Simple Families | Parenting + Minimalism

Happy New Year! Today we are talking about the Simple Families “word for the year”: Community. Building a community in parenthood can feel like “one more thing” we have to do. But it’s invaluable to you and your family as you grow, change, and face the rollercoaster of life with kids. In this episode, I’m joined by my friends Erica Layne from The Life on Purpose Movement, Zoë Kim from Raising Simple, and Rachelle Crawford from Abundant Life with Less. We are sharing more about our own experiences with community throughout parenthood.  Find Erica online: * Instagram* Facebook* Website* Book Find Zoë online: * Instagram* Facebook* Website* Book Find Rachelle online: * Instagram* Facebook* Website

Back in January, I joined the sober curious movement as I gave up alcohol for the year as a New Year’s Resolution. It was an amazing year and I learned so much about myself. Today I’m sharing my month-by-month experience and Brooke Conley joins me for moral support. Show Notes/Links: * SFP 128: Living Coffee ’til Cocktails [with Brooke Conley]* SFP 141: Q&A – Can you tell us more about your 2019 resolution?* Recommended book to give up drinking: Annie Grace’s The Naked Mind* Reach Brooke Conley on Instagram + Her website Full Episode Transcript Denaye:Hi, and welcome to episode 184. As some of you know, I gave up alcohol for my New Year’s resolution way back in January, and today I’m sharing a little bit about my year without alcohol. I hope you all are having a simple holiday season so far. I’ve had a few questions over the course of the year about how my year without alcohol is going and I’ve been pretty quiet on it. I felt like I wanted to let the year ride out and then give you a full recap, so this is it. Now, if you’re new to this story, you can rewind. We started talking about this in episode 128, simplefamilies.com/episode128 and in that episode, Living Coffee ’til Cocktails, I talked with Brooke Conley. Brooke is a member of the sober curious movement, and she’s a mom and she shared with me more about what her journey without alcohol has looked like. If you’re new to the sober curious movement, it’s basically a group of individuals who are choosing not to drink, not because of alcoholism, just because they have decided that alcohol doesn’t serve them well and doesn’t play a place in their life anymore. In episode 128, I talked with Brooke about how I was thinking about giving up alcohol, and I was in fact curious about what it was like, and then in episode 141, that’s simplefamilies.com/episode141, I talked more about my decision to give it up completely for the year 2019. It’s been an incredible year and I have learned so much about myself and I’ve invited Brooke back today. I’m going to share month by month what this journey looked like. I’d suggest going back and listening to episodes 128 and 141 if you do want to get this full story, but here’s the quick and dirty. I decided that I wanted to give up alcohol because I was drinking less and less, really about 2 to 3 drinks a week last year around the holidays, and I still felt like it was too much. I felt like I wanted less. I didn’t really feel like it was taking a physical toll on my body, but it was really weighing on me mentally. Ultimately, I figured out that alcohol had become a part of my mental load. When it came to the evenings and the weekends, I was thinking about it.

Stepping into new spaces can make anyone uncomfortable. For many of us, developing a relationship with an individual with special needs might be new territory. In today’s episode, we have Mama/Author/Advocate Heather Avis sharing her ideas about raising kids with kindness and moving towards inclusion. “When we walk into the world with our children we know we are different. What we want is for people to embrace us, not turn away from us.” Heather Avis * Learn more about Heather* Find Heather on Instagram* Heather’s Book: Scoot Over and Make Some Room Full Episode Transcription You can listen to this episode of the Simple Families podcast in the player above or in your favorite podcast app. Or you can read the full transcript right here. An Update from Denaye Welcome to episode 183. This is Denaye. Today we’re talking about scooting over to make some room. Hello, hello and happy December. I hope that this holiday season is one that is bringing you joy and maybe some semblance of calm amongst all the insanity that happens around this time of the year. If you’re following me on Instagram, you’ll know that I am currently doing a 25 day workout challenge starting December 1st going through the 25th. I will tell you that it is single handedly the best way to lengthen and prolong the holiday season because this month is just going on forever. Like when will it end? I’m so done. The reason I did it was because I had set a goal to reach 100 cycling rides. We have a Peloton that I like to ride and my goal was at the end of the year, I wanted to have 100 rides. Then in the middle of November I broke my toe so I was off for probably three weeks and I got way behind. So I’m like, “All right, I got to ramp it up, finish out strong for the end of 2019.” The other reason that I did it is because as some of you know from my new year’s resolution at the beginning of this year, I gave up alcohol. Part of that journey has been figuring out what the holiday seasons look like without wine and champagne and other things to celebrate. So I’ve put in a little bit more exercise to help fill in any of those gaps, which I’m not really even feeling that heavily anymore. Next week I’m talking with Brooke Conley, who was on the podcast last year before I decided to give up alcohol. We talked a little bit about this concept and the idea of giving up alcohol when you’re not an alcoholic and how it can be a strange concept for many of us, including myself. So I’m just wrapping up that year now, very soon in the next week or two. I’m going to be sharing all the details of that next week when I chat with Brooke. I also want to be sure that you caught the short form episode yesterday. Starting in 2020 I’m going to be adding a second episode each week where I have a shorter episode and I cover a question from an audience member and I share something simple that I’m loving. Maybe a concept or a book or a product, whatever it might be. So if you didn’t catch that yesterday, go back and listen to that, Episode 182, I’m answering the question, “How do we handle Santa?” I’m also sharing my “something simple” for the week. So starting off in January, that will be a weekly occurrence and I hope you enjoy that. Meet Heather Avis, a Special Needs Mom and Advocate for Kindness and Inclusion

Are you wondering how to talk to your kids about Santa? That’s what we are chatting about today. Actually, I’m introducing something brand new today! Starting in 2020, I’ll be adding a second weekly episode to the Simple Families Podcast. In addition to the regular weekly episode, I’ll be adding a shorter form episode. Today, I’m sharing an example of how exactly this will look. The new episode will be in two main parts: We’ll start the episode off with a Q&A segment where I answer a question from an audience member. Then, we’ll move on and discuss “Something Simple” that I am loving each week–which may be a concept, a book, a product or anything else. I invite you to send me your contributions for the show! Show Notes/List * Submit ‘Something Simple’ that you are loving* Submit a question for the Q&A Segment* 2019 Simple Families Holiday Gift Guide* 2019 “A Few of My Favorite Things” Full Episode Transcription You can listen to this episode of the Simple Families podcast in the player above or in your favorite podcast app. Or you can read the full transcript. How to Talk to Kids about Santa Are you wondering how to talk to your kids about Santa? This week’s question from an audience member comes from Amy, who has some questions about how we handle Santa Claus in our house. Here’s what she asked: “I’m the mother of two young children in Seattle and a big fan of the podcast. I also read your book and loved it. I also love your occasional emails where you list your favorite things and some of those things have become our favorite things too. I write today because I’m wondering how you approach the topic of Santa with your kids. I value your opinion and I’ve found that I agree with your parenting style and advice so I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this. You mentioned that your kids see Santa and get one gift from him each year (correct me if I’m wrong), and that sounds like something I’d be onboard with.My oldest daughter is three and doesn’t know of Santa or anything about him, so I’m unsure of how to approach this topic with her. I don’t mind her believing in Santa but don’t really want to encourage it and I don’t feel comfortable with flat out lying with her either. I’m planning on letting her ask questions as they come, but do I even bring her to sit on Santa’s lap this year? How do I explain this very odd tradition in our culture or even start the conversation?”Amy, Seattle, WA Amy, thanks for your email and your kind words. I’ll tell you how we do it. Now, of course this is going to be different for every single family. I felt a lot like Amy when we first started talking about Santa Claus. I didn’t feel like I needed to shut down the topic altogether or tell my kids straight out there’s no such thing, but I also didn’t feel entirely comfortable lying to them either. At this point, with my kids being three and six, I do feel like we’ve found a middle ground,

In today’s episode, I’m bringing you a Journey to Simplicity. I’m chatting with Dr. Gillian Goddard, a physician living outside of New York City with her husband and four kids. Although Gillian’s life may feel anything but simple, she and her family have made strides towards finding the balance and rhythm that works for their family. Show Notes/Links: * 2019: Holiday Guide (NEW)* 2019: These Are a Few of MY Favorite Things (NEW)* Simple Families Toy Gift List 2018* Simple Families Toy Gift List 2017 Photo by Alison Sheehy Full Episode Transcription Denaye: Hello and welcome to episode 181. Today I am sharing a journey to simplicity. This is Gillian’s story. If you’re new to the podcast, you might be new to this series as well. I love to share stories from the Simple Families community of people who are striving to make big life changes to slow down and simplify things within their own families.  Moving into 2020, I really want to spend next year focused on you. Simple Families is plural. It’s not just one simple family, it’s not just my family, I want to feature more of you. So whether it be your quotes and your photos on Instagram, your stories on the podcast, I’d like to make your voices heard loud and clear. Since I started Simple Families at the end of 2016, I have seen the community grow so much and I have absolutely enjoyed watching you all learn from and teach one another. So I’m going to be making more space for it. If you have a story to tell or a little anecdote or a big win, feel free to email me (denaye@simplefamilies.com). And I’m also going to be featuring this Journey to Simplicity series once a month. So if you want your story and your family featured, send me that in an email as well.  A couple of months ago, an Instagram friend reached out and told me that I have not yet featured any full-time working moms who work out of the home. I featured stay-at-home moms, I featured work-at-home moms, but not yet any work-out-of-the-home moms. So I put out a call to get some candidates and I got an overwhelming response, so many that it was hard to pick from. So as a result, I decided to do two. Today I’m sharing my chat with Gillian from New York, and next month I’m going to be sharing my chat with Marie from South Carolina. So let me tell you a little bit about Gillian.  Gillian is a full-time working physician. Her husband is a full-time corporate lawyer. They have four kids, three of which were born while Gillian was in medical school and doing her residency. So after I heard that, I was like, “I want to hear what your life looks like, Gillian, because that’s a lot. That is a really full plate, managing two busy careers along with four growing children.” Not to mention that Gillian and her husband work in New York city and live just outside. I think that there’s something substantial about living in a busy city or working in a busy city that your baseline cortisol levels are just high. Whenever I’m in a busy city, I feel like I’m on high alert and I’m sure that probably fades off the...

Ready for a mindset shift around gifts this holiday season? In today’s episode, we are discussing how to gift with intention. This includes shifting the conversation around gift-giving with your kids and choosing gifts that will keep-on-giving. I’m also sharing the 10 items on the Simple Families 2019 Holiday Gift Guide. Show Notes/Links * Shifting the conversation about gifts * Buying more intentionally this holiday season * The problem with experience gifts * Front-loaded vs. back-loaded gifts * My Holiday Prep chat with Erica, Rachelle, and Zoë * How to Get Your Kid to Play Independently Podcast Episode* How to talk with extended family about intentional gift-giving: “Our kids love spending time with you and I’ve enjoyed seeing your relationship grow. I fear that too many packages may distract them from appreciating all the wonderful gifts that you bring as a person. I want them to look forward to special time with you more than they do the gifts. How can we work together to keep them focused on the important stuff?” [Quote from Denaye’s Book Simple Happy Parenting] * Simple Families Toy Gift List 2018* Simple Families Toy Gift List 2017 2019 Holiday Gift List Links * Ocean Bingo + Sea Life Book * Library Book System: Book Bin + Book Tote * Green Kids Crafts (Code EARLY70/GIFT40)* Storyworth * Family Collage: Large Canvas + Paint + Decoupage  * Sprout-Kids: Table + Stools +

If you are striving to simplify the holidays this year, take a listen to my chat with three of my favorite minimalist mamas, Erica Layne from The Life on Purpose Movement, Zoë Kim from Raising Simple, and Rachelle Crawford from Abundant Life with Less. Between the four of us, we have 12 kids under age 14. But we carved time out to grab a virtual coffee (or tea) as we talked about simplifying all things holiday prep: decorations, traditions, gifts, the calendar, and holiday cards. You can listen to our chat on the podcast or watch the video of our conversation. Show Notes/Links: Find Erica online: * Instagram * Facebook * Website * Book Find Zoë online: * Instagram * Facebook * Website * Book Find Rachelle online: * Instagram * Facebook * Website Full Episode Transcription Denaye:Hi, this is Denaye. I’m the founder of Simple Families. Simple Families is an online community for parents who are seeking a simpler, more intentional life. In this show, we focus on minimalism with kids, positive parenting, family wellness, and decreasing the mental load. My perspectives are based in my firsthand experience raising kids, but also rooted in my PhD in child development. So you’re going to hear conversations that are based in research, but more importantly, real life. Thanks for joining us. Hello, it’s episode 179, and today I have not one, not two, but three guests. Three of my favorite minimalist moms, and we’re talking about pre-holiday preparation because the rest of the world is very much ready for the holidays. I’m not sure if I am, but when I look around I’m seeing it everywhere. I invited three of my favorite minimalist mom friends, Erica Layne from The Life on Purpose Movement, Rachelle Crawford from Abundant Life With Less and Zoe Kim from Raising Simple. We are joining together in a conversation about how we handle simplifying the holidays. The bonus is that this week there’s actually a video, so if you’d prefer to watch the video of our chat, you can go to simplefamilies.com/episode179 and you can watch the video right there in the show notes.

Some days I feel like every mother I know is ridden with stress and overwhelm. This type of parenthood seems to be slowly becoming the norm. In today’s episode (episode 178) we are talking about what happens when your cup overflows. When your cup overflows the contents spill out and splash on the people who are nearest and dearest to you. What’s splashing out of your cup? Happiness? Gratitude? Stress? Overwhelm? What sort of helping hand do you need to get your emotional well-being on a path to balance and health? Show Notes/Links: * The Mental Unload Where to go if you need mental health support: * Get Immediate Help* Suicide Helpline* Mental Health Challenges – What to Look For When Your Cup Overflows – Episode Transcription Thank you for tuning into the Simple Families podcast and welcome to episode 178. Today we’re talking about what happens when your cup overflows. November is usually associated with a month of gratitude and sometimes when I think about the expression when my cup runneth over or when my cup overflows, I think about my cup overflowing with gratitude or my cup overflowing with happiness or with love. And when that’s the case, when I feel like my cup is overflowing all this goodness, life feels good, life feels light. But that’s not all our cup can overflow with. As parents so often our cups overflow with stress and with worries and with fears. Our cup overflows with well, overwhelm. And I think this is the most difficult type of clutter for us to tackle. And today we’re talking about why, why is it so hard? And also why is it so important? My Cup Runneth Over…With Stress and Overwhelm Now when your cup runs over, whatever’s inside of it, whether it be love, gratitude, overwhelm, stress, it spills. And you have to ask yourself, where does your cup spill onto? It spills onto the people around you. It spills onto your kids, it spills onto your partner, to your extended family, your coworkers. And if your cup is in fact overflowing with happiness and love, you’re going to be spilling happiness and love all over the place. But if your cup is overflowing with stress and overwhelm like it is for so, so many of us, you’re going to be spilling stress and overwhelm. And I think one of the huge misconceptions in parenthood is that your own personal wellbeing doesn’t have an impact on the people around you. There’s this expression that as long as my kids are happy, that’s all that matters. It doesn’t work like that. I wish it did, but it doesn’t work like that. We can’t sacrifice our happiness for our children because of this problem. And when we do, when our stress and overwhelm builds up, when we’re sacrificing our happiness for someone else, it’s unavoidable that our cup is going to overflow and it’s going to start spilling out onto those people that we love, the people that we are so firmly and so adamantly trying to protect and make happy. You Can’t Pour from a Spewing Cup So as many of you know,

I really don’t know much about art, but I’m learning. One thing I know for sure is that art is important, for kids and adults alike. Today I’m chatting with author Meri Cherry about art + kids. The tagline on her book “Creative Activities and Projects that Inspire Confidence, Creativity, and Connection” got me thinking. Giving our children opportunities for art isn’t just about encouraging a future career as an artist. Instead, art instills foundational elements such as confidence, creativity, and connection that will last a lifetime. Meri is an advocate for process art, which is the type of art that is focused on making/doing rather than the final product. As Meri says, “the focus is on process over product”. Art truly is for everyone, even the kids who seem uninterested or hard to engage–and we are exploring that more today. Show Notes/Links: * The Mental Unload starts November 7th* Meri’s Website* Meri on Instagram* Meri’s Book: Play Make Create Play, A Process-Art Handbook: With Over 40 Art Invitations for Kids View this post on Instagram Looking for something to do this weekend with the kids? How about a family collage? . It doesn’t have to be gigantic like this. Any size will do. Cut out some images from your favorite mags or catalogs. Grab some stickers. Or my fave, go thru an old sketch book or coloring book of your kids and cut out some drawings to glue together. See the mermaids Gigi made on the top of this one? . We also added fabric, felt circles, and colored with markers on top of different areas. There’s no right or wrong way to do it and a cardboard box is as good a surface as a canvas. Just have fun with it. . I could cut out pics from mags or old books for hours. Who else finds cutting super relaxing? A post shared by Meri Cherry | Art Studio (@mericherryla) on Oct 12, 2019 at 11:02am PDT

In honor of my birthday week, I’m bringing you a casual conversation with my husband David. It’s his first appearance on the podcast and we are talking all things love, marriage, and parenting.

Parenting an early bloomer comes with its own set of challenges. Those of us who have precocious children know this well. Today, we are discussing the ins and outs of early blooming from a child development perspective. And I’m sharing more about my personal experience parenting an early bloomer and being an early bloomer myself. Early Bloomers – Episode Transcription Hi there. It’s Episode 175 and we’re talking about Early Bloomers. Back in Episode 164 on the podcast, I interviewed Rich Karlgaard, the author of the book, Late Bloomers, and we talked at length about just that, late bloomers. As a mom myself, I have a late bloomer and an early bloomer and I think that early bloomers come with their own sets of challenges. I recently had a request to do a podcast episode on early bloomers, which was kind of a no brainer since I’m parenting one and I was one/I’m one myself. In Episode 164, my guest Rich Karlgaard and I, discussed late blooming and what that means and how society views kids that bloom a little bit later. We all know that society pushes us to be better, faster, stronger, sooner. In many ways kids who reach their milestones later, and when I say milestones, I’m talking about anything from walking, talking, reading, finding their way in their career. Our kids that do this on a later, possibly slower timeline, they can sometimes end up feeling like they’re not enough. Kids Develop on Their Own Timelines The truth is that we’ve known for quite some time from the research and from clinical observations that children develop on different timelines, and we can all nod and appreciate that but I’ll tell you that when you’re the parent of an early bloomer, it’s easier to accept this fact than when you’re the parent of a late bloomer. Now you might kick food that parents of early bloomers have nothing to worry about, they can rest easy. And if you’re the parent of a late bloomer, you might feel a little bit envious of these parents who have kids who are reaching their milestones earlier. First let’s talk about how we measure early blooming. Now, for the purposes of this podcast, we’re talking about recognizing early blooming from a parent perspective. We’re not talking about any kind of physical or psychological assessments, we’re just talking about parental observations. And if you have come to the conclusion or maybe your pediatrician has hinted, or someone around you tells you that you have an early bloomer, a kid that’s doing things ahead of the typical timeline, it’s probably in some way, shape or form based on comparisons. Your kid is being compared to another child of a similar age and their abilities are being ranked. Comparison is the Thief of Joy And we all say we shouldn’t compare our kids of course, but it happens. We compare our kids to each other if we have more than one. We compare our kids to the neighbors, to their cousins, to the other kids at school. Although it’s not ideal, it’s almost impossible to avoid. If you think you have an early bloomer, it’s probably because you’ve read the books of when kids are supposed to do things and your kid is exceeding the expectations. You’re probably comparing your child to other children that they’re around, and drawing your conclusions informally through that. As parents who are sort of ranking our kids with a naked eye, we’re attracted to certain things at cer...

Right now, I’m tired. We just returned from a two-week international trip with our family. Today I’m sharing all the details: the plans, the obstacles, dealing with jet lag, letting go of expectations, and why we keep doing it. Show Notes/Links: * Packing videos on Instagram* Saccharomyces Boulardii (to prevent travel’s diarrhea) Ambitious Travel with Kids – Episode Transcription Hi there. It’s episode 174, and today we’re talking about ambitious travel plans with kids. If I sound a little bit tired, that’s because I am. We just returned from traveling. We were gone almost two weeks. And I knew I wanted to do a travel episode after I returned from this trip. I figured that it would be best to do it right when we got back, when everything was fresh in my mind. But actually my mind feels anything but fresh right now. I also thought that it was important to do this because I found that when it comes to traveling with kids, that the saying, “Hindsight is 20/20,” is actually not accurate. For me, hindsight is actually really blurry because when I look back at the travel that we’ve done with kids, I usually only remember the good things. I don’t remember the hard parts. Therefore, I wanted to do this right when we returned so that I could keep it real and let you know what it was actually like in the moment. I’m going to be sharing more details about our trip, the things that we did right, the things we did wrong, things that I’ve learned over the years of traveling with kids. And I’m going to end with a question from an audience member about traveling with kids. I’ll start with a little bit of background on why and where and what we do when we travel with kids. For anyone that might be new to the podcast, my kids are three and five. Prior to having kids, my husband and I traveled a lot and we loved traveling internationally and domestically, and we knew that we wanted to continue with kids. I was worried if we stopped traveling, that it might be really hard to start again. So I was pretty motivated and ambitious right out the door when we had our first child, that we were to keep it up. So we’ve made it a priority every year to take one big trip with our family. Our first trip traveling with kids was to Chile and that was when my son was just shy of his first birthday, and he was our only child. Looking back, it was peaceful and beautiful and simple, as compared to our recent travels, that is. After that, we went to Spain. Then the next year we went to Costa Rica. Then we went to Mexico, to Central Mexico, Mexico City, and Oaxaca City. Then we went to Norway in the middle of the winter, cheap flights. Then we went back to Costa Rica. We just returned this week from Greece. We have become masters of traveling on the cheap. Traveling on the Cheap For the first couple of years when our kids were one and two, we always flew with them in our laps rather than buying seats. So we flew for free with them. And we always use Airbnbs. We like to travel during the shoulder season, so after the peak of the tourist season to get better deals on accommodations and flights. We try to avoid doing a lot of expensive activities and take advantage of the outdoors a...

When it comes to kids, buying more sustainably can feel intimidating. If you are unsure of where to start or how to prioritize, we are chatting more about this today. Our guest is Brendan Synnott, the CEO of Pact, and he’s bringing us insight on the sustainable fashion industry, organic cotton, and what he’s doing with his own family. *This episode is not sponsored by Pact and does not contain affiliate links* SHOW LINKS: Pact [use coupon SIMPLE to get 40% off your first order] Sustainable Fashion for Kids – Episode Transcription Denaye Barahona: Hi, it’s episode 173 and today we’re talking about sustainable fashion. Thank you for tuning in. We are talking with Brendan Synnott, who is the CEO of PACT | ORGANIC. Many of you might be familiar with PACT, some of you may not. My husband and I have both been wearing PACT for probably six or seven years now. But we haven’t dabbled in their kids’ line and I’m talking today with Brendan a little bit more about sustainable fashion and kids. Honestly, I don’t feel like there are a lot of good, affordable resources when it comes to buying sustainably for our kids’ clothing. Today Brendan is going to teach us about the organic cotton industry and some things to look for when we’re trying to shop more sustainably for our kids. We’re also chatting a little bit more about what life looks like living sustainably with four kids in his house.  Denaye Barahona: Hi Brendan, thanks so much for chatting with me today.  Brendan Synnott: Hey, thanks for having me. Look forward to it.  Denaye Barahona: I’ve been looking forward to talking about this for quite some time. I know that many members of the Simple Families audience are interested in sustainable fashion and I think first and foremost, we don’t even really know what that means, when we say sustainable fashion. And it can be really confusing, especially when we’re thinking about shopping sustainably for our kids. So when I say sustainable fashion, particularly as it pertains to kids, what does that mean? How do you define that?  Brendan Synnott: Yeah, I mean sustainable is a journey and there’s nothing perfect about it. It’s so much for us and I think the bigger idea around it, is just having more consciousness to understand the clothes that you put on your body, the sheets that you sleep in, the towels that you use, the fabrics that touch your skin day in and day out, who made them and where did they come from? And then there’s 1,000 degrees of sustainability kind of beyond that. What we do at PACT is really focus in on two things that we think is really important.  One is cotton and using only organic cotton because we think it’s pure, it has less toxicides and it’s better for the planet overall and it just makes better product, more importantly. And then a fair trade certification that says the people that made our clothes or country, equally the people that wear them. So we want to make sure that the factory workers that actually cut and sew the product are treated to the best possible way within whatever country they’re in. And ours are particularly in India.  Denaye Barahona: So how long have you been at PACT?  Brendan Synnott:

Life with young children is always evolving. The way we spend our time changes too. Finding the right balance that works for each of us is incredibly important. The way I spend my time is going to look very different from the way that you spend yours. In today’s episode, I am sharing what a typical day looks like in our house–right now. It could change next week, next month, or next year. Life is dynamic, and that’s what keeps it interesting!

Have you started talking to your kids about money? Money can be a taboo topic, even within families. In today’s episode I’m chatting with Liz Frazier Peck author of Piggy Banks and Lemonade Stands: How to Teach Young Kids About Finance (and They’re Never Too Young). SHOW NOTES/LINKS: * Piggy Banks and Lemonade Stands: How to Teach Young Kids About Finance (and They’re Never Too Young). * How to Talk to Kids about the Birds and Bees * Liz’s Website * Liz on Twitter Full Episode Transcription Denaye Barahona:         Hi, it’s Denaye here. Episode 171. And today, the topic is “How to Talk to Kids about Money.” Thanks so much for tuning in. It is episode of 171, and today we’re taking out a topic I admittedly know nothing about. And that’s teaching kids about money. So thankfully since I’m clueless on this, I have a guest for today. So I’m talking with Liz Frazier. Liz is the author of the brand new book Beyond Piggy Banks and Lemonade Stands: How to Teach Young Kids About Finance (and They’re Never Too Young). So in this conversation, I’m picking Liz’s brain about how we can teach our kids more intentionally about money without adding too much to our plate. Because of course we always like to keep it simple. A little bit about Liz, our guests for today. She’s a certified financial planner and she’s also a mom of two young kids. After working in financial planning, Liz came to understand that money was a taboo topic for people even within families. And as a result, many of us myself included, just really aren’t talking to our kids about money that much. And it’s a pretty well known fact that our kids are reaching the high school and university age with very little exposure about practical money management. So how do we start now in small doses teaching our kids little bits and pieces so that they’re ready when they get older, they’re ready by the time they had their first jobs to manage that money? They know what it means to save and to budget. So I’m excited to introduce you to Liz and everything that we’re talking about today. I know that I learned so much, and I hope to continue this conversation with her because I think it’s a really important topic for all parents out there. So thanks again for tuning in and hope you enjoy this episode. If you have questions or comments, you can go to simplefamilies.com/episode171. You can also take a screenshot while you’re listening to this and send me a message on Instagram. I’m always available to chatting with you over there too. Without further ado, here’s today’s episode. Hi Liz. How are you?