Tackling Back to School, with Sam

(mouse clicks) (gentle tones) Headspace Studios. Hey, everyone. I'm Robin and today on "Dear Headspace," we have questions about setting boundaries with your kids' friends, dealing with neurotic parents, and never feeling like you're enough. Let's get right to it. Have you ever wished you had a wise meditation teacher on speed dial? Someone you can call after a long day. Someone you could lean on for their advice. Someone to listen and help you to see things differently. Welcome to "Dear Headspace," a podcast where I sit with a meditation teacher, and we answer your questions. Hi, friends. I am excited to be here with you for another episode of "Dear Headspace." Now today, our questions are all about back to school and mindful parenting, and I am so excited to have Sam here with me, because she is an expert when it comes to kids and mindfulness-based tools. Absolutely. Happy to be here with you, Robin. Yeah. And you're gonna cover for me, 'cause we know that I am not an expert in mindfulness-based tools for kids. Well, you're an expert in many things about parenting, as I've been able to deduce from your stories. (Robin laughs) I mean, would my kids say the same thing? Yes. All right, let's just roll right into our first question from Angie. Here she is. Okay. Sounds good. Hi. This is Angie from Minneapolis, Minnesota. My daughter is 12, and she has a friend at school who is a lot. It's really hard for us to keep boundaries, and my daughter actually would like to spend less time with them, but at the same time, my daughter is very concerned with making sure that she treats her with kindness and is considerate of her feelings. What suggestions do you have for setting boundaries with friends that really my kids don't wanna be friends with anymore. Thanks! Oh, that is a very tough question. It is. Because you know your kid's been that kid sometime. Oh yeah. Well, I, yeah, my stepdaughter just went through something like that. She had this like kind of best friend who is now in the foster care system in Sweden, and she just stopped hanging out with her, because she was getting into trouble, and kind of hanging out with the kids that were doing stuff that were a bit dangerous. And so, yeah, it was just, for me it's primarily about listening and just getting to know what, like what has changed. Making space for that. Talking about like- Do you mean with yourself, or do you mean with that person? With your child, yeah. Okay. Just like exploring what caused the change in- In the relationship? In the relationship. Yeah. And needing boundaries, because I think it's a great opportunity to talk about what you do look for in a friendship, and what makes you feel safe, and what allows you to trust Yeah. your friends so that you start to look for the behaviors that...