The MOM Podcast

Our society often rewards kids with food.  This has serious problems for our kids and our family life. We discuss what this means and how we can help our kids overcome this situation.

When we choose a discipline style, sometimes we find it doesn't work.  We discuss what to do when our chosen path isn't yielding the desired results and how to help our children grow into great adults!

Commercialism is alive in our culture and children can get swept up in it and lose sight of the reason for celebrations like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah,  and Kwanzaa.  We share how we try to strengthen the spirit of these holidays in our own houses and tips you can use to make the season more meaningful for you and your children.

Our kids are digital natives and the old job charts with stickers just don't cut it anymore.  Stacey and Shelly love a FREE online job cart designed to help parents and kids bridge the digital divide and come to a consensus on job charts.  This is one your children will want to use and is so flexible that you can set it up to meet your specific needs.  It emails you when jobs are completed and even allows you to reward kids through online ordering.  Greg Murset, creator of www.myjobchart.com (http://ww.myjobchart.com) discusses why he created it and we tell you what we think of it!

Thinking about getting a cat or dog but not sure you want the long term commitment?  Fostering animals might be the option for you. Shelly has been fostering kittens and she introduces us to the idea with two experts from No More Homeless Pets: Ashley Wing and Verral May. Ashley works for No More Homeless Pets and Verrel volunteer with No More Homeless Pets, as well as many other animal rescue groups and has rescued over 1500 dogs and cats. If you are looking to foster or adopt an animal, check out these sites: * petfinder.org (http://www.petfinder.org) (national) * bestfriends.org (http://www.bestfriends.org) (national) * caws.org (http://www.caws.org )(Utah) * utahpets.org (http://www.utahpets.org) (Utah)

Heather Von St. James tells her story of how after giving birth to a beautiful baby girl, she discovered she had mesothelioma and the path her life has taken since then.  For any mother struggling with an illness, her story will give you heart.  If you have never heard of mesothelioma, listen up because it is a cancer on the rise. For more on Heather, check out her blog at http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/heather/ (http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/heather/)

Now that the kids are back in school, we have to get our lives adjusted to the new normal.  Learn the principles to making school life function well and products we use for our kids.

We talk to Dr. John Heath, author of When Bright Kids Can't Learn to discover the research into training the brain to learn better and how it can help your child succeed in school and overcome small and large learning problems like forgetfulness or dyslexia.

If your child struggles at school and you wonder what might be going on, we discuss things to check and how to help your child.  A solution might be as simple as a trip to the right optometrist and a few simple exercises or you might want to have an evaluation from a school or private psychologist to pinpoint a learning disability (even when you have an incredibly bright child).

As moms, we put our needs last.  But making time for our passions can make us better moms.  We share how we have found time for our passions and what we have done--it just might inspire you to take up an instrument, pick up your tennis racket or lace on tap shoes!

We try to prepare our kids for life but how do we help them when something happens that no one could prepare for--a natural disaster like a hurricane or flood. Dr. Andie (http://www.drandie.com)gives us tips for helping our kids and us cope and thrive in times of stress including how the language we use affects how children see the situation!  Check this one out! Dr. Andie is the author of More than Saying I Love You (http://www.drandie.com/).

We tell it like it is so you know that our lives are not any different than yours and we don't have perfect families.  Listen and find yourself and realize you are part of the tribe of moms all trying to do their best.

Dr. Brandy Hughes, OB/GYN, discusses cervical cancer and HPV and how to protect yourself and your children.

Dr. Andie discusses what Cinderella parenting is and how to avoid  it. Listen to hear how you can relax your parenting stress and still be a super mom. Dr. Andie is the author of More than Saying I Love You (http://www.drandie.com/). (http://www.themompodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/715_1_.jpg)We also talk about the PeeWeePC (http://www.peeweepc.com/).  It is a computer set up specifically for kids.  If you are thinking about getting a computer for a child, this is a great option--the laptop we tried has a rubberized case that protects it, software to protect the kids while surfing and educational programs to help them learn. PeeWeePC has offered a discount to our listeners: Use promotional code is PWPROMO to save $10 off any purchase of $20 or more. Simply input this code during checkout in the box that says "promotional codes."

TruAnn Boulter, Suzuki violin teacher, discusses what the Suzuki method is and how it might work for you and your children interested in taking music lessons. Suzuki uses the Mother Tongue approach.  Learn what this is. If you are looking for a Suzuki teacher, check out the Suzuki Association www.suzukiassociation.org (http://). If you are in Utah, you can check the Utah site at www.suzukimusicutah.org/ (http://www.suzukimusicutah.org/).