Garrett channels his inner DJ for this week’s Date Your Wife podcast where he and Danielle talk about some problems they’re facing in the parenting department with their once snuggly-cuddly seventh grader, and also share some of the victories they’re experiencing with Garrett’s nineteen-year-old son.  Every week married couple Danielle and Garrett J White share insights and perspectives from within their own lives regarding the following topics discussed each month: Week 1: Sex Week 2: Money Week 3: Parenting Week 4: Communication   In This Week’s Podcast….PARENTING Point #1: Cell Phone Game Changer Cell phones have changed the game for kids, forcing them to grow up much faster and at the same time, they’re NOT growing up. They’ve gotten really good at being able to communicate via text, but they haven’t learned how to commutate face-to-face. Danielle recalls waiting for boys to call her when she was in Junior High. She was nervous and sweating, hoping she wouldn’t sound like a dork or stutter. Today, it’s a matter of text, erase, edit, and send. QUESTION How has communication changed since you were a teen? Point #2: Bed Time Shenanigans The bed-time routine at the White household can sometimes look more like a shit show, with their seventh grader going into psycho mode while Garrett takes away her cell phone. Unbeknownst to Garrett who is in the middle of a yelling match in one room, Danielle is in another other room consoling their seven-year-old who has a pillow over her ears saying, “I hate this part!” QUESTION What does your bed time routine look like?   Point #3: Old School Discipline When their oldest daughter back-talks Danielle, Garrett wonders if her mother would have tolerated that behavior. As a seventh grader, Danielle remembers being backhanded by her mother while they were driving. As an eighth-grader, Garrett found himself wandering the streets of their new city for four hours after his mom kicked him out of the van for fighting with his siblings. That was before cell phones. QUESTION How do your discipline techniques differ from those of your parents?   Point #4: Jump Through the Windows Danielle: When kids are little, they operate on your agenda; when they turn into teenagers, you operate on their agenda –  that’s your window in. In order to gain that connection, I’m constantly looking for my windows. Garrett: We have some traction in her world. The key is being present with what her issues are and what’s going on in her world. Perhaps we actually do know what we’re doing. QUESTION What can you do to be more aware of those little windows of opportunity to connect with your children?   Point #5: Navigating the Parental Waters of Divorce It was only a couple years ago that Garrett’s nineteen-year-old son wouldn’t talk to him. Today, he is an integral part of the Warrior landscape as he and Garrett forge a new relationship that has recently included bringing Garrett’s ex-wife and her family into the picture. A family intervention during the Warrior Woman event in the summer of 2018 proved not only healing but life transforming as Garrett and his ex-wife were able to take radical responsibility, let go of stories, and come to a peaceful place, demonstrating that anything is possible. QUESTION How are navigating the waters of parental divorce? Communication Challenge: Have a discussion about the challenges cell phones have brought into your family. Date Night Topic: How can you better support each other in how you parent? Brainstorm different ideas and strategies and choose one or two to begin implementing. Quote of the Week: “The emotional fortitude of children isn’t what it used to be. Kids today are growing up intellectually very quickly, with great articulation and communication, but emotionally they’re going backward.” —Garrett J White “Because you are so mad and so bitter, and are not dealing with your own shit and your own stories, it is ultimately holding you back.” —Daniell