Plan P
Parenting teens? Take it from two people who have been there, done that and came out on the other side with trusting relationships with their now-adult children. Prior to even considering coaching and podcasting, they got their most valuable certification - the approval of their now adult children. Join parenting coach duo, Sarah Pollak and Quinn Faison, every week as they share both their personal and professional experiences on building healthy relationships with preteens, teens and young adults as they enter adulthood. If you aren’t happy with your teen’s behavior, need parenting help, or just want to be a better parent, this show is for you. Parenting is one of the most rewarding experiences, but it’s no walk in the park - especially as your not-so-little-one becomes an ever-evolving teenager!
Episodes
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
The Power of the Pollyanna Perspective
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
The Power of Pollyanna Perspective
There is much power to be found in positivity WHEN used properly! Pollyana can get a bad rap. We understand why. The ability to genuinely understand how to use, and not abuse or misuse, positivity is complicated. The reason we talk about it in this episode is because it can change interpersonal relationships for the better, which is what parents of adolescents want.
In this episode we’ll teach you some tricks on how to stay honest, and how to stay off the negative train. We want to be clear; positivity is NOT denial. Denial is a dangerous place for us to be as parents, and it does not build honest relationships with our children. Unhappiness exists. In the current world of facades in many forms it is important that parents are clear with themselves when they communicate with their children, understanding what we DO want, not what we do not want is the key to change.
This Week’s Practice: Positive communication! How? Use positive rather than negative language. Say do, not don’t; can, not can’t, will, not won’t-you get the picture, yes? Sounds simple. A reminder, simple isn’t easy, and the truth is that we KNOW that we CAN change our thinking.
Resources
Brad Reedy: The Journey of the Heroic Parent
CRAFT
Positive Discipline
Don’t forget to sign up to join us for our very first ever FREE Virtual Workshop and Support Group
The Plan P Playlist on Spotify. It is, appropriately, a crazy mix.
CONNECT WITH US
Follow Plan P on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok @planpisfor
Join our parenting community & stay connected here
Have a question that you would like Sarah & Quinn to answer? Email us at connect@planp.us
Visit planp.us to learn more and get access to resources to build healthy relationships with your pre-teens, teens and young adult children!
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Positive Discipline Perspectives
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Understanding how to find balance while transitioning from boss of a child, to staying on as the trusted consultant to a young adult deserves a transition team! Sarah and Quin have got you! Parenting adolescents is for many the hardest part of the parenting journey. Staying positive can feel like a challenge but knowing that you have something positive to practice can make a huge difference.
On this week’s episode Quinn and Sarah talk about the huge value of understanding the principles of Positive Disciple Parenting-helping parents shift their view and seeing mistakes as opportunities to learn, and building strength in understanding what it means to master firm and kind parenting. Sound impossible? It’s not.
This Week’s PRACTICE:
Practice ADAPTing (Always Doing Another Positive Try). This acknowledges that mistakes are opportunities to learn and continue to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again.
Check out the Upcoming (Free) Workshop Wednesdays Ongoing Parent Support Group which starts March 13th (😊Lucky 13) at 6pm PST here
Books Mentioned: Positive Discipline by Jane Nelson
See the If at First You Don’t Succeed You’re in Good Company poster in our basement.
CONNECT WITH US
Follow Plan P on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok @planpisfor
Join our parenting community & stay connected here
Have a question that you would like Sarah & Quinn to answer? Email us at connect@planp.us
Visit planp.us to learn more and get access to resources to build healthy relationships with your pre-teens, teens and young adult children!
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Ponder your Part
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Pondering our part is parenting pertinent and also entirely possible. Accountability is the tune this week on the podcast and is a central tenant of secure parenting. Listen to Sarah and Quinn as they discuss listening and understanding where your part begins and ends. How do you find a place to hear different points of view, which your adolescent children are sure to offer!
Learning how to slowly become accountable to ourselves, learning how to model this in our behaviors is how we learn to be account table-through doing. Being accountable is freeing and in this episode you will learn how to bring awareness to your behaviors. How do you model accountability? Are you being accountable?
Parents want their children to count on them. How do you get there? Our children learn from what we do, not what we say. Being consistent in our actions can be exhausting but it builds trust. If our behavior doesn’t change, can we count on ourselves? If we own your mistakes, hold ourselves accountable, then they are much more likely to come to you when they make mistakes.
CONNECT WITH US
Follow Plan P on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok @planpisfor
Join our parenting community & stay connected here
Have a question that you would like Sarah & Quinn to answer? Email us at connect@planp.us
Visit planp.us to learn more and get access to resources to build healthy relationships with your pre-teens, teens and young adult children!
Tuesday Feb 13, 2024
Episode 26 Prioritize Understanding Others
Tuesday Feb 13, 2024
Tuesday Feb 13, 2024
Parents understand the importance of paying attention to and listening to their children. This is a vital part of any healthy relationship. Listening is hard! In this episode Sarah Pollak and Quinn Faison discuss and dial into how to take listening to the next level. Listening to understand is next-level listening. One step forward is repeating back exactly what their child said to them. This parroting is a giant step forward from reacting in panic, anger, fear or frustration! Conversations get deeper when listening at this level. You hear more, which allows you to see and hear opportunities for new inquiries, not simply validating, but helping your child learn to identify the intricacies of their feelings. There may be a method to the madness of a teen or young adult’s thinking. Join Quinn and Sarah as they share methods for listening well which can help parents understand their adolescent children’s experiences and join their children on their journey.
This Week’s Practice: Reflective Listening
Listening to understand allows a conversation to move forward. Try this. Don’t parrot what someone says as a means of expressing your understanding, try listening for nuance or feelings and share what you believe you heard. “That sounds like it was hard” “You felt ignored” Then pause for confirmation or clarification. Then try it again, using new language and asking for more information, general “Yeah, tell me more?” or, if still not clear “How does that sit with you?” When the conversation has come to an end, let it end and say thank you.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
Listening Well: The Art of Empathetic Listening by William R. Miller
Emotional Lives of Teens by Lisa Damour, Ph.D.
CONNECT WITH US
Follow Plan P on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok @planpisfor
Join our parenting community & stay connected here
Have a question that you would like Sarah & Quinn to answer? Email us at connect@planp.us
Visit planp.us to learn more and get access to resources to build healthy relationships with your pre-teens, teens and young adult children!
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
The Prison of Perception: Coming Face to Face with Reality
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
In this episode, Sarah Pollak and Quinn Faison delve deep into the intricate world of parental perception and its impact on our roles as caregivers. They shine a light on the common tendency to jump to conclusions about our teens' intentions, whether positive or negative, and how this perception can sometimes lead us astray. It becomes evident that our perception can be a confining prison if left unchecked. To break free, the hosts stress the importance of challenging our mindset from a fixed to a growth perspective. They emphasize the value of validating and verifying our perception through third-party perspectives, including those of fellow parents, therapists, and our own children. Join Sarah and Quinn as they navigate the complex terrain of perception versus reality, offering insights and strategies to foster a healthier and more connected parent-child dynamic.
This Week’s Practice: Checking Your Perception
For week's practice, Sarah and Quinn invite you to embark on a journey of self-awareness and mindfulness. The central theme revolves around the importance of evaluating our perceptions with a critical eye. Question whether your initial judgments and assumptions about your teens' actions could potentially be different when viewed from a different perspective. It's an exercise in considering the evidence and staying open to alternative viewpoints. Moreover, they stress the significance of being conscious of our reactions to these perceptions, as our responses can significantly impact the parent-child relationship. By cultivating a habit of checking and questioning our perceptions, we can foster a more empathetic and understanding connection with our teens.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
And Then They Stopped Talking to Me: Making Sense of Middle School by Judith Warner
CONNECT WITH US
Follow Plan P on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok @planpisfor
Join our parenting community & stay connected here
Have a question that you would like Sarah & Quinn to answer? Email us at connect@planp.us
Visit planp.us to learn more and get access to resources to build healthy relationships with your pre-teens, teens and young adult children!
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Planning & Pivoting: Redefining Our Goals
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
What if success was failure and failure was success? In this thought-provoking episode, Sarah Pollak and Quinn Faison delve into the concept of setting and achieving goals, inspired by a compelling Ted Talk by former NFL player Emmanuel Acho. The discussion challenges conventional wisdom surrounding goals, emphasizing the importance of flexibility and adaptation. While goals can provide direction and motivation, they also have the potential to limit us when we become overly fixated on achieving them. Sarah and Quinn invite listeners to explore a different perspective—one where success and failure intertwine and where the journey towards our aspirations holds greater significance than the destination. Join them as they unravel the fluid nature of goals and the liberating notion that our path to success may not always follow a straight line.
This Week’s Practice: Creating Goals
This week, Sarah and Quinn encourage you to embark on a personal journey of growth and transformation. Challenge yourself to set a goal, no matter the size, that embodies change and progress. Embracing change is a powerful way to break free from the confines of routine and open new doors to self-improvement. Whether it's a small step or a giant leap, this practice is a reminder that every goal, big or small, has the potential to shape your life in profound ways. So, what will your goal be this week, and how will it redefine your path to success? Join the conversation and discover the magic of embracing change.
Reference:
TED TALK: Why You Should Stop Setting Goals (Yes, Really) by Emmanuel Acho
CONNECT WITH US
Follow Plan P on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok @planpisfor
Join our parenting community & stay connected here
Have a question that you would like Sarah & Quinn to answer? Email us at connect@planp.us
Visit planp.us to learn more and get access to resources to build healthy relationships with your pre-teens, teens and young adult children!
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Pillars of Trust: Presence, Engagement and Reliability
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Happy New Year! In the first episode of 2024, Sarah Pollak and Quinn Faison dive deep into the topic of trust, the cornerstone of strong parent-teen relationships. After a refreshing break over the holidays, they return to explore the dynamics of trust between parents and their teens. Trust is a two-way street, and the hosts discuss how it involves not only trusting our teens to make mistakes and learn but also trusting ourselves as parents. They emphasize that as parents, we set the tone for trust through our presence, engagement, and reliability. Join Sarah and Quinn as they unravel the layers of trust and share insights on building a foundation of trust that fosters open and healthy communication between parents and their teenagers.
This Week’s Practice: Daily Self-Reflection
This week, Sarah and Quinn encourage parents to engage in daily self-reflection as a powerful tool for cultivating trustworthiness. The practice involves taking a moment each day to assess our actions and behaviors. Did we uphold our commitments? Were we honest with ourselves and others? Did we handle various situations with integrity? By consistently checking in with ourselves and holding ourselves accountable, we can actively work on building trust not only with our teens but also with ourselves. This practice serves as a valuable step toward becoming the trustworthy parents we aspire to be, setting a positive example for our teens in the process.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
Listening for Well-Being : Conversations with People Not Like Us by Arun Maira
That's Not What I Meant!: How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships by Deborah Tannen
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van der Kolk, MD
CONNECT WITH US
Follow Plan P on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok @planpisfor
Join our parenting community & stay connected here
Have a question that you would like Sarah & Quinn to answer? Email us at connect@planp.us
Visit planp.us to learn more and get access to resources to build healthy relationships with your pre-teens, teens and young adult children!
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Putting Care First: 2023 Recap & Reflections (Bonus)
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
In this special bonus episode, Sarah Pollak and Quinn Faison bid farewell to 2023 with a heartfelt reflection on the growth and stretching they've experienced throughout the year, marked by new ventures, challenges, and the launch of this very podcast, Plan P!
Sarah and Quinn also unveil exciting plans for 2024, offering listeners a sneak peek into what's to come:
"Potty Training to Pot Training" eBook Release: A valuable resource for parents navigating the various stages of child development.
Free Virtual Parent Support Group: A community for parents to connect, share experiences, and support each other.
Guest Interviews: Engaging conversations with family, clients, and other parenting experts, bringing diverse perspectives to the forefront.
Plan P will return on January 17, 2024 for more insightful discussions, practical parenting advice, and shared experiences. We are truly grateful for the incredible support and engagement throughout the year and we wish you and your family Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
This Week’s Practice: Put Care, Compassion & Love First
As we conclude the year, this week's practice encourages a beautiful act of self-love and care. Amidst the hustle and bustle, take a moment to prioritize yourself. Engage in a thoughtful gesture that brings you joy, whether it's a relaxing hot bath, buying yourself flowers, immersing yourself in a good book, or binging your favorite show.
Recognize and embrace the deserving nature of self-care. This practice serves as a gentle reminder to extend the same care, compassion, and love to yourself that you offer to others. In winding down for the end of the year, gift yourself a moment of kindness, reinforcing the importance of self-nurturing for a healthy and fulfilling start to the new year.
CONNECT WITH US
Follow Plan P on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok @planpisfor
Join our parenting community & stay connected here
Have a question that you would like Sarah & Quinn to answer? Email us at connect@planp.us
Visit planp.us to learn more and get access to resources to build healthy relationships with your pre-teens, teens and young adult children!
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
Painting a Picture of Trust
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
In this final episode of the year, hosts Sarah Pollak and Quinn Faison guide parents through the unique challenges of the holiday season's grand finale: New Year's Eve. While Christmas often leans towards family-focused tranquility, New Year's Eve, particularly with teenage and young adult children, requires a different approach.
Sarah and Quinn emphasize the importance of candid conversations with teens and young adults about the significance of a safe New Year's Eve. As children grow older, their desire for more freedom and participation in celebratory events increases. It becomes crucial for parents to discuss responsible drinking, safety measures, awareness of surroundings, and pre-planned arrangements (such as calling an Uber or staying at a friend's house).
Recognizing that New Year's Eve is one of the most dangerous holidays, the hosts encourage parents not to shy away from this vital conversation of safety. The ultimate goal is to create a safe and open space for children to be honest about their plans. As the year draws to a close, Sarah and Quinn extend warm wishes for Happy Holidays and a joyous New Year. See you in 2024!
This Week’s Practice: What Picture are You Painting?
This week's practice centers around the crucial theme of trust and safety in conversations about New Year's Eve with your teenage and young adult children. As you engage in these discussions, be mindful of your responses. Making an effort to create an environment where your child feels safe enough to open up is key.
Once your child shares their plans, resist the urge to overreact. Trust that your kids are capable of handling themselves appropriately. It's a delicate balance—nurturing trust through open communication and respecting their growing independence. This practice encourages parents to foster an atmosphere where safety and honesty coexist, ensuring a meaningful and secure start to the new year for everyone involved.
CONNECT WITH US
Follow Plan P on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok @planpisfor
Join our parenting community & stay connected here
Have a question that you would like Sarah & Quinn to answer? Email us at connect@planp.us
Visit planp.us to learn more and get access to resources to build healthy relationships with your pre-teens, teens and young adult children!
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
The Present of Your Presence
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
In this heartfelt episode of Plan P, hosts Sarah Pollak and Quinn Faison dive into the importance of being truly present, both emotionally and mentally, during the holiday season. Beyond the physical presence, they advocate for intentional mindfulness amidst the hustle and bustle that often engulfs this time of year.
As the rush of holiday preparations can overshadow the true meaning of the season, Sarah and Quinn inspire listeners to ground themselves through mindfulness. The episode explores the significance of bringing consciousness to actions often done unconsciously, fostering a deeper connection with the holiday moments that matter most.
Join them in this reflective journey toward embracing the gift of your presence, recognizing that true joy and fulfillment in the holidays come from being fully engaged and mindful in the present moment.
This Week’s Practice: Presence and Appreciation
This week's practice encourages the simple yet profound act of being present in the moment with genuine appreciation. Begin by taking a moment to appreciate your surroundings, whether it's the warmth of your home, the beauty of holiday decorations, or the company of loved ones.
Take a deep breath to anchor yourself in the present, allowing the sensory details to unfold. This practice invites you to step into the current moment with a heightened sense of awareness and gratitude. Embracing the power of appreciation fosters a deeper connection with the joy and beauty that each moment holds during the holiday season.
CONNECT WITH US
Follow Plan P on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok @planpisfor
Join our parenting community & stay connected here
Have a question that you would like Sarah & Quinn to answer? Email us at connect@planp.us
Visit planp.us to learn more and get access to resources to build healthy relationships with your pre-teens, teens and young adult children!