SPACEMEN!!!! Did you know you’re screwing your kids up? You’re not. But what if you are? Well today, we’ll address that topic. We talk about clip from Dr. Becky Kennedy, a clinical psychologist known as the millennial parenting whisperer. We’ll talk about how focusing on making kids happy can actually make them fearful and less tolerant of other emotions. When parents try to rescue their kids from distress, they send the message that certain emotions are bad and should be avoided. This can lead to anxiety in adulthood. It is important to develop resilience in kids and allow them to experience a range of emotions. Society's emphasis on happiness and the avoidance of pain can be detrimental to emotional development. We even give you an activity to do at home to help develop your tolerance for emotional discomfort.

Keywords
Dr. Becky Kennedy, parenting, happiness, emotions, resilience, anxiety, distress, avoidance, societal pressure, pain, discomfort, emotions, emotional regulation, tolerance, resilience, validation, comparison, mindfulness, ice cube exercise

Takeaways

• Avoiding distressful emotions can lead to anxiety in adulthood.
• It is important to allow kids to experience a range of emotions and not rescue them from distress.
• Society's emphasis on happiness and the avoidance of pain can hinder emotional development. Allowing children to experience and tolerate pain and discomfort is important for their emotional development and resilience.
• Validating children's emotions and avoiding comparisons or false reassurances is more helpful in supporting their emotional well-being.
• Emotional regulation involves regulating the influence of emotions on behavior and being intentional about how much influence emotions have in different situations.
• The ice cube exercise can be a helpful mindfulness practice to build resilience and learn to tolerate discomfort.
• Acknowledging and labeling emotions is important, but it is not always necessary to fully experience them.

Sound Bites

• "Listening to music from your high school years can boost your mood"
• "Homestar Runner, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and Clone High are nostalgic favorites"
• "Internet issues and frozen screens can be frustrating"
• "If you have any poo, fling it now."
• "Anxiety actually isn't a feeling, it's the experience of wanting to run away from a feeling."
• "Our job is not to make our kid happy."
• "I think we have this idea that now you must go feel it. It's like, do I, or can I just say, no, it's there. I know it's there."
• "You're never going to find happiness through comparison."
• "The purpose of pain is to be resilient because life involves suffering and adversity."

Chapters

00:00
Boost Your Mood with Music Nostalgia

14:53
Introducing Dr. Becky Kennedy, the Millennial Parenting Whisperer

15:12
The Role of Parents: Developing Resilience in Kids

26:19
Allowing Kids to Experience a Range of Emotions

30:04
Societal Pressure and Emotional Development

38:34
Allowing Children to Experience and Tolerate Pain

40:41
Validating Children's Emotions and Avoiding Comparisons

46:26
Emotional Regulation: Regulating the Influence of Emotions on Behavior

56:25
The Ice Cube Exercise: Building Resilience and Tolerating Discomfort

01:03:48
Acknowledging and Labeling Emotions without Fully Experiencing Them

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