Conversation Balloons

Parenting coach and communication expert Julie King gets specific and practical on effective talking with squirming, distracted, disgruntled young children.  Leah has questions on apologizing, getting kids out the door in the morning, moral vocabulary, and socks that can talk.  Additional resources: JulieKing.org Book: How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen by Julie King and Joanna Faber App: How...

What's it like to raise kids in a persecuting culture?  We interview a charming and courageous couple in North Africa and then reap keen insights from Shelli Alaniz of Ananias House about her organization's new release, Through the Eyes of a Child. If you have trouble understanding the couple, a transcript will be available on YouTube.  We bleeped out names and locations that might endange...

Physician Julia Mason describes the medical steps of gender transition for children, explaining to your astonished host why she opposes each one.  Puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex change surgery all have unintended consequences yet are steamrolling through American society without empirical basis, even while being second-guessed in most European nations.   Additional resources:  SEGM....

A day (and evening) in the life of a school principal and insights into how to relate to your child's principal. Teachers too will benefit from this freewheeling chat about "rubrics," "emotional snacks," and getting sued.  William D. Parker is an award-winning school administrator and just finished 6 years as executive director of our state Association of Secondary Principa...

Jeremy Tate of the Classic Learning Test expounds upon the virtues of classical education and the new college entrance exam that is shouldering out the SAT and ACT.  He parries questions about bullying, Cinderella, and why Latin grammar is good character education. Additional resources: www.cltexam.com

When you get a young philosopher on your show to talk about education, you just might discuss Rousseau, TV advertising, the panopticon effect, Nazis, Aristotle, and tech lash.   Additional resources:  Heartsoverhexagons.com

Equine therapy for kids is having a moment, and Katie Rogers of Boston Mountain Youth Ranch is especially clear on how and why she facilitates these amazing connections. Additional resources: Bostonmountainyouthranch.org

Our kids and grandkids will be shaped by urban plans. What will their cities and neighborhoods look like?  Who will decide?  Are 15-minute cities and smart cities brilliant and humane, or the latest form of corporate cronyism? Where do churches fit in? Julianne Romanello, philosopher, and consultant on city planning, discusses people who think locally and act globally.   Additional resources:  hea...

Leah talks heart-to-heart with speech and language pathologist Brian Farish in this chat about nurturing the elderly and those recovering from brain injury.  Brian's a highly skilled therapist with disarming honesty, humility, and spiritual vitality.  We don't say that just because he's the host's kid.

Anxiety in children and teens: Here's a compassionate and practical dialogue about it with Beth Mishkind Roth, a mother and expert in child and adolescent mental health.  Mindfulness and imagination, SPACE and monster spray are among the techniques Leah talks about with this sprightly and smart guest. Additional resources: Beth Roth can be found at clevelandint.com

Lauren Williams, a certified professional organizer, sorts it all out for Leah: how hoarding relates to OCD, depression, and dementia, how it begins, and how declutterers help hoarders and their families.  She even leaves space for hope and humor! Additional resources: Casualuncluttering.com NAPO.net Childrenofhoarders.com Digging Out  by Michael Tompkins and Tamra Hart Buried in Treasures  by Dav...

13 is the new 30 (years old) in Juvie. Hear a juvenile detention nurse depict the emotional and physical needs of her city's toughest kids over the past 20 years, and how those needs have changed. This interview ranges from touching to traumatic; it'll stick in your mind like a shank in your pocket.

It's time we discuss how boys are stigmatized, ignored, and villainized in schools and workplaces. Michael Gurian heads the Gurian Institute, writes best-selling books, and consults and counsels as an expert on the brain science and behavior of males and females. We caught up with him for this interview which is so stimulating, you'll probably want to listen twice. Additional resources: Gu...

Parenting coach and author Ruchi Koval expounds on fostering character in youngsters, while Leah eggs her on.  They discuss the deep principles of ancient Jewish wisdom as applied to kids having tantrums, saying "sorry," and discovering silence. Additional resources: Podcast: The Book of Life: Weekly Wisdom with Ruchi Koval https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-book-of-life-weekly-wi...

Help for women facing unwanted pregnancy is a hot political topic; some nonprofits combating abortion have been the focus of criticism and controversy.  Colin LeCroy, co-founder of Life on Belay, has mobilized his legal acumen and advocacy experience to help address the root causes of the abortion choice in smarter ways.  No matter your take on abortion, Colin's critique of nonprofi...

Tim Elmore, expert on Millennials and Gen Z, founder and CEO of Growing Leaders, who has appeared in media such as CNN, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fox and Friends, and Psychology Today, returns to discuss parenting teens today.  In this candid interview, you can't see the tears in his eyes, but you hear them in his voice at one point.  Always a font of practical informati...

One of the nation's foremost experts, Dr. David Gozal, describes sleep, and common challenges to a good night's rest, in all stages of adulthood.  Leah asks incisive questions of this eminent scholar such as, "Do we need to completely darken the room, or is that what eyelids are for?" Additional resources: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238083 https://journ...

Best-selling author Dr. Robert Petterson describes his daughter's faith journey, from Peace Corps to Presbyterian, and Leah suggests that asking for grace from others is the key in fraught relationships.  Both have more suggestions for building bridges from one generation to another in this authentic interchange. Additional resources: legacyimperative.org

16-year-old Jordan Davidson got wisdom beyond his years the hard way: fighting his marijuana addiction. Now age 22, Legislative Affairs and Youth Outreach Coordinator working on Capitol Hill for Smart Approaches to Marijuana, Jordan details his journey out of the smoke, where denial and isolation nearly destroyed him. Additional resources: learnaboutsam.org Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry...

Our guest began activism with fighting abortion--now he confronts root causes such as poverty, "marriage deserts," and housing problems.  Colin LeCroy, co-Founder of Life on Belay, pours the intellectual foundation for better outcomes for moms in crisis, and their children.  Additional Resources: lifeonbelay.org Patrick Brown--Are Marriage and Parenthood Only for the Wealthy? h...

Are walkable cities ableist utopias?  What about strollers on subways, baby seats in Ubers, and Grandma's walker on the bus?  Internationally-acclaimed city planner Jeff Speck graciously and sagaciously parries these types of thrusts from Leah, in a conversation that will leave you looking at your city or town with new eyes.  Jeff Speck, the 2022 winner of the Seaside Prize, wa...

This episode can be found on YouTube in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc_RFQ2x6vE Our Yuletide surprise is a poignant short story.  Read by the charming and talented Abigail Broeker, "The Gifts of the Child Christ" was written in 1882 by George McDonald, whose fiction and faith inspired C.S. Lewis.  This Victorian tale is an Ironic, perceptive, but ultimately hopeful p...

Sleep expert Dr. David Gozal gives us a good-natured look at sleep in the stages of infancy, childhood, and adolescence.  He enlightens us on topics like sleep apnea, co-sleeping, swaddling, and the connection between sleep disorders to nightmares and attention problems in youngsters.  Teaser: We are having him back in a few weeks to survey the features of and problems with sleep in...

How can grandparents stay close and connected to grandchildren who are being raised with different values?  Legacy Imperative, headed by Dr. Robert Petterson, inspires and guides grandparents in maintaining warm relationships with chilly adult children.  In this first of 2 episodes we did with him, Dr. Petterson mentions that 5 million kids in the U.S. are not in touch with their gr...

Tom Lutz hangs with Leah to talk about Millennials in the workplace, why people of no faith should listen to him, burnout and vision, why Pope John Paul II decided to keep his job, "marketplace chaplains," and what's wrong with the film version of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead . Additional resources: 1. Dorothy Sayers, "Why Work?"  https://www1.villanova.edu/content/dam/villanova/mission/faith/...