Reaching Roots For Parents

Does class and race change the course of our lives?  Annette Lareau studied African American and white families to understand the impact of how social class makes a difference in children's lives.  10 years later, Lareau revisited these families to examine the impact of social class as these children became adults.

Looking at pathways each of their lives had followed, Annette says "their lives had diverged in a profound way" and she wrote about the influence of class and race on their lives in the second edition of her book Unequal Childhoods.

In this episode, we talk to Annette about the impact, benefit and disadvantages that social class has on our education and life - who we will marry, where we will live and how we find jobs.

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Children can face significant childhood adversity:  the loss of a parent through death or divorce, domestic violence, an alcoholic parent, sexual abuse, and bullying at home or school.  Meg Jay says these people are not abnormal, but beyond normal, exceptional, extraordinary and heroic in many ways.

In her book Supernormal, Meg points out the resourcefulness kids develop when they're surrounded by chaos and trauma.  In this episode, we talk about what are some of the ingredients that help our children develop resilience and how we can help.

Meg Jay, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist, and an Associate Professor of Human Development at the University of Virginia. She is also the author of the books “Supernormal” and “The Defining Decade”.

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Kids outgrown baby equipment, clothes, sports gear, and more at a rapid pace from the time they are babies to their teen years. You are cluttering up your house, adding to the 12 million tons each year of waste in landfills, or selling used items.   Today, parents’ options are to sell used items on generic marketplaces or local social groups. This involves taking pictures and posting, meeting strangers, haggling on price and dealing with scams and no-shows. In this episode, Stephanie talks about why parents should be recycling and reNewing and she provides a simpler way to do it while making money.

Stephanie Cartin is the co-founder of Markid, a marketplace for parents to buy and sell baby and kids gently used items.  She is also the co-founder of Socialflyand Entreprenista Media. Recognized as a Top Female CEO in New York, she is the Co-Author of the book "Like, Love, Follow”, Co-Host of the Entreprenista Podcast, and been featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, entrepreneur.com, and more.

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Any current education system must continually adapt and change to keep pace with the needs of the future. For large schools with a “one-size-fits-all” curriculum, this change can be a struggle.  Micro Schools provide flexibility in terms of learning environments, schedules and curriculum and might do a better job teaching your children 21st century skills.

In this episode we talk to Chris Bennett about the benefits and challenges of micro schools for your children.  Chris Bennett is a co-founder and the CEO of Wonderschool, a network of early childhood programs or micro schools that combine the quality standards of world-class educators with the warmth of an in-home program.

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In this episode, we talk about the positive and negative impacts of COVID on your children’s mental health.  Dr. Ashley Miller talks about practical tips for you to nurture positive growth and learning in your children during this time.   She provides ways for you to understand your kids’ behaviour and feelings, validate them, and support your children, so everyone feels better.  

Dr. Ashley Miller is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the BC Children’s Hospital, speaker, award-winning educator and co-author of the book "What to Say to Kids When Nothing Seems to Work”

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Parents struggle to how to talk to their Tweens and Teens about thorny topics like friends, sex, money, hygiene,  privilege and more.    In this episode, Michelle Icard provides practical approaches and tools on how and when to have these with your kids and steer clear of landmines that shut down the conversation.   

Michelle Icard in the author of her new book FOURTEEN TALKS BY AGE FOURTEEN and Middle School Makeover.   She is a member of the TODAY show parenting team, NBC News Learn and her work has been featured in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Time, and People.

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Over-parenting has the potential to ruin a child’s confidence and undermine their education. Parents who rush to school to deliver forgotten assignments, challenge teachers on report cards, interfere in children’s friendships and on the playing field, might be depriving their kids of important life skills.

In this episode Jessica Lahey talks about how parents can step back from their instincts and embrace their children’s failure. She provides advice for handling everyday school & social situations and how, by letting our children fail, we can set them up to succeed.

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Do your kids wait until the night before to do their homework?  Students don’t procrastinate because they are lazy, but instead due to deeper issues of fear and difficulty.   Procrastination can become a bad habit - the more we defer action, the more apprehensive we become, the less we accomplish.  For your kids, this can start a cycle of low self-confidence that sabotages their success in school and life.   In this Episode Leslie Josel, author of “How to Do it Now Because it’s Not Going Away” dives into the deeper issues on why your child procrastinates and ways for them to focus and get stuff done.

Leslie Josel is an ADHD-academic, parenting coach, award-winning author and a columnist for ADDtitude Magazine and recognized as a top 20 Time Management expert in the world.  

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Today, our 'digitally distracted' way of life creates social disconnect, poor mental health, obesity and unhappiness.  Basic movement skills, like jumping, running, skipping, throwing are difficult activities for some kids they don’t know how to move. This adds to issues of increased screen time and decreased outdoor free play.  In this episode Melanie, talks to us about going beyond physical fitness and developing Physical Literacy in our children, which is a combination of motivation, confidence, and physical competence to be active.

Melanie Levenberg is an author, teacher and expert in children’s fitness.    In 2020 alone, over 1 million kids participated in PL3Y fitness programs that follow 3 rules: Be Positive. Be Fun. Be Yourself.

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Dawn Lopez is the owner of Cutefetti, an award-winning blog with over 300,000 community members. Cutefetti provides practical resources that inspire and help families celebrate life’s most important occasions.

People who cultivate a daily attitude of celebration and gratitude are happier.  In a pandemic year - your birthdays, thanksgiving and other occasions were very different.  Who knew that large family get-togethers & group celebrations would be a risk to our health?  Online or physical – celebrations involve stresses of finding resources, coming up with ideas, figuring out online platforms, shopping, baking and gifting. 

In this episode, Dawn Lopez gives us ideas and time saving shortcuts for pandemic celebrations.

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