
“Our past hurts mixed with our present pressure often dictate our future fear.” Counselor and author Sissy Goff has watched this reality play out hundreds of times through the decades as she councils chidden as well as their moms and dads. So often parents are willing to get help for their anxious children while not addressing their own anxieties. In our conversation today, Licensed Counselor and author Sissy Goff explains that anxiety is contagious, and the worries we see in our children can often come from our own unaddressed anxieties.
In our conversation today, we talk about the rapid growth of anxiety as major struggle for more and more children and adults. Sissy shares insights from her new book, The Worry Free Parent: Living in Confidence So Your Kids Can Too. We discuss
The difference between worry and anxiety
The way unaddressed past hurts can bleed into our present parenting
How the amygdala is contagious
Practices to deescalate when anxiety is taking over
The importance of the following advice: Try Softer, Trust Your Gut, and Trust God
How the hope of the resurrection re-centers us on our darkest days
Bio
Sissy Goff, LPC-MHSP, has worked as the director of child and adolescent counseling at Daystar Counseling Ministries since 1993. She speaks to parents and children’s ministers across the country and is a frequent guest on media outlets such as Southern Living, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Good Morning America, Focus on the Family, That Sounds Fun, Family Life Today, Fox News, and many more. Sissy Goff is the author of 13 books including her latest, The Worry-Free Parent. She co-hosts the chart-topping Raising Boys and Girls podcast, with fellow Daystar Counselor David Thomas. The podcast just celebrated more than 5 million downloads to date www.RaisingBoysandGirls.com
Resources mentioned:
Instagram: @RaisingBoysandGirls
The Worry Free Parent: Living in Confidence So Your Kids Can Too: https://amzn.to/3NZCBOm
Are My Kids On Track: The 12 Emotional, Social, and Spiritual Milestones your Child Needs to Reach: https://amzn.to/3PL4bR0
Episode 217: Worry, Anxiety, and Emotional Vocabulary with Sissy Goff
Support Let’s Parent on Purpose through your Tax Deductible Giving
Connect with Jay:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@letsparentonpurpose
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letsparentonpurpose
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letsparentonpurpose
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jaydholland
Let's Parent on Purpose is a weekly podcast designed to strengthen your marriage, parenting, and personal relationship with Jesus. Host Jay Holland provides examples from God's word, real life success and failure stories, and lots of humility from his 20+ years of student ministry, parenting, foster parenting, and counseling others. Each episode you'll receive an insight or interview that will help you thrive, not just survive your parenting years.
You can find more from Jay at LetsParentOnPurpose.com or follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
Jay Holland is a follower of Jesus, a husband to Emily, and the biological and adoptive father of four children. For more than two decades Jay has served as a pastor in family and student ministries, and has walked through multiple special needs challenges within his own family.
Jay’s personal and pastoral experiences led him to launch the weekly Let’s Parent on Purpose podcast to equip and empower moms and dads to build thriving families. He serves at Covenant Fellowship Baptist Church in Stuart, Florida and is also on the board of Hopegivers, a ministry that cares for children and churches in India.