Breaking Down Parenting: A ParentNormal Podcast

Asha Dornfest, author of Parent Hacks: 134 Genius Shortcuts for Life with Kids, is this week's featured guest. In our conversation, we talk about her favorite hacks, how she got started learning new hacks and where she has had the most success discovering new parenting hacks.

It's here! My new book, The ParentNormal Crash Course: Everything Traditional Parenting Books Are Afraid to Tell You About Close Encounters of the Baby, Toddler and Third-Year Kind, is now available on Amazon.com!

Usually, I interview another parent on the show. But this week, my daughter Ava interviews me about my new book. Naturally, she asks some hard-hitting questions like, "Can I have a snack?" She eventually asks about the book, probably because she wants permission to have a snack. But whatever her motivation, she leads a great interview.

I hope you'll get the book for yourself or for a friend. It will make a great Christmas present or baby shower gift. Best of all, it will make you laugh on those days parenting makes you want to cry.

Ilana Wiles, the mom behind the Mommy Shorts website and the author of The Mommy Shorts Guide to Remarkably Average Parenting, is this week's featured guest.

In our conversation, we talk about how the Mommy Shorts website began and evolved over the years, what advice she would give to someone starting a blog and her favorite parenting topics to write about, which happens to be great advice for all parents. And of course, we talk about The Mommy Shorts Guide to Remarkably Average Parenting and what Ilana hopes parents take away from reading it.

Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series, is this week's featured podcast guest! Thanks to the success of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff is a #1 New York Times Bestseller, a 6-time Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award winner and one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.

The post Ep. 53 Interview with Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, NYT Bestseller & 6-time Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award winner appeared first on The ParentNormal.

New York Times bestselling author Carl Hiaasen is this week's featured guest. Carl's many bestsellers include the Newberry Award-winning book Hoot, which was adapted into a movie starring Luke Wilson, Logan Lerman and Brie Larson.

In my conversation with Carl, we talk about how his newspaper background influences his writing, why he began writing young-adult books after a successful career writing books for adults and how responsive kids are to stories about the environment.

The post Ep. 52 Interview with Carl Hiaasen, author of many NYT bestsellers including the Newberry Award-winning book Hoot appeared first on The ParentNormal.

Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and author Dave Barry, who happens to be one of the funniest writers alive, is my featured guest this week. Dave has written more than 30 books and even had a CBS sitcom called Dave's World based on his books. But if you ask him, his most enduring achievement is that one of his columns is largely responsible for the movement to observe International Talk Like a Pirate Day every year.

It's episode 50 of the podcast! In this milestone episode, I return to the ParentNormal Mailbag that I used to answer questions from on a regular basis when the show debuted. Since the school year is back in full swing, I answer your school-related questions.

Scholastic Classroom Magazines Editor Stephanie Smith is this week's featured guest. On occasion, I report the ParentNormal News, but I've never talked about real news on the show…until now.

Stephanie and I talk about what kinds of news kids are actually interested in reading about and how Scholastic writes their news differently based on their readers' ages. And if you talk about the news now, you have to talk about the election. So we also discuss how to talk to kids about the election without leading them into a political argument with their friends. And finally, we talk about how Scholastic chooses their kid reporters.

Richard Rende, Ph.D., a developmental psychologist, researcher and educator is the featured guest this week. In our conversation, we talk about his new book Raising Can-Do Kids: Giving Children the Tools to Thrive in a Fast-Changing World.

We also talk about how much structure is too much for kids and about the advantages of a child with street smarts. We also discuss how lessons for entrepreneurs can be excellent lessons for kids too.

Amy McCready, the founder of Positive Parenting Solutions and the author of The Me, Me, Me Epidemic: A Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Capable, Grateful Kids in an Over-Entitled World, is the featured guest this week.

Amy is a frequent guest on the TODAY Show. She has also appeared on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and many other stations. But now she is on the ParentNormal Comedy Podcast to talk about how to know if your child is too entitled and what you can do about it. We also talk about positive parenting techniques, even when it comes to discipline.