The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

Welcome to Raising Good Humans podcast. I'm Dr. Eliza Pressman and it's just us today. I wanted to just have a solo episode and go over 10 ways to cultivate relationships. Sounds totally simple,

but the reason I wanted to set aside some time to talk through concrete, research-backed ways

to cultivate close relationships is because you know that relationships are sort of the umbrella protective buffer

for whatever comes your way and your children's way.

And so we know that relationships are kind of critical, not kind of critical.

They are the thing that we can actually control ourselves in

relationship to the people that we love. We know that there are massive benefits to having a

close relationship with at least one adult caregiver. We also know from the largest running study

from Harvard University that close-connected

relationships are also the key to longevity and happiness.

So knowing that, if you struggle to have a close-connected relationship with your young person,

these are some ways to just kind of make sure to check in with yourself

to promote the best possible connection. I know that it's like all easy to say not to worry your

kids have you and they have, they just need that one caregiver in their life to buffer the impact of toxic stressors and move them from the categorization of toxic to tolerable,

which can build resilience. But it's another thing to know how to check and make sure you're

actually cultivating a close relationship. It's a lot easier if you grew up in a healthy, securely

attached relationship with one adult in your life, ideally a parent. But if you didn't,

this is what's here for you. We're going to go through it today. So I'm going to go through

the neuroscience of why some relationships feel a little bit more

effortless and others feel like work and give you the strategies, evidence-based, that can

transform how you connect with your kids and your partner and really anyone in your life.

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