How to Raise Upstanders and not Bystanders

Having been a doula for over 20 years now, I’ve seen the impact of the ‘mommy wars’ worsen significantly. How you deliver your baby, how you feed them, how they sleep…mom-shaming is everywhere. While social media has many positives, it hasn’t always helped people share their values in a supportive way.

This made me think about how our children are being affected by this too. Our kids are exposed to endless outside influences that will shape their opinions if you don’t have a parenting manifesto of values to support them.

In this episode, I want us to think about creating another paradigm where we’re teaching our children that they have the right to stand up for what they believe in, but not at the expense of someone else.

Listen now to discover how you can raise an upstander and not a bystander.

Time Stamps:

01:23 -  We hear about Brandi’s professional background in Doula training

02:00 - Brandi discusses the positive and negative impact of social media for parenting

03:57 - Brandi reflects on what we teach our children about how they support other people. 

04:50 - We find out what Brandi has learned from the behavior of seemingly “well-meaning” people in her parenting FB groups

6:09 -  Brandi talks about the effect of outside influences on her kids 

7:14 - We learn how the George Floyd incident spurred her on to write a curriculum on raising anti-racist children

09:45 - We find out why being loving is not enough

11:12 - We learn some practical ways to raise upstanders and not bystanders

14:28 - Brandi sets us a challenge to try with our own kids

You can follow Brandi and her work @deardouapodcast on IG, @brandi_jordan_official IG, and send questions, comments and platitudes to [email protected]. Have a question you want Brandi to answer? Shoot her an email or a DM and she might include it on her next podcast episode!

If you are looking for support with your children, you can reach out to us at The Cradle Company for more information on hiring a parenting or baby specialist.

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