How can we help our teens navigate the complexities of friendships without projecting our own experiences, desires, or traumas onto them? What level of parent involvement is appropriate?
In this thought-provoking episode, I spoke to the insightful Stephanie Sprenger to explore the delicate art of guiding our children through the messy world of friendships while recognizing when our own feelings and experiences might be hindering their growth and learning. As parents, we might struggle to find the right balance between protecting our kids and allowing them to learn from their own mistakes. We also covered issues like letting kids choose their friends even while knowing this means other kids are feeling left out.
The anonymous question we referred to is here.
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Meet Stephanie Sprenger
Stephanie Sprenger is a writer, producer, podcaster at The Mother Plus Podcast, and music therapist living in Colorado with her husband, two tween and teen daughters, and two rescue dogs. She is a co-founder and co-editor at The HerStories Project, a writing and publishing community for Gen X women at midlife, and co-producer of Listen To Your Mother Boulder.
Learn more about Stephanie’s writing and work at Stephanie’s website. She’s also on Instagram.
Topics We Covered:
- Identifying when we are projecting our own friendship histories, fears, and anxieties onto our kids
- When and if to talk to other parents when there are issues between the kids
- The tricky balance of guiding our children through the often messy world of friendships
- Allowing teens to learn from their mistakes
- Forgiving kids who hurt our kids for their mistakes
- The hard balance of letting kids choose their friends while knowing that means some kids are out there feeling left out
- When to trust that kids have the skills and tools to work through difficult situations, and when to step in
- The value of involving mental health professionals, like school counselors and camp staff in helping teens navigate these challenging times
- The importance of not robbing kids of building the resilience necessary to handle the inevitable ups and downs of friendships
- I taught Stephanie about the VSCO app
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