Parenting in Real Life

Do your kids have a problem with sharing?  Ours do.  We thought this would only be a problem when they were toddlers and preschoolers, but we have found this has trickled into the daily lives of our school-aged kids as well.  After doing some research, we found some tips to help children of all ages learn to share and what to do and expect with each age group.  This week’s Sponsor is ABC Mouse . W...

Do you know your love language? Your spouse’s love language?  How about your kid’s love language?  This is such an important way to help your family members feel loved how they want to be loved. We used the quizzes at 5lovelanguages.com for both the adult and children quizzes.  Or you can just watch your family members and see what they like.  I also created a free resource to help you come up wit...

Sleep is so important for both you and your kids.  We recently asked our instagram followers something they would like to hear more about on our podcast, and sleep was the biggest answer we got.  So today we're discussing sleep schedules, nap time, and bedtime routines. If you aren't getting sleep right now because of your kids, we feel for you.  We've been there too!  Hopefully som...

We love going on family vacations and have taken a quite a few over the last few years from driving across the country, to cabins, to beaches in the car and once or twice on a plane.  This episode we're sharing our best family vacation tips fresh from our recent trip to Zion National Park, which we highly recommend.  Today we're talking mostly about when we drive, but Episode 30 is tips...

2020 was a challenging year for everyone, but before we move on to 2021, we thought it be good to reflect on 2020 and find the good things that happened despite the rough year. So today we're sharing 10 good things or things we learned from 2020 that we're taking with us into 2021.  If you haven't done this yourself, hopefully ours will help you think of some of good things that cam...

Do you have kids that won’t eat their dinner? How about a picky eater, or a few?  Today we’re diving into two articles written by kidseatincolor.com who is an expert on kids nutrition. Find out how to help your kids eat dinner and see if you actually have picky eaters. Here are the links to the websites we referred to throughout the episode. https://kidseatincolor.com/toddler-not-eating-dinner/ ht...

Don't you just love November?  I love the Thanksgiving holiday and we have some fun traditions that we do to make it fun and memorable.  From our thankful turkey to a family turkey trot with homemade t-shirts, we have a couple of traditions that you might enjoy too.    Here's a link to the thankful turkey printable I mentioned in this episode: https://mailchi.mp/71ca7491595f/freebie-land...

Both of us have experienced anxiety as children and we recently discovered that one of our kids is experiencing it as well. It took a little digging, but we finally figured out what was going on. Anxiety can be frustrating and confusing especially when kids don’t know that they’re experiencing it. Today we’re sharing what we discovered and some tips to help manage and provide tools for kids who ma...

Christmas may seem far away, but it will be here before we know it!  Sometimes it's easier to focus on one holiday at a time, but because Christmas has so much going on, it gets a bit crazy with all the things to do.  So if you’re looking to have a less crazy Christmas, I have 3 quick tips to help it run a bit more smoothly and to start doing now. Make sure to join the conversation on instagr...

Halloween is right around the corner.  There’s still lots of time to create some Halloween fun with your family.  We’re sharing our favorite things to do to celebrate Halloween.  And instead of scrolling Pinterest for more ideas, make sure to check out Alexis’ new Halloween ebook filled with 2 recipes, 2 family activities, 1 kids craft, a service project, a home decor hack, and links to our favori...

When my kids come home after school, it seems like my house explodes!  Backpacks, school work, snacks, shoes, and voices fill my kitchen.  It's quite the whirlwind, but it's so much less stressful when I have certain plans in place.  This episode we're talking about after school schedules and easy meal ideas.  And if your kids are distance learning and after school doesn't quit...

Have you considered getting a puppy?  Or did you recently get one?  We did!  (Blaming it on COVID).  We've had a puppy for 7 weeks and have definitely seen some pros and cons and we have our best tips that we feel like anyone getting a puppy should know.  Let us know if you have a puppy too and share your best tips on my instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/alexistannerlane. And make...

As life has been a bit crazy lately for everyone, it's super important for us to keep our families organized to help things run a bit more smoothly especially as we are able to do some of our old activities again - like school, extracurriculars, shopping, etc.  As a mom of 5 kids, organization is essential to keeping me sane.  Here are my 5 best tips for keeping a family organized. Make sure...

2020 has been a year of hard things.  And we feel like we should be talking to our kids about the different events, but how do we do that?  What should they know and not know?  In this podcast, we share 10 tips for talking to your kids about hard events that are happening in the world around us.  From COVID-19 to Black Lives Matter, we hope this episode helps these conversations happen in your hom...

We recently put an American flag on our home to celebrate the 4th of July and our 9 year old asked us why we would do that.  I was surprised by her question and felt like this would be a great time to learn more about patriotism.  So today we're sharing why we should be patriotic, how to teach your children about patriotism, and some fun activities you can do this weekend to celebrate the 4th...

Surviving Summer part 2!  If you want to listen to our first surviving summer episode when our kids were a little younger, check out episode 36.  Today we're sharing some tips to help you survive this summer especially as things are a bit different this year. Here are the links to the websites we referred to in this episode: 8 minute classes: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAXzXczFLWD/ Johnson F...

Mother's Day is around the corner and whether you have children or not, I hope you include yourself as a woman to celebrate on that day.  We all can nurture the children around us.  Mother's Day is not always what I hope for in my mind because I have young children who still need help and still fight all day.  So I keep my expectations really low.  Today I'm sharing 5 tips that will...

So many of us are stuck at home. Life is challenging right now. But in today’s episode we’re sharing ways that we’ve found good things. We came up with a list of 10 things and challenge you to come up with a list of 10 too! Also, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the president of our church has asked us to fast to help end COVID-19 on Good Friday. People of all faiths...

Today I’m sharing 5 Christ-centered Easter traditions. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the affects from Coronavirus, just write down your favorite and do it next year. 😉Don’t forget to share your Easter traditions with us on Instagram! You can find me at @alexistanner.lane. Resources:Easter Week: https://www.thesmallseed.com/blog/2018/3/16/easter-week-2018Resurrection Eggs: https://www.thesmal...

These are challenging times as many of us are now homeschooling our kids and working from home.  That's a lot of changes at once that were forced upon us. With almost 2 weeks of social distancing under our belts, we're sharing our best tips with how to help kids stay motivated and to have a good school and work environment at home.  Let us know what other tips you have by commenting on m...

This episode is all about the tools for praise and appreciation. Seems pretty easy, but did you know there are better ways to praise your child?  In fact, certain praise can actually stop a child from doing a good activity.  Who knew?  We’re going to review the tools to help praise in ways that will help and not hinder.  This is the 4th and final episode that we are discussing the book How to Talk...

I'm sharing 7 fun and simple Valentine's Day traditions with you.  Some of these our family does and some I found online.  Definitely don't try to do all of these!  Try 1 this year if you're looking for a new tradition or want to shake things up a bit and see if it's a good fit for your family and if it wasn't too stressful for you. :-) Here are some of the resources:...

Have you heard about choosing a word of the year?  Do you have one?  Why should you choose a word of the year and how do you do it?  All of these questions are answered in today's episode.  I'm also sharing my word of the year and why I chose it. Make sure to go to my Instagram account at www.instagram.com/alexistannerlane and tell me what your word of the year is.  I would love to hear...

The beginning of the year is the perfect time to set new goals. This may be a natural thing for some adults, but how do you help your kids set goals and want to achieve them? We’re sharing different categories to set goals in, how to choose SMART goals, and how to help your kids celebrate their achievements. This doesn’t have to be done at the beginning of the year. Set new goals whatever time of...

Christmas traditions can be so fun, but some of them take a lot of work and can be pretty overwhelming. So I have 5 simple Christmas traditions to share with you today that don’t take a lot of preparation. So if you are looking for one or two new intentional Christmas traditions, hopefully one of these will spark an idea. And please come share your favorite traditions on my instagram account: www....