We all know someone who has experienced the pain and tragedy of substance abuse or addiction, and we long to keep our child safe from such harm. Sometimes we feel powerless in the face of the many temptations our child is likely to encounter. But Dr. Joseph Lee, Medical Director of Hazelden’s Center for Youth and Families, joins Marti & Erin to bring strong words of hope about the power of the messages you give your child and how to talk to your child about drugs and alcohol. And even if your child is still just a tot, it’s never too soon to think about the messages you are sending in words and actions!

 

Thinking about the risk factors mentioned in this Mom Enough discussion, what are the risks that could make your child especially vulnerable to substance abuse? Even if there are no notable risks in your child or your family, what are the social situations that might tempt your child to make unwise choices about substance abuse? What messages are you giving your child in both words and actions and what more could you do to prepare your child to handle risky situations involving alcohol or drugs? Leave a comment below!

 

For tips for how to talk to your child about drugs and alcohol, click here.

As parents, many of us struggle to sort through varied and often contradictory bits of advice on the best ways to potty train from childrearing books, peers, grandparents and childcare providers. We wonder when our child should be out of diapers, when toileting “accidents” are something to worry about, and what approach will be most effective (and least harmful) in helping our children achieve independence in toileting. This week’s Mom Enough guest, University of Minnesota’s Dr. Andy Barnes, helps cut through the confusion with both concrete tips and wise advice to remain calm and patient.

 

What different kinds of advice have you received about the best ways to potty train and how did that advice come to you? What was helpful and what was not? Are your children at an age at which toileting problems are still an issue? If so, what did you get from this week’s Mom Enough show to help you see or respond to the issue in new ways? Leave a comment below!

In case you missed the original presentation of the Discover Your Resilient Self parenting telesummit, hosted by Christina Grant, the audio from Marti’s interview is now available here on our website! Marti speaks about the benefits of nature experience for children with mental health challenges and for their parents, siblings and other family members.

 

To listen to Discover Your Resilient Self: Tools to Increase Strength, Compassion, and Renewed Family Joy when your Child has a Mental Health Problem, click here.

As mothers, we shape our daughters’ confidence and sense of self in powerful ways. But we may not realize that what we do not say to our daughters, particularly about their bodies and the ordinary experiences of womanhood, may have far-reaching effects on their confidence across all aspects of their lives. Joyce McFadden, psychoanalyst and lead researcher on the ongoing Women’s Realities Study, joins Marti & Erin to discuss some of the thought-provoking findings on the mother-daughter bond from her research and clinical practice. This is a conversation that will challenge you to reflect on what you are – and are not – communicating to your daughter through your mother-daughter bond, whatever her age.

 

As a young girl, what messages did you receive from your mother or other adults about your body and your identity as a female? If your mother didn’t talk with you about these things, where did you turn for information or support as you moved from childhood to adolescence to adulthood? As a mom, how is your mother-daughter bond – or mother-son bond – the same or different than what you experienced? Leave a comment below!

In today’s world, STEM skills (science, technology, engineering and math skills) are hugely important to academic success and career prospects. Yet, as parents, many of us are at a loss as to how to support our children in building those crucial skills, especially if we think we lack them ourselves. But this week’s Mom Enough guest, Yvonne Ng, brings a fresh and encouraging perspective on STEM skills. An engineer, educator and mom, she helps us see STEM in the world around us and ignite our children’s curiosity, discovery, experimentation and problem-solving from the earliest years of life.

 

In what ways did this Mom Enough show help you see STEM as something more accessible to you and your child? Based on what you heard, what kinds of things could you do with your child to promote STEM skills, whatever his or her age? Leave a comment below!

 

For toys and games to develop STEM in informal ways as well as links to relevant resources, click here.

For Yvonne's blog, click here.

In recent years, food allergies have become a greater concern worldwide, affecting both children and adults, especially in developed countries like the U.S. What are possible causes of this notable increase? How do you know if you have a food allergy? Do kids sometimes outgrow an allergy or is treatment always needed? How is treatment of food allergies the same as or different from treatment for environmental allergies like hay fever? Dr. Joshua Davidson, a Los Angeles allergist and immunologist, brings the latest information parents need about allergies in children and adults. (Marti was excited to learn there now are shots that might reduce her allergy to cats, something that was not available when she had allergy shots as a child!)

 

What new things did you learn about allergies from Dr. Davidson’s discussion with Marti & Erin? Have you or your child had allergies or sensitivities to food? How did those reactions change over time? What did you do to prevent or reduce those reactions? Leave a comment below!

 

Relationships that Nurture is a monthly series brought to you by St. David’s Center for Child & Family Development. At the end of this week’s show, you can hear the first feature in this series, which offers important information about the social and emotional skills needed for school success, how you can tell if your child has the necessary skills and what you can do to help your child build them.

 

For St. David’s Center’s Social and Emotional School Readiness tip sheet, click here.

For other useful information found on our Resources page, click here.

As in past years, Marti & Erin are delighted to bring you a special Mom Enough feature, a recording of this year’s Motherhood & Words Event, hosted by author Kate Hopper at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. The three authors featured this year will knock your socks off with their motherhood stories! Marcelle Soviero, Editor-in-Chief of Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers, reads from her new memoir, An Iridescent Life, a collection of funny, poignant, heartfelt essays about life as a mother and stepmother. Susanne Antonetta, author of Make Me a Mother, tells the powerful story of life with the son she and her husband adopted from South Korea. And Tami Mohamed Brown makes us laugh and groan with her tale of being the first American wife (and pregnant at that!) in her husband’s home village in Egypt. Curl up with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and listen to these amazing women’s motherhood stories. Then maybe write your own!

 

What in these writers’ motherhood stories resonated with your life experience? What made you think about motherhood in a fresh way? If you were going to write an essay about your own experience of parenthood, what would the title be? Leave a comment below!

 

For Motherhood & Words, click here.

For Shebooks, click here.

In the early months of a child’s life many dads struggle to find their role in caring for the baby and supporting mom through those exhausting days and nights. And sometimes we moms send messages, subtle and not-so-subtle, that dad just can’t measure up to our standards of care. But, in the long run, everyone will win (mom, dad, child) if dad is fully engaged as a caregiver. Andre Dukes, Family Academy Director for the Northside Achievement Zone in Minneapolis, joins Marti & Erin to discuss the role of the father in child development, the benefits of father involvement throughout a child’s life and what we all can do to help men be the dads their children need.

 

In what ways is the father of your children involved in their daily lives? How is that the same as or different than how your fathers were involved when you two were young? Based on what you heard on the role of the father in child development in this Mom Enough show, how could you help your children’s father become even more comfortable and confident as a dad? Leave a comment below!

In 2010 Jennifer Senior, contributing editor of New York Magazine, wrote a cover story about modern parenting that triggered a firestorm of responses in the national media. Now, building on extensive research in such fields as psychology, sociology and history, as well as discussions with many parents “in the trenches,” Jennifer has expanded her article to a book that explores how parenting has changed in recent years, the impact of modern parenting on everything from sleep to sex to life satisfaction, and the joy and awe parents so often express when they step back from the daily hassles to reflect on the overall experience of parenting. In this week’s Mom Enough show, Jennifer joins Marti & Erin for a lively discussion you will want to listen to and share with family and friends!

 

In what ways do you think modern parenting is different from how it was for your parents or grandparents? In what ways are those changes for the better or worse? How does the “All Joy and No Fun” of the title resonate with your daily ups and downs and with your overall feelings about being a parent? Leave a comment below!

 

For more information about All Joy and No Fun, click here.

Many of us remember uncomfortable childhood moments when our parents sat us down for "the talk" about the "birds and the bees" or maybe they just awkwardly handed us a book about our changing bodies. But today we know children need much more than the "birds and the bees" facts about sex; they need ongoing information, guidance and support in figuring out who they are as boys and girls, men and women. They need to build respect for themselves and others, and they need to learn what it means to be in healthy, intimate relationships. This week's Mom Enough guest, Judith Kahn (Executive Director of Teenwise), brings years of knowledge and experience to this important topic. And, setting embarrassment aside, Marti & Erin offer candid personal stories of how they have navigated these issues in their own lives as parents.

 

What was your own experience in learning about sexuality and the "birds and the bees" as a child or teen? What did your parents or other adults do that was helpful? What was unhelpful or confusing? How do you intend to help your children develop healthy, respectful attitudes about sex, sexuality and intimate relationships? Leave a comment below!

 

For general tips for communicating with children about sex, click here.

For facts you can share with your teen, click here.