Lazy Parenting with Stephanie Kennedy

Stephanie Kennedy
  • 4.6 (5)
  • Parenting
  • Updated Biweekly

Kids who get up and dressed in the morning by themselves, make their own lunches, empty the dishwasher, wash their own clothes, feed the pets AND make their own dinner?!? Is this a dream or could it possibly become your REALITY?!? Stephanie is a mom of four, a former high school math and science teacher, the owner of 2 business and the founder of the #lazyparenting community. On this podcast she digs deep into the concept and strategies behind lazy parenting to help you raise happy, joyful, kind, empathetic and passionate adults who, above all else, are good humans.

  1. Sep 26

    93. 5 Tiny Things You Can Do Today to Feel Closer To Your Kid

    You don't need a parenting overhaul. You need five tiny things, and you could do all of them today! In this episode, Stephanie talks about the small, specific habits that made the biggest difference in her relationship with her kids. From how you look at them when they walk through the door to learning when to shut up and just let them complain (harder than it sounds). This one is practical, a little funny, and very real. In this episode: Why the first thing you say when they walk in might matter less than your faceOne question to ask yourself about what your kid hears from you mostWhy the car is one of the best places to talk with your kidWhat happens when a solver has to learn to listenThe Marvel movie she was not allowed to ask questions duringYour kid doesn't need a perfect parent. They need to feel like you enjoy them.

  2. Sep 19

    92. Is This Their Fear…or Mine?

    As our kids get older, the things they’re ready to do get bigger. And somehow, our control over those things gets smaller. Which can be terrifying. In this episode, I’m talking about something I’m still learning: how to separate what my kids actually need from me from what would simply make me feel better. It starts with advice someone gave me when my oldest left for university in 2020, and comes right up to this week, when that same daughter specifically told me not to ask about her CPA exams. (Do you know how hard it is for a mother not to ask ALL THE QUESTIONS?) It turns out the question I keep coming back to is the same whether they’re five or twenty-five: Is this their fear, or is this mine? Because I didn’t raise my kids to stay. I raised them to be able to go. And maybe success isn’t having adult kids who still need us. Maybe it’s having adult kids who choose us.

  3. Sep 10

    91. I Was The Mom With All The Rules

    I was the mom with all the rules. No sleepovers. No violent video games. No food upstairs. No phones until Grade 8. No social media until I thought each kid was ready. Read the book before you watch the movie. And there were plenty more. Looking back, I can see that those rules came from all kinds of places. Some came from my own childhood experiences and things I desperately didn't want my kids to experience. Some came from our values as a family. Some came from fear. And, if I'm being completely truthful, some existed simply because they made managing four kids a whole lot easier. Were all of them necessary? Probably not. In this episode, I'm looking back at the rules I made, the ones I'd absolutely make again, the places I think I overcorrected, and the rules my kids still think I got wrong. But I'm also talking about what happened as they got older. Because rules were never supposed to be permanent; they were guardrails. As my kids showed us they could handle more freedom, the rules could loosen. Trust grew. Their judgment started replacing mine. And eventually, that's the whole point. We're not trying to raise kids who follow our rules forever. We're trying to raise kids who no longer need them. -------------------------------------- Want to watch the episode instead? Head over to my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@lazyparenting -------------------------------------- Lazy Parenting Podcast | Episode 91 | lazyparenting.ca | @lazyparenting

  4. Sep 3

    90. Their Grade Is Not Your Report Card

    There is a version of parental involvement in your child's education that starts as support and quietly becomes something else. Something that stops feeling like help and starts feeling, to your kid, like you do not quite trust them. In this episode, Stephanie talks about where that line is. And how she learned to find it, sometimes the hard way. Starting with the poster project she made her son redo because the layout hurt her perfectionist brain. And what she understood after, looking at every subsequent messy poster, and walking away. This episode covers: when stepping in is exactly right and when it quietly takes something away. The three questions worth asking before you intervene in your child's school life. What the expectation around grades looked like in a house where nobody got paid for A's (except by their grandmother, who ignored the rule entirely). And why your child's education was always supposed to be theirs to carry. Because their grade was never your report card. Topics include: academic independence, homework, parent involvement in school, grades, school projects, raising responsible students, report cards, teen independence, school ownership, back to school. Lazy Parenting Podcast | Episode 90 | lazyparenting.ca | @lazyparenting

  5. Aug 27

    89. Stop being your kids reminder

    Did you brush your teeth? Do you have your water bottle? Don't forget your lunch. If those sentences came out of your mouth this week, this episode is for you. In this episode, Stephanie talks about the moment she asked about homework and got back one word: obviously. And what that word told her about a reminder she was still giving for something her kid had already learned to own. The question at the heart of this episode is not: am I reminding my child too much? It is: has the reminder helped build the habit, or has the reminder become the habit? From the family iPad on the wall that became a Google Calendar that replaced the nagging, to the difference between removing support and moving it, to why the goal was never a child with a perfect memory, this episode is about building kids who manage what they are responsible for. Without you doing it for them. Because independence does not mean remembering everything. It means knowing what tools you need so you are not relying on another person to carry it for you. Topics include: reminders, habits, children's independence, school routines, homework independence, building habits in kids, family calendar, raising responsible kids, natural consequences, teen independence, ADHD and executive function, raising capable kids. Lazy Parenting Podcast | Episode 89 | lazyparenting.ca | @lazyparenting

  6. Aug 20

    88. Stop Doing School Mornings for Your Kids

    Back to school is a reset. But most parents use that reset to ask the wrong question. Instead of asking how to make mornings run more smoothly, ask: what could my child take over this September that I was doing for them last year? In this episode, the real, not polished, origin story of Lazy Parenting is shared. Four kids under eight, not enough sleep, an empty fridge, and lunches that were sometimes crackers and cheese and an apple, because that was what was in the house. Practical, honest and built around one uncomfortable truth: doing it yourself is almost always faster. But the goal isn't to save three minutes this morning. It's to eventually work yourself out of the job. From alarm clocks and forgotten lunches to teenagers managing their own schedules, this episode traces what happens when you intentionally, consistently, work yourself out of the morning job. Because a perfectly managed morning might solve today's problem while accidentally preventing your child from learning how to manage tomorrow's. Topics include: back-to-school routines, morning independence, school morning habits, forgotten lunches, transferring ownership to kids, raising capable kids, natural consequences, alarm clocks, packing lunches, teen independence, school routines. Lazy Parenting Podcast | Episode 88 | lazyparenting.ca | @lazyparenting

  7. Aug 13

    87. Be The Difficult Parent

    Difficult because you love them enough to be the problem. In this episode, Stephanie talks about what it really means to be the difficult parent. The one who asks what movie they're showing before every sleepover. The one who picks their kid up at night instead of letting them stay. The one whose kids have had to explain, more than once, why their family has different rules around screens, sleepovers, life jackets and helmets. Not difficult because of anxiety. Not difficult because of control. Difficult because you love them enough to be the problem. And why giving your kids the script, "my mom won't let me", might be one of the most practical parenting tools you have. Because sometimes the kindest thing we can do is carry the social burden for our kids until they are ready to carry it themselves. Topics covered: peer pressure, sleepovers, life jackets, parenting boundaries, holding the line, screen limits, safety rules and giving kids a way out. Lazy Parenting Podcast | Episode 87 | @lazyparenting

  8. Aug 6

    86. What Really Matters

    Every parent wonders eventually — will any of this actually matter? Stephanie asked her two oldest children — aged 23 and 24, both university graduates living independently — seven questions about their childhood. What did we do that you didn't appreciate then but are grateful for now? What shaped you that we probably didn't even realize? What would you copy when you have your own kids? Their answers were honest, specific, occasionally surprising, and in her son's case delivered with the enthusiasm of someone doing homework he did not ask for. What came back: the screen rules both kids independently credited without comparing notes. The high expectations one described as exposure therapy to stress. The field trip volunteering that made her cry when she remembered it. The sisters that shaped her brother's ability to communicate. The grandparents that built conversational skills. The financial literacy that made one of them the financially savvy friend in her group. The family being cheap about shoes — and why that turned out to be exactly right. And the line that keeps coming back: The things we thought were just ordinary Tuesdays were quietly becoming their childhood. Not a theory episode. Not a research episode. Just — what they actually remember. And what it turns out was being built all along. Lazy Parenting Podcast | Episode 86 | lazyparenting.ca | @lazyparenting

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About

Kids who get up and dressed in the morning by themselves, make their own lunches, empty the dishwasher, wash their own clothes, feed the pets AND make their own dinner?!? Is this a dream or could it possibly become your REALITY?!? Stephanie is a mom of four, a former high school math and science teacher, the owner of 2 business and the founder of the #lazyparenting community. On this podcast she digs deep into the concept and strategies behind lazy parenting to help you raise happy, joyful, kind, empathetic and passionate adults who, above all else, are good humans.

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