In this episode we chat to the incredible Katie Coyle about the essential role that self-love and self-compassion play in the parenting journey and how to role model these tools to children.
Katie is a pediatric nurse, a writer, an advocate for early intervention, a mother of 3 beautiful children, and a wonderful friend to Lindsay, Koes and I.
We discuss Katie’s personal journey to parenthood, which involved infertility issues and Katie conceiving premature twins through IVF at the age of 26. Katie opens up about how difficult this process was and the body shame she felt because her body wasn’t functioning as it was ‘supposed to’.
We talk about how Katie found herself at breaking point about 18 months after giving birth and how this became her invitation to becoming more self-compassionate and learning how to love herself well.
We look at the ways that children learn through observing their parents, and why this means practising self-love is the ultimate lesson for parents to learn, so they can role model this behaviour to their children. Katie shares why dropping perfectionism as a standard is a must and how adopting a growth mindset is a more powerful alternative.
Katie also shares some great tools to help children when they’re feeling anxious and upset, how to use story and play as tools to teach self-compassion and what to do when kids or parents are feeling flooded. Katie is an absolute wealth of knowledge, she has a heart of gold and we feel so lucky to have her on our podcast.
Resources Mentioned:
Katie’s website with tools for parents and kids - www.nursemomshop.com
The Body Keeps Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk - https://amzn.to/2YGol0t
Mindset by Dr. Carol S. Dweck - https://amzn.to/2YINjMI