Description

This episode explores gentle parenting and nonviolent communication through an interview with Matt and Sunaina Marquez, founders of Grow More Joy. They discuss how they use nonviolent communication in their relationship and parenting approach with their 3-year-old daughter. They define gentle parenting as respecting children and connecting with them on a deeper level. They provide examples of responding to a child's emotions through empathy and understanding rather than punishment. The interview also covers topics like celebrating failure, managing tantrums, the importance of self-reflection in parenting, and their vision for a more peaceful world through compassion.

Episode Highlights:

00:00:08 Creating peace and happiness in relationships. 

00:01:53 Nonviolent communication and gentle parenting.

00:09:29 Gentle parenting to build self-confidence in a child. 

00:11:26 Parenting and inner child healing.

00:13:51 Parenting, self-expression, and societal expectations.

00:16:06 Gentle parenting and self-acceptance.

00:19:30 Parenting and spreading peace through unconditional love.

00:24:05 Managing children's emotions and temper tantrums.

00:29:13 Parenting and emotional regulation.

00:32:01 Parenting and self-reflection. 

00:36:54 Gentle parenting, celebrating failure, and self-acceptance.

00:42:37 Embracing failure and self-acceptance.

00:45:21 Empathy, compassion, and peaceful communication.

"I feel that bringing up children in this way will make them as adults, very balanced. And this way of parenting allows them to be who they are, making them more peaceful, loving, and kind as adults." 

- Saju

Who is Matt Marquez?

• Matt is the co-founder of Grow More Joy, a relationship coaching service, along with his wife Sunaina.
• He runs Grow More Joy full-time and uses nonviolent communication principles in his relationship and parenting.  
• Matt is the father of a 3-year-old daughter and practices gentle parenting with her.
• As a parent, Matt values communication, mutual respect, and preparing his daughter for life's challenges through building her self-confidence and emotional regulation skills.
• He believes parenting involves ongoing self-reflection and improvement to better connect with and support his child.

"I want our daughter to feel able to do everything I want her to feel capable of doing, and not have that doubt. And part of that comes, I think, from gentle parenting, in that we are trying to encourage her self confidence, where I encouraged her to be able to ask for help to do all the things that that we want her to be able to do later in life, we have to help her practice it now."

- Matt

Who is Sunaina Marquez?

• Sunaina is the co-founder of Grow More Joy along with her husband Matt.
• She is a professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
• Sunaina is also the daughter of the podcast host Saju.
• She uses nonviolent communication in her relationship with Matt and in her parenting approach with their 3-year-old daughter.  
• Sunaina strives to see her daughter and others with empathy, understanding their behaviors and meeting their underlying needs through compassionate connection.
• She believes in honoring her daughter's self-expression and individuality while also examining her own triggers from societal expectations.
• Sunaina emphasizes the importance of unconditional love and acceptance in parenting to help children develop secure attachments and self-worth.

"I have learned that the voice, the words we use to speak to our child become their own inner voice." 

- Sunaina

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