We’re Dan and Emily Mall, the parents behind Great Job! We’ve known each other since 5th grade, been together for over twenty years, and have spent the last 12 years raising our two daughters, Sidda and Charlie. We started this space after we noticed a lot of our friends and teachers (and our kids’ friends’ parents) coming to us for advice or to compliment the way our kids sometimes show up in the world. We wanted a way to share our stories of what’s worked and hasn’t for parents and caregivers, who, like us, struggle with raising amazing humans.
On this site, you’ll find our Personal Parenting Principles—our PPPs—that we’ve talked about and agreed on together (what fun date nights 😀) that we use to shape all the strategies and systems you’ll find here. We have our own way of doing things that work for our family, and we strongly encourage everyone to find the same. Our PPPs might not align with yours… that’s ok! We’re sharing what we’ve tried and tested and thought about in case you’re looking for help and support to feel less alone on your own parenting journey or are looking for a different perspective or alternative to what you’re doing. The biggest thing we’ve learned is that the more you own the uniqueness of your family, the better and easier your journey of parenting will be.
Here are our PPPs:
1
We are human and generously give ourselves and each other copious amounts of compassion, grace, and forgiveness. Life is already tough enough, so we remember that the goal in parenting isn’t perfection. We believe everyone should be given a non-judgmental space to show up as themselves, share, make mistakes, and grow. Even better if we can bring each other along on the never-ending journey of self-discovery.
2
We believe that we are our kids’ guides, their support system, and their models, setting them up for the best possible future that we can in our capacity. We are not their best friends. We are their parents, and we take this job seriously because no one can do a better job or love them more than we can. Our kids are not responsible for our feelings, and while we are not responsible for theirs, it is our responsibility as caregivers to teach them and help them learn how to work through and manage their emotions.
3
We do our best, and we don’t expect that everyone is at their best every day. As humans, we will make mistakes. We believe you can always add another chapter to the story by apologizing, sharing an insight, making wrongs right, and working on things together as a family.
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