Parenting is Hard w/ Matt & Stacy Barnes

One of the most controversial (and complicated!) aspects of parenting is discipline. But, what if we've been looking at it all wrong?

This week, we're sharing our learnings when it comes to discipline and tell you the One Rule we have in our home as well as how we enforce that rule. Most importantly, we talk about the "why" behind discipline and how our views have changed significantly in the past few years (and certainly since we were kids!).

HELP!

That's what this episode is all about. With two sets of twins and everything going on in our lives, we wouldn't be able to do it all without some serious help. This week, we've got two guests with us... our nanny, Emily Noble and her friend/our backup nanny, Taylor Gonzalez! We get their outside perspective on our parenting and the challenges of caring for other people's kids.

Being known and being understood are two of the most important pieces of anyone's life. (We know this.) And yet, it's amazing how many adults feel like their parents never really knew or understood them. This can lead to insecurity, depression, anxiety, and other problems later in life. BUT... we can do it differently! This week, we talk about some simple and practical ways to really get to know your kids (and let them know that you know them)! We share our learnings and some stories of our kids and invite you to share yours.

When we did our last episodes on infertility and surrogacy, our listeners sent in some really great questions! So, we invited Valerie Gelb to join us this week. Valerie is an LMFT who specializes in working with people on their journey's through infertility and surrogacy. She's got a lot of great insights!

Just a quick check-in after the events of last week.

We'll be back next week with a full episode and big announcement.

This week, we're talking about traditions. From big ones like holidays to small ones like bedtime routines, we all have traditions in our lives. While traditions can be great, they can also be stressful and, if we're not careful, divisive.

THIS IS THE WORST EPISODE EVER!!!! (Is what our kids would shout if they knew what a podcast was and were throwing a fit about it.) Aren't tantrums the worst? Everything's fine and dandy and then your kid decides they don't like the shape of a cloud they saw and it's all over. (And then maybe we throw our own tantrum because of their tantrum and it's a big cluster-tantrum. Good times.) But... maybe there are other things going on here!

We're back... and the podcast has gone straight into the toilet! (Dad joke.) Potty training is no joke and we've got some tips to get you through it!

To finish up our series on what we've learned from each of our four children, we're talking about the amazing Poppy Sky Barnes. Poppy lights up every room with her overwhelming joy, which really just distracts everyone from her mischievous side!

In the third episode of our four-episode series, we're talking about our second son, Wells! He's a very particular kid. Know the type? Likes everything a certain way. Fixates on certain things until you never want to hear about them again... and then he keeps talking about them. But, also... so sweet and amazing! If you can relate, we've got a lot for you.