Melissa Pierce on Parenting the Kids You Have and the Importance of Self Care
“You really have to parent the kid that you have. I have two sons, and I parented my youngest differently than I parented my oldest during that time because there were different needs there.”
— Melissa Pierce
I had such a great discussion with Melissa Pierce for this episode. Melissa is a widowed parent, an author, and a self-care advocate. She has two sons, and her older son really struggled as a teen so be sure to listen for that part of our discussion if you’re facing a similar situation.
Some topics Melissa and I discuss include:
Melissa and her husband, Dave, adopting their two sons from the Oregon foster care system;
Moving their family from Portland to a small town in Eastern Oregon;
The traumatic shock of finding her husband dead after he’d gone to bed the night before feeling just a little unwell;
Making major changes in her life right away, despite all the grief literature suggesting one should not do this;
How the small town they lived in rallied to support Melissa and her boys after Dave died;
Finding The Dougy Center after she moved back to Portland;
How her grief therapy ended up dipping in and out of personal development therapy;
How her older son began to struggle that he so much that needed more help than could be provided locally;
Making the decision to send her teenage son to a wilderness therapy program and then to Boys Town;
Deciding to remarry;
How self-care changed her life; and
Melissa’s book recommendations for widows.
I hope you enjoy my discussion with Melissa Pierce.
Listeners: get a 10% discount on Melissa's self-care subscription boxes at filledwithgold.org - use discount code WIDOWEDPARENT.
Links & resources for this episode
Filled with Gold, by Melissa Pierce
I’m Grieving as Fast as I Can, by Linda Feinberg
Widows Wear Stilettos, by Carole Brody Fleet
Future Widow, by Jenny Lisk
Widowish, by Melissa Gould
More links for listeners
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