We raised six kids and as they were growing up there were times when my children had

something to tell me about my parenting and I really didn't want to hear it. It was often because I was a hypocrite.

They'd say, well how come you get to or why are you yelling? It's like,

oh, man, that's uncomfortable.

One of the best ways for me to respond to those moments

was to just shut up and listen and not defend myself or justify myself. I

didn't do that so well all the time but I did learn over time to be receptive to

some criticism because I am not a perfect parent. Now if you can join that club of

I am not a perfect parent stay tuned I think you'll enjoy this episode. I'm John Fuller joined by Dr. Danny

Werta. He leads our parenting department and Danny, what does it communicate to my kid when as a parent I don't want to really receive their

criticism? Well when you don't it really disconnects the conversation.

When they come to you with a criticism and you accept it, it shows that you care about the relationship,

you have that teachable heart you're wanting to model in your home, even though it's not easy

for you to take that. It sets a culture in your home that we're all teachable and I'll take feedback from you and I care about you and I'm not needing to defend anything.

I'm an imperfect person trying to navigate love.

And one of the things that I'll tell my kids,

if they bring something up, I'll say, hey, thank you

for bringing that up. And you're welcome for giving you an opportunity to practice

love.

It's a gift to you.

That's good.

I like that. Did you find it that the criticisms your children shared kind of increased in both their frequency and their intensity as they became teenagers?

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