Art Creativity & Wellbeing

Have you ever found a podcast that resonates with you really deeply? If so, maybe it's Good Life Project by Jonathan Fields! (If not, get in touch with me at weturnedoutokay.com/contact , and share – I'd love to hear what yours is, and why.) Before we head out on our podcast field trip, I want to update you all on the Ninja Parenting Community… as i record this episode, I'm still working to fix th...

Today, summer camp is all about the joys of bike riding! Have you tried to teach your child how to ride a bike, only to abandon the effort after she expresses fear and has many falls? Are you unable to get him off the training wheels? We screwed up in trying to teach our first born how to ride a bike; by the second kid, we had figured it out. Learn from our family experience – go to weturnedoutoka...

Today we get kinda serious on our podcast field trip, but in the best way, as we visit The Broad Experience! It's "the show about women and the workplace," as host Ashley Milne-Tyte often says, and is relevant not just to every woman, but to every man who has a mother, a significant other, a female coworker, or a daughter in his life. First, a quick note about the Ninja Parenting Community: I've h...

Do you, like me, worry about your son or daughter drowning during a day at the pool or the beach? When my two boys were small, I was given some great advice about keeping them safe while swimming, and that's what today's Summer Camp Episode is all about. First, a quick note about the Ninja Parenting Community: I've had a technical glitch hold up the opening for a few weeks, which is a bummer. Howe...

t's completely silly, the expletives fly superfast, it's raunchy, and it's about an imaginary world: it's The Adventure Zone, and if you haven't heard this podcast yet, you need to listen! Three comedian-brothers, Griffin, Travis, and Justin McElroy, along with their dad Clint have created an amazing world in these eighteen months or so that they've recorded as the four of them sit around and play...

Did you love arts & crafts at camp, or hate it? I was a mixture of both – some projects I loved, and some I loathed, and as I think about those projects, I realize that I disliked the micromanaged, do-it-the-instructor's-way-or-else projects the most. I always loved the open-ended stuff best. Also, big projects were really fun, as were those that got you super-messy. For today's summer camp arts &...

Welcome to the first Thursday summer camp episode of We Turned Out Okay, where every Tuesday will be about fun stuff to do with our kids, and every Thursday will be about fun stuff to do for ourselves! Today, the big yellow bus has pulled into the parking lot of our summer camp, and the doors are open, ready to take us to check out the stars with Neil DeGrasse Tyson of Star Talk Radio. Click here...

Happy summer! Here at We Turned Out Okay, we're changing the format up, making each Tuesday about something fun to do with your kids – and each Thursday something fun to do for yourself. Today, for our very first Summer Camp episode, we are taking some bugs on a field trip! If your child is frightened of creepy-crawlies, today's summer camp activity could really help him or her get past that. And...

Today, I answer the second of two questions asked a few weeks ago by listener Suzanna; I answered Suzanna's first question in a special bonus episode last Thursday about road-and-parking-lot safety with small children, which you can hear by clicking here . Suzanna's second question seems somewhat thornier, and will be familiar to anyone with more than one child (or who was more than one child grow...

Do You you sometimes feel caught between competing demands in your life: work is pulling you one way, kids another, taking care of yourself a distant third? My guest today, Elizabeth Miller of happyhealthycaregiver.com , knows your pain. In fact, a few years ago she added another demand on top of these when her father passed away and her chronically ill mother moved close to Elizabeth so she and h...

Recently listener Suzanna got in touch with two great questions – so I decided to split the answers into today's bonus Your Child Explained and next week's regularly scheduled one. Today I answer Suzanna's first question: how can we keep our kids safe on roadways and in parking lots and other public places, while also giving them some independence? My answer is twofold – click here to listen, read...

Understanding our own feelings is the work of childhood – but sometimes this important work is not completed when it should be, and that's bad for so many reasons. Today we look at what can go wrong, and talk about 3 ways to help kids understand their own feelings! This Just You and Me episode functions as the second of two chapter studies of Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics: Key Tools to Handle...

Do you wish your mornings could be a little bit less stressful? It can be really hard to get out the door with young kids, and that was Marla's situation with her kindergartner, Gracie. Recently Marla wrote with the following questions: "how can I pull her out of the "I will not and you can't make me!" mindset and nudge her back into "if I do this we can all have a good time" mindset? When she has...

About three weeks ago, my father required brain surgery to fix a subdural hematoma that he sustained while skiing two months previously. My husband Ben held the fort here at home while I flew out to be with my folks; today I'm sharing what I learned during the ten days I spent with them. (Dad is doing very well and on the mend.) This episode comes in three parts: first, I share about what I learne...

Today, I share possibly my all-time favorite ninja tactic for parents! This is the one to bring out when you are ready to go and have a meltdown of your own. Instead of doing that… Do this: use the First/Then ninja tactic to make transitioning your child from what he wants to do to what you need him to do easily understandable – and a lot smoother! Today's episode is the first of two chapter studi...

In this Your Child Explained episode, we consider what helping others looks like from inside our kid's head! This past Tuesday, I spoke with a mentor of mine, a man who shaped my thinking on how helping others makes us happier and builds a better world. Click here or go to weturnedoutokay.com/078 to listen to my conversation with No Impact Man Colin Beavan. Today, we riff on that conversation to d...

Today's guest Colin Beavan appeared on The Colbert Report, The Today Show, and many other talk shows when he first started on a quest to live a good life while limiting the amount of Earth's resources he and his family used, a year-long journey documented in his No Impact Man blog, book, and later documentary. If you've ever felt unsure of how to approach finding happiness, if you've ever worried...

Today's episode centers on a part of every human's innate personality: the trait of introversion or extroversion. (Click here or go to weturnedoutokay.com/074 to listen to part one, about parenting introverts – today is about parenting extroverts.) Where are you happiest – among people, in a noisy, large group, or quietly, in solitude or hanging with just a few people? Does one of the above situat...

When I interviewed Erik Wagter for episode 75, Tuesday's guest episode, I'd just finished reading an article about a man named Matthias Buchinger, who despite having no hands or feet, despite missing parts of his legs, danced, performed magic in front of large audiences and heads of state, created amazing art, married four times and was the dad of fourteen children. My conversation with Erik, whic...

I knew my conversation with today's guest, a trainer of educators and social workers, would help you become skilled at resolving conflicts in your home. What I didn't expect – and was so joyfully surprised about – was how forthcoming this father of two would be in sharing his family's story of helping their oldest son, diagnosed with autism at a very young age, connect with his family in a meaning...

Today's episode centers on a part of every human's innate personality: the trait of introversion or extroversion. (Today, we focus on the parenting of introverts; coming up in episode 77 – the next Just You And Me episode – we dive into parenting extroverts.) Where are you happiest – among people, in a noisy, large group, or quietly, in solitude or hanging with just a few people? Does one of the a...

Today Robin Abrahams, author of the weekly Miss Conduct advice column in Boston Globe Magazine, returns for her second hangout on We Turned Out Okay! (Robin and I first spoke last fall, in episode 42, so click here or go to weturnedoutokay.com/042 to hear our first conversation together.) In honor of Mother's Day Robin has a special article coming out in this Sunday's Globe Magazine, " A letter to...

"Wait a minute" – I hear you thinking – "aren't Your Child Explained episodes a Thursday thing?" You are absolutely right, ordinarily the Your Child Explained airs on the Thursday after a guest episode. But this is an unusual week because I'm interviewing the guest tomorrow, Wednesday, May 4, so that you can get your questions to her and she can answer them for Thursday's show… Which you'll want t...

Back in episode 68, we started this conversation about helping your child take one hundred percent responsibility for his actions. In that episode we talked largely about mindset, and how our mindset influences our kids' behavior; I also shared my first parent ninja tactic in raising an honest, responsible child: Consistency. Today I return to this first tactic, sharing about the brick foundation...

Last night I was a featured storyteller at a live storytelling event (thanks to massmouth and Fugitive Productions – what a great night at the Villageworks Gallery in West Acton!) I told about last June, when my family and I adopted the two cutest dogs in the whole world, and what happened after that. Because a version of this story is included in Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics – the book that...