CLEVELAND — It’s hard to find anyone who would say parenting is easier now than it was for previous generations. In fact, a Pew Research Center Survey found that 70 percent of people polled said outside challenges and balancing work, life and family is harder now than ever before.
In this week’s “Mom Squad,” 3News’ Maureen Kyle sat down with nationally renowned parenting consultant and author Carol Muleta to talk about it.
“I often use things like current events. Very often, I would come with the newspaper at the dinner table and talk about something that I saw. It would be a topic of discussion to discuss how we would feel if we were in a particular situation if someone made fun of us, or someone was bullying us and we were embarrassed in front of a lot of people. How would we handle that? What are some constructive ways that we could deal with that?”
But what are some of the biggest challenges that parents face right now and what's the best way to face those?
“I think a lot of it has to do with technology," Muleta said. "It’s definitely a blessing, but it has definitely brought some new difficult situations that just weren’t present before. I mean, there are a few things. It’s obviously the obsession with using the technology instead of really connecting with people, connecting with each other in the real world. But then there’s also the information and the access that this technology brings. I always talk about how when I was younger, I didn’t know what children in Cleveland were doing so I didn’t need to be jealous.”
The two also talked about different exercises to do with your family, how to identify what your values are and to stop comparing yourself to others.
You can find the Mom Squad Pod anywhere you get your podcasts. Next week, the conversation continues with Muleta’s journey from a working woman to a stay-at-home mom.
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Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in a previous Mom Squad on March 1, 2022.