If you haven’t yet, you can listen to the main interview with Dr. Goldsmith here. Below are the questions submitted by the SMP online learning community that Maggie and I discuss in this segment of our conversation. This was such a great conversation packed with practical wisdom and tips! As always, this Q&A is for paid subscribers only. There are just two days left to apply for an annual membership to the community for the sale price of $210 (regularly $255). This membership includes a full year’s paid subscription to The StoicMom Project Substack (with access to all paid content including this Q&A!)
Questions submitted by members of the SMP online community:
I would like to know more about managing my own emotions and what I should share and what I should keep to myself. Do our opinions matter? I wonder if my kid will ever really care what she put us through. An end goal is for her to be happy and healthy, but I wouldn't mind feeling happy and healthy myself.
Piggybacking about what to share and what to keep to ourselves. I’m wondering if Maggie thinks it’s ever a good idea to just be honest with our kids about our views on gender. And if so, how do you know when the time is right to share your views more directly?
Any tips on maximizing conversations with adult children, especially when communication is very infrequent?
Knowing that the child has untreated challenges (ADHD, depression, possible autism, maybe other mental health diagnosis?), do you think it would be detrimental to the relationship to confront the 19 year old with an insistence of abrupt halt on trans ideology and moving on with life. The parent has never really insisted on anything with firm guidelines so this would be shocking behaviour from the mother.
I recognize there are two opposite drives our kids have, especially kids like mine. To push far away but to turn around and see if we are paying attention. If I act like I don’t care or take a healthy distance, I think my kid will do something dramatic to pull me in. There is a desire for control of me. And a constant desire to test, whether I am going to be there. My question is what to do with the contradictory forces/desires that our kids might exert? How do we engage without getting trapped in the push pull?
Thoughts on how sexual trauma - particular assault at a young age by a male friend - plays into the trans ideology. To me its a protection, a disquise. My daughter has never got trauma therapy and I see it at the core of the ideology and the distress. How can I make this connection for her? She isn't leading a healthy productive life.
Based on the GWL podcast interview with Maggie, I took away that she believes that trans is a communication signifying that the kid wants something different from the parent and especially the mom. What are some steps I can take to figure out WHAT that different thing is in my case given that we have minimal conversation even though my daughter is just 15 and still at home? She avoids my attempts for extending our chats, for example by citing homework or the need to get ready for bed.
Share this post