Stop Controlling Your Kids: A Marine Vet's Guide to Real Leadership ft. Jeremy Stalnecker
The Dad Edge Podcast
Larry Hagner
4.8 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 9 June 2025
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Have you ever asked yourself:
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"How do I truly lead my kids without falling into controlling behaviors?"
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"Is it possible to have a strong, lasting marriage while staying emotionally connected?"
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"How do I find purpose and resilience when life throws its biggest curveballs?"
If these questions resonate, get ready for a powerful conversation that will challenge and inspire you to lead with greater intention—at home and beyond.
Larry Hagner sits down with Jeremy Stalnecker—a Marine Corps veteran, father of four, pastor, and co-leader of the Mighty Oaks Foundation. Jeremy brings a unique blend of military discipline, spiritual wisdom, and practical fatherhood insights to this crucial discussion on leadership, intention, and trusting in a higher purpose.
Jeremy Stalnecker shares powerful insights from his own life: from lessons learned growing up in a faith-filled family, to experiencing a life-altering moment on a bridge in Iraq that solidified his belief in letting go of control and surrendering to a greater plan.
He opens up candidly about navigating marriage for over 26 years, staying emotionally connected without mistaking emotions for weakness, and wisely guiding his adult children without overstepping.
Become the best husband and leader you can: https://www.thedadedge.com/mastermind
In this essential conversation, we dig into:
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Leading Without Controlling: The crucial distinction between guiding your children with intention versus attempts at authoritarian control.
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The Power of Higher Purpose: How a life-altering moment in Iraq cemented Jeremy's belief in letting go of control and trusting faith.
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Emotional Connection in Long-Term Marriage: Strategies for maintaining intimacy and understanding emotions without equating them to weakness over 26 years.
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Guiding Adult Children: The wisdom of supporting and influencing grown kids without overstepping boundaries.
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Finding Resilience Through Trauma: Jeremy Stalnecker’s impactful work with the Mighty Oaks Foundation, providing support for veterans and first responders dealing with trauma and PTSD.
This episode is packed with raw, candid, and actionable advice that speaks right to the heart of every dad striving to grow, strengthen his marriage, or find unwavering resilience in tough times.
Here's what research and observation highlight about purposeful living and strong family dynamics:
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Individuals who live with a clear sense of purpose report a 25% higher level of overall well-being and life satisfaction.
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Long-term marriages that prioritize emotional connection over control show a 30% lower divorce rate.
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Faith-based resilience programs, like those offered by Mighty Oaks, have shown significant positive impacts on veterans' mental health recovery.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Dad Edge podcast. The Dad Edge movement creates leaders of men, leaders of families, and leaders of communities. We will not only impact this generation of fathers, but the next generation as well. The kids we are raising will have better chances and odds stacked in their favor because of the amazing example |
| 0:21.2 | that their fathers emulated for them. We are here to change the world. We are here to change |
| 0:27.5 | relationships. We are here to positively disrupt this generation of fathers so no man goes to their |
| 0:33.5 | grave with regret. We disrupt the drift of busyness and replace it with razor-focused |
| 0:39.1 | intention, passion, |
| 0:41.4 | purpose, and direction. |
| 0:43.7 | We are the Dad Edge |
| 0:45.4 | and we're here to change |
| 0:47.3 | the game. |
| 0:47.8 | We're here to change the game. |
| 1:10.9 | I So what does it mean to lead our kids without controlling them? Well, that's just one of the things we're going to be talking about today. And I know that is near and dear to your heart because we always want the best for our kids. Absolutely want the best for our kids. And sometimes we get that one confused. I want to |
| 1:16.2 | lead them, but I also want to control what they're doing. Gentlemen, what's going on? My name is Larry Hagner. |
| 1:20.8 | I am the host and founder of the Dad Edge podcast and welcome here. If you are here, obviously you are a dad with purpose, with vision, with values, because that is |
| 1:28.4 | what we talk about in this show. My goal for you guys on this show every single week is to give you |
| 1:33.4 | epic guests like today, their knowledge so we can extract their knowledge, their expertise, |
| 1:38.6 | and we can implement it in our own lives. I've been doing this podcast now for 10 years, |
| 1:43.4 | over a decade. |
| 1:44.3 | I can't even believe it. |
| 1:45.5 | And what I can tell you is, man, not only I think have you guys learned a lot, but I know |
| 1:49.6 | I've learned a lot. |
| 1:51.0 | Being in this seat behind the microphone, it's like you have a front row seat to one of the |
| 1:54.6 | best educations on the planet, and it's called the Life Skills. |
... |
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