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Elmhurst, Ill. —
Distilling knowledge she has gained as the parent of three young girls and as a family therapist, Cathy Cassani Adams joins husband Todd in their weekly “Zen Parenting” online radio program. An Elmhurst resident, she is the author of “The Self-Aware Parent: 19 Lessons for Growing with Your Children” and the newly-released follow-up, “… 23 More Lessons.” For another side of her healing nature, check out the 5:30 a.m. yoga class she leads Mondays at Elmhurst Yoga Shala. An instructor at Dominican University, she also gives parenting presentations to groups, is featured regularly on WGN Radio, and blogs for Chicago Parent magazine. The webcast is the latest way she is reaching out to make parenting easier and more nurturing.
What’s the radio experience like?
Radio interviews have been kind of my favorite things. You can just talk, and it’s more focused on the content. Todd and I have had a ball. We get about 10,000 to 12,000 downloads a month. We have people from all over the United States and … India, (likely) attracted to the word Zen.
Talk about the Zen influence.
In my books and the radio show, the theme that rides through them is taking care of yourself, so you can then take care of others. If you know yourself well, it is so much easier to give to others. … I think it’s a big piece parents miss. They have children; they lose themselves in the process, and that ends up being put on the children. … The more compassion we have for ourselves, then we have more compassion for others. We trust who we are, we trust who other people are.
Do you have rules for parents?
I don’t want to (give) a structured approach that can instill guilt. My husband and I always talk about if you look at the parenting books, they are telling you a million different things. They all contradict each other. (Realizing that) parenting is a very personal intuitive experience … opens us up to looking at things with a different lens, being able to see (kids) as human beings with different needs at different times. Allow them to be that way, rather than expect them to be like us or be like anyone else, (or) like a book says they should be. (We) forget to trust that our children are very aware of who they are.
How can you give kids self-confidence?
If we let go and (let them) become who they are, then they will thrive. It’s that word ‘letting go’ that parents get scared (of). They think (they’ll) let them fall or fail. All we’re doing is allowing them to have their life. Standing back a bit — trusting that they know who they are — that’s such a gift to them. Because if they hold on to it, that inner knowing, life moves so much smoother. If we start telling them who to be (and what to) think, there’s confusion at every step; they start looking outside themselves for validation.
Distilling knowledge she has gained as the parent of three young girls and as a family therapist, Cathy Cassani Adams joins husband Todd in their weekly “Zen Parenting” online radio program. An Elmhurst resident, she is the author of “The Self-Aware Parent: 19 Lessons for Growing with Your Children” and the newly-released follow-up, “… 23 More Lessons.” For another side of her healing nature, check out the 5:30 a.m. yoga class she leads Mondays at Elmhurst Yoga Shala. An instructor at Dominican University, she also gives parenting presentations to groups, is featured regularly on WGN Radio, and blogs for Chicago Parent magazine. The webcast is the latest way she is reaching out to make parenting easier and more nurturing.
What’s the radio experience like?
Radio interviews have been kind of my favorite things. You can just talk, and it’s more focused on the content. Todd and I have had a ball. We get about 10,000 to 12,000 downloads a month. We have people from all over the United States and … India, (likely) attracted to the word Zen.
Talk about the Zen influence.
In my books and the radio show, the theme that rides through them is taking care of yourself, so you can then take care of others. If you know yourself well, it is so much easier to give to others. … I think it’s a big piece parents miss. They have children; they lose themselves in the process, and that ends up being put on the children. … The more compassion we have for ourselves, then we have more compassion for others. We trust who we are, we trust who other people are.
Do you have rules for parents?
I don’t want to (give) a structured approach that can instill guilt. My husband and I always talk about if you look at the parenting books, they are telling you a million different things. They all contradict each other. (Realizing that) parenting is a very personal intuitive experience … opens us up to looking at things with a different lens, being able to see (kids) as human beings with different needs at different times. Allow them to be that way, rather than expect them to be like us or be like anyone else, (or) like a book says they should be. (We) forget to trust that our children are very aware of who they are.
How can you give kids self-confidence?
If we let go and (let them) become who they are, then they will thrive. It’s that word ‘letting go’ that parents get scared (of). They think (they’ll) let them fall or fail. All we’re doing is allowing them to have their life. Standing back a bit — trusting that they know who they are — that’s such a gift to them. Because if they hold on to it, that inner knowing, life moves so much smoother. If we start telling them who to be (and what to) think, there’s confusion at every step; they start looking outside themselves for validation.
