The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting
Ever since becoming a parent, it’s been clear to me that parenting isn’t just about raising another human being, it’s about exploring, unpacking, and dealing with the personal baggage that can impact how you raise human beings. My biggest childhood issues that I have had to untangle from my parenting include money (or lack thereof), shame around the drama our family stirred up, and feelings of abandonment (as the 6th of 7 kids I was largely sibling raised).
Self exploration is hard work but it’s really, really important. And that’s why I’d like to recommend you sign up for Brené Brown’s COURAGEworks™ course The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting: A Wholehearted Revolution. This on-demand, four-lesson course tackles the themes: 1) love and belonging, 2) empathy and self-compassion, 3) resilience and bounce, and 4) gratitude and joy. The course includes Brené Brown teaching about various concepts via video (there are several per lesson) and creative activities and writing prompts in each lesson.
Now, I will say plainly that I moved very slowly through the course -- which is totally fine because NO JUDGMENT! Moving through the course takes time because each lesson is rich with material to help parents embrace imperfection and vulnerability, and to work on unpacking shame as part of the pathway to courage, compassion, empathy, and connection (both inward and outward). So much of this course resonated with things I believe in and practice, and the former science nerd in me loved hearing about the research backing behind different concepts (though fear not, it’s all very practical -- you won’t need to think about statistics!). I also love that creativity is such a key part of the course.
Below is an example of one of the creative activities that resulted from the course (I totally went rogue on some of the activities!). If you’d like to sign up, use code JOIN ME for 20% off your registration (expires 12/31/17). We need the opportunity for more self reflection and creativity in the world -- here's your chance!
And here’s a video about the course:
Images courtesy of COURAGEworks