Art Creativity & Wellbeing

In which we talk about how, when we are so worried, we can also feel simultaneously frozen and stuck – and, when we feel that way, the effect on our kids is devastating. Sign up for round 2 of the Streamline Your Mornings Free 5-Day Challenge (which you know you want to if weekday mornings are, well, challenging : ) and for key links to today's episode by going to weturnedoutokay.com/186. Click he...

When he was just five years old and a child in preschool, Nicole Olson's son was suffering. Lots of changes were going on in his world, and in the midst of dealing with them he "lost his personality." Nicole had thought that, if only she checked all the right boxes and pushed him into all the right activities, academic and otherwise, that he'd be fine. When she discovered that was not the case, sh...

Here at the beginning of the school year, teachers are doing their initial assessments, figuring out who of their students is how far along the literacy timeline. It can be a worrisome time for us parents – what if our kids don't read when they're supposed to? What if they tell you "reading is boring"? What if they hate reading? We all know that reading is THE key to our children's future success…...

If you're struggling with back-to-school time, or starting-school time – I'm creating shows this month and next to help you feel better. Today's is all about homework. Over the years I've had parents share the most horrible stories about homework and their little kids, like the mom whose six-year-old received an afterschool detention for missing four homework assignments in a row. That one still m...

With fall youth sports in full swing, I wanted to share something ugly that I witnessed last spring: a dad berating his young son, after the boy and his fellow teammates took a real drubbing, losing a soccer game big-time. In this empathy-lacking, divisive grown-up-up world, what kids learn on the soccer field seems more important and relevant than ever before; listen to today's show to find out h...

Back when We Turned Out Okay turned 2, I asked you all for a gift: your questions! Today I'm answering one of those questions, listener Caroline's about how to deal with medical issues in your child, and expanding out from "medical" advocacy by sharing, in the second half of today's episode, about how to advocate in other aspects of your child's life. I am so happy to bring back medical ethicist D...

"With kindergarten," a listener shares, "I feel like I'm about to toss her to the wolves." How are you handling the stresses of the autumn? If you've got a child starting school or preschool, or returning to school, daycare, or preschool, it can be really tough on both you and your kids. That's why today is the first of a 3-part series, the We Turned Out Okay Back-to-School Guide. Today I share th...

It's the beginning of the school year, if you're listening in real time, and thus the time of year where we are all figuring out new routines, new bus routes, new sports schedules and after-school activities… Definitely a time where we can feel overwhelmed. Today's show answers Shelley's question: "what are the hazards of overscheduling my kids?" The way I see it, there are two big hazards in over...

Are you feeling any of the following right now? Worry about busy schoolday mornings, with the chaos of everyone trying to get up/get dressed/eat/get teeth and hair brushed/get lunches/get out the door/etc.? Fears that, even though you've got a pretty good routine right now, that that could all change with one bad night or morning meltdown? Guilt at being consistently – no matter what you try – sup...

Today's guest, author, artist, and speaker Dan Blank, knows an awful lot about fostering creativity. As dad to a six-year-old and a new baby, he also knows the struggles that creative people go through to retain their creativity – their sanity, even – while raising children. For Dan it's a foregone conclusion: the way we humans are, right down to our very core, demands creativity. It's not somethi...

Do you ever wish your kids took on more around the house? Does the prospect of getting to that point seem so overwhelming that you give up before you've even started? Today we're talking about the how to foster responsibility in kids – not an easy task! The way I see it, there are 3 things we can do to encourage responsibility in our kids. Listen to today's show to find out what they are and how t...

"My wife doesn't want me to spank them, I get it – I don't want to either but what else can I do?" These words come from a listener's email, a desperate plea to figure out how to discipline kids and keep order during the daily grind. This listener goes on to say "I got spanked, and turned out okay… I got more than spanked to tell you the truth, and I know what the constant barrage of words being s...

Back in the early 90s, when I was a preschool teacher, I worked with two 4-year-old best friends, "Stacy," who had lovely chocolate brown skin and eyes, and "Kim," who had blonde hair and blue eyes. One day, as these two best buddies waited together in line for the bathroom, Kim innocently looked up at me and said: "I don't like black people." I was speechless – she's holding the hand of her best...

When We Turned Out Okay turned 2 several months ago, I asked you all for ideas about what you wanted me to address on the show. Listener Kerri said "I would like to know as a white person what I need to do to be sure my children are not contributing to the racism that is hurting so many." Today, I speak with married, interracial couple Ingrid Alli and Hamilton Graziano, in possibly one of the most...

Today we take on one of the toughest issues of all: getting our kids to listen to us. This is something every parent deals with and in recent weeks I've been asked about it more than once. Stephanie says "they seem to have come to me without the ability to listen;" Jocelyn says she struggles with "kids not listening and obeying the first time I ask (or the first ten times)"… Is this you? Do you fi...

It's time for NPC member Jen's parent-coaching call, and it's a doozy: Jen was feeling guilty about being "responsible" for getting her kids into situations where they were overtired and/or frustrated. She took their misbehavior as her fault, and in this episode I help her figure out a more productive way to frame the situation. We also dig in to several other issues, and by helping Jen resolve th...

Today's guest, PJ Jonas, got a few goats several years ago, because she just loved goats. Always keeping that love in the forefront, PJ and her family – her husband and their eight children – went from those few goats early on to, today, owning and operating a family farm which creates soaps, lotions, and edibles, all from goats milk. When you learn that the Jonas family homeschools in addition to...

Today's episode is a celebration: the Ninja Parenting Community is one year old! That means I've been helping parents of young children figure out their toughest challenges for a whole year – and we've overcome some doozies: – "How do I handle multiple meltdowns?" – "What do I do with my child's disrespectful language and shouting?" – "I'm so overwhelmed… What with sports schedules and everything...

We're sticking with the food theme this week, today addressing listener Tim's concerns about kids and food: "Why are my toddlers not eating fruits/vegetables? Why are they only eating snacks (cereal, popcorn, Lunchables, grrrrrr)?" In March of 2016 I made the whole month about food – how to handle picky eaters, how to prepare food without going bankrupt or spending hours in the kitchen – I even cr...

When today's guest, Jeannie Marshall, became pregnant with their son Nico after her family relocated to Italy, she developed a fascination for how Italians introduce their babies to food, and the part that food plays in Italian children’s lives now that factory foods and agribusiness have made inroads into Italy. She details her experiences in one of my favorite books, The Lost Art of Feeding Kids...

Can you think back on your own childhood and come up with some crazy sibling-fight stories? I’ve heard some doozies, people being hung out windows or tied to trees by their siblings, the time a brother put green dye in a sister’s hair – so the sister retaliated by pouring glitter into the brother’s bed! Siblings can hurt each other in lots of big and small ways; sometimes it feels like there’s no...

Today's episode, originally broadcast in late 2015, is a Your Child Explained, about how to help our kids grow into creative, happy, socially engaged and above all successful adults. In Tuesday's guest episode, nursery school owner and director Tanya Trainor shared about the changes she, her staff, and the children they serve made to their playground. The traditional slides, climbers, and other bi...

Today’s episode, originally broadcast in late 2015, was super fun to record because I got out of my usual studio and hung out at what’s easily the most amazing playground I’ve ever seen. All of the equipment we see on a typical playground – huge climber, big slide, jungle gym – was gone, and in its place were loose pieces. Bricks, cement pavers, wooden siding, bales of hay, an 8 foot long rowboat,...

Have you ever had it happen where you're asking your child to do something, and he or she is saying "no"? Depending on your child's age or developmental maturity level, I bet you hear that word – "no" – an awful lot. Today's ninja tactic digs into one way to cut down on the noes! It's all about giving kids directives instead of asking, which sounds simple but in reality can be pretty complicated:...

One member of the Ninja Parenting Community might be channeling your thoughts right now: "Oh why do little kids obsess over certain movies? I have been putting Monsters Versus Aliens on every day for a month. What is going on those little brains that makes them demand the same movie so often for so long?" Kids do this all the time… and not just with movies, they do it with books, and stories, and...