Ep 71 The Courage It Takes to Parent Differently Than You Were Parented with Lael Stone

In this episode of Conversations with Kristi, Kristi sits down with author, educator, and speaker Lael Stone to explore a powerful and often overlooked truth: the way we parent our children has everything to do with how we were parented ourselves.

Lael shares her incredible journey-from starting a children’s entertainment company at age 20 to becoming a doula, a sex educator, and eventually co-founding the Woodline School. Together, Kristi and Lael unpack why parenting in the age of social media takes so much courage and how our own unresolved childhood "stuff" often bubbles to the surface the moment our kids hit certain milestones .

This conversation is warm, honest, and deeply practical. It challenges the traditional "compliant child" paradigm and offers a new way of thinking about connection, emotional intelligence, and the healing power of repair-reminding every parent that it is genuinely never too late to start over.

Content Covered in This Episode

The Evolution of Connection: Why Lael’s career shifted from entertainment to birth trauma, sex education, and founding a school.

The Courage to Parent: Navigating the "battlefield" of modern opinions and coming back to your own inner intuition.

Unresolved Childhood Imprints: How our own history determines which of our children's "big feelings" we can actually tolerate.

The "Poo Head" Test: Understanding why we feel "activated" when children challenge us and how to respond with calm instead of power.

Raising Humans, Not Robots: Why the goal of parenting is deep connection and self-accountability rather than just raising "good," compliant children.

Non-Punitive Discipline: Inside the Woodline School philosophy of removing shame, punishments, and rewards from the learning environment.

The Power of Repair: Why an apology to your child-even when they are 18-is the most profound way to stop a traumatic lineage.

Every Day is a New Day: Small, practical steps for reconnecting through play and listening without an agenda.