Parenting With An Audience

Have you ever felt coerced into parenting in a way you usually wouldn’t because you were in public?

Does the tsk-ing disapproval of Aunt Joan feel even worse than eyerolls from strangers?

Do you discipline your kids differently in front of friends who might hold a tighter line, even if it's in your house? Do you ever give a "now you listen to me, young man" lecture to one of your kids primarily for the benefit of his or her siblings?

For better and for worse, parenting with an audience means doing things differently.  In this episode we discuss what to say to well-meaning (but still interfering) onlookers with front-row seats to your kid's tantrum without making What That Lady Must Think your primary focus. As parenting columnist Sarah Coyne reminds us, we should focus on strengthening our connections with our kids rather than pleasing the onlookers. Kids need consistent, reliable, trustworthy parents who don’t change their game plan based upon who’s acting as witness."

Here are links to other writing on the topic that we discuss in this episode:

Sarah Coyne for The Joplin Globe:  Parenting with an audience changes the rules

Dr. Laura Markham for Aha! Parenting: 14 Tips for Parenting in Public

Odd Loves Company: Parenting For An Audience

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