Why Nothing Works with Your Strong-Willed Kid, and What Actually Does with wendy snyder

If you have tried gentle parenting and still feel like nothing works with your strong-willed child, this episode is for you.

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Wendy Snyder was three years into motherhood, home with a colicky newborn and a three-year-old who got sent home from preschool on repeat, when she walked past a flyer for a free positive parenting class and took it as a sign. Fifteen years later, that same strong-willed daughter is a Division I beach volleyball player at a top ten school.

In this conversation, Wendy and JoAnn get into why the strong will you are fighting is the exact trait that will carry your kid, and what has to shift in you first before any strategy will work.

In this episode, you'll learn

Why punishment, timeouts and "break their will early" advice backfire hardest on the kids they are aimed at

The difference between a kid who is born strong-willed and a mild kid moving through a power surge season

What autocratic parenting actually is, and why almost all of us absorbed some of it

How releasing control over homework and grades produced a self-motivated straight A kid

One tactical swap you can make today: replacing compliance statements with choices

Resources mentioned in this episode

Fresh Start Your Family: Powerful Parenting to Restore Peace in Your Home by Wendy Snyder