Hey y'all, welcome back to the Don't Mom Alone podcast.

I'm your host, Heather McFaddean, and this is the place where I get to walk alongside you

and connect you with people and resources so you know that you don't mom alone.

And in this episode number 555, which is super fun to say, I'm welcoming

back to the show, my friend Cynthia Yianoff. Maybe that's the best parenting advice I ever got.

What do you want him to look like at 25 and what are you doing now? And how is that going to play into it?

And so that's kind of been the scale that I've tried to step back and look at that and say, okay, is it going to matter when they're 25 that they were in this friend group or not? Is it going to matter that they pitched in this game or not? Is it going to matter? And if you can step back and think about it, and for me, like, I want my kids at 25. I want them to be kind and I want them be humble and I want them

to love the marginalized. Like I want those things for them. And so how do I elevate that? How do

I pivot towards that even though we're still going to do the things that have to be done every day?

But in a culture that's going to tell you that the most important things are the temporary things,

we got to pivot towards knowing the most important things are the eternal things. Cynthia is a mom of three. She's a speaker. She's an author of the books. Life is messy. God is good. And how'd I miss that? Her newest book coming out in February. She's a podcaster. She has her own show mesmerized. She helps out with feeding the mouth that bites you. And she

co-hosts a show with me called Sightract. If you haven't listened to that, definitely go check it out.

Today we're talking about parenting with perspective. She and I have older kids. And this is why I had

Cynthia come on the show. She is still parenting a younger one who's in third grade. And so today we're talking about what does she learn? What really mattered and what didn't? And because she's still in the thick of it, I felt like she was a valid source for you because sometimes I can put on the rose color glass and it's going to be like, oh, it was just all so great. Why can't you guys enjoy it more? And be a little judgy, which is not the goal for today. We also talk a little bit about friendships. And I even ask Cynthia some hosting tips at the end because she is the hostess with the mostest. All right. Let's get right to it. Here we go. Cynthia, welcome back to the Don't Mom Alone podcast.

Well, it's so nice to meet you, Heather.

And the third time's a charm with the intros, our poor editor.

Cynthia and I have known each other a while, and we actually co-hosts another podcast that we used to have over here on Doma Malone.

If you haven't listened in a moment or you just started listening, we have a different show

called Sightract and we're very off the cuff.

That's being, yeah, that's being generous, but yes, off the cuff.

We'll call it that.

Like I kept thinking, oh, I need to tell

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