Mom Enough: A Parenting Podcast

As parents, most of us would rather not even think about the possibility that our son or daughter could develop an addiction to alcohol or other substances. But putting our head in the sand and ignoring signs of possible substance abuse only increases the risks.   Dr. Leslie Adair, Director of Mental Health & Family Services at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s adolescent and young adult facility in Plymouth, MN, brings the information we need to recognize signs of possible substance abuse, to seek an evaluation by an experienced professional and if needed, to get appropriate treatment and family support. Leslie also answers Marti & Erin’s questions about addressing the needs of siblings and helping family members know how to talk to others about the problem.   What has been your experience with substance abuse and addiction among people close to you? What did you learn in this Mom Enough discussion about signs of a possible substance abuse in teens and young adults? What resources are available for evaluation and treatment in your community?   For more information on Teen Intervene, click here. For tips for if you suspect teen alcohol or other drug use, click here.

Countless couples have traveled the road of infertility, with all its uncertainty, heartache, difficult interventions and associated emotional and financial costs.   Alyssa Wright and Monica Landolt White, marriage and family therapists at The Family Development Center, have worked with many individuals and couples at different stages in this process. And, as Monica describes, she has faced the complex challenges of infertility herself. With remarkable insight and compassion, Alyssa and Monica highlight the psychological impact of infertility and offer hope and guidance to people facing these challenges, as well as friends and family who wish to offer sensitive support. Don’t miss this important conversation!   Have you or people close to you experienced barriers to becoming pregnant when desired? What were some of the effects on the prospective mom or dad? On the couple relationship? How did friends and family respond, and what was helpful or unhelpful? What did you hear in this Mom Enough discussion that gave you new insight into the impact of infertility?   For The Family Development Center, click here. For The Family Development Center's infertility counseling, click here. For our Infertility resource sheet, click here. For Twin Cities infertility resources, click here. For RESOLVE, The National Infertility Association, click here. For a fact sheet on religious perspectives about infertility, click here.

For decades, Search Institute has studied assets that are most important for helping children and teens grow up well. In their study of the parent and child relationship, they examine the importance of five key strategies in developmental relationships in the family: 1) express care; 2) challenge to grow; 3) provide support; 4) share power; and 5) expand possibilities.   Tune into this week’s Mom Enough show to hear Gene Roehlkepartain discuss how these strategies benefit children, which are most often missing in the families Search studied, and what you can do to apply these important findings for your child’s lifelong success.   What was surprising to you about the findings from this Search Institute study? Why do you think so many families have trouble sharing power? What practical ideas did you take away from this Mom Enough discussion of the parent and child relationship?   To read the report and other material from the study, click here. For ParentFurther, click here. To take the quiz mentioned by Gene, click here. To read more about developmental relationships, click here.

Many studies have documented a common slump in academic performance and behavior when children reach grades 4, 5 and 6, with the trend particularly striking among children in poverty. There are various theories about why this happens, including increasingly complex task demands in the upper grades, a shift in peer culture and parents pulling back because of uncertainty about how to help their children in this new period of development.   The most important question may be what parents can do to prevent this slide, and this week’s Mom Enough guests, Anthony Allen and Alison Dakota from Way to Grow, offer practical guidance based on years of experience working with children and families.   Have you experienced this academic performance or behavioral slide with a child in your family? What factors do you think contribute to that slide? What are some of the tips Tony and Alison provided in this Mom Enough discussion?   For Way to Grow, click here. For 4 ways to empower you as a parent to effectively advocate for your child, click here. For tips on supporting your child's school success, click here. For 6 tips for successful family-school partnerships, click here.

Since 2007, author and writing teacher, Kate Hopper, has invited a select group of women writers to read from their work at her annual Motherhood & Words Reading at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. Kate’s mission is, in her own words, “to highlight the amazing writing out there by women about motherhood.”   As in years past, Mom Enough is proud to bring you this year’s event, featuring: Erin O. White, writing instructor and author of Given Up for You: A Memoir of Love, Belonging and Belief; Kaethe Schwehn, recipient of a Minnesota Book Award, writing teacher and author of The Rending and the Nest, Tailings: A Memoir, and Tanka & Me; and Sophfronia Scott, former writer and editor for Time and People, author of Love’s Long Line and Unforgivable Love: A Retelling of Dangerous Liaisons and co-author of This Child of Faith. Have a cup of tea, kick back and prepare to be amazed by these talented writers and mothers.   For Kate’s website, click here. For Erin's website, click here. For Kaethe's website, click here. For Sophfronia's website, click here. For Motherhood & Words, click here.

Wherever we and our children look, we confront ads for the latest ways to get “the perfect body” along with air-brushed images of celebrities with unattainable bodies. How do those messages influence our children’s eating behaviors and affect their ability to have a positive body image? Even more important, what can we do to counteract those unhelpful influences and support our sons and daughters in maintaining strong healthy bodies and feeling good about the skin they are in?   Dr. Katie Loth, from the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota, joins Marti & Erin to discuss some recent research findings that might surprise you. And she offers practical tips that will help you be more reflective about the subtle ways you shape your child’s attitudes, behavior and self-acceptance.   How do Katie Loth’s research findings about body image and weight gain compare to what people often think about how to encourage weight loss or prevent weight gain in girls and young women? Why do you think the pattern was different for boys and girls? Reflecting on your own words and actions, in what ways could you improve the way you support healthy behavior and positive body image?   To read the research findings, click here. To read an editorial about the research findings, click here. To read an article about the research findings, click here. For Project EAT, click here. For Marti’s suggestions on promoting a healthy body image, click here.

We often think of infants and very young children as being naively trusting and ready to believe what any adult tells them.   But Melissa Koenig, professor in the U of M’s Institute of Child Development, is part of a team of children’s trust researchers who are showing that even babies know how to be skeptics. These provocative findings raise important questions about how children’s trust enters in to learning and how parents and teachers can earn the trust of children and help them build their ability to recognize honesty at a time when it’s often hard to come by. (Thank you to the U’s College of Education and Human Development for providing this week’s guest.)   What was surprising to you about Melissa Koenig’s findings about young children’s trust? Marti & Erin and their guest talked about the need for parents to be “transparent” with their kids and to only make promises they can keep. Give some real-life examples of when this advice could be implemented.   For Can children save us from the fake news epidemic?, click here. To watch Trust Through the Eyes of Children, click here. For Melissa's Early Language and Experience Lab, click here. For the U of M’s College of Education and Human Development, click here. For Melissa's ME show discussing learning a second language, click here. For more on the marshmallow experiment, click here.

Providing proper nourishment for our children is one of the basics of parenting, so when our picky eaters reject our healthful offerings we may panic.   This week’s Mom Enough guest, speech clinician and author Jenny McGlothlin, talks with Marti & Erin about how to discern ordinary picky eating from a more serious feeding disorder. And drawing on STEPS, a feeding program she developed at the University of Texas in Dallas, she offers guidance for helping children work through feeding problems.   After the interview with Jenny, stay tuned for a Relationships that Nurture brief with Katie Adler from St. David’s Center talking about stuttering, an issue Marti confronted in her son’s early years.     What has been your experience with picky eaters in your family? How have you and others handled it? After hearing this Mom Enough discussion, what would you do differently now?   For Helping Your Child with Extreme Picky Eating, click here. For the Stuttering in Preschool tip sheet, click here. For Speech-Language Therapy at St. David’s Center, click here.

ASD affects a large number of children across all ethnic groups, and prevalence among Somali children in Minnesota has been cause for particular concern in this community. For many reasons, far too few of children with signs of autism are identified before they start school, although parents and other family members often have a sense that the child’s development is not on track.   This week’s guests, Megan Weber and Aida Ibrahim, have been working at St. David’s Center to make sure all children with ASD are identified and receive appropriate intervention as early as possible, whatever their cultural background. Part of that effort includes community partnerships to reduce stigma, an increase in diversity of staff and a day treatment program specific to East African children ages two to six. (St. David’s Center is a supporting partner of Mom Enough.)     What did you learn in this Mom Enough discussion about specific signs of autism in very young children? What can we all do to reduce stigma and encourage families to seek help for their children as early as possible?   To learn more about autism treatment at St. David's Center, click here. To learn more about St. David’s Center’s Autism Day Treatment for East African families, click here. For information about The Harman Center, click here. For our understanding the early signs of ASD show with Dr. Jed Elison, click here. For our early identification and intervention show with Dr. Jennifer Hall-Lande, click here.

Do you worry that your child isn’t walking, talking or playing with other children in the way you would expect? Does something about your child’s behavior make you uneasy? Do you know what early intervention services are available?   This week’s guests, Amber Lampron and Rebecca Wald, help you know where to seek answers to your questions and concerns. They explain the typical process in evaluating your child’s development and, if necessary, getting appropriate support and intervention for you and your child – at no cost to you. The best news of all is that early intervention helps children succeed in all aspects of learning and behavior, and it can help you know how to be the advocate and supporter your child needs. (This episode is brought to you by Help Me Grow, a supporting partner of Mom Enough.)   Has your child or someone else in your family or circle of friends received early intervention services? What did you learn in this Mom Enough discussion that you didn’t know about how these services work?   For Help Me Grow, click here. To refer a child for a developmental screening or evaluation, click here. For What Happens When You Refer a Child Through Help Me Grow?, click here. For Does My Child Need Infant and Toddler Intervention?, click here. For Does My Child Need Preschool Special Education?, click here. For early childhood developmental milestones, click here.

If you’re like many parents, getting your family members to the table for regular family meals isn’t always easy. But this week’s Mom Enough guest has spent much of her career studying why family meals are so important, why they happen so seldom, and how parents can overcome barriers and make the most out of family mealtime.   Dr. Anne Fishel is director of the Family and Couples Therapy Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, associate clinical professor of psychology at the Harvard Medical School and author of Home for Dinner: Mixing Food, Fun, and Conversation for a Happier Family and Healthier Kids. Her innovative ideas and inspiring tips had Marti & Erin so excited they say they will listen to this interview once a month to remind themselves of the many fun and powerful ways to transform mealtime rituals in their households!   What did you learn in this Mom Enough discussion about the benefits of family meals? What were your favorite tips from Dr. Anne Fishel, this week’s guest? What are the first tips you will try with your family?   For recipes, dinner games and conversation starters from The Family Dinner Project, click here.

When young girls enter adolescence, they report high levels of stress and self-doubt about school, extracurricular activities, friendships and their appearance. What factors contribute to girls and stress, and how is it different for girls and boys? Most important, what can we do to ease the stress and help our girls find more joy and confidence during this important time in their lives?   Psychologist Dr. Roni Cohen-Sandler has focused her career on women, teen girls and other-daughter relationships, and she addresses teens directly in her latest book, Stress Sucks! A Girl’s Guide to Managing School, Friends & Life. She joins Marti & Erin this week for a heartfelt exploration of the complicated lives of girls today.   How did this Mom Enough discussion of girls and stress match the experiences of girls in your family? What steps do you think we could take at home, in school or in communities to ease the pressure girls feel?   For teen and tween stress facts, click here. For 4 tips on communicating with teens, click here.

Conversations about teens and technology often revolve around potential risks to health and development or negative effects on interpersonal relationships.   But Jodi Dworkin, professor and associate department head in the U of M’s Department of Family Social Science, brings research that contradicts some of those concerns. She assures parents that technology has benefits and cell phones have not replaced teens’ more personal connections with peers and parents. Knowing that some teens do have negative experiences with technology, Jodi also highlights ways to monitor use and to be alert to signs that your teen might have a problem.   What surprised you in this Mom Enough discussion of teens and technology with Dr. Jodi Dworkin? What ideas did you get for ensuring that your teen reaps benefits and avoids negative effects of technology or social media?   For the U of M’s College of Education and Human Development, click here. To watch a video of Dr. Dworkin sharing more about her research on teens and technology, click here. To listen to Part 1 of this series with U of M's Susan Walker, click here.

Advice and warnings about technology and young children are confusing for many parents. Susan Walker, Associate Professor of Parent & Family Education in the U of M’s Department of Family Social Science, offers guidance on appropriate use of technology and the ways technology can bring parent and child together, capitalizing on the importance of face to face interaction.   She also talks with Marti & Erin about Parentopia, a new social platform that brings parents and educators together to extend and deepen what they learn in in-person Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) classes.     In what ways have you used technology with young children? What benefits have you seen and what concerns have you had about possible negative effects? What useful ideas did you hear in this Mom Enough discussion of technology and young children?   For the U of M’s College of Education and Human Development, click here. For Parentopia, click here. For Common Sense Media, click here. For the AAP's recommendations for children's media use, click here. To create a Family Media Plan, click here. For tips on early language development, click here. For tips on encouraging language development for ages birth - 5, click here. For Part 2 of this series with U of M's Jodi Dworkin, click here.

From the first hours of life, babies interact with the world through touch and sensory exploration. As babies grow, their sensory and motor skills become more complex and purposeful. We sometimes take for granted that these domains of sensori-motor development will just unfold without special attention. But, as research shows, persistent problems with motor or sensory behaviors often relate to neurological vulnerability and emotional difficulties as children get older.   So, what should we be watching for? What kinds of activities are most supportive of good sensori-motor development? And how do we know if our child needs a formal assessment or services? Robin Campbell, clinical supervisor at St. David’s Center for Child & Family Development, brings years of experience to this discussion with Marti & Erin.   For St. David’s Center’s pediatric therapies, click here. For possible sensory processing and regulatory differences, click here. For Help Me Grow’s early childhood developmental milestones, click here. If you have concerns about your child’s development, click here.