental health, there’s a whole story on that. But the evolution of becoming a conscious parent, um, is just
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being aware of us. Um, and it changed the dynamic of our home. So we were um
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older parent not older parents you know we are older people uh being raised very traditionally which most people still
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were still are even in their 40s and um so it was working until it didn’t work you know and I this is what I say to my
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parents is like communication so don’t stop that you know like you just sort of think I’ve got a parent so do this we’re going to do this but then
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it breaks down and then when you get to the pre-teens, teens, 14, um, it can be absolutely disastrous. So,
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the biggest thing that I say to everyone when they start to get rough on the edges and, you know, want to be on their phones and be by themselves, that’s really normal, but having that communication, just don’t stop that.
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100%. We had a talk um, only recently.
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It was a word when they were younger when they wanted to leave a party or a sleepover that we used a code word. Um, we came up with that because sometimes they’d have a feeling and they were
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embarrassed to be around person people and didn’t want to everyone to think they’re weird for choosing to leave or asking to go somewhere and you know it was my my way of being like no other questions asked.
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I’m let’s do the thing. Whatever you need and we had another conversation. There’s been lots of things happening in the world in on social media. You’re seeing
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a lot of things and kids in situations that they they shouldn’t be. Um, that terrifies me. Terrifies. I won’t go into it too deep, but I was almost in a
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situation recently that I was caught very off guard by. And um had I not been more aware at the time
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to step backwards, there is a solid chance that I would have been seriously hurt by someone. Um the person wasn’t mentally well. It was I can’t even I
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can’t even shift blame. I can’t even say this person, you know, no, this person wasn’t well. It’s not scary is what it was terrifying. You don’t think like that. You don’t live in a space like that and something’s come that close.
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That’s really scary.
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I’m a person that walks the dog at 4:00 a.m. and my dog’s hectic, but I confident a stafy I saw.
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Yeah. American. She’s Well, we got a little fat English one.
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But the most loyal thing in the world. Yeah.
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Yeah. So, I walk Yeah. I walk the dog and she’ll put like get her ears up and I’ll just stand there ready to go. Like, if you’re going to come, come now. The dog will murder you. You can have a try.
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Let’s go. So, I’ve always been thought I was quite confident in those moments. and if it threatened that I’d be okay.
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But this one got me rattled a bit and it it was in a situation where my girls are often with their friends and like in the similar um social setting where this
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could come and happen to them. A I was grateful that none of the kids were with me. It’s the only time that I’ve been to that place shopping center in the last 12 months um without a child.
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Only time. I’m so grateful no child was with me. Poor you.
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I’m and I’m grateful that I was able to remove myself without being hurt. But what that did change the way that I was
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thinking at that time. I had some big conversations with them and I just said, “This is the code word. You use the code word at any [ __ ] point. We’re going to re reinforce this again.” Um because
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things life’s scary and you’re at an age where life can change really quickly. I didn’t want to think like that either.
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And that like was that something that happened in the I know you don’t probably want to dive into it. Was it something on social media? Someone was or was it someone who just saw you?
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No. No. I was I didn’t realize I was alone. Um, but I was alone in a car park and someone approached me. Yeah. From very quickly and very violently.
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You need to talk about that because it’s it’s women. It’s women that um Yeah. That’s awful. So, I need to bring I can tell like you’ve got post-traumatic stress with it.
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Do you know why? Because having all girls for me and um being I’ve always been someone who’s been super aware with that stuff, but I don’t think they are
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cuz I live in a bubble and it just happens so [ __ ] quick.
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It happens quickly. I think um it I’ve done so much work on myself and my healing and self-love and embodiment and
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all the [ __ ] things. Been to the depths of my darkest shadows, right, to find where I need to be.
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And it triggered past traumas from assault. So what came up was Oh, you’ve been assaulted before.
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I have been assaulted by women in the past. Oh jeez. Which is horrific. Terrible.
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Um and but by someone I I deeply cared for that created a lot of the trauma when I was younger. Oh god. Um,
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and that triggered those. No, it it’s almost like it simmeed down. So, when it was really bad, that’s when I went and did the the work on myself.
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That’s when things started because I wasn’t sleeping, wasn’t eating, wasn’t showering, wasn’t living really. And it was uh I was quite young, maybe 18, 19.
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Yeah. Wow.
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Um maybe before that if I’m honest, I can’t really remember. But this brought up the fears and the the I nothing rattles me. No one rattles me.
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And this brought up some rattling and that bothered me. That pissed me off to be honest. I was like, “No, [ __ ] you. What? What do you mean? I did the work. What do you mean? I’ve been so good.
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I’ve healed all this [ __ ] What are you talking about?” Um, so it’s just an interesting way thing that I’ve had to go and now navigate myself personally. Um, I’m
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still moving through it and I am not putting myself in situations where that could happen.
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Needs to be an awareness brought to the table.
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Yes. That’s that’s why I think look I have had lots of uh pretty shitty things happen and as I as I’ve got older I one
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million% believe it happens for a reason. The only thing I don’t believe happens for a reason. I don’t understand is children get sick or ill or die. I don’t understand that.
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All the other shitty things I can look back and it’s a growth. So that is really horrific that you went through that and the person that you are you
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will continue to heal from that and you will talk about it. You will talk about it to save other women. You will because if you don’t again that’s what gives me goose does
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give me goosebumps is that like you said you had the tools you’re a strong woman you’re like you know [ __ ] everyone type of thing if you go near me
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and that person got in got way too close for comfort and and that’s something that when you’re ready I think can save other people.
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Yeah. Also interesting is I avoid I very good at dissolving my triggers. Very good at dissolving emotions.
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Neutrality at its finest. I’m good at doesn’t phase me. You want to yell at me? Whatever. Like why are you why are you beeping your horn at me? That’s gross. Like I’m just like just like
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whatever. But after this particular experience and we’re divulging now a little bit to a different topic, but after this experience there’s been a couple of instances where people have
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said something untoward or slightly disrespectful. I’ve been like hold up.
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And normally I would avoid it. I’d be like, “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want to deal with that. That’s your problem, not mine.” And I was like, “Excuse me, that’s not okay.” So, it’s
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also given me a bit of a I don’t know, pushing pushing tipping edge. It feels like totally. And I think that Well, again, sort of my journey is a total [ __ ] peopleleaser my whole life. Reformed.
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Still am. I still am. I still am. She was an addict.
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I was an addict. But, um, and it takes a long time to put that. No, I’m not fully not there yet. I mean it’s probably my whole life but it is very empowering and
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it’s also the things that have happened to me in my life I can now authentically vulnerably share um to help other people you know and
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four or five years ago I wouldn’t have I wouldn’t have even I would have been so embarrassed or so yeah so as awful as it was I’m glad you’re here.
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Yeah. No and that’s awful. Um so yeah we did sort of divulge into not divulge divert into another diver which is great. Yeah
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totally. Um, so a couple of questions around sort of step parenting because obviously it’s it’s something that I love that you’re talking about because
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people don’t often do that. Um, what would be something that you would share um that would be one of your favorite parts of being a stepmom?
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Oh gosh, I know so many I’m sure.
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Um, my favorite thing about being a stepmom is being I suppose cracked open to a different
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type of love. Totally. So, one of the things a lot of people have said over the years is, “Oh, you you’ll never um love them like you love your own.”
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People say that to your face.
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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You couldn’t love them like your own, though, right? Like, and I just I call [ __ ] on that because mine I love unconditionally because they came from me or a part of me, came out of me.
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There is that immediate love for them.
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When I had my son, so this was how old was Cal I think I can’t remember. I think they’re six years or maybe more apart.
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No, I don’t know. Whatever. I’m not good at maths. Anyway, and I had him and I was waiting for the thing to happen when I had him and I’m like waiting for the magic, the love, the thing that everyone
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talks about. I was like, it’s going to be so different.
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Have I got it wrong? Did I and do I have postnatal depression? Like what’s coming up for me right now and I really got curious with that and I was like it wasn’t that it’s that I already loved like a mom, right?
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Yeah, that’s so beautiful.
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I already loved unconditionally. The only piece that I would say is different and that I love so much about it is that I love by choice.
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When you love by choice, right, it’s not your husband or partner that you’re choosing to love another man. You’re choosing these kids time and
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time again consistently choosing them and choosing the pieces of you that weren’t chosen. And that is evidence to me that I’m on the right.
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Oh my gosh. Totally. That’s beautiful. Yeah.
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And it must be it must be tricky as a mom’s brain, I would think. And again, this is just my brain going there that
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um you love them as your own and with that comes you can put the boundaries on as like if it was if I’m looking at my
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parent and my children like I’m all out with the boundaries with the you know positive discipline with whatever but I
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would do you ever find it a bit tricky when you’re only 5050 to for the discipline and like look I don’t want to
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be you can’t be besties with them you want to love them. But you still have to be the mom.
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I will always tell them I’m here to be your parent, not your friend. Um because you know this and this is something they relate back to me. They’re like you’re our parent because I can’t say I’m your mom.
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No.
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But I can say I’m your parent and I’ll act as one and this is my job to keep you safe. You might not like this. You might not be happy with this. But they’re very respectful in that way.
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They’re very good. They they they listen to what I have to say. There’s probably been one occasion I can think of where there was the crossover in the afternoon of heading off to mom’s and I’ I’d
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threatened stop the way you’re speaking to each other or you’re going to lose your technology at mom’s and they’re like technology no like you can’t do that and I was like
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yeah [ __ ] can watch me like no you’re not taking it. It’s not on you can’t treat each other that way in this house. I’ve warned you all week.
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Um and they lost it and they they couldn’t believe that I’d done it and they’re like but we’re going to moms. I’m like I’ll drop it to moms. I’ll bring it up.
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Mom’s not far. So that’s him. um convenient for us.
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Like I’ll bring it up, but you need you guys need a break. And what do you know?
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Mom text my husband that night with a photo of him. They all sleeping in the same bed together. They played together all night happily. So it’s like, you know, little instances like that where
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and then I’m reminded, hey, I was just the parent and I made the right call cuz I sat in so much discomfort doing that.
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I don’t like to make calls that are going to push over to mom’s time because I think that that’s disrespectful without having a conversation. I don’t mean to be I don’t want to control or be authorative. Right.
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Yeah. Totally.
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Cuz that’s not done to me. So, I’m not doing that back. And that that just doesn’t happen between houses.
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But on this occasion, it would would cross over and it might impact things.
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It might have impacted their moods. It might like and you know that’s not cool.
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But in the same instance, I had to make the right call in that moment. I was in a rush to go somewhere else. It wasn’t something that I could have a conversation on. But it worked out fine.
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Um but I did feel very after because you want the relationship with the other um family or husband or wife to be as
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amicable as possible, I’d presume. Yeah, but I also um have heard obviously working space that I do, I have worked
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with lots of families and stuff like that and sometimes it’s just not amicable. Oh, for sure.
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My mind goes that if someone did that that the person in the other house would go, “No, not that’s not happening in this house cuz you you Absolutely.” And I’ve had so many
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clients where they’re in similar circumstances and you know unfortunately the biological parent may be um still in
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a negative headsp space in their own life and they want to create control or they want to shame the kids for or shame shame that other parent that’s trying to
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be authorative and trying to do the job as a parent in their own home. There is that crossover that my clients go through. So, I can really understand and sympathize that, you know, it is really
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hard to make these calls sometimes, but something I’m often reminding people is this is your home.
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You can cool if you’re if you’re open to it, have a combo with the the other parent before you do it. Let them know you’ve done it, whatever that needs to be. I was going to say, what would be your tip
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you um but at the end of the day, my tip is do what’s best for you in your house with your stepchildren. You can’t
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control the narrative of other people’s feelings in other homes. You can’t control how things are impacted elsewhere. What you can control is your home and doing your best. Totally. And
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if loving from your heart, loving from the place of you that gives you complete um unc love without conditions means
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that you have to be a parent. That means you have to run and run your role, right? Do it.
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Trust yourself. Back yourself. Stop doubting yourself in this role because your doubt will impact your relationship with your stepchildren later.
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And they feel it. So the thing is with with kiddos, cuz I say toddlers and teens are the same. And oh my goodness, like when people have todd toddlers and
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teens, they are. You just take 10 years off off a teen. Honestly, it’s crazy.
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But um I just, you know, the role of a parent is so important or just a caregiver or someone that loves somebody. Full stop. And the the
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pre-teen teen situation is uh a very sensitive situation for everybody. And the world that we live in now is [ __ ]
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insane. And it’s much harder to parent no matter what anyone says cuz the older generation like, “Oh, it’s not that bad. What do you got to worry about? So much more.
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Well, we spoke about this yesterday in a few interviews I did. We’re in an era now where the first um era of parents parenting kids with social media.
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This like but it’s [ __ ] It’s a whole other layer.
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Exciting though because I feel like we were meaning Eloise is 20. So she was the beginning of it, right? And we were like what the hell is this? What’s going
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on? How do we protect them? There was this thing called family zone. The government no one talked about it, right? But we just were out on our own.
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And so we did the best to protect her.
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Did okay. But oh my gosh, the stuff that she’d come home school telling us cuz other kids just had free reign. And
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Molly, our middle, love you, Molly, if you ever hear this. Um, she was in the depths of we had no control, right? And
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so Izzy, 14, we’re like, just go to school. We love you. Um, but the government’s just passed a law 36 plus months. I don’t know if you’ve heard
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about it. It’s passing on the 10th of December. and it is you cannot get social media till you’re 16. Now I have contacted them because I’m like really?
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Yeah. Like there’s a way around it because they reckon they’ve spent a whole year. Um so if you’re So for Izzy is only 14, I don’t think I’m going to
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be able to take it from her. But if you’ve got younger kids that haven’t got it, they’re not going to be able to get it.
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So with the when the girls go to school, all the social stuff’s blocked. They can’t get us anything like so. But there’s something new like if your child
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so if your elders already got got it I don’t think I think you’re going to be able to stop it but all your younger get kids they’re not going to be able to
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like fake accounts and things like that they’ve they’ve they’ve been able to work through that I I know I can’t wait
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because absolutely fake accounts all of that sort of stuff but I like I said I’ve privately messaged them because I’m like this is spectacular but and they’re
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like no we’ve spent a whole year figuring out how to um make sure that they can’t do that. Okay, got it.
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So, if that’s the case for for your younger kids, I’m so happy for you.
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Yeah. Well, on this trip even like Steve was like, “Fuck it. We’re getting iPads.” Cuz there was a few rainy days there for a minute. I said, “No, I’m holding out on this.” And he’s like, “Well, I can’t live like this, Chris.
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It’s too It’s too hectic.” And I’m like, “They were a nightmare.” You know what? TV’s okay. We got Nintendos.
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Yeah, totally. Yeah. Eloise said the Nintendo.
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I said, “Great.” But, you know, um iPads, phones, no way.
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No way. No way. As like if I had this information when the kids were smaller cuz they get it at school and stuff like that, you know. Um and I talk about to
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my families all the time. Try and hold it as much as you can, you know, because it does it there’s a whole other um I
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don’t even know how it’s like it’s like the devil. It’s evil part of parenting that you have no control of. If you don’t have control, if that makes sense.
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You need control and it you need to have your pulse.
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like we tried to but our kids have ADD, neurodyiverse brains, anxiety, you know, mental health, like it was horrific. And
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so that phone um for Molly particular is that dopamine numbing. So anyway, that’s a whole another two kids should we be going down that
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road Gary Vee talks about often um you are the parent take the when they get a bit older though you
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know they’ve got a voice and they want to scream but and then he’s like you got to deal with that. You got to cop that.
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Cop that on the chin and move along. You know, there’s only so many many times they’re going to winge about it and soon they’ll just come back to their truth and you know, I’m curious whether a lot
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of these problems our kids are experiencing um because of the phones.
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You know what I mean? The reinforcement of language of negative language of selfhate of I look fat, I look ugly, I’m this, I’m that. Oh my god, look, my
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makeup is so bad today. You’re the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Like I have to mute a consistently. Me, too. And I’m 50. Yeah.
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So, you know, like we can off because I feel like just got similar
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feelings on things and you know, like I thought this might happen. That’s okay.
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It’s exciting. So, like I was saying, um, so me being in the conscious parenting sort of spaces and stuff like that. Um, again, it’s already sounding
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like you’re very much aware of yourself and your triggers and trying to do the best and generational traumas and patterns trying to change that. Um, I
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also say to my parents often when they’re feeling really um disregulated because obviously that can happen and it’s uh especially as I get older and there’s lots of yelling and screaming.
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Um, what would be your go-to to ground yourself in that situation like quick like um this is driving me sane I’m going to lose my mind as well.
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Do you have something that you do? So the one thing that we are born with every single person on earth and the one thing that we die with.
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Yeah. The final thing. That’s it. Yeah. Breath. So it is getting your [ __ ] breath.
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Whether you need to scream the breath out into a pillow. Whether you need to My son does has the tactic with his fingers, which is really really
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beautiful. Um I’m not sure if you saw my Insta airbox breathing is fantastic. But if you don’t have that tool kit, essentially, go into your kitchen, grab
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an ice cube, shove it in your mouth, and just take big long breaths through your nose. 60 seconds. Give me 60 seconds and tell me you feel the same way.
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Um, you can’t if you got a if you got a pool, jump in. I don’t care if it’s winter. Like, water and ocean is the most soothing thing for me. If I’m if
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it’s accessible, it’s not always accessible on your face.
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Yeah. I wish it was accessible for me all the time, but what I’m really instigating, sorry, um, embodying and integrating to my youngest ones right
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now is their feelings cannot be held in the body. So, the word emotion, linguistically speaking, is energy and motion. So, we need to move through it
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in any capacity that we can, whether that is sad, whether that is mad. Um, I’m not sure if you saw my Instagram post last week, but Lola came in to me.
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I was at my [ __ ] end. Like, and I mean, cuz Jess doesn’t listen. He listens to Steve. As soon as Steve asks, he does. as soon as I ask.
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So exhausting, isn’t it?
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It just like ignores me. It’s like I’m not there.
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What it is is, and this is what I say to all parents and moms particularly where they’re safe. They can do what the [ __ ] they want whenever they want and if
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they’re in a bad mood and they’ve been fighting with their sibling, you’re going to cop it and they’re not going to hear, you know.
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Yeah. So I was in my end anyway with him and I was just done. Um and I was so angry and I said, “I hate feeling this angry.” And Lola goes, “Mommy,
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we don’t we don’t need to hold anger in our body. You put it into your hands. blow it into your hands and push it out. So that’s push it away right there.
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Right. My 5-year-old come to me and told me to push the anger out my [ __ ] body.
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And I was like, “This is epic. This is amazing. Changing a full generation of kids and emotions. Thank you.” So the way that I also um talk about it in the
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conscious parenting, conscious relationship space is everything takes time to, right? So you’re doing a great job implementing these changes and some
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days will be really [ __ ] and you’ll be like, “I’m [ __ ] at this.” And the next day you’re back on to it and that happens. Oh my gosh. I simply explain it
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especially with toddlers. You know our children need to learn the alphabet to learn numbers. So you know you might have on the back of the toilet the
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charts and stuff like that ABCD FG and it takes months years for them to learn.
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Conscious parenting aware parenting is exactly the same. So that is a perfect example of how many times you’ve told her and sometimes you might be thinking this is not getting at all.
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Yeah.
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That is what you’ve done. hundred times that you’ve explained that to her, she’s used it for you. And that is conscious parenting right there. You know, is like
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they have to be repetition, repetition, and modeled. Also being kind to yourself when you have [ __ ] times.
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Yeah, absolutely. It’s okay to have that losing your mind. I’m sorry. And I always say tear and repair.
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You accidentally or you’re human. We have an amydala. Um don’t bash yourself up about it. Repair. Not in the heat of
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the moment, but like mommy was really tired and all of that. And I think that’s a that’s a beauty to think of as know especially when you’ve got dynamics
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of different children coming in and that sort of stuff. So well done to you with that. So also what we’re talking about when I talk to my parents about a lot is
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um um where sleeping with each you know like sleeping with siblings and stuff like that. What’s your sort of um take
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on that in regards to yeah sleeping environments with kids sleeping with like is sleep important to you?
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Oh sleep is [ __ ] everything. I haven’t slept for seven years. So, no, I have. You get up at 4:00 in the morning.
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I do get up at 4. Everyone sleeps through and we all sleep together. Yeah, totally.
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So, we all sleep together. Not We don’t The kids don’t go to bed together. They come in and they stay because I can’t be [ __ ] with it. Um I’ve done multiple
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different sleep trainings. We’ve done it from when Jesse So went just before Lola come along, we did in-depth u it worked.
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He was amazing. He would self soothe, put himself down, he’d wake up, he slept through. It was fantastic. And then it shifted when she was born cuz she was in bed with mommy and daddy. So he realized he could go to bed with mommy and daddy.
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Same thing again. Got she didn’t know any different. So hilarious. So he was still going to bed with us, but I’d put her down first. So she had no idea Jesse
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would be I’d be laying with him to go to bed in his bed and she and then she got to an age where she was like, “What are you doing?” Yeah.
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Why don’t you lay with me? And I cuz I just shut the door. Night Lola. Night mommy. Love you. Shut the door. And then she figured it out.
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And I’m like, and you’ve got a whole big bed. So now it takes about an hour to get them down cuz I lay with her first meditation on the meditation puts them to sleep every night. Eloise had them the other night
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and she and she messaged me. I said, “Put the matt on.” I think you were out one night and she like, “Oh, we’re not tired. We’re not going to sleep.” And Eloise’s like,
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“Okay, no worries.” And and then she said they were so funny cuz the meditation went on and they were trying to fight it and they’re like, “Their eyes are going to sleep.” Jesse goes, “We don’t go to sleep for
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babysitters.” I said, “This is the first babysitter you’ve had. It’s Jesse Little.” Clever. They’re so clever though, aren’t they? They’re so smart. Yeah. So, look,
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we it’s go with the flow. Um, they’ve had a lot of sleepovers like at my mom’s place when Steve and I have business trips or Steve and I are away or whatever and we have date nights
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sometimes. I was staying at my mom’s once a fortnight at one point. So, the transition from that um and that was like for about a year cuz we’d have um
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nights dinners with just the two girls and Steve and I would go out for dinner and then on the off week it would be me and Steve get a date night. So, it was kind of worked out really well.
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Um it was a way we could prioritize it midweek we’d all be home early. It wouldn’t be a big one. It Yeah. just an easy way to get time to together and with the girls and we can’t do that
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unfortunately. My mom’s hours have changed uh with work. But yeah, look, sleep is tricky. Um Eloise over there.
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Yeah, pretty much. Um sleep’s tricky and I feel for parents that are in it. I’m still in it.
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It is easier to put them in your bed. I get that. I do it all the time. When Steve’s not there, I’m like, “Oh, cool.
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I can go to bed at 7:30 and the kids can sleep with me.” And it’s just done. Oh, totally.
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For them to sleep with me, they just cuddle into me. I’m cool. But you know and that’s what I say to everyone around sleep because sleep is passion as well.
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Um is if it works it works for you you know and the thing is with sleep as well um it is habitual meaning like exactly what you just said about Lola like
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they’re so used to doing something it works but if they’re like rather sleep with you then they choose to do that you know.
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Absolutely. Um, so I suppose again we could talk about so many different things, but I think the takeaway today was obviously the um way that you’ve
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been able to embrace parenting stepchildren and with parents and it’s I think fantastic that you’re able to share that because I think it’s a very um sensitive topic.
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Yeah. And I think it’s very scary for a lot of women that are going into it and men included and there’s a lot of men that are doing it as well. They’ve taken on kids that aren’t theirs and they’re
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not getting um it’s not spoken about enough. it’s not rewarded enough in terms of the online space because you know you’ve got Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and all the beautiful
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things and this is why I wrote a letter on Mother’s Day to the steps because whilst I have a gorgeous relationship with my girls and um they they’re with
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their mom most years last year they did choose to spend it with me which is really beautiful and I was grateful for that because it has been a long time where where they go back the day before
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I’ve woken up with my kids and I’m like oh but it feels it feels it’s I’m missing a piece which is so hard because you want to you’ve got all beautiful
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kids and I’m making cards and doing stuff. I’m like, where am I? Where’s the other half to I must be constantly evolving in your heart because then you also have to
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think of the mother that wants their Oh, it’s cool. Like I get that. Yeah.
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Yeah. Yeah. It is hard. So, I just think it needs to be spoken of more, normalized more in conversation. um maybe challenging the norm of what’s
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expected and how to manage things. And you know, for women that are going into this new season and potentially don’t have a relationship with their stepchild, whether you have someone for
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10 months, 10 weeks, 10 years, whether you’ve been around, just keep working on you. Keep healing your wounds. Keep focusing on your worthiness and ensure that you’re not
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projecting your pain and your wounds to the child. Like the end of the day, they’re another person to love. And it is kind of [ __ ] magical.
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It is. And you’ve just explained conscious parenting again. So really you’ve just gone back into I think the trials and tribulations of becoming a
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mother even like your own. I was um blissfully unaware. Well I knew that I had lots of
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trauma to heal but not until you have children and they get to the point of actually being a little bit challenging where mirror is fully in your face.
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Yeah. 100%. So, I think the takeaway that I’m hearing you saying, which I think is great for a stepmom or stepdad, is if you’re feeling stressed, if you’re
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feeling um uneasy with things, heal yourself and stay connected the best you can because it isn’t just about you. Like,
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this is where where it’s hard as a parent is when things hurt you or things aren’t working out, it’s very easy to to think for me and then that affects your
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relationship with the children. So, you know, absolutely. Yeah.
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Digging that deep. So on the other thing before we finish up is um you are a mindset life coach. So obviously if people are struggling in this space or
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as a because with most mostly women mostly women I have worked with men and I have worked with couples as well.
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So it would probably you obviously on your oneonone like what’s uh how can people work with you?
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Yeah cool. So I am about to close my books for inside out coaching.
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Okay. So can you tell me a little bit about that because I Yeah. So, inside out coaching, there is going to be a brand new very exclusive and specific business for blended families and their parents.
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Amazing. Yes. Well, here we go.
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I don’t know when this episode comes out, but I might. Yeah. Hopefully at the same time.
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Yeah. Well, we can when is it coming out?
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No one knows. Uh, sorry. No one knows about this new project that I’ve been working on quietly in the background. That website’s almost done.
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The podcast’s almost done. There’s lots going on in the background of that. So, ways to work with me. Inside Out Coaching will continue that that still exists. So there would be very limited
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um positions. There’s I’m still one now one. Yep. So I do six month one-on-one containers um for high level women who
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are ready to do a deep dive or personal development and growth. The other container is a six week intensive. So you get me for six weeks. We go all in.
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It’s short. It is speedy. You get results fast. Um it does do a deep dive but it’s that little bit shorter framework and a lower investment as
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well. Um, and then I also have a programmer course, a five five U self-paced course, like a Kajjabi sort of based.
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Yes. Something that is putting everything I know, everything I am into one container for push themselves through. Yeah. To get started somewhere. It’s a great entry level piece.
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I know that it’s not going to be enough for the No. Never heard of it. And, you know, I love meeting people like yourself because we talk the same talk. It’s like a different language, you know, and all
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the women that I’ve been meeting have just been on an amazing retreat and everybody talks the talk and it’s just energetically we all plug
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into each other and we’re talking that talk in a new language that never heard.
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But to start small, it’s going to heal everybody like everyone can heal themselves with support.
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Yeah. And look, if you’re ready to break free from these old patterns, these shadows that are [ __ ] with your life, the self-doubt, the procrastination,
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shitty stuff happening, guilt, shame, like if any of this is existing for you when you’re just like feeling the like lean into that. Get the mentor. Find the
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right fit. Find the [ __ ] person. I have literally this morning I reinvested in a mentor cuz I went, “Yep, I love it.
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I love being called out. I love being upleveled. I love the evolution of me.
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Like I will never be the same person for more than a couple of months. I just shift too quickly and the thing is it’s like oh what’s
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happening here and some sometimes upleveling has been lonely not anymore because I’m really connecting with the right people yeah connected and also really happy
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with who I am like authentic self but it’s just yeah what else can I learn so that’s amazing
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so when are you thinking the launch of the okay I think it’s going to a lot
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yeah I’ve got so I’ve been here trying to do it And as you know, I’ve only had your daughter for a limited time. So if I could have had it every day, I would
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have um and I would have got a lot more work done, but I can’t open my laptop with my kids. So yeah, you know, the thing is there’s two parts to that. It can be frustrating, but also what I say
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to parents and especially moms, it’s a limited time and they want their mom.
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They don’t give a [ __ ] to be an entrepreneur. They don’t give a [ __ ] you want to save people’s life. They don’t give a [ __ ] you want to make money.
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They want you your time. So it’s really trying to space out that, you know, out that time. So I think we will I will launch at the same time. I think it’ll
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be amazing and I’m because I think people need you like especially in this really unique space.
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I received thousands of message with that dear stepmom letter and thousands and thousands of messages. I can’t tell you how many.
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So this is why you got that news and it’s was like okay cool. So I thought people needed it.
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I think I was scared myself. I think I limited myself because I’m like oh this really holds my reflection up. this really means I have to look into it on
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myself and I have to be aware of, you know, circumstances that might be triggering from my childhood and things like that.
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And I’m like, nope, I can do this and I need to do this because women need it. They are struggling. Men are struggling.
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I’ve had so many messages from men throughout that as well. Men tagging their their wives that are stepmoms going, I love you and I appreciate you to that letter. Like, [ __ ] I’ve had
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people message me asking to get it printed. They want to put it in their house. Amazing. So, oh, I love that. Good.
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Well, good on you. It’s very exciting and um yeah, it’s definitely a beautiful space to be in and um well, like you said, beautiful space to be in. It it is
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vulnerable and the thing is you’ll be very careful what you share anyway and um but you’ll be helping so many families and you know,
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especially in the world that I am also in with mental health and sharing um that with Eloise, Eloise’s journey and stuff like that. people just
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reach out because they’re so stuck, scared, and when they’ve got someone that they can trust and follow and help them through those tough times that
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they’re not by themselves, it’s life changing.
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Oh, for sure. My stepdaughter, one of the two Lexes actually mentioned, she’s like, “Oh, can I come on the podcast and have a talk?” And I was like, “It would really empower a lot of, you know, other
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young kids that might be experiencing feelings and things going on for them as a stepchild or, you know, with a steparent or maybe they don’t get along with their steparent and maybe we can
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talk about, you know, some and she’s like, “Yeah, whatever. I’ll talk about whatever.” She’s so funny. She’s ready to go on camera. Lights, camera, action, that child. I love her.
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But that was Eloise. Like, she went through terrible times and she was suicidal and it was horrific and we’re on the other side. And you know her now, so I don’t know if that about her, but
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she’s such a beautiful human, such a beautiful human.
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Um, but you know, I’m in these spaces and she was asked to interview about that and she said, “Yeah.” She’s 18,
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just turned 18 and I’m like, “Okay.” And then we’re driving there and I’m like, “You don’t have to do this.” and she did. And it’s been life-changing for
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other kids, other people, other kids her age have um contacted her. I’ve had so many moms who know me like, “Oh my gosh, we’re going through this.” And it’s a
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really awful subject to talk about, but we’ve got tools and that we’re on the other side. Thank the Lord. Um so yeah, good on you.
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Thank you so much for today. It’s been lovely. Great.
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I’m sure there’ll be a part two and good luck with the with the program with Steparenting. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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So, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave me a rating and review. I love reading all of your messages, so shoot me a DM over on Instagram. It is parenting.au.
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I also offer a free 15-minute no obligation phone chat. If you’d like to book one, head over to my website, www.paringcollective.com.au,
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and request one there. So, try to remember to be kind to yourself and always know you’re doing the best you can every day, no matter what your day is looking like. Until next time, much love.
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