This morning, I told my daughter Sophie what I’d been writing about, and she started sharing her own thoughts on this subject. I found these thoughts very interesting. I scribbled them down on a scrap of paper as Sophie was speaking, Then I said, “Can I interview you for a podcast? Can we talk about unconditional love, trust, and respect?”
Sophie was very happy to chat with me, so this afternoon, we had a second conversation which I recorded and then edited. I turned the interview into episode 70 of my Stories of an Unschooling Family podcast.
In this episode, we explored the following questions:
- Should every parent respect and love their children unconditionally?
- Do all children feel loved unconditionally? If not, why not?
- How does Sophie know I love her?
- Do all parents talk to their children with respect? If not, what does Sophie think they’re doing wrong?
- Why do parents criticise their children and what does criticism do to them? Does it result in a child trying harder?
- How can a parent encourage a child to overcome her faults?
- Is it really necessary to change our children? Do all children have to be the same?
- What do misbehaving children need?
- Do we gossip about our children?
- Is writing down our thoughts and feelings valuable?
- What is trust? How can trust grow between parent and child?
- Do we judge people on their appearance? Including children?
- Am I a perfect mother? Have I got everything worked out? Or is it okay if I make mistakes?
Show Notes
Blog posts
A Few Raw Thoughts on a Crumpled Piece of Paper
What if Wrinkles Were Beautiful?
Podcast Music
Images: I took these photos of Sophie this morning. We had coffee together at the shopping centre. While we sipped, we chatted about unconditional love, respect and trust. That conversation led to this podcast.
You can find more episodes of my Stories of an Unschooling Family podcast oniTunes
and here on my blog.
Please feel welcome to stop by to comment or say hello.
Thank you for listening to this week’s podcast episode!
Really good podcast. I have thoughts but not sure how to express them adequately:-). Sophie did a great job! Happy Birthday and I hope the seasonal allergy problem settles xx
San,
Sophie will be happy to know she did okay despite her allergy problem. It's very windy here at the moment and so she is suffering more than usual. Hayfever and asthma weather!
Thank you so much for listening and leaving some feedback for Sophie. I'll pass it on! Thank you for the birthday greetings too! xx
I don't find enough time to listen to your podcast right now, but it sounds wonderful! I love your way of thinking, it is very inspiring to me.
Ida,
Thank you for your encouraging words. I hope you enjoy the podcast when you find time to listen!
Wonderful conversation between you and Sophie. It's very interesting to hear things from a teen's perspective. I truly hope, though, that more parents listen to your posts so that her opinion of parents in general can increase??. I think that it's a hard balance between talking to others for help and advice about difficulties we might be having with our children or spouses or friends and crossing over into gossiping or just plain complaining. Definitely something to think and pray about in our daily conversations! Thanks again for another thought-provoking podcast!
Sara,
I've also been thinking about the difference between gossiping and talking over things with friends or spouses in order to help a child. Yes, there are times when we do seek suggestions especially from people whose opinion we value, in order to help our kids. But perhaps this should be done in private and certainly not in the presence of other children. Sophie is talking about things she has heard, and as the conversations really hadn't got anything to do with her, perhaps it would have been wiser for the mothers concerned to not have said anything in public. Maybe we have to think more carefully about what we say, who we say it to, and when we say it. Sophie's words made me examine my own conversations. You are right: Hearing things from a child's perspective is very interesing and also revealing. I learn so much from my kids!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the podcast. Thanks for listening. Now, I just have to come up with a topic for this week!!