Stop fixing the child. Start reading the tide.
About this episode
This episode explores why different families experience varying results with the same parenting strategies and emphasizes understanding underlying issues rather than blaming the child or the strategy.
Two moms, same friend group, same parenting workshop, same exact tool — a five-step sticker chart with a small reward at the end of the week. One family used it for three weeks and mornings actually got easier. The other used it for four days before it fell apart completely, more conflict than before they'd started. Same chart. Same follow-through. Completely different result. In this episode: What actually determines whether a parenting strategy works or fails — and it's rarely the strategy itself Why a strategy can work beautifully one week and completely fail the next, for the same child How to stop concluding "something's wrong with my kid" or "I'm doing this wrong" when a strategy doesn't land A simple one-question check to run before reaching for a new strategy Your kid isn't the problem, and neither was the last strategy that didn't work — nobody was looking at what was actually happening underneath it. Resources mentioned: climbingfishparenting.com/quiz (free 2-minute quiz to find your child's pattern)
More episodes of Climbing Fish Parenting
- Vacation Meltdowns: Why Time Off Doesn't Feel Like a Break for Kids who are Wired Differently
- Why Some Kids Implode and Others Explode
- The Skill Nobody's Born With
- Why Your Teen's Reactions Feel So Much Bigger Than the Moment
- "I'm Bored": What Your Neurodivergent Kid Is Actually Telling You
- Summer Q&A: Chores That Never Get Done, House Rules That Aren't Sticking, and Yes — Whether Your Kid Actually Needs to Shower
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