By Kayla DeKraker
Author and speaker Caroline Shankle encouraged mothers everywhere on how to help their growing children feel safe. In a recent interview on the Annie F. Downs podcast, Shankle shared exactly how her mother impacted her life as a teen. Caroline is the daughter of Melanie Shankle, who writes The Big Mama blog.
“This is gonna sound so general… but like being there for me, I think it was just her always being a soft place for me to land,” Shankle explained.
She continued, “You know, you go to school, and even if everything’s falling apart, you know, you’re smiling, you have to act like everything’s fine. You have to go through, and you have to do all these things, and you put on this, you know, mask a little bit. And especially when you’re younger, in middle school, high school, there’s so many insecurities and things.”
Shankle explained how coming home to the support of her mother helped her greatly.
“It was just getting to come home and being able to just take off the mask and just breathe, you know, and just kind of be like, ‘everything’s not okay. And I feel like this, and I feel like this,’ and it just, I think it made the world of difference, you know. And she always validated me, and always… built me up. You made me confident.”
Shankle explained that with her mom, she “never felt like a burden.”
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“I never felt like I needed to worry about who I if I was being too much or too little around my parents or family and I think that was so important in that time,” she added.
Downs took to Instagram to celebrate the launch of Shankle’s book “The Lion and the Bear.”
In the caption of the post, she said, “Happy book launch day, @carolineshankle!! I have loved hearing your responses to yesterday’s @thatsoundsfunpodcast episode with Caroline and her mother @melanieshankle.”
She also mentioned how their podcast discussion helped so many people.
“THE AMOUNT OF MOMS who have DMed me about tears and thankfulness and how this episode helped you,” Downs said. “Swipe for quotes that may make you teary right here and now! I’m so glad this conversation is helping you feel more hope about raising your own children!”
She added, “Don’t miss this devotional- it needs to be in every you woman’s stocking at Christmas.”
In a separate post to her own Instagram account, Caroline Shankle shared her vision behind the new devotional. “Each of us faces our lions and bears—those trials that forge a faith in us that didn’t exist before. They may not look like a battlefield, but they prepare us for something greater ahead.”
This is in reference to Daniel 6 in the Bible, where Daniel faces and defeats a lion.
She concluded, “That’s my prayer for this devotional: that it will encourage anyone fighting their own lions and bears. I pray that every day of this devotional will give perspective, strength, and hope in the hard times.”
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