477: Beaven Walters: Preparing For Your Child’s Coming Out

Beaven Walters is Shameless Mom of 4, a ACPI Certified Parenting Coach and the founder of The 3D Parent, where she is a supportive and nurturing champion for bringing dignity, direction, and deep connection to family relationships. She has always had a passion for working with children and their families. Beaven began her professional career as an elementary school teacher and taught in a variety of educational settings for 10 years. Between having her four children, Beaven and a close colleague developed an educational program for young children and their caregivers called GEM Tots which focused on connecting children to their caregivers by learning, playing, and exploring together. Beaven also created CharacterWorks, a Social/Emotional Learning program that ran for three years in the Seattle School District combining character education, performing arts, and parental support. Beaven focuses on helping parents build stronger relationships with their children. In addition to coaching one-on-one with clients, Beaven runs parenting workshops, speaks on a variety of topics relevant to parenting, is a regular guest on local news stations, and hosts The 3D Parent Podcast. In addition to The 3D Parent, Beaven is often found on the stage performing in local regional theater, singing, and spending time with family.  After hearing Beaven talk about her son, Scooter, coming out to her on her podcast, The 3D Parent, I asked her if she and her son would be open to her sharing this story and journey on the SMA. I am so grateful they both said yes. This conversation is so important and so beautiful. I’m truly honored that Scooter gave consent for his mom to share this with you. Listen in to hear Beaven share: Why all parents should prepare for their child’s potential coming out The story of her son coming out at age 12 What she did well and what she flubbed up in the initial coming out conversation with her son How she apologized and owned her missteps - and how all parents can better model apologizing skills How her son’s peers reacted to his coming out Why you should trust your child’s instincts around their sexual orientation and their coming out process How she’s navigating son’s sexual orientation within her Catholic community What it was like attending PrideFest after her son came out Links mentioned: Sign Up for my Purposeful & Profitable Podcasting Workshop Connect with Beaven: The 3D Parent Lounge Beaven on IG: The 3D Parent Lounge Beaven on FB: The 3D Parent Lounge Private Membership Community on FB: The 3D Parent Lounge Thank you to our sponsor: Best Fiends: Download FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices