Season 11: Episode 118 - Ask Anything - How do I make the most of our Summer?

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at [email protected]. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at [email protected].    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   No Magic Wand If parents had magic wands, most of us would tap our children with one.  At minimum, we would guarantee a future of being a good citizen of their community.  Even more, we would bless them to make a significant impact for good.  Even better, we would give them the wish fulfillment of their own hopes and dreams.   Parents do not get to escape the rigors of parenting, and children do not get to escape the rigors of growing up.   Even without a magic wand, we can create an environment and offer our strength to help children face the rigors of growing up.    To do so, parents must do four most difficult things: We must let them fail. We must let them feel. We must let them struggle. We must let them learn.   Whether we like it or not, children have to grow up in the same world that their parents grew up in.     The realities of life are going to occur—hopes dashed, hopes resurrected, hopes attempted, hopes fulfilled, and heart-ache.    We can offer something of immeasurable value to our children in order to assist them in their learning curve of living fully, loving deeply, and leading well.    There is a “place” and a “person” we can offer our children of any age.    We can become a “safe place to land” for our children.    Being a “safe place” means that we give our children an environment and a person to turn to in order for them to be able to face, feel, and deal with life’s difficulties—and celebrations—without terrible fear of rejection.    This person knows that the name “Dad” or “Mom” is the most important title they will ever have, and it is the title that children want you to value above all others.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.