Every parent wants their child to feel confident, connected, and well-liked but social health isn’t just about having friends. It’s a protective factor that influences everything from mental health to academic success.

Whether your child is struggling socially or is already a natural leader, this episode is packed with tools, scripts, and mindset shifts to help you parent with connection and raise a child who chooses authenticity over popularity.

Let’s build the foundation for confident, emotionally resilient kids who lead with kindness.

Jennifer's Takeaways:

• Helping Children Become Leaders, Not Followers (00:00)
• Modeling Empathy and Integrity (03:14)
• Teaching Children to Navigate Social Situations (07:58)
• The Role of Parents in Improving Social Skills (09:24)
• Incorporating Empathy into Family Values (11:39)

Meet Jennifer Kolari

Jennifer Kolari is the host of the “Connected Parenting” weekly podcast and the co-host of “The Mental Health Comedy” podcast. Kolari is a frequent guest on Nationwide morning shows and podcasts in the US and Canada. Her advice can also be found in many Canadian and US magazines such as; Today’s Parent, Parents Magazine and Canadian Family.

Kolari’s powerful parenting model is based on the neurobiology of love, teaching parents how to use compassion and empathy as powerful medicine to transform challenging behavior and build children’s emotional resilience and emotional shock absorbers.

Jennifer’s wisdom, quick wit and down to earth style help parents navigate modern-day parenting problems, offering real-life examples as well as practical and effective tools and strategies.

Her highly entertaining, inspiring workshops are shared with warmth and humour, making her a crowd-pleasing speaker with schools, medical professionals, corporations and agencies throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

One of the nation’s leading parenting experts, Jennifer Kolari, is a highly sought- after international speaker and the founder of Connected Parenting. A child and family therapist with a busy practice based in San Diego and Toronto, Kolari is also the author of Connected Parenting: How to Raise A Great Kid (Penguin Group USA and Penguin Canada, 2009) and You’re Ruining My Life! (But Not Really): Surviving the Teenage Years with Connected Parenting (Penguin Canada, 2011).