Parenting in Real Life

Today's parenting pep talk is all about finding joy in the small things. We love both the sayings "Water what you want to grow" (Alan's mom) and "Look for the good and soon it's all you'll see" (Ralphie Jacobs). As you look for the good around you and in your children, then you'll not only find more joy in your surroundings, but you'll also find th...

We recently did a 3 week No Screens Challenge with our family. We had a few exceptions, but mostly didn't allow screens. Now that we've completed it, we're sharing the benefits, the downsides, and what we're going to do going forward. We're definitely going to keep having less screens in our day to day. If you would like some ideas of things to do with your family that are...

We had a great discussion in this episode with Sandra Payne! We talk about giving children space to feel emotions and how to have conversations about emotion in your family and we talk about self-love and self-worth. We are our children's greatest examples of how to treat ourselves. As we become more emotionally intelligent as well as find ways to love ourselves, then we can be better parents...

We are starting a new thing in our podcast - Parenting Pep Talks. We know that sometimes you just need a good pep talk. Someone that gets you. Someone that you can relate to. And to just know that we're all in this together. We're keeping them super short, but we hope it adds to your week. You've got this! Thanks so much for listening! Find us on Instagram @parenting.irl.podcast . ...

Do you like hiking? Does your family like hiking? Are your kids small so it sounds super daunting?  We have been hiking with our kids since our oldest were toddlers and we love hiking as a family, especially to National Parks. We are sharing our 3 best tips, as well as some bonus tips, on how we make hiking something that our kids love to do too. And don't worry, we have some stories where th...

In this episode, we interviewed Kimball Lewis who is the CEO of empoweringparents.com. He talked to us about difficult behavior in children, what to do when your kids don't like you, and how to give consequences that are going to result in good behavior. Our biggest take away was learning to give consequences that result in our kids learning a skill rather than just doing time. We've def...

Have your kids been fighting even more lately? Maybe been more grumpy? We find that around this time of year, our kids get a little cabin fever and seem to get a bit crazier than normal. So we like to do a No Screen Challenge. Seems counter-intuitive, right? But it works! In this episode we're diving in to our No Screen Challenge and how you can participate. You can do it as little or as long...

Do you want to know the secret to fixing your kids? We all do, right? Turns out, it's fixing yourself! (I'm sure that's not what you wanted to hear). But you're going to want to listen to this episode to find out why. We spoke with Crystal Haitsma who is a life coach and homeschooling mom of 4. We talk about creating emotional intelligence in ourselves and our kids, we talk abo...

Back by popular demand, we are doing another Tanner update. We are sharing what life is looking like for us right now as well as a challenge we are starting in March. Join us for the No Screens challenge from March 7-31 and see what changes you see in your family when you have less screen time. We are still going to do our Friday night movie night and let the kids do screens on Saturdays, but Sund...

You've probably heard of patient parenting and maybe even gentle parenting. But sometimes just being patient with your kids doesn't lead to behavior changes and so you become impatient and think that patient parenting must not work for your kids. If this is you, then you need to listen to this episode! We interviewed Marcela Collier from High Impact Club and she talks about going beyond...

Do you have a really stubborn child? How about a super argumentative child? Or maybe a very anxious child? Or maybe all of those?? (We do!) But those are all negative terms and when we use negative terms to describe our children, it just creates a negative cycle. So how can you see your child's negative behaviors as positive? And could they actually be a good trait? Yes they can!  Today we ar...

Are you afraid of the teenage years? Are they about to come your way, but you don't know how you're going to get through them? Whether you're about to have teenagers or are a few years out, you need to listen to this podcast episode! Today we are interviewing Darla Trendler from the Spiritually Minded Women Podcast. She is a mother to 4 kids - 2 teenagers and 2 adult children. One o...

Are you feeling alone? Are you far from family? Is your spouse working long hours or in school? We learned a lot by going to a graduate school away from family and away from where we both grew up. It was hard, but worth it. And we learned a lot along the way. In this episode, we're sharing our best tips and the things we wished we would have done differently during our 3 years away from famil...

There often aren't big wins in parenting, but there are small daily wins that often go unnoticed or uncelebrated. Today we interviewed Jason Harwood from the Happily Ever Habits Podcast. Jason has 7 habits that he works on each year, one of which is self-control. And he shares 3 steps to not only get better at self-control, but also at any habit you want to create. The three steps are make it...

It's January, which is a great time to plan for the year. Resolutions are great, and we loves those, but it's also a great time to figure out family trips for the year and couple and family goals so you can plan them. It takes time and money to do fun trips with your family and when you plan it at the beginning of the year, you're more likely to make it happen and have the money to...

All our kids have behavioral problems in some time or another. Knowing how to help our kids can often be a mystery. In this episode with Franki Bagdade, she teaches how to discover the root cause of behavior and how to figure out why our kids are behaving the way that they are. If you aren't sure what to do with your kids right now, this is the episode for you! You can find Franki on Instagra...

We just wanted to say a quick Happy New Year and we have a little challenge for you. As we have been reflecting on the last year, we found that usually what we remember are the best parts of the year even though the day to day can be hard as a parent. So we hope you can take a few minutes to look back on the year over the next few days and remember the good things as you plan and start 2022.  Than...

With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite Christmas stories so you can listen as a family as you are driving to recitals, programs, and family events. This story is Christmas From Heaven - The True Story of the Berlin Candy Bomber . We love that this story is based on true events! And we hope it inspires you to find some small way to...

With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite Christmas stories so you can listen as a family as you are driving to recitals, programs, and family events. This story is Sam's Christmas Wish . We were introduced to this book a few years ago and it instantly became a favorite. It's a sweet story that always makes both Alan and I...

Whether we know it or not, we all have a morning routine. Maybe it's hitting the snooze button 5 times or grabbing your phone first thing and scrolling social media. When we are intentional about our morning routine, it can set the tone for our day and give us more patience as parents. We interviewed Chanelle Neilson who is a life coach and morning routine guru that has great ideas and tips f...

We are celebrating our 100th episode on the week of our 12 year wedding anniversary! So to celebrate the two, we decided to talk about our 6 most REAL parenting moments and our 6 favorite parenting moments. We hope this is an episode that will help you feel heard when parenting is hard, but also smile when parenting is the best.  We also recently sent out a survey about our podcast! We would love...

The holidays can be a stressful time for parents. Gifts need to be bought, holiday traditions need to be done, school and family activities, friend gatherings, and the list goes on. Sometimes prepping and doing all the things can make the holidays feel stressful and suck the fun out of it. Today we're chatting with Diana Ballard from Mom Training and she has 3 tips for us to help us stress le...

We just went through a major house renovation that we started in January 2020! With the craziness of the economy and working with a million different contractors, we are finally about done with our house. We learned A TON and wanted to share the things we wished we would have known before we started. If you're considering a home renovation or even hiring out projects in your home, you're...

We just went on a 4 day trip to Disneyland and California Adventure with our kids. It was our first time going as a family. As a Southern California native, Alexis grew up going as a kid so she was excited. But Alan only went a handful of times and hates crowds and was feeling pessimistic about it. Overall, we were glad we did it and it was a really fun vacation, but we're planning to wait a...

Siblings fighting is normal, but when does it go too far? When do you need to step in and make sure that your kids aren’t starting to bully each other? In this episode, we’re talking about the difference between sibling rivalry and sibling bullying. Then, if you are starting to see some bullying, what you can do about it to make your home a more harmonious place. Here are the links to the websites...