Jul 27, 2021
I am delighted to bring Pripo Teplitsky on today’s episode as we talk about parenting and what it takes for us to make room for the spirit of the child to emerge. From the minute I heard Pripo's voice, I felt this kinship with his raw and relatable style of connecting. Pripo is a licensed clinical mental health counselor in private practice in Asheville, North Carolina. He has worked with thousands of couples and individuals over the last 17 years. He's also the host of the podcast, Relationships! Let's Talk About It.
Pripo and I share a love for talking about parenting, and it was an incredible pleasure to hear him open up about his life, his son, and his passion for creating a safe, emotional landscape for his family to thrive.
I love something that Pripo said in one of his podcasts on parenting that in doing this work as a clinician and psychotherapist, he had learned so much with couples and individuals about the pitfalls of development when it comes to children.
Pripo has always wanted to experience being a father, having experienced a close and loving relationship with his own. When his parents got divorced, he moved in with his father who told him there are three things to their relationship: communication, communication, and communication.
Modeling how his father trusted him to make decisions by being hands-off in many ways, Pripo’s advice to other parents is to trust your child's path. Not that you have to get everything right. He explains how parenting is not linear, and so, you just have to trust and not get freaked out whenever something's not happening according to your expectation – because expectation is a yet to be realized resentment. And if you're constantly attached to your expectations, there's also going to be constant resentment. Instead, you need to bring yourself in the moment and make the best of what you have.
When parents are freaked out about the direction of where their child is going, Pripo likes to stress the focus of the relationship – specifically feeding the relationship, instead of reacting to the worry. You're going to have issues with kids throughout their life as they grow older, whether with sex, money, drugs or a host of difficult areas. Pripo stresses that if you can cultivate the relationship with trust, vulnerability and openness, your kids are going to talk to you about all that stuff, and it's going to be a lot easier for you to be able to make your mistakes as well.
What I appreciate most about having this kind of conversation with people like Pripo is how we're able to normalize what it takes for us to withstand the burgeoning being that we are bringing into the world and how that affects us and challenges us to grow and make room as parents.
Show Highlights:
- Feeding the relationship vs. reacting to the worry
- Trusting your ability to respond instead of figuring out the right answer
- Creating an atmosphere that gives children confidence
- Holding space for your kids especially in their traumatic experiences
- Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable
- How conflict is an opportunity
- Being a strong model for your child
- How to teach compassion to your kids
- Modeling intimacy and vulnerability with friends as men
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
If you really enjoyed this episode, we’ve created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at https://mitchellsmolkin.com/podcast to download it.
Supporting Resources:
https://www.pripo.com/podcast-1
Mitchell Smolkin is a sought-after clinician, speaker, and author. For media and interview requests please contact his publicist Randy Phipps at randy@rpcommunications.net. For all other inquiries, please send mail to info@mitchellsmolkin.com.
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.
He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.
Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com