Family Looking Up

Motherhood is hard.  We've talked openly about the fact that mothers are put through similar torturous tactics as those employed by terrorists (namely sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, and brainwashing.  If you don't believe the last one you clearly have never engaged with a three year old who isn't getting their own way).  Honestly, laughter is our only hope! This week we bring you the hilarious Jenna Kim Jones (comedian, mom, podcaster). You can thank us later!

At the core, every parent aims to raise a child that can self-motivate and can fly once they are old enough to leave home.   No parent wants to raise a child that is either so full of anxiety that they can't bear to leave home or a child that is so apathetic to life in general that their biggest concern is their status in Fort Night.   Dr. William Stixrud and Ned Johnson are with us this week discussing their book "The Self Driven Child" and the research behind it. 

A challenge that everyone can relate to is that one person in your life that drives you crazy no matter how much you wish otherwise.  All of us have certain personalities in our friend and family sphere that we struggle with.  Chantel Allen is with us this week giving us some simple tools we can use to better handle the frustrations we feel in those situations.  This is a fantastic interview you won't want to miss!

This is the third installment of our "Ages and Stages" series.  The first two were episode 90 and episode 105. The school years are full of ups and downs, triumphs and tribulations.  They're bumpy for your kids too.  The three hosts of the Family Looking Up Podcast (with a combined 15 kids between the three of them) share their thoughts, hilarious fails, and a nugget or two of wisdom they gleaned along the way.  This is an episode you won't want to miss!

John Lanza and his wife had a desire to help their kids to be money smart.  John’s background was in entertainment and so they came up with the audacious idea of taking something relatively boring like financial literacy and make it fun.  They wanted to teach their kids about how to use their money wisely, how to save, and how to be able and willing to be charitable toward others. Join us as we talk with John about his company "Money Mammals", his philosophy, and have many great laughs along the

Monica Tanner(from the "On The Brighter Side Podcast) is with us today giving us some ideas on how to strengthen our marriage.  The catch is how to do it without even involving our spouse!  There is some great food for thought here, perfect for the new year!

Beth, Andrea, and Camille talk Christmas, the best of and the worst of in Christmas Music, and  best memories from Christmases past.  Join us for a Merry Christmas chat!

Is the art of meaningful conversation dying?  You bet it is. Conversation is yet another casualty of our digital world.  Ellen Martin, a wife and mother of 5 boys, with a Masters of Arts in Christian Education and Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary, has been troubled by this communication trend as well.  Ellen began work on a book she recently published, called “A Life Shared: Meaningful Conversations With Our Kids.” 

Chris and Brittany Kurtz, founders of the "Do Good. Be Kind." movement joined us this week.  We originally interviewed Chris in episode 13.  Now, two years and 98 episodes later, we met up with Chris and Brittany to talk about the movement of “Do Good. Be Kind.”.  About the takeaways they have gleaned after speaking at hundreds of assemblies and with thousands of people. Specifically, we talked about how individuals, families, and our children can benefit from this powerful message.

There is power in feeling gratitude.  Nancy Davis Kho, a freelance writer, podcaster on Midlife Mixtape, and author took this idea of gratitude to a whole new level.  She has written a book called "The Thank You Project", which is a culmination of thank you letters she wrote every week over the period of one year to those whom she felt had impacted and shaped her.   She joined us this week to discuss the book, her experiences, and the power of gratitude.

Did you know that ⅓ of all college freshmen transfer to another college after just one year?  For parents investing time, energy, and money into the decision of where to go to college, this statistic can be distressing.  If your child is one of the 4.2 million high school seniors applying to college this year, this interview is one you won’t want to miss.  Helping kids choose the right college (the first time around) will save you and them a lot of heartache and money.

In this week’s episode, Beth, Andrea and Camille each share a struggle that we have had in our personal life, our marriage, and in our parenting.  We talk about the struggle, and then we share some of the answers and solutions that we have found to be helpful. We hope that as you listen you will be able to relate, to empathize, and to receive comfort in your struggles.  We truly are all in this together. Thank you for allowing us to walk life’s journey with you!

For most women, guests coming for the holidays, means a full-on panic attack until the house looks like the cover of a “Better Homes And Gardens” Magazine. Today we have Dana White of “A Slob Comes Clean” with us to give us 10 tips to get our houses ready for the holiday hordes.   The greatest of slobs will come away from this fun interview feeling that they have hope rather than a sinking feeling that they may just need to burn down the house.   

Today we are focusing on teaching our kids leadership skills. It’s one of those things that some kids come with and some don’t, but if it isn’t intrinsically within them is it worth teaching it to them? At its simplest a leader is defined as the inspiration and director of the action. Teaching children leadership skills will help them learn to inspire and direct others to a better, safer, smarter, happier or simply different path.

On this week's episode Beth, Andrea, and Camille talk about all things toddlers.  We laugh A LOT about the ups and downs of daily life with those adorable and angry little elves, we try to offer up some valuable advice for navigating these years, and we talk about the products that were game changers and worth every penny to purchase.  We hope you enjoy this funny and uplifting episode!