Simon is a good kid. At 17, he’s already impressive. Sometimes I think I’d like to be him when I grow up. I’m grateful he was here to chat with.

Lot’s of transitions going on in thew Buckley house, and a great deal of illness…including grandbabies in the hospital as I type this. These are challenges we’ve faced for years…but when it rains…

All the plans for episodes have been put on hold. I can’t get to anyone to talk to them, so I turned to Simon for help. He’s had a desire to participate on kidCLAN’s to talk to youth, so why not today? To make things interesting, I asked ChatGPT what kind of questions I could ask a 17 year old.

…then we lowered the difficulty to what I asked the 5 year olds.

Have a listen. Enjoy yourself. Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section!

Before we had to take the boys back to mom and dad, I wanted to spend a moment with Sam.

I’ve always considered my children creative anomalies, but when they started having children of their own, something morphed.

They gave life to super-creatives.

Children with minds so fast and without limits, I take whatever time I can just to have conversations with them, just so I can fill my own creative tank.

Sam is Charlies older brother, and these two wonderful boys have am exceptional relationship: they always choose each other.

In today's episode, I ask Sam 10 creative questions, just to see what he’d come up with.

Hope you enjoy the conversation.

I love having conversations with my kids and grand-kids. Today is no exception.

This week we had three of our grandsons over for a few days. It was nice to have some help with gathering eggs and taking care of the cows and sheep, and then have some downtime to visit. Charlie was kind enough to take some time and have a conversation with me.

Now that Substack has a new transcript function in BETA, I’m going to encourage you to check that tab out and go opver that while the podcast plays.

It’s kind of fun.

Hope you enjoy the conversation…cause we did.

Hello, hello, HELLO!

This is your host, Jaime Buckley, and this is the kidCLANS podcast, Episode 6…

I’m on fire this month of August 2023 — because my mind is on family TRADITIONS! How important they are, what they do for our families, BOTH yours and mine…and today…How we can make LASTING MEMORIES through traditions.

The more I talked about this to my own family, the subject of creating lasting memories and a sense of nostalgia came up. I think it was due to the example I gave last time about Candy Week and spending time with Grandma,…a wonderful person to have around for a special week each year in December.

Good news is, we get her ALL the time now, because she’s moved in =) WooHOO for us — we’ve been trying to get her to move in for almost 10 years now…

Do you have specific traditions that have created lasting memories in your family?

…and I’m talking about GOOD memories by the way, not like Uncle Buck drunk under the Christmas tree, making it impossible to get the presents out for the kids kinda memories.

Well I have FIVE specific examples I’d like to suggest of how family traditions can contribute to creating lasting memories, strengthen bonds between family members, and evoke a sense of nostalgia. READY?

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Parents who explain the meaning and purpose of family traditions to their kids, will expose that same stupid to a Tsunami of value, strength and happiness.

I’ve done it many times with my children, letting them weigh our family against the world.

…and I never get tired of the results.

Have YOU ever thought about the Meaning and Purpose of Family Traditions?

"Family traditions" refer to customs, practices, or rituals that are passed down from generation to generation within a family unit. These traditions play a significant role in shaping family identity, values, and connections.

In today's episode, I’d like to go over five key points that highlight what family traditions entail.

Paid subscribers can comment, access the entire archive of this site, along with other stories, cartoons, exclusive podcast, and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial OR earn a paid membership by joining the referral program!

If you enjoy our content, but don’t want to become a member, consider buying us a coffee to keep us going! Thanks so much!

I hate to say this, but there is a growing pattern among the youth of this world. Many are ending their own lives over a belief that they have no value.

A child…having NO VALUE!??!

In this short episode, I share a very personal story of my own relationship with my son. A young man whom I love with all my soul…and how I failed him as a father.

Learn from my mistake.

Save your child from this mindset and tell them the TRUTH.

…that you LOVE them, no matter what!

NOTE: I say "intrinsic love" in the podcast, but I should have said "Intrinsic Value". Thinking of my son overwhelmed me in the moment…I apologize for that error.

Question: Have you told your child(ren) that you love them?

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If you enjoy our content, but don’t want to become a member, consider buying us a coffee to keep us going! Thanks so much!

After a long day, and then an evening visiting with families in the surrounding community, my heart was full, my mind on fire.

People are exceptional, and even as crazy as the world is, I see a lot of good in it. When so many just want to fight and tear things down, I want to reach out to counter that impulse.

To focus on the positive.

I hope I can encourage you to do the same after this podcast.

Question: What do you build up in this world, instead of tear down?

Paid subscribers can comment, access the entire archive of this site, along with other stories, cartoons, exclusive podcast, and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial OR earn a paid membership by joining the referral program!

If you enjoy our content, but don’t want to become a member, consider buying us a coffee to keep us going! Thanks so much!

When I traveled north to visit my Uncle Bob, I took my youngest son with me. It was a wonderful trip. We helped get the yard ready for our Aunt to come home after a family funeral, and spent time with our favorite uncle.

As a treat, Uncle Bob took us to our favorite place to eat…and we were horrified at the experience we had with the families there. It was so shocking, in fact, that I seriously looked at myself as a parent.

…and Uncle Bob flat out confronted the parents! Seriously!!

What Are We Inflicting Upon Others?

Everyone is guilty of this, at one time or another. Either through, ignorance, lack of skill, or neglect…hopefully not outright rebellion (if so, shame on you).

Today’s podcast is about what happened. The aspects of parenting I considered after witnessing the atrocities and what we should do to make the world a better place for each other.

Don’t be too shocked. I’m pointing fingers at everyone, especially myself. Hope you enjoy this podcast.

Have you ever had an experience with someone else’s kids that made you want to scream…or have words with their parents? Let me know in the comments!

Paid subscribers can comment, access the entire archive of this site, along with other stories, cartoons, exclusive podcast, and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial OR earn a paid membership by joining the referral program!

If you enjoy our content, but don’t want to become a member, consider buying us a coffee to keep us going! Thanks so much!

I knew this was going to be hard…just not THIS hard.

Okay, we both know that when you have little kids about, it’s going to be noisy. That’s just how life works. When you are trying to record a podcast, you truly need to have the environment as quiet as possible.

Those two just don’t mix.

The only time the house is as close to silent as you’re going to get is 3am. I do get up at that time to write, and if I can, get some audio work done. There’s no way I can get my guests to join me at 3am. It’s juts not going to happen.

So today’s episode was a complete experiment.

Use What You’ve Got, Be Who You Are

We have tools for virtually any creative challenge. My go to tool set today was a fun little lapel mic splitter and an iPhone adapter. It’s all we had available, and the small window of opportunity to talk with my daughter was there.

So we took it.

The quality was far better than I realized it would be, just not like the studio in the office. When we discussed this afterwords, it hit me that this is more likely to be the norm in the future than not.

Sorry about that in advance. I’ll shoot for the best quality I can, and work from there.

Hope you enjoy this long-form conversation in the Buckley home.

This is a project I’m excited about.

Family is important everything to me, and yes, I know there are hundreds of family podcasts out there. Not sure how many of those podcasts have 13 children, but I know the Buckley’s have a unique spin on life. We are not perfect, and we have opinions on virtually everything, but I’m confident you’ll be interested in having conversations with us.

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Happy 4th of July!

In this first episode I ramble just a bit about what bothers me in society, and I’m wondering how we got here. I also covered:

* This podcast is about family

* Topics will cover a wide spectrum, so we can figure out what we think of things

* I have the equipment to go mobile to have conversations with other parents

* I want you to join us in these conversations (so sigh up — it’s free)

* We have a Block Party every Thursday where we discuss a single question (here’s yesterdays question)

* We rely 100% on word-of-mouth, so tell a friend (or five) about kidCLANS

Hope you’ll join us!