#017 Kristen & Shelley Shoot the Parenting Breeze

I'm happy I was able to convince my friend Shelley to chat on this episode with a fairly unscripted agenda. I'd already interviewed her husband, Brian (in episode #12) and I wanted to wait a while to do an official podcast with her in the standard format. In this chat, we are just shooting the breeze, parenting style. She is one of my closest friends, and greatest confidants when it comes to parenting and life. Even though she didn't necessarily WANT to speak on air, and do a mini photo shoot, I love her response when I asked her with partially squeezed eyes, and her response was, "Kristen, I'll do anything for you." THAT is a true friend.  PLUS, if you really want insight as to how our family operates, she's one of the best that can tell you, and she does share some of her observations about the Duke Family in this episode! We start our chat with me highlighting a few times in our 5 year friendship that I've cried on her shoulder...I'm a sensitive soul! We then discuss some of her favorite episodes of Beyond Good Intentions and her "a-ha" moments. We talk about how we aim to implement different parenting tactics such as yelling and asking rhetorical questions, and how we also need to be flexible.  One of my favorite discussions is to talk about what we DON'T do as moms, that we may see others doing, and that we are ok with it. I love this discussion because I think as we are more vocal about what we DON'T DO, it gives allowance for others moms to realize we don't need to...and we CAN'T do it all the time. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this in the Instagram discussion, what do you not do and feel ok with? We close with chatting about our thoughts after attending a parenting conference recently. Listen all the way to the very end of this episode where I have a REQUEST for you. It's how all of YOU can be a part of this podcast, I want to hear YOUR voice! (Literally) A funny quote from mine and Shelley's chat happens towards the end, "Sometimes, being a parent is just super annoying." Ha!