The Consciously Parenting Project

03/08/2026

When I was parenting my young children, I recognized how important community was. However, finding the right community turned out to be more challenging than I anticipated. We did things that felt unconventional, like avoiding sugar, wearing our babies and toddlers in slings, restricting screen time, and choosing not to hit our kids during a time when those practices were the norm. Later, we chose alternative educational paths live homeschooling, Waldorf, and Sudbury school, followed by unschooling. We were striving to do things differently, aligning our parenting choices with our values as individuals and as parents to our unique children.

I personally didn’t want to be told to do things that didn’t resonate with my values, which happened frequently. Those individuals were not the right fit for my family's community. Sometimes, they were family members, which complicated matters even further.

We needed support, but it had to be the right kind of support.

This reminds me of the Shel Silverstein poem "Helping":

“Agatha Fry, she made a pie
And Christopher John helped bake it.
Christopher John, he mowed the lawn
And Agatha Fry helped rake it.

Now, Zachary Zugg took out the rug
And Jennifer Joy helped shake it.
Then Jennifer Joy, she made a toy
And Zachary Zugg helped break it.

And some kind of help is the kind of help
That helping's all about.
And some kind of help is the kind of help
We all can do without.”

Maybe you’ve had experiences with this kind of help, too?

Frankly, the "wrong" kind of support, support that didn't align with my values, put me more firmly into survival mode. You know that feeling of everything being too much, wanting to run away, knowing it can be different but not knowing how to get there? That's survival mode and I spent way more time there than I'd like to admit.

As my children grew, the need for supportive community did not diminish; in fact, it became even more crucial. As they attended different schools and we began traveling, our community changed, but our need for a supportive environment that met us where we were only grew. The more we engaged in activities that were outside the norm, the more we needed people around us who could encourage our growth and help us navigate the unique challenges of our parenting stages.

Many times, I felt alone and unsure of how to handle specific situations. I had knowledge about parenting and child development, but honestly, that didn’t help when I was triggered by something. From the time my children were small, I have been the one leading parenting groups, creating communities, and supporting others in connecting. I have gained so much from these experiences. Understanding that I am not the only one feeling unsure about what to do, who has clearly done the "wrong" things, or who has lost patience with a child has helped me connect with the humanity of parenting.

Looking back, I can see that I had some amazing experiences with in-person communities. However, the most emotional support for my parenting journey came from online communities. Both types of communities are important!

So, what’s the problem?

If you’re parenting differently than the people around you, it can be difficult to find your way alone. If you’re living differently than others, there is a longing for connection with those who can see you, hear you, and encourage you!

What if you could have a space where you could be yourself with all your beautiful quirks, where you can explore your serious questions about parenting, life, and relationships? A space with others who embrace their quirks, allowing you to co-create a community of connection, support, and thriving together?

What would it look like for you to thrive? What does thriving mean to you? Is it being compassionate towards yourself? Is it everyone getting along? Is it being able to leave the house without chaos? Is it having kids who are happy and doing well in school? What would it look like if you were thriving?

How do we get to the thriving part?

What I’ve learned from my own parenting journey is that we don’t achieve thriving alone. Especially when we experience challenges, triggers, or difficult developmental stages, we need others who can support us in finding our own way. That's what the Thrive Community is all about!

If you’re interested in this opportunity to be in connection to support your family to thrive, make sure you’re on the wait list so you are first to be notified when the community reopens on March 20. Or hit reply and tell me why you feel like this community is a good fit for you and we’ll make sure you’re added to the wait list!

Here's what one of our members recently shared about her experience in Thrive:

Question: What are the ages of the children in the families of the Thrive Community members? What life stages are parents at? Are they my people?

Answer: Some of the people in our Thrive Community are...

Homeschooling
Sending children to more traditional schools
Working through traumatic experiences as a family
Dealing with diagnoses (physical, mental/emotional)
Identifying as neuro-spicy or have children who are neuro-spicy
Perimenopausal with a child in puberty
Parents of young children
Parents of children in puberty
Currently launching children into the world
Having launched children into the world
Single moms
Couples
Grandparents

The children currently in the community range from ages 6 to 27, with grandchildren between 5 months and 18 years.

Everyone in the Thrive Community is interested in thriving at home with their families and learning to co-create a safe enough community space for one another. They are all committed to parenting responsively with connection and are eager to learn and grow as individuals and as parents. They’re all questioners, not taking information at face value, but willing to try different things to see what works best now and for their long-term relationship with their child.

What have your experiences been with community? Do you have a great in-person community? A great online community? Is your community helpful in certain aspects and not in others? Do you feel like they see you? What do you feel you're needing from community right now? Hit reply and tell me about your current situation! I’d love to hear from you.

Little background: In December, we began with a dozen hearty souls willing to help me launch the new Consciously Parenting Thrive Community. Over the past 2 months, we’ve experimented with different ways to connect, and I am grateful for their dedication and feedback! Now, we’re preparing to open the doors again on March 20 for parents looking to be part of a small, supportive community.

I truly believe there’s nothing more important right now than community to support us through the challenging world we are living in, especially while raising our children. When we have spaces that feel safe for our nervous systems, it helps us grow. And that helps our children to grow and thrive, too!

Registration Details for the Thrive Community

Registration for the Thrive Community will open on March 20. Be the first to be notified when it opens by joining the wait list!
Join the Wait List Here! https://consciouslyparenting.com/thrive-community/

Registration will close on Sunday, March 29, as we will have our first live call together on Monday, March 30.

Next week, I'm going to give you a sneak peek inside the Thrive Community.

See you next week!

Warmly,

Rebecca

P.S. If you think you might be a good fit for the Thrive Community, comment and say hi! Introduce yourself and share what excites you about this opportunity. We’ll make sure you’re on the wait list!

03/05/2026

Once upon a time, we lived, grew, and rested in community. This was how our ancestors lived- while community was essential for survival, the only way they could truly thrive was together. Being together provided opportunities to connect through daily activities, and rituals guided the year, marking significant life experiences like births, deaths, and coming-of-age ceremonies- all within the embrace of community.

Daily tasks, such as cooking, were done collectively, creating a natural space to share stories about the day. This allowed us to experience the warmth of each other’s presence and the comfort of our animal bodies. We could sense and attune to one another’s nervous systems, helping us regulate our emotions and feel connected. Today, many of us are fortunate if we connect with supportive people even once a week.

While I’m certain these communities weren’t perfect or utopias, the people knew how to be together, work together, and support one another. Over my 30+ years of working with parents, I’ve co-led many communities, both online and in person. Whether we gathered to learn how to responsively parent toddlers or teens or to dive into a specific course or training, the best learning always happens from each other. I am a huge advocate of learning, so I want to create spaces where the interactions and connections formed are the teachers.

To that end, we’re choosing to focus on community first in this next phase of Consciously Parenting, trusting that the learning will naturally follow. (As an aside, there is content, also: short 10-min videos each week. They're meant to help guide your experiences and help you learn to connect with one another.)

In December, we began with a dozen hearty souls willing to help me launch the new Consciously Parenting Thrive Community. Over the past 2 months, we’ve experimented with different ways to connect, and I am grateful for their dedication and feedback! Now, we’re preparing to open the doors again on March 20 for parents looking to be part of a small, supportive community.

I truly believe there’s nothing more important right now than community to support us through the challenging world we are living in, especially while raising our children. When we have spaces that feel safe for our nervous systems, it helps us grow.

Yet many of us don’t really know how to be in community. We may not understand our responsibilities or what belongs to someone else. We might have experienced communities that felt unsafe or have been unsafe. How do we ensure our own needs are met while in a group? What if people try to tell us what to do when we just need someone to listen?

This is part of the journey to thriving. We need to learn the skills to be in community, to know what we need, to navigate our feelings, to co-regulate our nervous systems.

This is where you come in. We’re looking to grow this community with the right people. We would love to include curious individuals who want to thrive but may be facing obstacles, whether related to how you’re showing up or challenges with your child, partner, or another important person. We want people eager to connect on a deeper level and dedicated to respectfully parenting their children, regardless of age or developmental stage.

We will also welcome people in different life phases, like grandparents, or others interested in being healthy community members and layers of support, even if they don’t have children of their own. Perhaps you’re a parenting professional or work with children in some capacity and want to deepen your understanding of community and connection. You are also welcome.

As a member, you’ll receive support and connections with others committed to this journey, all at a low price for as long as you remain a member.

Those already in Thrive love their little group so much and several people have said they selfishly don't want to add more people. But also they're ok if they're the right people! So I said I would do my best to find the right people! 🙂

Registration Details for the Thrive Community
Registration for the Thrive Community will open on March 20. You can join the waitlist here: https://consciouslyparenting.com/community/

Registration will close on Sunday, March 29, as we will have our first live call together on Monday, March 30.

I’ll be sharing more information over the next few weeks to help you determine if this community is right for you. In the meantime, you can learn more about the community here: Thrive Community https://consciouslyparenting.com/community/

Next week, I’ll discuss what thriving means, how to recognize if you’re surviving or thriving, and share something you can do to help you take a step toward thriving right now.

P.S. If you think you might be a good fit for the Thrive Community, comment and say hi! Introduce yourself and share what excites you about this opportunity. We’ll make sure you’re on the wait list!

10/15/2025

What will help you to get through power struggles with your unique child? It's not moving in the direction that you think...

10/15/2025

What does it mean to parent your unique child? If you're homeschooling and you're together all the time, you need the information that will help you make your lives better. And it's even more important if you or your child is neurodiverse! This summit is full of resources in bite sized videos with experts. Join us! It's free and happening now!

09/19/2025

I'm preparing to be with my daughter-in-law when she gives birth to our second grand baby. I would love to hear inspiration about the best thing someone did for you while you were giving birth and after. Tell me what helped you the most! Thanks!

Picture is me with first grand baby who is about to turn 2 this month!

09/11/2025

Did you know that how your child came into the world shows up when they're at all phases of leaving home? And it's not the only time these patterns show up!

If you're in the launching phase of parenting older teens and young adults, and you want to support your child to move into the world with love and respect; if you're raising a child with unique needs or you're on an unconventional path, this is for you.

This conversation explores the complexities of launching young adults into the world, emphasizing the significance of birth imprints and their impact on transitions and milestones. The speakers, Rebecca Thompson Hitt and Jen Gerardy, share their experiences and insights on how parents can better support their children during this critical phase of development. They discuss the importance of understanding individual patterns and sequences in behavior, and how empathy and communication can foster healthier relationships between parents and young adults. The conversation culminates in an introduction to a program called 'Launching with Love,' aimed at providing resources and support for both parents and young adults navigating these transitions.

This conversation explores the complexities of launching young adults into the world, emphasizing the significance of birth imprints and their impact on tran...

09/08/2025

What does birth have to do with how your child leaves the house or how they move out into the world? We have a no cost call tomorrow. Early life imprints don't just go away but you can learn to work with them and help your child to also learn to work with them. Registration link in the comments!

04/03/2025

Are you a homeschooling parent? Are you parenting a neurodiverse child? Please join us for the Neurodiverse Homeschooling Summit April 20-May 6. Rebecca Thompson Hitt and Jen Gerardy are both speakers! Join us! Register here: https://www.mlccoaching.com/summit-registration/

02/21/2025

Help! I'm stressed out! If this is you, read on.

We have a no cost series of calls happening every Tuesday to support you and your family with practical tools to regulate and express your story of what is happening in your world, especially for marginalized groups and those who care about them.

Are you and those in your community worried, stressed, scared, or paralyzed by anger? Do you want to make the world a better place but feel overwhelmed in the face of the number and magnitude of problems you can’t solve? Do you feel alone and isolated in the struggle to meet your own or your loved ones’ needs in the face of systems or people that feel hostile and unsupportive?

It doesn’t have to stay that way.

It’s time to get unstuck, feel nourished and grounded, find clarity about what is most important, connect with community, tap into joy and resolve, and direct passion and dedication into sustainable action for the long haul.

Part 1: Connection and Grounding (Tuesday, February 25 at 11am EST)
Part 2: Values and Intentions (Tuesday, March 4 at 11am EST)

Sign up to join us. Link in the comments. There is no cost. We want to provide you with tools and resources to support yourself and your family right now. We hope you will join us! Please share and invite loved ones who can benefit from this series.

12/03/2024

Please help me to welcome It's Never too Late to Heal, my 4th book! This book is what you're looking for to help you find peace, joy, and love in your relationships, whether you're parenting or you're working on a relationship with your partner, other family member, or friends. I am opening pre-orders today! You immediately receive the audiobook (read by me) and the PDF of the book. Paperbacks signed by me will ship in early January. It's filled with information to help transform your relationship stories. Any purchase supports this project, helps us print books, and get the information out to people who need this message! Please check it out and share with someone who needs some hope! Thank you for celebrating with me! It's been quite the ride to bring this book to completion!

It’s never too late to heal your relationships. That’s right. Chances are that you’re here because you have a relationship that isn’t feeling great. Especially now with so many fractured relationships, unexpected deaths, political discord, and the many ways people have been under tremendous ...

10/23/2024

I'm so excited to introduce Tamara Jurkin to you! She is a holistic clinical nutritionist who specializes in mental health. She's has a wealth of knowledge about holistic lifestyles, nutrition, and sleep. If you went through the hurricanes, I know you'll hear something that will help you to support your body after an overwhelming event. (Spoiler: It doesn't have to be a hurricane!)

Tomorrow evening, I have a free call with Tamara, who is going to share so much goodness with you. You'll leave with practical steps to help you feel better physically and emotionally!

She's going to be talking about:

-How our body reacts when the stress cycle is activated in terms of nutrients it needs to support the body

-What happens when we don't replenish those same nutrients that serve other functions in our body?

-How stress affects our digestion and how we can be eating all the "right" foods but if we are not absorbing, we will still struggle.

-How all of this directly affects sleep, and

-How lack of sleep exacerbates the stress and anxiety cycle.
-What you can do to help protect our sleep and also foods to focus on to replenish!

This call is tomorrow evening, Wednesday, Oct 23 at 6pm EDT. Link is in the comments. Please join us!

Do you have a question for Tamara? Please let me know in the comments! Please share with others who might benefit from this resource.

10/22/2024

Hurricane Helene taught me some things about survival mode when it impacted the Gulf Coast of Florida in September 2024 and filled my first floor with water. We were ok, but we watched a lot of people who weren't- who lost their cars, their homes, their personal belongings. What happens for you in survival mode? Here I share one thing you can do to complete the stress cycle after something overwhelming happens to help you shift out of survival mode. We have two live calls happening this week on Tuesday, October 22 and Wednesday, Oct 23. You can find more information and sign up for the calls in the comments.