New parenting resources coming soon!

Calling all who are parenting! We are proud to share our latest addition to the CosmoActivities line of resources—this one designed for anyone who is navigating parenting.
For now, you can listen to the trailer for the CosmoParenting podcast here. And beginning in January 2025, you can follow along with weekly podcasts episodes. In the meantime, you can subscribe to the Substack here, to start receiving episodes straight to your inbox each week. The podcast is hosted by the CMM Institute’s resident podcaster—Abbie VanMeter—who will be joined by people parenting, educators, family therapists, and communicators alike to explore what it means to parent.
Rooted in CMM theory, CosmoParenting is about recognizing that there are many ways to parent; and that each of us create our own way through the stories we live and tell. With CosmoParenting, the purpose is to find a way that works for you to uncover your parenting potential. Those familiar with CMM, you will immediately recognize the foundation of CosmoParenting to be cosmopolitan communication.
In the space of CosmoParenting, we invite you to see yourself as someone who is curious about and actively creating your own meaning around parenting. And CosmoParenting is for all who “parent,” be that biological and adopted parents, foster parents, bonus and stepparents, grandparents, caregivers of any kind, whatever your parenting may look like, this space is inclusive to you.
The important part is noting that we are all in a process of becoming and emerging in the shared act of parenting. So it is up to you to define parenting for yourself, but that is not to say you have to do it alone. CosmoParenting is designed to support you in this journey of figuring out what it means to parent by enriching your parenting toolbox, offering one short episode each week that provides opportunities to reflect, listen, connect, practice, and engage in conversations.
The journey of parenting is a lifelong one, and we think of it like improvisation—you don’t always know what will happen next, but with the right tools, practices, and language you can feel prepared and confident in meeting unexpected moments, trusting yourself to act in alignment with your hopes for yourself and your family.
Over the course of 2025, we will be releasing one podcast episode on Monday of each week of the year. Throughout these 52 episodes we will explore the following 12 Universal Themes: Stories, Patterns, Adaptation, Relationships, Moral Forces, Conflict, Power, Structures, Communities, Order and Chaos, Perspectives, and Change. 4 episodes will be dedicated to each theme in order to properly explore all the dimensions of the themes and how they impact the practice of parenting. After the year is over, these resources will remain available for free on the Substack to explore and engage with indefinitely.
Each theme, and therefore, each month, will consist of four distinct episodes: Appreciate, Validate, Animate, and Communicate.
Week one of each month will be our “Appreciate” episode. In this episode we will introduce the month’s theme and offer questions for reflection, allowing us to appreciate where we are and where we’ve been.
Week two will be our “Validate” episode, in which we share stories from parents, with the hope that hearing the first hand experiences of other parents will help you feel seen and validated in your own experiences as a parent.
Week three is our “Animate” episode, where we learn some best practices that we can use to put what we have learned into action.
Week 4 concludes the monthly theme with “Communicate.” In this last episode of each month, we will explore some prompts to engage your family and support systems in meaningful conversation.
We know that we can’t do this without our amazing community. We hope that you will subscribe and share CosmoParenting with anyone you know who is parenting! Each episode is under 10 minutes in order to fit more easily into the busy schedules those who are parenting have. We hope for the CosmoParenting Substack to be alive with dialogue, as it is easy to use the comment feature under each episode. We will hope to see you in the comments, adding your voice and perspective to the conversation!
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