Deeping Connections: What Your Teenagers & Kids Need Most | Tracey Burns

#187 Today, I am here with my dear friend Tracey Burns. Tracey is a coach who teaches and provides the life skills and tools teen girls need to thrive in life. She also partners with their parents to become a formidable team in helping the girls in the crucial years of adolescence. During our conversation today, we discuss parenting styles, the importance of self-awareness among teens and parents, how parents can connect with their teens, and the effects of the pandemic on teenagers. If you are a parent who is seeking to connect with their child and build a solid relationship, then this episode is for you. "I hear a lot from parents about wanting to change their teen. But actually, you have to work with both parents and teens to get the results." About Tracey: Before starting Unstoppable Girls, Tracey had a successful career in Marketing and Advertising. Tracey was inspired to create Unstoppable girls as she reflected on her own childhood and teen years. After suffering trauma as a young girl and realising the impact this made on her throughout her teen and adult life, Tracey knew the importance of having a strong sense of self and self-worth, as well as positive role models. Tracey passionately believes that if we can develop our girls' mental armour (courage, self-belief, confidence and compassion) to own who they are, understand their strengths, their uniqueness, and their worth, then they have a much greater chance of a positive experience during their teen years. As a teen, and young woman, Tracey set up her own retail business which she ran successfully for 4 years until at the age of 23 she decided to study Business with marketing at University where she went on to win a National competition that saw her land a graduate training place at a top advertising agency in London. She climbed the corporate ladder and went on to become a Managing Director of a leading Marketing agency working on world class brands like Qantas, Virgin, Vodafone, Volkswagen, amongst others. After 20 years in the corporate world Tracey retrained and studied Psychology of coaching and qualified as an Executive and life coach. After working through her own childhood trauma and now being a mother of two girls, Tracey knew that for her girls and all girls to truly thrive, they needed to develop a rock-solid inner foundation as well as having strong, positive adult mentors in their life. Tracey's Website:Unstoppable Girls – Life Skills for Teen Girls – Teen Girl Programs & Workshops & In School Programs for Teens Tracey's Facebook Group(9) Raising unstoppable girls | Facebook Key points with time stamp: Deeping Connections: What Your Teenagers & Kids Need Most (00:00) A coach to teenage girls in Australia (00:40) The importance of becoming aware of our trauma (04:15) Why you may not be healing from past trauma (07:43) Anger and positivity, can they coexist? (10:21) The reoccurring challenge of teenage girls and their parents (11:07) Is our world today amplifying the issues of teens? (13:12) The role of self-awareness in connecting with your teen (16:07) Do you inherit your parenting style? (20:09) How can you improve on your parenting style? (23:11) What does the ideal parent child relationship look like? (24:44) How do you find the balance between being a friend and being a parent? (26:11) The biggest frustrations of teenagers towards parents (28:34) Supporting your child as they step into adolescence (30:12) The lack of teenage coaching in schools (32:05) The importance of preventative approaches regarding mental health (34:36) Are teen struggles surprising to Tracey? (36:22) 3 things you could right now for your relationship with your teen (37:38) Are you not present enough? (40:50) Is it too late to mend your relationship with your teen? (44:38) Tracey's workshops in the coming year (46:32) Useful book recommendations for parents (47:29) "It's never too late" (48:50) Mentioned in this episode: The Ten-Ager, 2021. A book by Madonna King Teen Brain, 2019. A book by David Gillespie Untangled, 2016. A book by Lisa Damour About me: My Instagram: www.instagram.com/guyhlawrence/?hl=en My website: www.guylawrence.com.au www.liveinflow.co