Messy Family Podcast : Catholic Conversations on Marriage and Family

Parenting kids in a tech age; Teaching kids virtue in an age of tech; Is it possible to use tech with virtue?

"It is your responsibility to train your child in virtue and slowly move from protecting their innocence to building Christian maturity. This is true for many areas of life, including use of technology" - Mike and Alicia Hernon

We have talked about the harm that the overuse of screens can do to kids and especially teens, but in this podcast we give parents some ways that they can be proactive in this world of Big Tech. Screens are here to stay, so parents need to take them on as another area in which they need to train their children in virtue. Do not lose heart! It is possible to have virtuous kids who are on social media, play video games, and interact with others online. Listen in as we show you how.

Referenced in this episode

Catholic Youth Summer Camp - https://cysc.com/

Messy Family Membership - https://messyfamilyhood.com/join-neighborhood/

Play and Pray Challenge: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/challenge/

Family Dance-Off: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/dance-off/

At the suggestion of our members, we talked MONEY with Sam and Rob Fatzinger, parents of 14 and authors of the new book A Catholic Guide to Spending Less and Living More. This conversation was insightful and full of great ideas for you and your families! Money is a hot button topic for many couples and we need to find ways to use our resources wisely especially when you have a larger family and live on one income. Rob and Sam show us that it is possible! Plus, living simply has other benefits such as the lessons it teaches our children, care for the environment, and a greater respect for the goods of the earth. Listen in to this fun conversation with the Fatzingers and the members of the Messy Family Neighborhood.

• Join us in the Play and Pray Challenge: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/challenge/
• Family Dance-Off: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/dance-off/
• Find out more about the course for dads: https://messyfamilyhood.com/dadsvswild/
• Book - A Catholic Guide to Spending Less and Living More - https://amzn.to/3pH2811
• Fatzinger blog: http://fatzfam.com/

In this podcast, we answer listener questions in a new format - our new Program Coordinator, Katie Gamboa joins us to present topics for us to discuss. She did a great job! We may be biased since she is our most amazing oldest child (but we aren't - she DID do a great job!) With Katie's help, we tackle some sticky questions such as how to handle a sister who is coming out of the closet? How should this be handled with kids? Families are also struggling with the strong emotions of their children when the parents have big feelings themselves! Listen in as we discuss socializing young children, physical intimacy and the "desire discrepancy", and expectations in marriage and family. Thank you to all our listeners who contact us with questions. We love to hear from you!

Part of our message at the Messy Family Project is that parenting is a path to holiness. But the question many couples have is how much parenting is God asking of us? Within the bounds of the Church's teaching, there are many prudential judgements that couples have to make - when to abstain from sexual relations, how to give birth, how many children to have, how long to wait in between births, and how to incorporate this new baby into your family. In this podcast we share some of our birth experiences and the values that we have come to embrace through the ten children we have brought into the world all in the context of the gift that it is to be a parent. Children are the supreme gift of marriage - they are not only good in themselves and good for the world - children are also good for us! Listen in as we take on this important discussion of infants, childbirth, NFP and more.

Join us in the Play and Pray Challenge: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/challenge/

Find out more about the course for mothers and daughters: https://messyfamilyhood.com/maidens-signup/

Find out more about the course for dads: https://messyfamilyhood.com/dadsvswild/

April 22 is Earth Day, but maybe we Catholics could call it Creation Day and celebrate the loving Father who gave this world to us to "till and keep". Maybe we were thinking of this because Mike was chopping down old trees on our property and we all have sore backs this morning! But seriously, some may look at the extreme environmentalists and be tempted to move to the other extreme and not take seriously their stewardship of the land and animals that are part of our world - but that is not a Christian response! Time and time again our Church has encouraged people to take responsibility for creation around us, be it plants, animals, or the earth itself. We are supposed to take care of it and use it well. Listen in as we talk about teaching and modeling for our children the correct way to care for the gift of creation.

For more information and resources visit: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/