Gabrielle Blair on the “long game” of parenting: Creating less stress and more fun

Parenting is messy business, and yet there are some people on the internet who make it look easy — or at least really fun. Because they actually are having fun. One of those people is arguably Gabrielle Blair, who you may know as Design Mom. If you don’t know her (what!?) she’s an OG blogger, a mom of six, a best-selling author, a social media superstar, and full disclosure, a long-time friend.

If you want in on some of her parenting tricks and lessons, she’s out with a wonderful new book, The Kids Are All Right: Parenting With Confidence in an Uncertain World by Ben and Gabrielle Blair. (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org) I’m so excited to talk to her about it this week on Spawned, where she shares plenty of terrific, sometimes surprising, and truly helpful advice for parents, whatever age your kids may be.

Some of the topics we cover:

• Course-correcting what we think we know about parenting
• Taking the long view on parenting and your relationship with your kids for life
• How to create and define your “family culture” (I love this so much!)
• Ways to take the stress out of parenting and embrace more of the fun — especially with teens.
• Why it’s okay if your kids aren’t happy all the time
• Making your home a “home base” that’s full of safety nets.
• And the thing we all really want to know: How the heck Ben and Gabby get their kids to help so willingly when they need someone to haul rubble or strip paint from the dining room in the home they’re restoring in Normandy, France!

You’re going to love this conversation!

Listen here right now or in your favorite podcast app
And be sure to follow Gabrielle @designmom on Substack, Instagram, Threads…all the places!

We think we’re being good parents if we’re stressed out. We don’t have to be so freaked out about some of this stuff! – Gabrielle Blair

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Check out our Cool Picks of the Week

Gabby recommends the John Derian collection at Target — especially if you typically can’t afford his work!

Liz urges you to VOTE, of course. And for those of you with teens and young adults in the family should check out my cool pick, @swingthevote on Instagram, which is full of helpful tips for students voting — and volunteering — in the state where they go to college.

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Related Episodes and Links from Today’s Episode

• Dr. Chris Willard: Using mindfulness in parenting
• Alyse Levine: De-stressing the college application process
• Dr. Ken Ginsburg: Mind-shifting tips for treasuring the teen years instead of “surviving” them
• Sue Groener: How to stop fighting with your kids and create more peace at home
• KJ Dell’Antonia: How to be a happier parent without guilt or shame