<p>Today’s episode is the final one in the Mental Health Awareness Month podcast collaboration I organized with a few other parenting and mental health podcast hosts. We each chose one episode from our own show to share on the others’ podcasts throughout the month.</p> <p>This episode comes from Dawn Friedman’s podcast, Tell Me It Will Be Okay.</p> <p>Dawn has worked with kids and families for more than 30 years as a preschool teacher, clinical counselor, parent educator, and parent herself. Her work focuses mostly on supporting parents of anxious kids.</p> <p>In this episode, Dawn talks about something she calls “judicious giving up,” which is about stepping back from the urge to immediately fix a parenting problem and getting curious about what’s actually going on underneath it.</p> <p>Sometimes the bedtime struggle isn’t really about bedtime.<br /> The school refusal isn’t really about school.<br /> The behavior isn’t always the whole story.</p> <p>Dawn also talks about how parenting struggles can bring up our own fears, expectations, identities, and beliefs about who we think we’re supposed to be as parents.</p> <p>At the end of the episode, I share some of my own thoughts about nervous system patterns, emotional reactions, and why insight alone usually isn’t enough to change the way we respond.</p> <p>For full show notes and information, visit https://lessdramamoremama.com/407</p> <p>The post <a href="https://lessdramamoremama.com/parenting-problems-arent-what-they-seem-dawn-friedman/">Parenting Problems Aren’t Always What They Seem with Dawn Friedman – 407</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lessdramamoremama.com">Less Drama More Mama</a>.</p>