Calvin Family Meeting – Raising Sturdy Kids

Raising Sturdy Kids with Keith McCurdy
Thursday, October 24
6:00 – 7:30 PM
Heritage Center

This event is free of charge. Childcare will be provided.

PLEASE RSVP HERE

“When you allow your children to struggle, you set them free.”

This is the difficult-but-true message Keith McCurdy desperately wants parents to hear. He will be speaking on the topic “Raising Sturdy Kids” at Calvin Christian School in Escondido, CA.  McCurdy is the founder and president of Live Sturdy LLC and president and CEO of Total Life Counseling in Roanoke, Virginia. He has worked with families, children, parents, and individuals for more than three decades in the field of mental health, and during that time he has recognized a trend.

Happy Is Not the Goal

“In 35 years in the mental health world, the thing I’ve consistently seen is that parents have gone further down the road of trying to make their kids happy,” McCurdy says. In the moment, easy feels great. Struggle is inherently uncomfortable and often upsetting to children. The reality is that struggle is also required in order for children to grow into what McCurdy calls “sturdy adults” – adults who can face life’s challenges with maturity, resilience and perseverance. If we want our children to be able to do hard things, we must allow them to struggle, McCurdy says.

When parents, knowingly or unknowingly, minimize natural disappointments for their children, or intervene to rescue them from difficulty or relational conflict, they win a short-term victory at the cost of a much larger long-term goal. “We are seeing the results of pursuing happiness and self-esteem for our children. What we are ending up with is fragile children and fragile young adults. When we make everything easy our children stay fragile.” The irony is that despite all the effort we spend trying to make our children happy, what we are actually accomplishing is ensuring they will never be able to experience true joy.

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Keith McCurdy is a Family and Parenting Educator and Consultant, as well as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of Virginia. He has worked with families, children, parents, and individuals for over 35 years in the field of mental health. He provides consulting and coaching services nationally on improving parenting skills, building strong marriages, maintaining healthy relationships, leadership training, and addressing corporate stress management. His parent retreats entitled “Raising Sturdy Kids” seek to help parents operate from the correct paradigm with their children, and he has even customized this powerful program for schools and students.