How do you help your child weather life’s storms? Be a Lighthouse Parent
Have you heard of a lighthouse parent before? It’s new to me, and I love this visual!
We’ve all heard of:
- The tiger parent.
The free range parent.
The helicopter parent.
The lawnmower parent.
My challenge to you is to be a Lighthouse Parent. Those have mostly negative connotations, but I love the positive description of The lighthouse parent and how we can help our children be COMPETENT and CONFIDENT by shining our light ☀️ onto the waves while allowing them to navigate.
We can be a stable force, lighting the rocks, and looking into the waves as they learn to ride them. 🔦
I’m so excited to share with you the confidence cards on Monday that I’ve been spending weeks and weeks creating. There are scenarios in there that we can help our teens think through and plan ahead how they would respond in the future, (shining our light on the rocks and waves ahead) to allow them to hold their head a little higher, to be more confident.
👉What rocks have you had to shine your light on lately in order to protect your kids from crashing? Have you heard of lighthouse parenting before? Help me too expound on this analogy by adding your thoughts on being a lighthouse parent.
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(Found at parent and teen.com)
Here’s what the community had to say:
- “Never heard of it before but totally agree. I encourage parents to be the lighthouse parents when it comes to teaching teens about money as well.”
- “Yes!!! So much of my confidence coaching for mothers of teens is based in this! All things nautical work. They need us to be anchored. They are thrashing about as they learn and grow. We give them safe rope and boundaries to struggle, learn. If we are calm, grounded, they feel so much more secure. The safety of our quiet, dependable and steady light is critical to their safety and development. They know our light is there. They don’t always tell us, or like never will😁, but they feel safe with our light. Lighthouse mothers don’t go around fixing or calming waves. Lighthouse mothers know the waves are part of the ocean. The waves aren’t a problem. The lighthouse is strengthened by standing firm. The lighthouse doesn’t use energy telling the waves they shouldn’t be there. Totally useless energy. Lighthouses all have distinct patterns, shapes, sizes. Just like mothers. All suited to the terrain and landscape. All unique. As the world gets dark, the lights shine… just as teens need our lights when their world gets dark. Our light becomes so distinct and what guides them.”
- “I love this. I wish more parents would embrace this idea. I deal with the other types on a regular basis and they can be so exhausting. I totally understand wanting to help your kids avoid hard things. But, it’s not helping when they are unable to do anything without a parent’s input.”
The new Consider This: Confidence Building for Teens cards are here!
Want more help parenting your teen? Check this out:
- Is TikTok Safe
- Sibling Revelry
- Teens and Social Media
- Love Languages for Teens (free printable)
