Catherine Tyson-Sewall, a Social Worker and Author has been watching the state of the world for quite some time. Through her writings, social work practice, and parenting coaching, Tyson-Sewall hopes to propel parents to start realizing that parenting is building the future one way or another.
She is the author of I’m Somebody’s Mama, a humorous celebration of her life as a struggling single mother to her three children with her most recent follow-up book, Single Mama: Powerful Not Pitiful, currently available on all platforms online.
We sat down with Catherine to learn more about her approach to supporting parents.
Introduce us to who Catherine Tyson is and share about your journey into social work and family counselling.
Well, I am girl from a small island who, for lack of exposure and opportunities, could have had a very different story than the one that I have.
My journey into social work and counselling stems from being a vulnerable individual and wanting to help people who come from certain backgrounds, see the possibility of success and changing their story, and changing it again if that one doesn’t work, to just know that they have the power over their destiny.
My mom was an unmarried teenager in the sixties, who had 3 children by the age of 19, who raised us with the help of my great grandmother and church community and village. Even though we have come very far from the concept, the idea of community and village still works, and social workers main aim is to lean on this idea while doing the self-work that is necessary for success.
You believe that all parents are sowing the seeds for the next generation to become successful and self-reliant. What do you feel is one of the common misconceptions around parenting?
One of the common misconceptions is that you have little clones of you and that you can do as you please with them and that is no one else’s business.
As parents, we have a duty to society to produce productive and positive citizens that can live in harmony with the rest of the world, causing as little harm to others as possible as they achieve their goals to become successful and happy individuals.
Each parent is sowing seeds every day for the next generation to either become successful and self-reliant, or not, and I believe that we can all agree that the latter will affect us all negatively
What are two tips for parents to instill strong social and emotional skills into their children? One way is to keep the lines of communication open with your children. To find times and ways to talk to your children and develop a relationship with them in appropriate ways that match their age and stage and level of comprehension.
To also remember to sing their praises allowing them to know how important they are to you and the world while balancing it with them being aware that the world does not revolve only around them, at all times.
Another way is to help them understand accountability and take responsibility for their role when things happen that require consequences. To help them to process things through discussions, examples, consequences of their actions, etc.
Children are very smart and understand things from an early age so as we respect them as people and expect them to do the same to us and others, we are helping them to become healthy thinkers with a strong sense of self.
If you could give one piece of advice to parents across the world– what piece of advice would that be?
Do yourself and society a favor: Go love your children. Go understand what that word encapsulates and really love them! Go spend time with them. Go invest in them. Because they are so awesome!
You owe them because you brought them here; living, breathing human beings that did not ask you to come here, so you owe them and not the other way around.
For more information on Catherine Tyson-Sewall, connect with her on Instagram
at @realcatherinetyson.
Her books I’m Somebody’s Mama and Single Mama: Powerful Not Pitiful are available on Amazon, and other online platforms.