If your children have recently gone back to school or your school year is about to begin, you're probably going through some of the same things we're going through. There are lots of emotions involved and new schedules to consider. Some of us are redefining ourselves as we enter a new stage of motherhood.

Join Saren and April as they share their own "back to school" stories along with plenty of practical tips for making the transition work for the whole family. The conversation includes:

• how to be present when our children are home (and how to get things done while they're at school).

• specific schedules we established in our own homes when we had preschoolers–and schedules we've established now with older children.

• questions you can ask yourself if you're redefining who you are and how you want to spend your time.

For full show notes, please visit poweroffamilies.com

Saren and her family spent a solid month on summer visiting the 12 oldest National Parks in the west (camping the whole way!). In this week's episode, Saren shares how this all came about and what her family gained through this wild and wonderful adventure.

The principles offered apply to all families whether they'd like to do a big trip or simply spend a little more time outside together as a family.

Come listen as Saren shares two game-changing daily parenting practices that have made a huge difference for their family! These simple, daily practices can help dramatically change the mood in your home and the relationship with your children! For full show notes, please visit poweroffamilies.com

Join Saren and author Kristen Jensen as they discuss the importance - and better yet - strategies to porn-proof our kids.

In this episode, Saren interviews John Lanza, author of The Art of Allowance and founder of The Money Mammals, about how we can raise financially literate children.

John talks about how we can teach toddlers to teens how to share, save and spend smart through everything from fun songs and stories to purposeful modeling of wise financial practices to regular discussions about needs and wants to providing kids with a regular allowance. For full show notes, please visit poweroffamilies.com

The first chapter shared is about how to help children get excited about giving simple gifts to each family member, the second is about easy ways to get your children involved in giving to needy children, and the third is about protecting time for stories at Christmas.

Visit poweroffamilies.com for full show notes.

Join Saren and Power of Families Social Media Manager, Lynette Blood, as they discuss the magic and meaning of Christmas and how to balance the important elements of Christmas.

In this 25-minute episode, Saren and her sister Shawni (who runs the popular blog, 71 Toes), discuss simple ways to help our children:

• Feel and express gratitude for every-day things that are easy to take for granted
• Focus on what they have rather than what they feel that they lack
• Work for what they get so that they will more fully appreciate it
• Learn about those who are less fortunate so they can see how blessed they are while developing compassion and understanding for others

For full show notes, please visit poweroffamilies.com

When your child is running for office at school, looking for a job, or working a school assignment, how much do you help? If you have ideas about what they can and should do, how much do you try to talk them into things? Are you OK with letting them fail sometimes?

It can be so hard to know when to step in and when to step back!

In this encore episode, Saren and her sister Shawni (blogger at 71toes.com) share some personal stories and talk about how hard it can be to know when to help our kids or push them to do certain things and when to stand back.

Family fun doesn't need to be about complicated decorations or wearing ourselves out with dozens of events. But with a little bit of planning and a deliberate-motherhood mindset, this fall is destined to be the best one yet! For full show notes, please visit Poweroffamilies.com