E 258 Cutting Through Parenting Advice Overload

Feeling overwhelmed by all the parenting advice out there? You’re not alone—and today’s guest, Jessica Shelley, is here to help you cut through the noise.

Jessica is a mom of six, former public school teacher, and co-founder of Launch Family—a personalized support platform that gives parents clear, practical guidance based on their unique family goals. Whether you homeschool, your kids are in public school, or somewhere in between, Jessica shares how to turn everyday chaos into meaningful learning moments.

In this episode, you’ll discover:
✅ How to raise confident, independent kids without the overwhelm
✅ Simple ways to make real-life moments into learning opportunities
✅ How to navigate parenting style differences with your partner
✅ The secret to cutting through conflicting parenting advice
✅ Why chores and kitchen time build skills for life

📌 Learn more about Jessica Shelley and Launch Family:
Website: http://launchfamily.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jessica-shelley

🎧 Listen to more episodes of The Teen Anxiety Maze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHJMG1MKvw4&list=PL_GAwNq4evJ-FsN-0E4vA9-yGmkh2bFSZ
📩 Connect with me, Cynthia Coufal: https://www.betterregulatethannever.com/

If you found this episode helpful, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share so more parents can find encouragement and support.

#ParentingTips #Homeschool #RaisingConfidentKids #FamilyConnection #LifeSkillsForKids #ParentingAdvice 

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Email me: ccoufal@cynthiacoufalcoaching.com
Text me: 785-380-2064
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Transcript

Cynthia: [00:00:00] Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed by all of the parenting advice out there? Do you wish you had a more connected, confident relationship with your kids, especially when it comes to learning and whether you homeschool or not? Have you ever wondered how do you turn the everyday chaos of family life into meaningful moments?

Well, if so, you are going to love today's guest. Jessica Shelley is a mom of six, a former public school teacher and the co-founder of Launch Family, a personalized support platform that helps parents cut through the noise and get clear, practical guidance based on their unique family goals. Jessica's passionate about empowering parents to take the lead in their child's learning journey with creativity, connection, and a whole lot of grace.

[00:01:00] We are gonna talk about how to make learning more meaningful, how to trust yourself as a parent and what it really looks like to guide your kids with heart, whether you're homeschooling, navigating school, or somewhere in between. So Jessica, welcome to the Teen Anxiety Maze. Thank you so much for having me.

I'm excited to dive into this conversation today. Yes. Well, me too. Well, first of all, tell me about having six kids. Well, wonderful, that, that seems like a 

Jessica Shelley: lot. I was gonna say, where do I even start? Yeah, it's a, a joy filled home that we have, um, not short on chaos. And also, you know, we have the disagreements and things between siblings.

My oldest is currently nine and my youngest is almost five months. So we have a pretty close. Spread. But we are in the thick of parenting and all of the things that come along with it. 

Cynthia: So you come at this from, I know what's going on because I have this going on in [00:02:00] my house right now because I try to help parents too.

My, you know, my clients are teens, but I. I'm talking to parents. I just talked to a parent before this call and I have to kind of dig back into what was it like to have the kids at home because I don't have that anymore. So you don't have to even blink. You'll know like what to talk to people about because you are experiencing this, uh, on a daily basis.

And I never had six ever at the same time. So, um, you have that going on too. So tell, do you do, um, homeschooling? Do the, your kids go to school? Do you do both? Tell me about that. 

Jessica Shelley: Yeah, so we primarily homeschool, um, so that'll be like our four oldest, so our four five. Eight and 9-year-old, we homeschool. But we did try public school for a short amount of time with our oldest before withdrawing him.

But, you know, my background is in public ed, so I've been there. I've seen what's happening in the schools. I know [00:03:00] you know a lot about what happens behind the scenes too when it comes to family engagement and kind of navigating that journey. So happy to, happy to share whatever I can. 

Cynthia: All right. Well, so you're the co-founder of Launch Family and this is helping families with all this chaos.

So tell me, tell us about that. What is this program? What does it do? Why did you decide you. You wanted to start it. 

Jessica Shelley: Why I I can answer that one right now. Why is cutting for me, I need help cutting through the chaos. Um, and so definitely kind of resonating with other families too, as we've been talking about just our needs when it comes to, you know, everything from nutrition to navigating school to, okay, when do I actually work in 15 minutes to take some deep breaths for myself?

And so that's really like the whole premise for why we created it. And as far as what it is, you know. It really aims to kind of cut through the noise. Like I always kind of give this example of the story of like, okay, I am up at 2:00 AM I'm feeding my infant, or you know, maybe I just now checked [00:04:00] my email when I'm coming home from work and I see a report about my child is like struggling with reading, right?

And it's like, I don't know what that actually means. I just know. Mm-hmm. Okay. They got a bad grade on something or there's a progress report. And so then I go to, you know, Google, which is going to gimme all my input. Right. Maybe check and too many answers. Exactly. And mm-hmm. You know, you type in, you know, my child is struggling with reading, you know, grade level, what do I do?

And then that's like the 2:00 AM rabbit hole, right? Like, then we're looking at what does reading look like for five year olds? What does reading look like for adolescents or fifth grade? And you're not finding anything that's really resonating with your child's age or like giving you a clear action step for what you can do.

And so. What we've created with Launch Family is that the answers that you get, you type in the same question in the launch family, and you're gonna get an answer that's based on your child's age and grade level. If they have any learning [00:05:00] differences or disabilities, you know, your parenting style to help you navigate, how do you, what is an next best action for your child, specifically in context of your whole family?

Cynthia: Hmm. That just, I love the idea of that. You know, I was thinking when you said the 2:00 AM feeding and you're looking, you're scrolling or whatever. I remember, well my daughter had postpartum depression, but she was this doing this scrolling in the night during feedings or just when she was up with her anxiety and and low feelings.

But there was so much like. Just varying information. Like I remember she had put her son in a swing and then she had read on one of these posts or forums or whatever. It was practically like child abuse if you put your child in a swing. So then she's like, oh my gosh, I put him in a swing. Something's wrong with me.

And you know, I'm a bad mom, and all these kinds of things that go on in the middle of the night. It seems [00:06:00] like that's kind of the time where you really get, because you can't. Process it with anyone because everyone's asleep or you know, you can't text your mom at two in the morning. Well, she probably could, but probably wouldn't know if I, you know, got the text or whatever.

So then she'd have to wait till the next day to say, mom, I read this and now I feel bad. And we'd, you know, have to talk about it. But I love that they would be getting real answers no matter what time it is. And. That you have vetted. I mean, you're, you're an educator, so you would know like different things about education stuff, and I'm sure you've probably got the right information about meal planning or developmental delays or you know, like all the things right there where they.

Now, do they put in, like when they're asking the question about whatever it is, do they do the specifics there? Or because they're a family in your [00:07:00] program, they've already said the specifics of their family, and then every time they do something on this platform, it takes all that into account, 

Jessica Shelley: is that It takes it all into account.

So you just set up your account and then anytime that you put something in, it's gonna give you. You know, at least closer steps to what you need. 

Cynthia: Oh my gosh, I love that. Well, and one of the things at the beginning was it said personalized to their goals. So then each family, when they join you, they have certain goals that they're wanting to work on in Launch family.

Jessica Shelley: It's kind of mixed. So you can use Launch family if you don't have a clear goal, and we can kind of help you move towards that of like, okay, I wanna learn more about this. Um, starting to notice like patterns and questioning and things like that. If you have a clear goal, by all means you could set that up and, and start working on that right away.

Um, but it's not necessarily requirement. But yeah, all expert backed research based guidance that's provided for sure. 

Cynthia: Mm. [00:08:00] I love that so much. Now, as far as homeschooling, if somebody's a homeschooler is there curriculum like for that or is it just like advice on how to do certain homeschooling? 

Jessica Shelley: Yeah, I would say homeschooling is like more of like a specific content within the academic sort of pillar that we have in there.

Um, so it can give you some recommendations for how to get started with homeschooling. Some things to think about when it comes to curriculum. It's not a homeschool curriculum per se, but we'll help you find the right fit for your family. 

Cynthia: Okay. And is there like a resources area where it's like, if you need more information, here's some good.

Vetted, you know, people to look into. 'cause you know, obviously it would be so hard to know everything or have everything like here's some things that we like, or things I use that I would want other people to know about. 

Jessica Shelley: Yeah. So as far as [00:09:00] like the interface of the platform, it's very similar to kind of chat GPT where you would type in a question or even to Google where you type in a question and then.

On the right hand side, you actually always get expert insights. So if you're interested in something that's mentioned, you can actually expand on any of that. You can set up a plan to try it, like within the platform where it'll give you daily reminders and you can also connect with one of the experts that we have for that specific content area.

Cynthia: Oh, wow. So do you have experts that specifically work for Launch Family or Work Inside Launch Family? 

Jessica Shelley: We work with experts. Yes. So they usually their own sort of businesses or consulting or coaching. And then we partner with them to be able to provide services also to launch family, Okay. Platform families.

Cynthia: Okay. Yeah, that totally makes sense. I love it. And then is there any, um. You know, other support, like is there any live [00:10:00] events, live calls, webinars workshops? I don't know, that kind of stuff that goes along with it. It is in the works. 

Jessica Shelley: So we are working on our community and live events and things like that, but we're always accessible.

So we are just launching our platform actually in June of 2025. I'm not sure when this will air, but um, in June, 2025, be here to check us out. But yeah, that's something that we're really excited to build alongside this community of our Launch Family Families as well. 

Cynthia: Mm. Oh, I love that so much. What is so far with the people that you know, as you're working with us, what do you think are some of the main things families really want help with?

Jessica Shelley: I think it kind of comes down to behavior, um, in a different context. Like, how do I manage, you know, a tantrum at home or my child is mm-hmm. You know, on a behavior plan at school, what do I even ask when it comes to that meeting? Or I have concerns about my child's behavior. What are some professional ways that I [00:11:00] can go about this?

Who do I talk to? Pediatrician, a counselor. Those are kind of some of the big topics that we're seeing come through right now. 

Cynthia: Oh, okay. That totally makes sense. I feel like with my grandkids, that's my biggest thing that I wonder about too, is behavior like. What about this behavior and then what do I do about it?

And so yeah, that totally makes sense. The other thing on a parent call I just had today was about parenting styles. Like the, the partners in the relationship having two different parenting styles and, you know. How do you navigate that? 'cause then it causes fights between the partners about how to deal with the kids in different ways.

And so I'm sure that's probably one too, that people, I'm experiencing that also with my, my husband. We didn't parent together 'cause we're a blended family and we got married when. Our kids were adults for the most part. I mean, there was one left at home, but the rest of them had already went on to college.

And so we really didn't [00:12:00] parent, especially littles ever together. And so this is our first time of like trying to discipline when they stay with us or whatever, and we're both like totally like, oh no, I wouldn't do it that way. And he is like, well, I wouldn't do it the way you're doing it. I'm like. Oh, and so this is kind of a new thing too, so that's probably something that you could help people with as well, like how to do that.

Jessica Shelley: Yeah, that's actually part of the profile, and so you actually get insights specifically towards your parenting style and then the neighboring parenting style. So if you are maybe on like the authoritative end, right? Like you might work towards more like gentle parenting or permissive parenting or whatever your goal is, like along the spectrum of.

Different kind of mindsets. And so we do provide like your core parenting style, persona and then insights around that, but then also the neighboring ones, which is also helpful if you have, if you're co-parenting with someone who may not be the exact style that you are to find some middle [00:13:00] ground at least on some of those strategies that you're implementing with the kiddos.

Mm. 

Cynthia: I love that. So do they take some sort of an assessment to get these, this profile or ideas of what their parenting style is like? 

Jessica Shelley: Yeah. If they're not already aware of what their parenting style is, we do have a quiz that they can take too to find out you know, their best fit for sure. 

Cynthia: Mm-hmm. Oh, I love that.

What, we're gonna do all these things, so you probably hadn't thought about this, but I could see how this could be helpful to grandparents. 

Jessica Shelley: I mean, we, we've thought about where the grandparents, aunts, uncles, like other caregivers fit into the mix as well. And you know, even the teaching aspect. So if your child is in public school, being able to have your teacher maybe see some of the things that they're going through at home can also help influence the teacher's approach at school or, you know, kind of help.

Yeah. And open up those communication channels for sure. 

Cynthia: Yeah, that sounds. Great. I love that. So one other question. I'm gonna have to look [00:14:00] at it though 'cause I was like, I just looked at it and then I forgot. Oh, how can families create meaningful learning moments in that everyday chaos of family life?

Like, what, how does that work? Or, or what should people try to do? 

Jessica Shelley: I mean, I think of learning as more than just, you know, math, reading, science, social studies, writing, whatever it could be. I mean, learning at home is a lot more about like the character that you want your child to have. And so, you know, are they respectful?

Are, can they take initiative if they see something left on the floor, are they picking it up or do they have to be asked to pick it up? Some of those like routines, procedures, things like that, that will help foster independence as they kind of. You know, leave the nest, so to speak. Mm-hmm. And that does start at a really young age.

And so my children have chores at four and five years old. I mean, mind you, it's like pick up their toys, a very structured sort of thing that they can do. Mm-hmm. But, um, those are great sort of resources and also like this [00:15:00] mindset shift of. You know, when it comes to dinner, a lot of the times families kind of push their kids out of the kitchen because it's like, okay, I just need to get dinner ready to go.

Mm-hmm. Um, and knowing that when kids are in there, it takes a little longer, but at the same time, there is so much learning that can happen in the kitchen. You know, you're doing fractions with measurement. If you're doing a recipe they're reading, um, you could. Inspire some more creativity and curiosity around like adding a different spice instead of something else.

Does it taste good? Um, a little bit of science sort of mentality there. 

Cynthia: Mm-hmm. So I love that having those 

Jessica Shelley: communication channels involving them in things. 'cause then, then that's also independence. They can, you know, make their own meals, mm-hmm. Will be helpful for them in the long run. 

Cynthia: Oh, this just fits so much with what I tell teenage parents about as their kids get ready to leave the nest and some of them have not ever had to do anything on their own because, you know, it is easier and [00:16:00] less messy to do everything on our own and not have them be involved in any of it.

But yes, they need to know how to do these things. And you can start very early. My 3-year-old grandson. When he stayed, I needed to make, like I prep, I do meal prep ahead of time and get a whole bunch of things done at once so that I can just grab them out of the refrigerator. And I needed to do this meal prep, but he was with me for the whole day and night and I was like, I don't know how to get this done.

I can't leave him to do it because he won't, he'll get into things or he also doesn't like to play by himself, so I have to be involved. And I thought, I'm just gonna involve him in making this. Do this meal prep and it was messier, but I was like, that's okay. Like at least. And he really had fun doing it.

And you know, he is not old enough for the recipe, part of the fraction thing. But I was like, you know, I measured things and I was like, pour this in this one. Pour this here. You know? 'cause I was making multiple of the same thing [00:17:00] and we just had such a good time. He, I didn't have to worry about what he was doing while I was doing it 'cause he was right with me.

And I like when you were talking about like, reading a recipe, reading, technical reading, I think that's what you would call it as technical because it's like steps and things is a different type of reading than reading a book or reading, you know, for, for comprehension or whatever. And so, yeah, I could see that.

You need to know how do you read plans or recipes? Versus how do you read a story and the words that they would use in a recipe might be new vocabulary that they didn't have, and like a story and yeah, that's just perfect. And I have told parents that this, you know, as a teen, if they haven't started their kid doing things on their own or having chores or having responsibilities, that they definitely have to start it then because they can't go off [00:18:00] into the world if they don't know how to do things.

Um, and we really should be, as parents, we're working ourselves out of a job. We we're making them independent so that we don't have to do those things when they're adults. So I'm so glad that you're teaching that to families from the very beginning and they're getting support with it. 'cause it is difficult to, to, to do that or to like, know all the ways you could do that.

And it's almost like sometimes I feel like parents need permission. To do something and like I will tell parents to try some technique and they're like, I can do that. I'm like, well, you literally can do whatever you want, but yes, you can try this new thing. So you're giving parents permission to try new things or to set different goals for their family or whatever.

Jessica Shelley: Yeah. And I think it is like rooted in real life, right? Yeah. Like when we go to the grocery store, like creating the grocery list with a shopping list with quantities or pricing and a budget. Like [00:19:00] there is so much to learn, even just from a grocery, you know, store trip or like, if things are on sale and it says 20% off, like that's a great way to do percentages and like talk about that conversation.

Um, even if you do use your calculator on your phone to calculate things out, like the process, like the mindset behind understanding what's happening or, you know, leaving. A tip at a restaurant like, challenge your child to, you know, calculate the tip when you go out to eat and write it down. Fill out the, you know, little slip of paper that you have to fill out.

Like they're gonna have to do those things. Um, so yes, how to do that in context is also really fun. 

Cynthia: Yes. Oh, I, I love that because some of that math can be a little bit tricky depending on, 'cause I feel like sometimes the stuff we focus on in school. Doesn't apply or doesn't transfer very well to real life.

And so if you're doing it, you know, maybe you're teaching it in this, the homeschool or they're learning it at school, but yeah, using it [00:20:00] in a real life situation shows them the importance of that. Because a lot of kids will say to me, well, I don't know why I have to know this, or I don't know why I had to learn this.

Well, you could be showing them why they need to know those things in the real life setting. So. Yeah. Well, tell us what else do you want us to know about Launch Family or any other things about what you offer the world and how we can, how we can find you and how we can get connected to you. Yeah, 

Jessica Shelley: well I'm super active on LinkedIn.

Um, I love to connect there and see about, you know, what things, uh, other people are up to. And as far as like a lasting thought is, you know, really just that idea of connection and, and real life learning that is happening all around us. Um, you know, launch Family is a great resource, but we also don't want you to live in Launch Family.

Like our goal is to save you time so you can spend time with your family in doing things that are productive together. Launch Family can be a great resource if you're like, Hey, how do I teach my kids? You know, [00:21:00] percentages in real life. Ask, watch family, and it'll give you insights, uh, based on your child's age as well.

So we can be a great resource as you're maybe starting some of these things or trying to think about new creative ways to encourage independence, um, and also foster connection at the same time with your kids. 

Cynthia: Hmm. Well, every family that listens to this needs to connect with you and find out what is all going on there.

'cause I would've. This would've been so helpful to me in my life when I was raising kids and this, I'm just so glad that there are people out here doing this kind of work and I appreciate that so much and good luck on getting everyone in to Launch Family. 

Jessica Shelley: Thank you so much for your time and I look forward to connecting with everyone.

Cynthia: Yes.