Sunshine Parenting

SHOW NOTES This week I'm talking with my friend Jill Stribling. Jill's family has first-hand experience with COVID-19. If you're a longtime listener, you may remember my chat with Jill back in Ep. 35 about her decision to unplug her family, including her 10-year-old son, whose behavior around screens had started to concern her. About Jill Jill is a teacher and is the owner and founder of English f...

Show Notes My family's favorite word to use is 'unprecedented,' because everything is unprecedented this year. We try to use the word as much as possible. -Audrey Hi Friends, How are you doing? I mean, how are you  really  doing? Many of us - kids and adults alike - are really struggling right now - physically, emotionally, and financially. So much is uncertain, and much has been lost. This pandem...

Show Notes This week I'm chatting with brand new parents Danny & Courtney Tobin about their thoughts and insights about being new parents in 2020 to their Black son. They share advice for white parents about how to raise anti-racist kids. Courtney Thomas Tobin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA School of Public Health. She has a PhD in Sociology an...

Show Notes Parenting in Place Masterclass Series Alex Gamboa Grand - Co-founder of Good Intent -- an online shop offering sustainable alternatives to everyday essentials like home goods, cleaning supplies, and personal care products. Program Manager at Portland State University's School of Business providing support for underrepresented entrepreneurs in the Portland area who want to grow their bus...

Listening & Learning How to be Anti-Racist (Links) The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it. Albert Einstein Long after the topic of racism stops trending, white people (including me) need to be actively anti-racist. Let's listen, learn, ask how we can support POC, and do the work to make our world, our...

Show Notes Tap into the camp values of gratitude, attitude, and courage to help you and your family cope during COVID-19! This week on the podcast, I'm chatting with camp professional and podcaster Cole Kelly about summer camp and how his family is coping with sheltering at home. Cole and his wife Kate are the owners and directors of Camp Weequahic in Lakewood, Pennsylvania. Cole spends his summer...

In this episode, I'm chatting with "Happy Science Mom" Sandi Schwartz about how we can use nature to help us - and our kids - feel happier during COVID-19 and beyond. At the time of our recording, Sandi was on Day 66 of her "Ecohappiness" Challenge, and she's shooting for 100 days of doing something nature-related to improve her well-being. We talk about some of the very doable, simple activities...

Link to show notes for this episode. Katherine Reynolds Lewis is an independent journalist, author and speaker based in the Washington D.C. area on topics including parenting, children, education, mental health, technology, work, entrepreneurship, caregiving, diversity, equity and inclusion. Her award-winning book, The Good News About Bad Behavior (PublicAffairs, April 2018), explains why modern k...

Show notes & links. In this episode, Audry is joined by Alyssa Westring, co-author of Parents Who Lead: The Leadership Approach You Need to Parent with Purpose, Fuel Your Career, and Create a Richer Life . Alyssa is an associate professor of management at the Driehaus College of Business, DePaul University, and has studied organizational psychology, particularly work-life integration. Parenting li...

Show notes & links . Tina Payne Bryson, Ph. D. has encouraging advice to share during COVID-19. We talked in January ( Ep. 121: The Power of Showing Up with Dr. Tina Payne Bryson) about her new book with Dr. Daniel Siegel, The Power of Showing Up , and the message of the book is so relevant to our intense time with our kids during this pandemic. We chatted again last week (during Week 4 of "Iso fo...

Show notes & links. I've spent the past weeks talking with youth development experts who are sharing their advice and encouragement for parents during this crazy time of social distancing, sheltering at home, or what I like to now call "Iso for the Rona" (the Australian term for "Isolation for the Coronavirus" that I learned from my email friend Vicki).  Over the next several episodes, I'll be sha...

Show notes & links available here. In this episode, I'm speaking with Apryl Krakovsky, founder and CEO of My School in Motion , an award-winning program that promotes fitness, nutrition, wellness and health education for school communities. Moving together every morning for healthier minds, bodies, and attitudes! Big Ideas Apryl started the program when she noticed the need for more physical educa...

Show Notes Hi Friends, I hope you are staying healthy and somewhat sane during these unbelievably unpredictable and anxiety-inducing times. Life continues to be completely different from normal, and I'm gathering and sharing resources I think you'll find helpful and encouraging. Below, find notes and photos about what I talked about in this week's episode! Let me know what's working for you during...

Show notes & links available here . In this podcast episode, I interview college professor and author Dr. Jennifer Etnier about the importance of having a positive impact on kids when coaching youth sports. Her book, Coaching for the Love of the Game: a Practical Guide for Working with Young Athletes , outlines simple strategies that coaches can use to be sure that a kid's experience is positive,...

Show notes & links available here. In this episode, my friend Sara Kuljis and I are back together talking about uncluttering our schedules and our homes. Sara and her husband Steve Kuljis are the owners and directors of Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp and Emerald Cove Day Camp . Sara is also a certified Gallup Strengths Coach. Sara and I have been friends for two decades, and she has been a regular gu...

Show notes & links available here. In this episode, I'm talking to Steve Baskin about raising strong, anti-fragile kids. Steve and his wife, Susie, are the owners and directors of Camp Champions in Marble Falls, Texas. For over 27 years, Steve has studied the camp experience and how to make it the best possible growth opportunity for kids. In his new essay, A Manifesto to Strength (published below...

In this episode, I'm joined by my good friend and longtime camp industry colleague, Brooke Cheley-Klebe. Both of us have three daughters, so we've had a lot of discussion over the years about raising girls. In this episode, Brooke and I talk about how she stays close to her daughters, currently ages 14, 11, and 7.  She has many insights both as a mom and from her 25 years working with campers and...

Show notes & links available here. In this episode, I'm speaking with Niki Spears, the co-founder of the Energy Bus for Schools Leadership Journey . She started this organization to bring the positive messages of Jon Gordon's book, The Energy Bus , to schools everywhere. Niki has spent over 15 years working in education. Once an elementary school principal, she now works full time as a teacher edu...

Show notes & links available here. In this episode, I'm talking about my theme for this month: Connection ! All month long, my posts and podcast episodes are centered around this topic, and it's one that I feel is critically important to raising thriving kids. In fact, the first chapter of my book Happy Campers (Secret #1) is Connection comes first. 6 Tips for Creating Connection #1 Ask good quest...

Show notes & links available here. In this episode, I'm chatting with Dr. Chris Thurber, a legendary trainer in the camp industry and a clinical psychologist who works at Phillips Exeter Academy, about how important it for parents to connect with their teens. Chris has developed online training programs for educators and youth leaders around the world and many of the best practices and concepts he...

Show notes & links available here. Dr. Tina Payne Bryson is one of my favorite people. She's a psychotherapist, founder and executive director of the Center for Connection in Pasadena, California, and co-author with Dr. Daniel Siegel of four of my favorite books, including her most recent one (out on January 7, 2020):  The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become And H...

In this episode, Sara Kuljis and I discuss the importance of family rituals and traditions. It's one of the topics that we wanted to cover with parents in our  Raise Thriving Kids Workshop that we had in September. Big Ideas Family Rituals and traditions are important because they: help build a sense of shared identity and deep belonging. help us organize and make sense of an ever-changing world....

This episode is a live recording of my chat with Sara Kuljis about some of our favorite year-end reflection activities. Joining Sara and me for this episode is Kate Rader, one of the participants from our Raise Thriving Kids Workshop . Kate is a stay-at-home mom to 3 adventure-seeking and fun-loving kiddos, Lauren and Caroline, identical twins who are 13 and Jack, age 10, wife to her college sweet...

Show notes & links available here. In this episode, I'm speaking to Dr. Jennifer Levin, a marriage and family therapist who specializes in health crises or transitions, especially related to traumatic grief and loss. We discuss ways to support others, particularly children, and promote growth after trauma. Big Ideas Traumatic grief is an unexpected, sudden loss that people experience. Sudden, deva...

Show notes & links available here. In this episode, I'm chatting with mindfulness expert Hunter Clarke-Fields, author of Raising Good Humans: A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting and Raising Kind, Confident Kids , is my guest on for Episode 117. We talk about the importance of modeling positive responses to difficult situations and using tools like mindfulness and meditation...