Family Looking Up

Have you ever had a friend or family member that you were worried about and just didn't know how to reach out without making matters worse?  It is a terrible feeling to be worried about someone and simultaneously feel paralyzed by a lack of knowing how to help.

Tawni Beardall from the podcast "Becoming For Teens" joins us today with her own incredible story and practical tips that will help us move past fear and help those we love! 

Author and Medical Doctor, Saundra Dalton- Smith talks with us today about the 5 areas of rest that most parents are completely deficient in.  

-Physical Rest

-Mental Rest

-Emotional Rest

- Social Rest

- Spiritual Rest

She explains each of these, the effects on our person when we are deficient in them, and how we can begin to find that rest!

Parenting adult kids is NOT easy.  Empty nest parents are constantly faced with choices of what to say and what not to say to the “adults” who they have loved and taught from their infancy.  Not to mention that even though those “adults” are of age, that doesn’t mean they have nearly as much life experience and wouldn’t benefit from some sound advice.  However, when these empty nesters innocently insert their opinion into their adult children’s lives, they are often met with insult and frustration.  

In todays episode, renowned author Jill Savage shares 6 lessons she has learned to help navigate this new season of parenting.

This is one of our all time favorite episodes!  If you want to feel hopeful and amazed listen in to this episode. 

Sherrine is the mother of six whose oldest son, Dayton, is non-verbal and has severe disabilities.
We covered many topics that can help YOU and YOUR FAMILY:
how it feels to have a child with disabilities
the benefits of inclusion for kids with disabilities
how to teach our kids to be loving and kind to those not like them
how to help the caregivers of kids with disabilities
Sherrine’s decision to have five more kids after Dayton
how humor helps with trials, and how trials shape our lives  

Jenny met with us again for this episode, as we start this next season of productivity.  She talked with us about how to switch gears and change habits to truly be productive. There are some major pitfalls that women, in particular, fall into.  Taking on WAY too much and getting discouraged is one of those pitfalls. She shared a bank account metaphor: We only have so much time and so much energy in our account.  If we overspend we are in the red and that doesn’t help us or our family. We need to be aware of our bank account balances.  

Jenny broke down the different kinds of tasks that we all have bearing down on us:  fires, regular tasks, projects and priorities. 

One of the things that Jenny teaches in the episode is how to set up a routine for the tasks that are regularly there.  Setting up routines for these saves time and energy in our bank account so that we can give more to the things that matter most to us.  To find out more about Jenny visit her website at: https://thehappygal.com/

Raising boys is not for the faint of heart.  Boys come into this world with their own set of challenges and their own set of amazing abilities.  The goal is to learn to enjoy them for who they are and to harness all of their energy for their good.

Monica Swanson is the mother of 4 and the author of a blog, a podcast, and a book all about raising boys.  Listen in to hear stories, tips, and tricks for raising boys into men.

Devrie Pettit, MS, RDN meets with us this week to discuss Intuitive Eating.  Whether you have a grasp on what that terminology means or you have only heard it in passing, this episode will enlighten and make you think about how you view food, diets, and body image.  

We live in a society saturated by a frantic and desperate desire to lose weight.  One that defines a persons value based on their pant size. One that leads its members to seeing food based on whether or not it will "make you fat" or not.  Intuitive eating is a mode of behavior and thinking that runs contrary to all of those societal trends and norms.  

Listen in to learn the basics of its theory.

Getting children to sleep is one of the hardest parts of parenthood.  Dr. Melisa Moore is a clinical psychologist in the sleep center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and is board certified in behavioral sleep medicine.  She sees patients, teaches, and conducts research in pediatric sleep, and is also a sleep expert on the Pediatric Sleep Council’s website which is babysleep.com. 

During the interview we covered a vast array of topics including:

• Normal sleeping behaviors for various ages  
• Establishing a healthy bedtime routine
• Ways to avoid children becoming too dependent on their routine
• Age to start a bedtime routine
• Advantages of sound machines, alternatives for them, and cautions when using them.
• Babies using pacifiers
• Tips for getting kids to fall asleep on their own
• Sleep training by having your child “cry it out”
• An appropriate age to let your kids cry through the night
• The family bed
• Teaching your child to fall asleep independently
• The Problems with screen time before bedtime
• Use of Melatonin in children to help them fall asleep
• Making the transition from the crib to the bed
• Disciplining at bedtime (Use of bedtime passes)
• Transitioning kids out of the family bed
• Dealing with kids waking up during the night
• How to handle night terrors
• Correlation between adolescent sleep and physical functioning
• Suggestions for getting your teens to go to sleep
• Napping and teenagers

Beth, Camille and Andrea give there NOT SO expert advice all about the baby years.

The really difficult thing about parenting is that you don’t really know if how you parent is truly effective (producing the end result you hope for) until it’s nearly too late.  Not only that, but sometimes you can parent the heck out of a child (in the most effective way imaginable) and that child still decides to use his/her agency to rip your heart out and turn your life upside down.  Such is the life of a parent.

Dr. Goddard has worked for many years as a professor of family and human development in both Arkansas and Alabama, has authored many books, and has created several programs, one of which is on being an effective parent.

According to Dr. Goddard there are 4 keys to use in becoming an effective parent.  Join us to learn those keys and to laugh in the process!