Send Erica a text

If you let them go to the mall, they might get kidnapped. If you let them drive to a friend's house, they might wrap the car around a tree. You can get to worst-case scenario in under three seconds, and your kid knows it. That's why they think every conversation about freedom is pointless before it starts.

Erica walks through what happened when she realized her fear wasn't protecting her kids. It was pushing them away. She breaks down why hyper-control and connection will always be at odds, and how to replace secret surveillance with something that actually builds trust: a 15-minute safety and trust conversation you can start this week.

You'll learn a four-step prayer framework for the moments when anxiety has you paralyzed, what to do when you're so overwhelmed you can't even find words to talk to God, and why the bravest thing you can do in this season might be opening your hands instead of tightening your fists.

Fear says control everything or lose them. Faith says stay close to God, stay close to your kid, and let wisdom do what white-knuckling never could.

Download your podcast listening guide: https://a.ericawiggenhorn.com/51mvoso

Pre-order Loving Your Wayward Child: https://amzn.to/3P71fQ2

Momentum Conference: https://a.ericawiggenhorn.com/vtsyykt

Send Erica a text

You checked their location three times before lunch. You scrolled their social media from a fake account. You asked another mom to casually find out what's going on. And the whole time, you were telling your kid how important it is to be open and honest with you.

You see the problem.

Fear doesn't announce itself. It disguises itself as vigilance, as good parenting, as just being careful. But underneath, it's running the show — whispering worst-case scenarios at 2 a.m. and convincing you that if you don't control everything, everything will fall apart.

Erica gets honest about her own season of secret surveillance and catastrophic thinking — and why it backfired. She walks through the story of Cain and Abel and the detail most people miss: God didn't abandon the rebellious son. He marked him with protection. And He's doing the same thing for your child right now.

You'll learn a daily practice for naming your fear out loud instead of letting it fester, the ACTS prayer framework for when anxiety has you paralyzed, and a 15-minute conversation to have with your teen that builds trust without surrendering your authority.

Fear tells you to clamp down or you'll lose them. But the tighter you grip, the faster they pull away. There's a braver way forward — and it starts with trusting the God you keep telling your kids to trust.

Download your podcast listening guide: https://a.ericawiggenhorn.com/51mvoso

Pre-order Loving Your Wayward Child: https://amzn.to/3P71fQ2

Momentum Conference: https://a.ericawiggenhorn.com/vtsyykt

Send Erica a text

Your kid finally tells you something real. Something vulnerable. And before you even realize it, you've explained why they're wrong, justified the other person, and offered three solutions they didn't ask for.

Now they're shut down. Again. And you're replaying it at midnight wondering why they never talk to you anymore.

Erica breaks down why silence isn't the peacekeeper you think it is — and why lectures only convince your teen that you don't trust them to think. Then she teaches the Reflect Then Ask method: a simple conversation technique her own mom used that keeps defenses down and connection open, even when what your kid is saying makes your brain short-circuit.

You'll learn the one question that turns a brewing fight into an actual conversation, why collaborative decision-making builds more respect than laying down the law, and what research from UCLA says about why connection — not control — is what actually protects your teen.

Your influence isn't gone. But the way you've been using it might be pushing them further away. There's a better way — and it starts with fewer words and better questions.

Download your podcast listening guide: https://a.ericawiggenhorn.com/51mvoso

Pre-order Loving Your Wayward Child: https://amzn.to/3P71fQ2

Momentum Conference: https://a.ericawiggenhorn.com/vtsyykt