Interview with My Adult Daughter - Avoiding Upsets, Feeling Emotions, & Permission to Focus on Self

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In this episode, I invited my oldest daughter Jenelle to share her reflections of growing up in our often chaotic and stressful home. She shares the role she took on as a "helper" in our family and how although she liked that role at the time she learned later how that role kept her from opening up to share her own emotions out of fear of upsetting me and her dad.  She also opens up about sometimes not feeling recognized and how special 1:1 time helped with that. We end this episode on a conversation we shared when she was moving out to go to college that was a turning point for her.  As a mom, when I listen back to this episode I feel some painful regrets and you'll notice that I do not acknowledge during this interview where I fell short. While I have had that conversation privately with each of my kids at different times, it is still apparent that we fall back into our patterns and our roles so easily! My hope is that you can see how as moms, being aware of the ways our kids interpret their roles in the family impacts them into adulthood. Taking time to acknowledge each of our kids' unique strengths and needs and making it OK to feel feelings are big takeaways this week.  Thank you for listening!

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