Tag: parent coaching

December 10, 2025

Enabling Or Supporting?

Photo by Sierra Koder on Unsplash

Enabling holds people down, and supporting lifts people.

Enabling holds people down, and supporting lifts people. When we lean into enabling rather than supporting as parents, there is no path to independence. When we lean into supporting instead of enabling, we are creating a path to independence. The teacher of my parent coaching course made a clear distinction between enabling and supporting. She defined enabling as doing things for others with no plan for their future independence. Supporting is helping someone with a plan to help them build a specific skill towards independence. 


Enabling is the shadow side of being supportive. If we just repeatedly do things for others with no long-term plan for them to learn or do for themselves, then we are enabling. Supporting is showing, helping, guiding folks towards developing a skill, and eventually doing this skill independently. Supporting is at the core of being a coach.

November 3, 2025

Stillness Leads to Opportunities

I see choices and possibilities when I slow down.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez ???????? on Unsplash

I have learned that there is a strong connection between having a stillness practice and the ability to see opportunities and choices before me. When I was new to leadership and to parenting, I felt that I had to have all the answers and fix all the problems. I was always on the move, putting out fires at work and at home. I only stopped when I slept. I would fall into a deep sleep each night as my head hit the pillow and awake each morning to my alarm as thinking I just went to bed. Those of you of a certain age may remember the phrase for the Dunkin’ Donut commercials that the weary donut baker said each dark morning as he started baking day after day: “It’s time to make the donuts.”

October 8, 2025

Parent Coaching: What’s that?

Photo by Suzi Kim on Unsplash

As parents, we are given this enormous responsibility and privilege of caring for other human beings who are constantly changing and growing. How do we develop the skills and strategies to respond to the baby, the toddler, the teen, and the young adult in front of us in this ever-changing landscape? Parent coaching is a vital support!

When my children were younger and I was juggling full-time work and parenting, I often felt overwhelmed and lonely. My kids and work were consistently at the top of the priority list. Exercising was somewhere at the bottom. Developing my skills as a parent was not even on the list! I read numerous parenting books and, as an educator myself, was well-versed in child development; yet, when it came to my own children, the skills and strategies felt less accessible. My husband, also in education, and I often engaged the expertise of tutors, therapists, and any resource the school recommended.