RAR #278: How to Actually Connect with Our Kids, Dr. Matthew Breuninger

We all want to build those meaningful and lasting connections with our kids. 

Around here, we’re usually talking about doing that through books and reading aloud. But how do we extend these connections into our everyday, ordinary parenting moments?  

Today, I’m talking to one of my favorite people to listen to when it comes to relationships. Dr Matthew Breuninger is a clinical psychologist and author of Finding Freedom in Christ: Healing Life’s Hurts and in this episode he shares how safe, secure attachment forms the foundation of close relationships with our kids and how to repair them when we inevitably mess up. 

He also unpacks the very common tendency a lot of us have to view our children’s behavior as a reflection on us, and offers a beautiful reminder of where our deepest identity as parents comes from (spoiler alert: it’s not your performance. ❤️)

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• What foundational perspective parents can offer to shape our kids relationships with us and others
• Why ruptures are inevitable in all our relationships, and how we can approach repair
• How our kids become mirrors for the wounds and self-protection strategies we need to work on in ourselves

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

• Read-Aloud Revival
• Waxwing Books
• Subscribe to the Newsletter

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/connecting-with-your-kids/