You want to protect your child and give them a better life than you had. But sometimes, those good intentions backfire, leaving our teens less capable, less confident, and more dependent than we ever wanted.

In this conversation with licensed clinical counselor and life coach Virginia Townsand, we explore how over-helping can unintentionally create learned helplessness, and what you can do instead to foster independence and resilience in your teen.

Virginia and I talk about the difference between “doing for,” “doing with,” and letting your child “do for themselves,” and how shifting into that middle ground can build confidence, life skills, and self-advocacy. You’ll walk away with practical tools you can start using today to stop rescuing and start empowering.

In this episode on helping your teen build independence, we discuss:

• Why intention and impact often don’t match when parenting teens;
• How over-helping can lead to learned helplessness;
• The role of discomfort in building resilience and confidence in teens and young adults;
• Practical strategies to move from “doing for” to “doing with”;
• The long-term benefits of letting your teen struggle and grow;
• And more!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Connect with Virginia at www.janus-co.com

Looking for support?

🗺️Need help setting healthy boundaries with your teen AND following through? My free guide will help you do so by creating your own Parent Home Plan!

🤍Influence lasting change in yourself and your struggling teen with my private coaching or parent group program specifically created for parents of struggling teens.

Have a question or need support? You can email me at [email protected]

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And remember parents, the change begins with us.