Parenting with Compassion: The Power of Respectful Parenting with Janet Lansbury – Podcast Ep 152

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We all know that children are the greatest blessings in life. They truly are. Raising them, however, can be quite a challenge for us parents. We want to protect them, mold them, and encourage them to be the best people they can be. But how do we do that without being too permissive or too authoritarian? Many parents struggle to find parenting methods that work for them and their children, especially when generations before us parented so differently. Maybe you’re trying to break family cycles that you learned and want to do things differently with your kids. Maybe you want to parent with better boundaries and with more respect. If this is you and you’re looking for ways to connect more with your children and parent with compassion, you’re going to love today’s guest, Janet Lansbury.

Who is Janet Lansbury?

Janet Lansbury is a former actress and model, and her passion for parent education began when she became a mother and sought guidance from infant expert Magda Gerber. Deeply inspired and grateful for her wisdom, Janet began training with Magda professionally. For the last 20 years, she has taught RIE parenting classes in Los Angeles and has served on the Board of Directors of Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) since 1995. Janet is privileged to support hundreds of thousands of parents across the globe, sharing insights gained through her parenting classes and personal experiences as a mother of three. 

In 2009, Janet created her parent education blog, JanetLansbury.com, and she later published two best-selling books, Elevating Child Care: A Guide to Respectful Parenting and No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame. In 2015, Janet launched her podcast, Unruffled, which is the top-ranking parenting podcast about respectful parenting from Wondery.

The image shows a baby sitting on a white surface, dressed in pink polka-dot clothing. The baby is surrounded by soft toys and has a focused expression. The text reads Respectful Parenting at the top and Unruffled Janet Lansbury in large letters across the middle. Unruffled podcast cover art.

Janet encourages parents and childcare professionals to perceive babies as unique, capable human beings with natural abilities to learn without being taught, develop motor and cognitive skills, communicate, face age-appropriate struggles, initiate and direct independent play for extended periods, and much more.

What Did We Discuss?

In this episode, we chat with Janet about respectful parenting, the science behind it, the benefits, how it helps parents, and more. Here are several of the questions that we covered in our conversation:

  • How did you become passionate about educating parents and caregivers? 
  • I know you are a believer and expert in respectful parenting. Can you define this style of parenting for our listeners? 
  • How does gentle and respectful parenting? 
  • What are the benefits of respectful parenting? 
  • Can you please tell us about the science behind respectful parenting? 
  • What are some common misconceptions about respectful parenting? 
  • What does it mean to “reparent” yourself?
  • What are your top tips for parenting with respect?  
  • What is one thing you wish you could tell your younger self?

My Thoughts

Janet Lansbury is someone that I have admired in the baby and parenting industry for years. Her work has impacted me and so many others (including many of my clients) with our parenting and how we think about our children, boundaries, discipline, and more. Hearing her share her personal story and her overall thoughts on respectful parenting was inspiring. I have been interested for a while in learning more about RIE and the work that Janet does, but after this episode, I may just take a course myself. Stay tuned!

If you would like a healthier relationship with your child and want to discover a different way of parenting that can blossom your own parenting skills, I highly recommend listening to this episode and learning more about Janet’s work. I believe you will leave inspired, too.

Janet Lansbury’s Resources

Thank you for listening to this episode! Be sure to follow us on our podcast Instagram page @thebabychickchat. Let us know what you think and if there are any other topics you’d like us to cover. Cheers to parenting with respect!

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