The Parent Pivot Podcast
We are Steve and Julia Cummings and we are empty nesters who desire to maintain healthy relationship with our adult children. We have found that something needs to change in us, the parent, when our child becomes an adult. We need to ”pivot” from parenting, to partnering. What does that look like? When do I say something and when do I not? Why won’t they listen to me? We address these questions and host more in a real, raw an vulnerable way in real time. Tune in each week as we help you become a partner to your adult children. New podcast weblog
Episodes
On today’s Parent Pivot Podcast, Steve and Julia sit down with author and parenting expert Catherine Hickem for a powerful conversation about one of the hardest transitions we make as parents: learning how to parent our adult children without trying to control them.
Catherine says influence has to be earned—not demanded.
We talk about expectations, estrangement, boundaries, identity, fear, and why repairing a relationsh...
When your adult child is hurting, everything in you wants to step in.
Fix it. Solve it. Make the pain go away.
But what if the most loving thing you can do is… not rescue them?
On this episode of The Parent Pivot Podcast, Steve and Julia get very real about what we’ve been walking through with our own adult kids—and the emotional tightrope of knowing when to step in and when to step back.
How do you support them ...
Every family has a “gold standard”—a picture of how life should go, how our children should respond, and what the right choices should look like.
But what happens when our adult children choose differently?
In this Best of The Parent Pivot Podcast, Steve and Julia talk about the difference between holding healthy values—and holding our children to our expectations.
The goal isn’t to lower the standard.
...You probably inherited more from your parents than your eye color, your laugh, or your last name.
Some of us inherited patterns.
Control. Criticism. Shame. Fear. Ways of relating that we swore we'd never repeat.
And then one day, we hear ourselves doing the very thing our parents did.
In this episode of The P...
This week on The Best of The Parent Pivot Podcast, we’re going back to an episode every parent of an emerging adult needs to hear:
“Why is This Taking SO Long?” — The Emerging Adult.
What do you do when your son or daughter seems stuck?
They don’t know what they want to do. Their career isn’t taking off. Their timeline looks nothing like the one you imagined.
And suddenly their uncertainty become...
When your kids were growing up, so much of life revolved around them.
School. Sports. Schedules. Problems. Decisions. Launching them into adulthood.
And then one day, they’re gone—and you look across the room at the person you started this whole thing with.
Your spouse.
On this “Best of The Parent Pivot Podcast,” Steve and Julia talk about something that’s easy to lose sight of while we’re trying...
This week on The Parent Pivot Podcast, we’re reaching back into the archives for one of our favorite conversations: “Be a Better Version of Yourself.”
As parents, we spend a lot of energy trying to help our children grow, mature, and make better choices. But sometimes the most powerful change in our family begins when we stop focusing on fixing them—and take ...
What happens when concern for your adult child crosses the line into control?
In this episode of The Parent Pivot Podcast, Julia shares how one worried text to her 35-year-old son quickly turned into a family-wide intervention he never asked for—and what happened next.
Steve and Julia talk honestly about helicopter parenting, owning your mistakes, and why repairing small relational r...
What if one of the greatest gift you could give your adult child isn’t advice, correction, or another solution—but your blessing?
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
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This week on The Parent Pivot Podcast, we’re continuing our conversation with our long-time friends, Jon and Cherie Talbert, on Multi-Generational Family Living.
In Part 2, we go deeper into what it looks like to build a family culture where multiple generations are connected, supported, and invited into each other’s lives.
Jon and Cherie share more wisdom on the practical realities, the relational challenges, and the b...
This week on The Parent Pivot Podcast, we’re going back to one of our favorite conversations with our long-time friends, Jon and Cherie Talbert on Multi-Generational Family Living.
What happens when adult children, aging parents, grandparents, and grandkids begin sharing more than just holidays together?
Jon and Cherie help us think through the beauty, challenges, boundaries, and blessings of multi-generational family li...
Grandbaby #7 is arriving and Steve and Julia will be back next week with new content. Please enjoy this "Best of" episode.
It's bound to happen. Your adult child is hurt by something they see their grandparents do for their sibling and not for them. Do you get involved? Ignore it? Take sides? Explain it away?
In yet another "real time" episode of The Parent Pivot Podcast, Steve and Julia walk through a situation that ju...
Have you ever found yourself stuck in a disagreement with your adult child?
Maybe it's about parenting, career choices, relationships, faith, or simply how they're living their life. The disagreement itself may seem small—but over time, it can create distance neither of you intended.
In this episode of The Parent Pivot Podcast, Steve and Julia explore how unresolved disagreements can slowly become disconnection, and why prese...
What happens when you stop holding on and start trusting God with your adult child?
In this special episode of The Parent Pivot Podcast, Steve and Julia sit down with their daughter, Jamilyn, to hear her side of the story—from mission trips as a teenager, to the World Race, to discovering her identity, hearing God's voice, and finding her calling.
Along the way, she shares one powerful truth every parent needs to hear:
"Your ...
What happens when parents stop trying to protect their adult children from every risk and start trusting God with their future?
This week on The Parent Pivot Podcast, we sit down with Seth Barnes, founder of Adventures in Missions and The World Race, to talk about launching adult children into purpose, faith, and real-world responsibility.
We discuss fear-based parenting, why young adults need challenge and adventure, the power of ...
There comes a time when you have to take a step back from life for a bit and take a deep breath. Life gets crazy fast, doesn't it? It's all about balance.
Summer break is finally here—and for many pivoting parents, that brings a mix of excitement, opportunity, and maybe a little anxiety too.
In this "Best of" The Parent Pivot Podcast re-air, Steve and Julia talk about how to make the most of the summer months wit...
What if the young man you’re worried about is still becoming who he was created to be?
In this deeply personal episode of The Parent Pivot Podcast, Steve and Julia talk honestly about boys, brain development, unmet expectations, parenting fear, and why so many parents panic too soon. From the science behind the prefrontal cortex developing around age 26… to the emotional impact parents can unknowingly have on their son...
Pivoting is not easy. It never is. You have to be intentional to change your trajectory. When it comes to pivoting from being a parent to a partner, we need to start with us - Mom and Dad.
What's the key to pivoting and becoming the healthy partner to your adult child?
On this "Best of " The Parent Pivot Podcast, Steve and Julia walk us through ways we can achieve a healthier balance in life which in turn will cre...
Mother’s Day can bring up a lot more than flowers and brunch reservations.
For many moms of adult children… it brings disappointment, loneliness, fear, and the painful question: “Am I still needed?”
In this episode of The Parent Pivot Podcast, Steve and Julia talk honestly about the struggle of releasing your adult children without losing your identity in the process.
From unmet expectations around ho...
What do you do when your relationship with your adult child isn’t what you hoped it would be?
In this powerful episode of The Parent Pivot Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Kathy Koch to talk about the real struggles parents face—grief, distance, conflict, and conversations that don’t have easy answers.
You’ll hear how to love your adult children without controlling them… how to hold onto truth without co...
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