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Discover how to raise resilient kids by owning your role as Guide. Three practical parenting systems—own your bookends, batch the chaos, and stack habits with joy.

Standing there in the bookstore, holding my well-rested, content baby, I felt that familiar wave of self-doubt crash over me. Who am I to know what's best? I'm just a first-time mom.

But then something clicked. That evening, as I tucked my daughter into her crib at 7 PM and watched her drift peacefully to sleep—as she had every night for weeks—I realized something profound: I was proud of myself for going against the grain and seeking an option that suited my family with intention.

That bookstore moment marked my transformation into what I now call a maverick parent—and it changed everything about how I approached raising my children.

Here's what I've learned after raising five children: The most dangerous thing you can do as a parent is try to please everyone else instead of serving your unique family.

A true maverick parent evaluates options through their family's unique lens and chooses what serves them best, regardless of whether it's popular or conventional. You were given a voice inside of you for a reason. Listen and act on it.

[Read the full post to discover the 6 questions that will transform how you make parenting decisions →]