How to Become Your Kid’s Safe Place

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What happens when the parenting principles you learned when your kids were little are finally put to the test in the teenage years? 

Mandy welcomes longtime friend and former nextTalk co-host Kim Elerick back to the podcast to talk honestly about what she has learned after stepping away from the organization and focusing more intentionally on her family.

Kim shares how creating margin helped her move from projecting fear onto her kids to being more present with them. Together, Mandy and Kim revisit practical principles that have shaped their families: keeping devices out of bedrooms and bathrooms, telling kids “I love you the same” when they mess up, getting curious instead of immediately lecturing, introducing technology based on readiness rather than age, and reminding kids they can always wake you up. Through mistakes, apologies, hard conversations, and plenty of “crazy parent mode,” they’ve seen how consistently building a safe place can create relationships where kids actually want to come to their parents when something goes wrong.

Guest Bio:

 Kim Elerick helped build nextTalk alongside Mandy Majors from its earliest days as a moms group through its growth into a nonprofit organization. With a background in radio, Kim also helped Mandy learn the world of radio and podcasting while contributing to many of the parenting principles and conversations that became foundational to nextTalk.

After stepping away from her day-to-day role at nextTalk to prioritize her family, Kim gained a new perspective on putting those principles into practice while raising her three children. Now returning as an occasional guest contributor, she brings honest, firsthand insight about parenting teens, navigating technology, creating healthy boundaries, and building the kind of relationship where kids know their parents are a safe place.

Resources:

• Look in the Mirror: https://nexttalk.org/podcast_episode/look-in-the-mirror/ 
• Crazy Parent Mode: https://nexttalk.org/podcast_episode/avoid-crazy-parent-mode/
• Four reasons I kept screens out of my kid’s bedroom and bathroom: https://nexttalk.org/podcast_episode/four-reasons-i-kept-screens-out-of-my-kids-bedroom-and-bathroom/ 
• Walker’s Promise - https://nexttalk.org/walkers-promise/ 
• 16 Year Old’s Suicide from Sextortion.How do we protect our kids? - nextTalk 
• Build a safe place: https://nexttalk.org/podcast_episode/build-a-safe-place/
• Is my kid ready for a phone? - nextTalk
• My child is ready for social media. Where should I start? - nextTalk 
• Influenced: https://nexttalk.org/podcast_episode/influenced/ 
• Questioning Kids Wrap-Up: Understanding my child instead of trying to “fix” them - nextTalk 
• Author Kristen Jenson - nextTalk 
• “Good Pictures, Bad Pictures” book: https://www.defendyoungminds.com/books 

Connect with The nextTalk Parent Podcast:

Website:https://nextTalk.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nextTalk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nextTalkorg/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nextTalkorg

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