Some Assembly Required

For some adults, the holiday season brings full calendars, long shopping lists, and intense pressure to maintain every magical tradition. In this episode, we talk about why flexibility isn’t a failure of tradition, but often the key to a meaningful holiday. Three parents bring their unique perspectives of celebrating Christmas with multicultural influences, across multiple households, and with challenging work schedules. This conversation offers practical encouragement and a reminder that meaningful celebrations don’t have to look the same to be deeply good.

Whether your child dreams of being the next Michael Jordan or just loves the game-day snacks, parenting an athlete comes with its fair share of questions, challenges, and celebrations. One common dilemma: Should my child specialize in one sport?

In this episode, we’re joined by Chris Paroli, assistant director of athletics: media at Wesleyan School, and Britt Lee, author and cofounder of Pure Athlete, Inc. Together, we explore the mental, physical, and spiritual benefits of multi-sport participation and share practical ways to push back against the growing pressure to specialize.

Episode References and Show Notes:

• Parenting the Pure Athlete by Britt Lee
• Pure Athlete Podcast
• Pure Athlete episode with Matt Ryan
• Pure Athlete episode with Mallory Pugh Swanson
• NYT article about specialization
• Pure Athlete episode with Tom Glavine
• Roger Federer’s graduation speech at Dartmouth
• Pure Athlete episode with Greg Olsen
• Pure Athlete episode with Dr. Neeru Jayanthi
• Pure Athlete episode about burnout

In this episode, we explore how parents can deepen their family's spiritual life by praying the scriptures with their children—an approach inspired by Dr. Don Whitney’s book Praying the Bible. Discover how this simple yet powerful practice can help your children engage with God’s Word in a meaningful way, cultivate a habit of prayer, and grow in their understanding of scripture. Whether your kids are toddlers or teens, this episode offers practical tips, encouragement, and real-life examples to help you make prayer a natural and joyful part of your family’s daily rhythm.

Our guests are Dr. Don Whitney - pastor, seminary professor, and author of books like Praying the Bible; and Greg Lisson, director of Christian life at Wesleyan School. Whether you have toddlers, kindergarteners, teenagers, adult children, or are well into grandparenthood, this episode offers a fresh look at how we can engage with God in a new way.

If your child is starting to ask for a phone—and you’re not sure you’re ready—this episode is for you. Whether you’re standing on the edge of those conversations or already navigating screen-time battles, it’s never too late to pause and think about what’s working—and what’s not. We walk through four key questions every parent can use to guide thoughtful conversations about personal devices, from social pressure to safety and responsibility.

Our guests, Joseph Antonio and Sean Nestor, serve as the middle school principal and counselor at Wesleyan School. Drawing from their experiences in schools and in their own homes, they share practical and compassionate ways to frame the smartphone conversation. Focused on helping families flourish, this episode goes both big-picture and nitty-gritty so you can feel more confident about what comes next.

Mornings can feel like a high-stakes juggling act—packing lunches, finding shoes, signing permission slips, and somehow getting everyone out the door on time. In this episode, our guests are Karyn Vickery, director of academic support at Wesleyan School, and Ellen Hill, director of community engagement at the Schenck School .

We’ll dive into the chaos of school-day mornings, what makes mornings so challenging to begin with, and practical tips to help families build smoother routines, reduce stress, and even find a little joy in the rush.

In this episode, we explore the long game of parenting—how raising children is less about sprinting through milestones and more about pacing ourselves for the journey ahead. Our guest is Chris Cleveland. Chris is the head of school at Wesleyan School and draws on both his 34-year career in education and his own experience being a dad.

From maintaining healthy perspective to managing expectations to building resilience, we’ll talk about how parents can stay grounded, present, and connected through the ups and downs of family life. Whether you're at the start, middle, or end of this journey raising school-aged children, this conversation offers encouragement, practical strategies, and a reminder that you're not running this race alone.