Art Creativity & Wellbeing

I’m so excited to bring you returning champions Evie Granville and Sarah Davis of Modern Manners for Moms and Dads today! You’ll learn why the kind of parent that we are matters, especially right now… and you’ll hear how these two wonderful educators take my very cynical Roundtable question and turn it around. You’ll also hear their awesome Roundtable questions for us all to discuss – one pertains...

With all the talk recently about something called “patriotic learning,” I wanted to bring you an episode to help you understand how education can become a political football, what that really means for your child, and what you can do about it. So I called on my friend, historian Gary Gregory. Gary runs a tour company, Lessons on Liberty , bringing folks into the history of the Revolutionary War. H...

Greetings! If this feels like a pretty ambitiously named episode, well, that's because this is where we are in fall 2020. We are on the bleeding edge of crisis parenting, and there is a feeling in the air of "this is where our society fails or succeeds." (At least that's how it feels to me! You are very welcome to disagree. Either way, I hope this episode gives you a roadmap to success on your par...

If there was ever a time to call what we are all doing "crisis parenting," now is it. In this episode, I bring you a critical tool to help you keep going! I also share about why I called this show "We Turned Out Okay, The Modern Parent's Guide to Old-School Parenting." A mom in the WTOO Facebook group asked that question, and this Basics Bootcamp episode seemed like the perfect time to talk about...

Hi Friends! Today I'm talking about some successes we've seen both with a coaching client, and here at home : ) Aaaaand... the WTOO Book Club starts up September 16, this coming Wednesday (if you're seeing this in real time)! I'm sharing the book we will be discussing, and how to join! (Which is: Go to weturnedoutokay.com/joinNPC to get our Book Club meetings for free - as part of your first 30 da...

I'm so excited to bring you today's guest, Phyllis Fagell, LCPC, mom, school counselor, and author of the wonderful book Middle School Matters . Phyllis helps us (yes – I include myself in here : ) – Pick our battles – Talk with teachers and caregivers – Figure out what we CAN do In short Phyllis helps us feel in control of our family's direction right now. That's SO important, given this extremel...

Welcome to this second installation of Basics Bootcamp! I tell some truths today that we need to hear and recognize, if we are going to raise a happy family and feel good inside ourselves. Just like the title says, I do dive into my biggest and deepest fears about the pressures put on you, as you raise your kids. I say things today that scare the bejabbers out of me! But I know they need to be sai...

Welcome! In this episode I share a recent case study from my online private coaching practice, the Ninja Parenting Community (NPC) , where the mom of a four-year-old was dealing with extreme temper tantrums, and fearful that her son would never learn to obey the rules. Even the ones for safety. She struggled to see how good boundaries could improve that situation – until they did. Here's something...

Our choices right now seem extremely limited, don't they? We don't have a choice in how the coronavirus spreads, we don't have a lot of choices in how our children's childcare and schooling works right now. For many of us even our own ability to be private, to have alone time, doesn't feel like it's under our control. Today's guest, Mariela Ortiz, helps us to a different mindset: she talks about "...

SENSITIVE EARS ALERT… Part way through this episode I share about a traumatic event that happened to me in my childhood. I ask that you put on headphones, or listen away from sensitive ears. Thank you! Today I share three keys to success, when parenting in a pandemic or any crisis. They are not difficult keys. Because if they were, we wouldn't be able to do them as consistently as they need doing…...

Navigating social situations has only gotten worse in the pandemic – but it sure wasn't always easy, even before! Today's guests, Evie Granville and Sarah Davis of the Modern Manners for Moms and Dads Podcast , have spent years helping parents navigate social minefields. With a book coming out in the fall and an awesome quiz that you can take right now (I did!) , These two friends, educators, and...

If the return to preschool/childcare/school is on your mind – and I know it is, because I've spoken with lots of you over the last few weeks – this FREE Pandemic Back-to-School Challenge will help you: – Take on your biggest concerns about the upcoming year – Manage your children's behavior, and your own emotions, so you're ready for the upcoming changes – Learn the 3 Keys to Success for starting...

I am excited to bring Shannon Connery, PhD, onto the show today, because she's got lots of great ideas to help you keep going! ( Click here for Shannon's website, where you'll find her podcast, her blog, and a wonderful free guide that she offers to help people overcome the challenges that we all have in our lives : ) Shannon is a therapist living in Colorado, and in our conversation today you'll...

Today we're answering your GREAT questions! – "[My young daughter] is going through a phase of not wanting clothes on. Do I just not battle it? What's appropriate at 4? How do I instill the importance of being careful without taking away her sweet innocence? Or am I totally overthinking this?" – "This week's hot topic is sharing and temper around that. The minute [my three-year-old's] little broth...

As a child development expert, I want to help you keep going in our new reality! This conversation, recorded during March 2020 (in other words at the very beginning of the pandemic here in the US), I know will be super helpful for that. I am excited to bring you my conversation with the author of one of my favorite parenting books (it's called Happy Campers ) – Audrey Monke of sunshine-parenting.c...

"Would you have any recommendations for books or anything that might help with learning the best ways to integrate an older adopted child into a family, or good books on adoption and advice?" "How to divide my attention between my 1 YO and my 4 YO… I try to give exclusive mummy daughter time but it's never enough." These are the first two questions in our Q&A series… I hope they are helpful! A Sum...

I am super excited to bring you this conversation with Jennifer Louden, whose extremely helpful books (including the one we dive into today, Why Bother? ), have sold nearly a million copies! Jennifer has been featured in hundreds of podcasts, magazines, and TV and radio shows – even appearing on Oprah. In today's conversation you will learn: – How to really give a hoot about your life again – Why...

"It's as if we are going through the 1918 flu pandemic AND the Great Depression AND the Civil Rights era, all at once." That's what James Arthur said on his podcast, Minority Korner , in (and about) Spring 2020. I think he's right. To get through it all we are going to have to work together! That's the spirit in which I bring you this episode. In this conversation on racial justice between my frie...

(FYI: about 10 or so minutes in, I use the word "jackass" once or twice... it's not enough for an E-rating, but I want you to be aware just in case you want to listen away from sensitive ears.) Hi Friends, I had planned for, and drafted, a very different kind of post today for you (I got about a dozen spider bites while sleeping Saturday night, and we've got a very large ant invasion going on in o...

"I feel like I'm completely alone trying to meet completely insatiable needs for days on end." That is what one of the moms in my online coaching practice, the Ninja Parenting Community, wrote early last week. She's not the only one. Not by a longshot! In this week's episode I share my best ideas for getting through a crisis. Even a slow-motion, simultaneously-terrifying-and-tedious, pandemic-indu...

FYI: NPC Grand Reopening sale : ) I have been working hard behind the scenes, creating a 5-module course on “How to keep going” and a training on “how to handle your child’s angry outbursts,” not to mention spring cleaning in the Ninja Parenting Community… the response from NPC members has been wonderful! I'm excited to reopen NPC registration so you can get the help you need coming through the pa...

"My biggest struggle is with my five-year-old. When she is angry she scratches, bites and sometimes hits. She also yells very loudly. I would love some advice on how to get her to stop." A listener wrote in with this question, and I knew it would probably resonate with many listeners. Like us adults, kids are experiencing lots and lots of angry feelings – more so than pre-pandemic, without the usu...

FYI if you want some company, some learning, and some stories, join the WTOO Book Club! During our first meeting I am sharing about a truly low point in my own parenting, and asking the question "how do we come back from crummy parenting moments? Join us Wednesday, May 13 at 9 PM EST – click weturnedoutokay.com/weekly to get the link to the meeting! Hope to see you there : ) I am so excited to bri...

WTOO Book Club – Starting Wednesday, May 13 at 8 PM EST we are doing a chapter-by-chapter weekly read of Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics. We will learn to get good behavior from kiddos, share some stories, and spend some time each week together. If that sounds good to you,   Click here to join the WTOO Book Club! Working closely with parents of young children during this pandemic, I’ve seen so m...

The pressures of home and family life during lockdown play a big part in today's conversation. Like you, my guest Anne and her family are sheltering in place. Like you, Anne has her good days and bad days – as does her 5-year-old son. But several weeks ago something happened in their family life that caused Anne's son to erupt into angry outbursts: the accidental death of Dilly, the baby bird the...