If you’ve followed Farnam Street for any period of time, you know how powerful and flexible mental models can be. They have been used to rescue failing businesses. They’ve helped facilitate complex mergers. They’re responsible for generating billions of dollars in revenue.
All because they change the way people see and interpret reality.
The question we’ve been asking ourselves at FS (and the same question many of our readers have asked for years) is this:
"If mental models can be that impactful in the world of business, why aren’t we fervently applying them in the domain that matters most- parenting?"
What is Re:Think Parenting?
We have come up with a program that works for all kinds of parenting situations—single parents, those who are separated, families with many children, and families with only one. It will be useful for you if you are just starting out on your parenting journey or if your children are almost out of the house. This course works across all family dynamics because it gives you principles, not tactics. Mental models are tools. And we’re going to show you how to use these tools to bring more calm and laughter into your home.
As a parent, you know raising children can be supremely rewarding. But it also comes with plenty of frustrations—we aren’t given owner’s manuals when our children are born, so we’re all striving to figure it out as we go. Every parent has moments where we do or say things we wish we could take back or times when we feel helpless because we don’t know what the right solution is.
Bookstore shelves are riddled with conflicting and contradictory parenting advice, and the internet has long been full of dodgy parenting counsel. You end up with more questions than answers (and severe whiplash from going back and forth between the strategies they promise won’t screw up your kid.)
We’ve experimented with using mental models in our own homes to determine which ones have the broadest application in the context of parenting. We tested, iterated, and tested some more. We’ve shared the material with diverse groups of real parents to see if our own results were out of the ordinary. We’re thrilled to report that they were not. And we can’t wait to share with you what we found so you can get the same benefits.
How does Re:Think Parenting work?
Less conflict, more harmony in less than three hours a week.
The workshop is eight weeks long, broken down into small and manageable lessons that won’t require you to rearrange your life to fit them in.
As parents ourselves, we know how precious and rare time already is. Parents and children have increasingly hectic schedules. Fitting in “one more thing” can sometimes feel impossible. That’s why we structured this course to get big results with a realistic (because life gets crazy) time investment.
If you can find three hours a week (20-25 minutes a day, plus one fun family activity everyone will enjoy), you’ll discover solutions to common frustrations that you see in your home—solutions that will work because they’re tailored to your family and your circumstances.
You’ll start to see your relationships with your kids change for the better. And if you parent with someone else, you’ll also find more harmony together. Your understanding of each other will increase, and with it the ability to improve your family dynamics in ways that benefit everyone.
Who teaches Re:Think Parenting?
The course is taught by Rhiannon Beaubien of Farnam Street. She’s the co-author of FS’s The Great Mental Models book series, the manager of FS’s popular blog filled with articles about how to better understand the world, and she teaches FS’s mental models framework to individuals and organizations to help them improve their professional lives. She also has two kids of her own and has been using them as test subjects for applying mental models in parenting for years.
Rhiannon is passionate about her work at FS and is so excited to bring her experience with using the fantastic and versatile tools that are mental models into your home.
How the course is structured
The workshop is broken into three sections to help you get the most out of the tools we teach you:
Week 1
The first week sets the stage for what’s to come and helps you set a baseline for where you are as a parent, and what your goals are for the future. Past participants have found this week to be an important first step that forces them to explore some challenging questions about their parenting and their family dynamics.
If you parent with a partner, this week also helps put the two of you on the same page about what you want to get out of the course, and what you need to make it work for both of you.
Weeks 2 - 7
During the next six weeks, we’ll explore the models with the broadest application to parenting—the ones that do most of the heavy lifting in a wide range of scenarios and circumstances. We’ll dive deep into one model per week. The models we’ve chosen come from a range of disciplines, but you don’t need technical knowledge to understand them.
With each new model, you’ll get helpful videos, worksheets, reflection exercises and fun family activities. These will help you understand exactly how the model applies to parenting, and shows you how to use it for practical purposes, not just in theory.
Week 8
The goal of the final week is to help you gather the insights you discovered throughout the workshop and integrate them into habits so these models become a permanent part of your everyday thinking and behavior. We don’t want you to lose the gains you made during the course!
We have designed this final week to help you get comfortable using the models, so that when you are faced with challenges, you have a powerful toolkit to draw on to find solutions that work for your family.
Model 1 – Relativity
Engage with different perspectives. The mental model of relativity will reveal how others in your family view you and how you can more clearly communicate your perspective to them. By the time you complete this module, you’ll know the essential mindset shifts for accessing alternate perspectives with ease so you can make decisions that work for the whole family.
Model 2 – Second Order Thinking
Anticipate unexpected consequences. We’ll teach you how to stop solving for the moment and how to start thinking about the long-term effects of your parenting by harnessing the power of three little words: and then what? By the end of this module, you’ll also know how to get your kids onboard with thinking about the effects of effects.
Model 3 – Inversion
Work backward and avoid the worst. In one of the most challenging (yet rewarding) parts of this course, you’ll use inversion to think about what it would take for you to ruin your family. Inversion teaches you that articulating the worst parent you could be, and then avoiding becoming that, is a success in itself.
Model 4 – Velocity
Clarify the direction you are headed. This module gets you analyzing where you want to end up in your relationship with your kids, the thing you might be doing to hinder you in reaching your goals, and how to get on track. By the end of the module, you will have a clearer idea of how to spend your time together in ways that create and support the family dynamics you want to experience.
Model 5 – Alloying
Make a strong family unit. This module will give you inspiration on how to work together to be a family that you all want to belong to. We’ll share ideas on how you can foster a sense of belonging based on shared values and individual strengths. The result is a family that thrives by being stronger when you work together.
Model 6 – Feedback Loops
Give your family the opportunity to change and grow.The mental model of feedback loops reminds you that relationships of all kinds require ongoing maintenance, and thus we’ll teach you how to make frequent, small course corrections towards the values you all embrace, resulting in less conflict and more harmony.
Over the last few months we’ve made numerous iterations to make this the best parenting course we could create. You’ll see immediate benefits as you explore with your family fun and thoughtful ways to make meaningful changes.
What’s also remarkable, is that over time you’ll start to see these initial benefits accrue even more. You’ll have a better relationship with your kids and your partner (if you have one). You’ll have more energy when you spend time together as a family, doing stuff that’s fun instead of negotiating conflict. You’ll get to know each other more profoundly, building a foundation that will last a lifetime.
NOTE FOR COUPLES: If you’re parenting with a spouse or partner, you can share the same login—you don’t need to register twice.
Battle-tested in homes all over the world
During the parenting course, our participants have seen many positive changes in their families. Things like increased togetherness, less shouting and fighting, and better communication.
In fact, here are a few of their comments in their own words:
For only $190, you’ll get access to the entire 8 week experience
- The weekly videos
- The worksheets and reflection exercises for each model
- The family activities
- Transcripts for all videos
- Access to all workshop content for as long as we have the course
14 Day money back guarantee
If you're unhappy with the content, or feel like it's just not for you, you have 14 days to request a full refund. There are no exceptions after the 14 day period.
You'll get access to the introduction and first model within the first 14 days.
You'll have access to the content as long as the course is around. All the material is available for download.