“Parents are so much more worried today then they were 35 years ago. They so desperately want to be ‘good parents’ that they’re exhausting important energy on stuff that doesn’t matter.” This is a quote from today’s guest, Meg Meeker, MD. Meg is a pediatrician, author, parent, wife, grandmother and business owner. Her goal is to diffuse fear-based parenting.  I shared the stage with Meg at the Dave Ramsey SMART Conference and fell in love with her message around her book Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters.  I selfishly invited her on the show to grow as a father myself and help you in your journey as a parent, too. Meg’s insights are great for parents, but relate to all of us as aunts, uncles, sons and daughters, too. Subscribe & listen on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or my website. MY MAIN TAKEAWAYS: 3 Ways to Shift from Fear-Based Parenting Shift your perspective of yourself in your kids eyes. If a child is with you, he doesn’t want anything other than knowing that you like being with him. Stop worrying about what he’s eating for dinner and just focus on him. Make an exhaustive list of ALL the things you worry about with your kids. Then tell yourself “Let go of all of it! Today I’m just going to communicate that I like being with him.” Then do it again the next day. Watch, your whole relationship will change. Schedule your child less. Everyone says their life is too busy, but who makes it so? Are you willing to surrender time with your child for them to be in an activity that they’ll only be involved in for a few years? A child’s character is developed when he’s face to face with mom and dad. That time is important. Also, the remedy for your child acting out is MORE time with you. It all goes back to: Don’t schedule them so much. A tip about getting to 35 years of marriage? We refused to quit. Once we determined that we were that committed, then you could just wait “it” out. No matter our age, we all struggle with self-esteem. Hearing positive feedback from our parents as adults is still comforting. Make parenting simpler: Love your kids and do the best you can. Letting your young kids know you want their company is important. We think kids need other kids and peers. They don’t. They need you. Real joy comes from time spent at home working through life with your family. Life in a family unit is messy, working through the messiness together is how the joy comes. Don’t assume that just because your peers are doing something, that it has to be so. Set the bar higher for your child. They can have a better life than they currently do (in regards to technology, etc.). Two ways to do this: Find two times a month to schedule yourself to stay home and spend time as a family. The first week might be terrible, but by the fourth one, it will be great. Declare one hour in the evening as electronic free. Kids are feeling ignored because parents are on cell phones. Parents are having a hard time because kids aren’t paying attention due to their relationship with technology. Pick one hour each evening (or 3 nights wkly to start) with no tech. For this to work, everyone in your house must follow the rule.  One piece of advice for fathers to “be heroes”? Recognize you already have the cape (because your kid has put it on you!). You don’t need to get a bigger house or get a pool in the backyard. You just need to maintain. Shift your perspective, you are already a hero in your kids life. (Note: this is what your kid is looking for in a hero, and it’s well within your grasp, be: available, engaged, have his back, and protect him.) MEG MEEKER, MD’S LIVE INSPIRED 7 1. What is the best book you’ve ever read? Celebration of the Disciplines by Richard Foster. My main takeaway was to simplify and focus on the important stuff. 2. Tomorrow you discover your wealthy uncle shockingly dies at the age of 103; leaving you millions. What would you do? I would give 99% of it away to World Vision and The Medical Institute for Sexual Health. My needs a