Episode 324: Raising Resilient Kids: Why Letting Go Is the Most Loving Thing You Can Do with Randi Crawford
The Most Loving Thing You Can Do Might Feel Like the Hardest
Parenting has a way of humbling even the most confident among us. And one of the hardest parts — especially when it comes to raising resilient kids — is knowing when to step back, even when everything in you wants to jump in and fix it.
That’s exactly what this episode of the Game On Girlfriend® podcast is about. I sat down with Randi Crawford — life coach, speaker, certified parent coach, and mom — to talk honestly about what it takes to raise kids who can handle life without you running interference every time things get hard.
Randi has spent years coaching young women and the mothers who raised them. What she’s found, over and over, is that confidence isn’t something we hand to our kids. Rather, they build it for themselves — through experience, through failure, through the sometimes uncomfortable process of figuring things out without someone stepping in to rescue them.
My own kids are 16 and 19 at the time of this recording. More than once during this conversation, I had to pause and sit with some honest self-reflection. I think you will too.
Here’s what we cover in this episode:
- Why confidence is built through action, not compliments
- How social media has quietly eroded our trust in our own parenting instincts
- The difference between helping your child and robbing them of something essential
- Why independence is the actual goal — and what that looks like day to day
- How the lessons Randi teaches about raising resilient kids mirror so much of what we work through in business
If you're a mom and a woman entrepreneur, this will speak to you in more ways than one.
Watch the full episode
Raising Resilient Kids Starts with One Uncomfortable Truth About Confidence
Randi didn’t arrive at parent coaching through a straight line. She started out as co-founder of Women First HealthCare — a pioneering public company that reached over 10 million women. After that chapter ended abruptly, she stepped back to be a stay-at-home mom. Eventually, though, she found herself working weekends at Anthropologie, because she simply couldn’t stop moving.
From there, she got certified through the Jay Shetty coaching program and began working with young women. Pretty quickly, she noticed something she hadn’t expected: the struggles she kept seeing in these girls traced directly back to how they were being parented.
So she started giving talks to moms. And something kept tripping her up. The moms got stuck on the slides about building confidence and helping kids become more independent.
“Confidence doesn’t come from compliments. Like, oh, you’re so beautiful. You’re so smart. It comes from action.” — Randi Crawford
That’s not a small distinction. So much of what we do as parents — and honestly, as coaches, mentors, or anyone trying to support someone else — can accidentally undercut the very thing we’re working to build. When we tell our kids how amazing they are without giving them space to prove it to themselves, we hand them something that can’t hold their weight when things get hard.
How Social Media Gaslit Us Out of Trusting Our Own Instincts
Here’s the part that I think will stick with a lot of people — and it goes beyond parenting.
Randi is clear-eyed about what’s happened to mothers over the last decade or so. We’ve been surrounded by noise. Every decision is potentially up for community debate. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, many moms stopped trusting what they actually knew.
“We are now in a place in society where we have been gaslit by everyone to not trust our own gut.” — Randi Crawford
She shared an example that perfectly captures this — moms going onto large Facebook groups to ask strangers whether they should let their college-aged daughter’s boyfriend stay over the holidays. Not because they don’t have values or opinions. But because somewhere along the way, the collective outside voice got louder than the one inside.
The same thing happens in business. We know our clients. We know our work. And yet we still find ourselves asking for permission from people who have no idea what we’ve built or what we’re capable of. It’s worth noticing where that shows up for you.
“We’re so worried about what everyone’s talking about and just this fear of the chitter chatter, we’re never going to take the first step to do anything… You need to stop worrying about everybody else who’s not getting in that ring. Get in the ring and do what you want to do.” — Randi Crawford
The Speeding Ticket That Says Everything About Modern Parenting
Randi gave a TikTok example that perfectly captures what she sees happening — and the reactions she gets when she speaks honestly about it.
A mom had posted in a group of several hundred thousand people asking for the best lawyer in town to help her 20-to-22-year-old with a speeding ticket. Randi went on TikTok and said: Make sure he has a job so he can pay the ticket, get him a good calendar so he can track his court dates, and then — step back. Let natural consequences do what natural consequences are supposed to do.
She got roasted.
“Parents do not want to let go... They want to feel needed. And what I think they think is love, I think it’s control.” — Randi Crawford
The most honest comment Randi ever got on one of those posts said it all: “If I can help my child, why wouldn’t I?”
That sentence, she told me, perfectly sums up where so many parents are right now. And the answer isn’t that you shouldn’t help. It’s that there’s a version of helping that quietly robs your child of the very skills they need to function when you’re not there.
What Raising Resilient Kids Actually Looks Like in Practice
Randi pointed me to a book called Adversity Quotient, which looks at three types of people and what separates those who get back up from those who stay down. The core message is something she sees play out constantly in her coaching: the ability to fail and recover isn’t a personality trait you’re born with. It’s a skill. And it’s built through practice — not protection.
She described what often happens when kids try something new, like gymnastics. They walk in expecting to be the best, discover they’re not, and immediately decide they hate it — hate the instructor, hate the other kids. What they’re actually missing is the experience of not being great at something and surviving it anyway.
“You’re not going to walk into every room and be the best at everything. That’s the whole point. No one’s ever going to try anything if we don’t allow our kids to experience these things… we have to allow this instead of robbing them of these experiences and the opportunity to build the resilience.” — Randi Crawford
Randi makes it practical, too. Here's how she explains when to step in and when to step back:
Step In when:
- Your child is in genuine danger
- There are real mental health concerns
- They are being actively bullied or harmed
Step Back when:
- It’s a speeding ticket or a court date they can manage
- It’s a conflict with a teacher or professor that they can address
- It’s a relationship situation that’s part of growing up
- It’s anything that involves natural consequences that can teach
Randi is clear about this: it isn’t about being hands-off or cold. Every time we swoop in to solve something our kids could handle themselves, we send a quiet message — even if unintentional — that we don’t trust them to figure it out.
The Safety Net Is Your Belief in Them
Here’s the part that moved me most. I asked Randi what raising independent kids really comes down to — is it just about teaching them to recover from failure? Her answer went somewhere deeper than I expected.
“When they know that you, as their mom, trust in them and their ability, they’re going to have that much more trust in themselves.” — Randi Crawford
“That safety net of just knowing... mom believes in me. She thinks I can go deal with the professor… my mom knows that I can go handle it. That’s like half the battle right there. And then they will trust themselves, and then they will go do it.” — Randi Crawford
That parallel shows up constantly in the work I do. So much of what I do with women entrepreneurs comes back to this exact thing. You already have more capacity than you’re giving yourself credit for — sometimes more than anyone around you is acknowledging.
The greatest gift I can offer as a coach isn’t a tactic or a template. It’s the clear, steady message: I believe you can do this.
Once that lands, something shifts. You stop waiting for permission and start moving.
Randi puts it simply for her clients — and for all of us:
“You are going to fail a lot. You’re going to fall down a ton. I have tried and failed so many times. It’s crazy. I don’t care. I’m going to keep getting up and trying something else.” — Randi Crawford
Because here’s what I think sits underneath all of it — the thread that connects parenting and entrepreneurship more tightly than we sometimes want to admit:
“We don’t have a second life. This is your life.” — Randi Crawford
That sentence is the whole reason this podcast exists. This is not your practice life. Whatever you've been waiting on — in your business, in your parenting, in how you show up for yourself — the time is now.
There’s no dress rehearsal. The Game is on. The kindest thing we can do, for our kids and for ourselves, is stop waiting to feel perfectly prepared and start trusting the person who’s already showing up.
About Randi Crawford
Meet Randi Crawford, a life coach, speaker, and mom redefining resilience for the next generation. A certified life coach, author, and former co-founder of Women First HealthCare, a pioneering public company that reached over 10 million women, Randi brings candor, humor, and hard truths to modern parenting and life in general.
Known for her no-BS, zero-victim approach, she helps parents stop over-helping, start connecting, and raise capable — not coddled — kids. Her mission: less fixing, more resilience. Less fear, more confidence. Because fear raises fragile kids. Connection raises resilient ones.
Connect with Randi
- Website: Randi Crawford Coaching
- Instagram: @randicrawfordcoaching
- TikTok: @randicrawfordcoaching
Related Episodes You’ll Love
Episode 320: The Confidence Habit: Small Wins That Change Everything with Jen Mueller
Jen Mueller’s work on building confidence through small, consistent actions connects directly with Randi’s message that confidence comes from doing—not from being told you’re great. If this episode sparked something for you, Jen’s conversation is the natural next step. Listen here
Episode 50: The Power of Grit — and YES, You Can Learn It
Grit and resilience are two sides of the same coin, and this episode goes straight into the research and the practical side of building both—in yourself and in your kids. This is one to come back to again and again. Listen here
Episode 300: 300 Episodes — What I’ve Learned About Consistency, Confidence, and Refusing to Quit
Three hundred episodes in, I got honest about what it actually takes to keep showing up. If Randi’s reminder that there’s no second life landed for you, this episode will reinforce why consistent action — even messy, imperfect action — is the only real path forward. Listen here
Let’s Keep This Conversation Going
If this episode stirred something in you — about your kids, your business, or both — I’d love to talk. I offer free 15-minute consultation calls. We’ll talk about where you are right now and see if working together feels right.
Connect with Sarah
- Instagram: @thesarahwalton
- LinkedIn: Sarah Walton
- Free resources for you
- Join the Game On Girlfriend® community — subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube
Love This Episode?
If this conversation helped you see your role as a parent — or as someone building a life and business — a little more clearly, pass it along to a mom or woman entrepreneur who needs to hear it. Sometimes the most helpful thing we can do for each other is share the exact conversation we needed.
About Sarah Walton
Sarah Walton is a business coach and the host of the Game On Girlfriend® podcast. Her mission is simple: to put more money in the hands of more women. She helps women entrepreneurs build profitable, sustainable businesses without burnout — working through both the mindset and the strategy sides of growth. Because when women have more financial power, they don’t just keep it — they use it to take care of their families, support their communities, and build something bigger than themselves. Through her programs — including the Abundance Academy and The Art of Receiving — along with her online courses and one-on-one coaching, Sarah works with women who are ready to build profitable businesses and use that financial power to make a real difference in the world around them.
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