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For the first episode of Season 2, I figured I should start with someone who was there for all of
it. My husband, Pete.

We’ve been married 36 years, raised three boys, paid three college tuitions, survived three
weddings, and have now reached the point where the people we raised are grown adults,
building families of their own and explaining the new rules to us.

So we compared notes.

Did we actually have a parenting philosophy? Were we the same parents to all three boys? Who
was stricter? Who worried more? And how much of what we did was intentional versus making it
up as we went?

We also talk about the things that mattered in our house. Family dinners. Holidays. Brothers
sharing rooms. Knowing what was non-negotiable and knowing when to let things go.

And then there’s the part nobody really prepares you for. Your kids grow up.
They get married. They become parents. They do some things exactly the way you did them
and other things very differently. Suddenly, you’re the one learning how to respect boundaries,
wait to be asked for advice, and occasionally just keep your mouth shut.

Apparently parenting doesn’t end when your kids grow up.

You just lose management privileges.

And yet, somehow, they’re still on the family mobile plan.

What we get into

  • Whether we had a parenting philosophy or mostly winged it
  • Why three boys required three slightly different versions of us
  • Family dinners and why I still think they mattered
  • The unexpected upside of making brothers share a room
  • Discipline, freedom and the things we’d probably do differently now
  • What our kids are teaching us about parenting
  • Becoming grandparents without forgetting who the actual parents are
  • Family traditions, holidays and keeping everyone connected as the family grows
  • The mistakes we made and the things we still think we got right
  • What success looks like now that our kids are adults

Chapters

00:00 Pete finally gets his turn
02:19 Did we actually know what we were doing?
04:55 Three boys, three different kids
06:28 Things we did that probably wouldn’t fly today
08:29 What we wish we knew then
10:40 When your kids start teaching you about parenting
13:43 Making brothers share a room
16:38 Why family dinner mattered
18:57 Discipline, humor and picking your battles
20:15 The hard part: keeping your mouth shut
23:22 Becoming the grandparents
29:43 The things we brought with us from our own childhoods
32:51 What we want the next chapter to look like