Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the TN-WNC-SWVA region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The TN-WNC-SWVA.
Is your business serving the residents of TN-WNC-SWVA? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA
EP# 293: Parents Need Coaches Too: How Grace 2 Grow Helps Families Thrive
What makes Christi Hurd with Grace 2 Grow Family Coaching a good neighbor?
What does it really mean to be a good parent? In this heartfelt conversation with Christi Hurd, owner of Grace 2 Grow Family Coaching, we explore the challenging yet rewarding journey of parenting with grace and intention.
Christy shares her powerful transition from dedicated middle school teacher to family coach, a calling that emerged from witnessing countless parents struggling without adequate support. "Parents needed a lot of support and I felt very limited in my ability to walk alongside them because of my classroom responsibilities," she explains. Now, after specialized training through the Parent Coaching Institute, she's fulfilling her mission to help parents gain confidence, address challenges, and genuinely enjoy their parenting journey.
Unlike the "super nanny" approach that focuses on fixing problems, Christi's coaching philosophy centers on partnership and empowerment. "What a parent coach does is help you reframe and co-construct solutions to your problems," she explains. This collaborative process honors parents' values while providing the tools they need to thrive. Through both one-on-one coaching and workshops like "Raising Confident and Capable Kids" and "Handling Technology as a Team," she addresses the real-world challenges facing today's families.
Perhaps most refreshing is Christi's emphasis on grace. Drawing from her own parenting experiences with three children, she admits, "I struggled a lot myself as a parent... I was always bombarded with the question 'am I doing it right?'" This authenticity shapes her coaching approach, reminding clients that "it's never too late, and none of us do it perfectly." As she beautifully summarizes, "Parenting is the hardest, most important job you'll ever love." Ready to transform your parenting journey? Visit Grace2GrowFamilyCoaching.com to learn more and take advantage of Christi's limited-time 50% discount on all coaching services.
To learn more about Grace 2 Grow Family Coaching go to:
https://www.grace2growfamilycoaching.com/
Grace 2 Grow Family Coaching
(828) 337-5008
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. So I am very excited today to have a very special guest for the first time in the studio with us. And I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am to learn all about them and their business, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ms Christy Hurd, who is the owner operator of Grace to Grow Family Coaching. Christy, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you, skip, looking forward to talking with you.
Speaker 2:Well, like I said, I'm super excited I'm sure our listeners are too to have you interviewers, to have you on the show and to learn all about your business. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about what you do?
Speaker 3:I am a family coach, working primarily with parents who want to gain confidence to address issues and enjoy their journey more. So I am a retired middle school teacher. I retired four years ago and I knew in the classroom that parents needed a lot of support and felt very limited in my ability to walk alongside them because of my classroom responsibilities, in my ability to walk alongside them because of my classroom responsibilities, and so when I decided to retire, I honestly felt called to work with parents and found out that I could be trained as a parent coach and I went through the parent coaching program, parent Coaching Institute in Washington State, did that, did my required hours and started my business in 22. So I've been in business for three years and have worked with families, parents. I work with some teenagers and try to help them reframe their challenge and reset so they can make better decisions and have fewer regrets.
Speaker 2:Fascinating. Very good, very good, and you started as a teacher.
Speaker 3:Yes, I was a middle school teacher, and so I could tell that parents really needed it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I have five kids. I could not agree more. Yes, I totally get that. So now were you a teacher in Western North Carolina.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:I was a teacher in Buncombe County and I really loved it.
Speaker 3:I really loved it. But it was time for me to retire. My husband wanted me to and when this opportunity, when I learned about it, it just seemed like the perfect fit. My dad was a marriage counselor for his whole career and I. He modeled a lot of good skills for me and felt like it would be a great encore career for me as a retired teacher.
Speaker 2:It runs in runs in the family.
Speaker 3:Runs in the family. That's right, and I also struggled a lot myself as a parent. I have three children, three adult children now, but while they were growing up, I was always bombarded with the question am I doing it right, am I doing enough, what should I do? And just had a lot of self-doubt often on my journey. And had I had a parent coach, it would have been so much more enjoyable, because what a parent coach does is they don't go in as like a super nanny trying to fix everything. They help you reframe and you co-construct solutions to your problems. So together we come up with strategies that they can try, and so I wish I had had that. So I want to give to parents what I didn't, and tries to stay connected to their children will have a much more enjoyable journey.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well, I can't think of a single parent who wouldn't want that. I mean, you know, to have a coach, because you know, especially young parents don't have a clue.
Speaker 3:I mean, there's no instruction booklet, right, there's no instructions, and there's so much on social media that it confuses you, and so you think who should I listen to, and and so what I do is I explore what's important to them, and then we come up with strategies that fit their integrity and their journey.
Speaker 3:I also teach workshops and give a lot of information that way. I recently did one called Raising Confident and Capable Kids, which was very, very insightful and parents were ready for it, and I'm working on one right now about handling technology as a team.
Speaker 2:Takes a village.
Speaker 3:It does With social media. It certainly does. It certainly does.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely so, with family coaching. Can you think of any myths or misconceptions that people have about that?
Speaker 3:Well, I think that whenever someone you know, if someone says, oh, you should see a parent coach, I think the first thing they think is oh, am I doing something wrong? And no, in fact, the best parents are the ones who seek out coaches because I kind of say it's a good parent who wants to be a great parent. So it's kind of like when you go to the gym you kind of know about health, but you want someone that wants to help you become healthier. So I take what they already know, what they're already doing well, and then we just build on it. So it makes for a really great experience where they are getting what they need. They're getting empathy, education and loving, nonjudgmental support.
Speaker 2:So you don't have to be broken to ask for help.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely not, Absolutely not. It's an honor, I think, for anyone to say I just want to be better. And what a great time to do it when your kids are still at home. You know you have one chance to really do it well, and then you know there's a repair, possibly later on.
Speaker 2:Well, outside of work. If there's time outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:When I started this encore career, I knew I didn't want to do it full time. So my husband and I do some traveling. I have learned how to quilt, I'm doing some watercolor, we hike, I'm learning pickleball. So I'm trying to keep a variety of fun things going on.
Speaker 2:Pickleball has just exploded over the last several years Hasn't it. I know it is crazy, it is crazy.
Speaker 3:It is crazy.
Speaker 1:Which is great and it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:It is For any age, it is You're right.
Speaker 2:Well, so let's switch gears for just a second. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it made you stronger coming out the other side? Does anything come to mind?
Speaker 3:The first thing that comes to mind is just being able to own where I messed up in my parenting. I think that that this, all my training, has shown me, if I could go back, what I would do differently. And so I've had to do repair with some of my children and and it's made for a better relationship for them to see that, oh, you were parenting out of fear. Yeah, I was. That's why I was so controlling, and that's one that has been a good thing. That's one that has been a good thing. And then just recently, my dear dad, the marriage counselor, died and I've been having to deal with that and really just look at all of the legacy that he's left me that's always, always tough.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure he's looking down very proud of you though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I hope so, I hope so.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so, christy. If you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about you and Grace to Grow Family Coaching, what would that be?
Speaker 3:I like the title of my business Grace. It starts there, it's never too late, and none of us do it perfectly. It starts there, it's never too late and none of us do it perfectly, and so when we can start from that position, then I think we're more open to growth.
Speaker 2:So it's never too late and to recognize that parenting is the hardest, most important job you'll ever love. Very good thing to remember. And for those of us listeners that are in need or curious and would like to learn more, how can they do that?
Speaker 3:Yes, they can go to my website and learn about me. I have also different blogs on there. I am offering a really great deal on my fees right now because I'm trying to get another coach accreditation, so I've slashed all my fees 50%. So it's a great time you get the same coaching but you get a really good deal money-wise.
Speaker 2:Wow, awesome, you heard it here, folks. 50% off right now so wonderful, I'm glad we could get that out there for you. 50% off right now so wonderful, I'm glad we could get that out there for you.
Speaker 3:Very good, and what's your website address?
Speaker 2:GraceToGrowFamilyCoachingcom.
Speaker 3:And that's a letter to Grace, that's a letter to, and the reason I use to skip is that it takes two. It takes you being your own best friend, you being with you know, relating to someone in your family. So it takes at least two to grow.
Speaker 2:Gotcha Very good, all right. Well, christy, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us and share what you do and how you're contributing to the community. We appreciate that and we wish you and your family and your clients all the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Good. Thank you so much, Skip. It's been an honor to talk to you.
Speaker 2:Well, it's been an honor to have you on the show and and we'd love to have you back sometime.
Speaker 3:Okay, wonderful, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much. Have a great rest of the day.
Speaker 1:Okay, thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.