Are you overparenting? With Steph Thurling
Pardon the Mess with Scarlet Hiltibidal - Christian Motherhood, Biblical Parenting, Raising Christian Kids
Scarlet Hiltibidal and Christian Parenting
4.9 • 849 Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week’s episode is packed with insights and practical advice for navigating the complexities of parenting during the middle school years. I’m joined by Steph Thurling, and together we dive into balancing love, independence, and the continuous learning process of parenting.
Here are four key takeaways from this episode:
- Parenting evolves as children grow, and middle school years often require creative ways to re-engage with your kids.
- Allowing children to experience failure helps them develop responsibility and confidence.
- Overparenting can hinder independence—parents should guide their children through problems, not shield them from them.
- Self-care for parents is crucial to maintaining balance and avoiding guilt in the parenting journey.
Steph Thurling is the executive director of Christian Parenting and the host of the Christian Parenting podcast where she encourages parents every week to be the imperfectly perfect parent God created them to be. She is also an author, speaker, and advocate for empowering parents to create lasting family connections.
I love working alongside Steph at Christian Parenting. She’s a delight and filled with wisdom and encouragement.
Enjoy!
Courtney
(01:57) Navigating Parenting Stages
(06:10) Engaging with Middle Schoolers
(10:07) The Balance of Hovering and Letting Go
(13:57) Preparing for Independence
(18:02) Overparenting: Understanding the Roots
(21:06) Navigating the Challenges of Letting Go in Parenting
(24:35) The Importance of Self-Care and Mom Guilt
(26:54) Recognizing Red Flags in Parenting Dynamics
(28:54) Practical Strategies to Avoid Over-Parenting
(31:37) Embracing Independence and Building Confidence in Kids
(34:49) The Balance of Love and Guidance in Parenting
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Christian Parenting. |
| 0:03.5 | Christian Parenting. |
| 0:07.0 | Hey friends, welcome to Pardon the Mess. |
| 0:14.0 | I'm your host, Courtney Defeo, and I am super excited for y'all to get to know Steph Thurling today. So she is the executive director of |
| 0:22.9 | Christian parenting. And so if you know or you need to know a little bit of background, so part |
| 0:26.5 | in the mask, this podcast was the very first podcast of the Christian parenting organization. |
| 0:31.5 | And Cynthia Yanov was the host, did a fantastic job. And then she passed the torch to me to take |
| 0:36.5 | over this podcast. And then later, |
| 0:38.0 | they ended up adding multiple podcasts, including the one that Steph hosts called Christian Parenting. |
| 0:43.2 | Now there's a network of over 20 parenting podcasts. And so because of our relationship and what we do |
| 0:48.8 | kind of in the same network and in the same company and organization, Steph and I talk about |
| 0:54.1 | parenting. We talk about |
| 0:55.3 | sometimes we'll pray for each other. Sometimes we'll check in and say like, hey, I'm kind of |
| 0:59.9 | processing this as a parent. I wonder if other people are. Is this a good episode? Or she'll say, |
| 1:04.5 | hey, this is what I'm dealing with with the ages of my kids. Do you think I should do the podcast or |
| 1:08.2 | you? And so I love that collaboration because her and I |
| 1:11.0 | really, really care about the parents out there that are trying to raise their kids in a Christian |
| 1:15.5 | home. And then we want to be really real about where we are struggling. So this is one of those areas |
| 1:21.0 | that I was kind of waving the flag and processing going, I think I might have over-parented |
| 1:25.1 | and kind of pausing to say, what would I have done differently? |
| 1:28.8 | Maybe kind of waving the flags for those of you, they're still got elementary or middle school |
| 1:32.5 | and say, like, where can you back up in a healthy way when it's age-appropriate to let them |
... |
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