Sunshine Parenting

In Episode 49, I'm chatting with Michelle Kinder, Executive Director of the  Momentous Institute in Dallas, Texas. Michelle has worked in the field of children's mental health for more than 20 years and is a Licensed Professional Counselor. She graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts and the University of Texas with a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. Mic...

Something I always talk about is the parent child relationship. It is so important, especially at this age. Reid Broudy Reid Broudy is a rising senior who attends Wildwood School in Los Angeles. Reid has been coming to Gold Arrow Camp since 2014 and recently completed the Junior Counselor program. His camp nickname is REX. Some of Reid's extracurricular activities include serving as student body p...

For this episode of the Podcast, I talked with five 17-year-old Junior Counselors who've been going to camp for a long time: Will (10th year); Jackson (7th year); Caroline (7th year); Blake (6th year); and Quinn (3rd year). Below are some quotes from our talk. How have you changed or grown because of your time at camp? Will:  "When I'm at camp, I realize that being yourself is the best thing to be...

In Episode 46, I chat with Tom Rosenberg, CEO of the American Camp Association about summer camp, accreditation, and #CampKindnessDay. Big Ideas #CampKindnessDay Partnering with Kindness Evolution to promote #CampKindnessDay. Empathy and kindness need to be taught Practicing Kindness at Home The Importance of Story Telling Tom: "Camp is a place where we put those phones aside, we leave them home,...

It's much more than getting you into college. It's more about asking questions that we don't ask kids early enough and if we did, it might help them navigate some of the tough parts of being a teen or tween in the US today. -Ana Homayoun In Episode 45, I talk with Ana Homayoun, a nationally recognized counselor and consultant specializing in strategies for junior high and high school students. I i...

So many times as parents we get caught in our ego about what level my kid should be or how good they are, what team they're on, and 'if they're on this team, it must mean I'm a good parent.' It has nothing to do with your parenting skills! -Kirsten Jones In this episode of the podcast, I'm talking with Kirsten Jones , co-host (with Susie Walton) of the #RaisingAthletes Podcast . Kirsten is a forme...

In Episode 43, I talk with Jessica Lahey, author of the  New York Times  bestselling book,  The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed . Jessica is a teacher, writer, and mom. She writes about education, parenting, and child welfare for  The   Atlantic,  and Vermont Public Radio. She is a member of the Amazon Studios Thought Leader Board and wrote the e...

"Don't use the power of your voice, use your feet" -Maria Horner   In Episode 42, Maria Horner is back with the final installment of her Jedi Mom Tricks. This is Part 3, the final installment of our series! Listen here if you missed Jedi Mom Tricks (Part 1) and (Part 2) ! These Jedi Mom Tricks are important lessons Maria has learned as a parent and as a summer camp director for the past three deca...

Part of helping kids learn to deal with discomfort is learning how to be uncomfortable ourselves. -Christine Carter, Ph. D. In Episode 41, I'm talking with my friend and favorite happiness guru, Christine Carter , Ph. D. I have been a fan of Christine's research, writing, and speaking since 2011, when I recruited her to start doing staff trainings at my camp. Christine was my first podcast guest b...

We're craving those few people who know us and love us no matter what. -Shasta Nelson In Episode 40, I talk with Shasta Nelson, M.Div. Shasta is a leading expert on friendship. Her spirited and soulful voice for strong female relationships can be found in her books  Frientimacy: How to Deepen Friendships for Lifelong Health and Happiness  and  Friendships Don't Just Happen! The Guide to Creating a...

A lot of what I teach is helping parents understand their children as people.  The best way to be happy in your parenting is to recognize that your child is a person and to respect them and expect that respect in return. -Karen Lock Kolp   In Episode 38, I have a fun chat with Karen Lock Kolp, M.Ed. of the We Turned Out Okay website and podcast . Karen is an early childhood development expert and...

"It soon hit me that all of the best parenting classes in the world are not going to work if you – the mother – are feeling stressed out, unsupported, overwhelmed or aren't taking care of yourself properly. When some parts of your life are not running smoothly, it has a knock on effect on  everything else ." -Kelly Pietrangeli In Episode 36, I talk with Kelly Pietrangeli, founder and "Mama Motivat...

"It seems like we have a lot more patience as a family for each other." "We noticed that he started sleeping better. His personality shifted. He wasn't nervous all the time. He was just that kid that was always active, always moving, always really nervous, and when we removed that piece from the equation, we didn't know if it was technology removal or if he's just more relaxed, but we were stickin...

"When you're applying to college, there's a big focus on the name of the school, the statistics of the school, and the rankings of the school, which is important in some sense, but it didn't end up being as important for me." -Hannah   Episode 34 is a follow up to Episode 21: Advice on the College Application and Selection Process . I'm talking with my daughter Charlotte and her friend Hannah abou...

You decide as a family what's important...Every single thing can't be important. You have to pick a few things that are in alignment with your family's values and then really, really be consistent with them. Maria Horner In Episode 33, I'm with Maria Horner talking about more of her "Jedi Mom Tricks!"  Listen here if you missed Jedi Mom Tricks (Part 1)!  In this episode, Maria shares more of her "...

It's those deep relationships that are formed at summer camp that really have a dramatic influence on them. -Stephen Gray Wallace In Episode 32, I'm talking with Stephen Gray Wallace  about his recent article for Teen Life  :  10 Reasons Why High School Students Will Get a Lot from Summer Camp. Adolescents' Three Primary Developmental Tasks Forming an identity Gaining independence from parents Mak...

You're not alone. Whatever struggle you're facing and however hard it feels to you right now, I'm confident that with support you can get through it. And I'm 100% confident that you're not the first or only parent to have slipped up in all the ways you have slipped up, nor are you the only parent to have a child who does X or behaves in Y way. So you really aren't alone and we are our here to supp...

"Durable means to be effective for as long as possible - in your mind, your body, and also in your relationships with other people. It's being strong and secure and moving forward, taking in and reacting to the experiences you have along the way but continue to stand strong through it all." -Jenifer Joy Madden In Episode 30, I'm talking with Jenifer Joy Madden about her book,  How To Be a Durable...

Instead of telling kids what to do, we have the kids tell us what to do. It's an empowering experience to let kids think that way from a young age. -Paul Dreyer   In Episode 29, I'm chatting with Kyle Littman (COO) and Paul Dreyer (CEO) of  Avid 4 Adventure.  Kyle and Paul are both passionate about empowering kids to choose an outdoor, active lifestyle away from screens. Avid4Adventure is a progra...

  In Episode 28 of the podcast, I'm back with my good friend Sara Kuljis talking about being strengths-focused parents. Sara is the owner and director of Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp and Emerald Cove Day Camp . Sara offers popular parenting workshops in Southern California. In this episode, we're talking about the importance of focusing on our kids' strengths. Ideas for Building Strengths Here are...

"We are highly focused on promoting favorable youth outcomes, things like positive identity formation, character development, leadership, civic engagement, social entrepreneurship, media and financial literacy, conflict resolution.... and we're focused on prevention, working on issues like youth suicide, prescription drug use by young people, the opioid epidemic, those types of things." Stephen Wa...

"Parents are bombarded by technology. We're all under a lot of pressure. But we've somehow lost all sense about parenting when it comes to screens. And we have sense when it comes to other things. Our kids don't ask us for chocolate cake for breakfast every morning. And you know why? Because we've created the expectation that breakfast involves cereal and eggs and toast and fruit, and that's it. W...

"We want kids to learn to love the game." -Steve Proulx In Episode 25, I'm talking with Steve Proulx and Susan Reeder, the husband and wife team, along with daughter Aimee Reeder, who have owned and directed  Carmel Valley Tennis Camp  for the past 24 years. Questions for parents to ask about sports/specialty camp programs Is the camp accredited by the American Camp Association? The primary purpos...

  This episode of the podcast is an excerpt from my interview with Jessica Alexander, co-author of The Danish Way of Parenting. When we're so immersed in our own culture, we rarely take the time to step outside our ways and see if there may be some things we can learn from others, like a de-emphasis on competitive sports for kids. In The Danish Way of Parenting (subtitled, "What the Happiest Peopl...

My regular (and super-fun and wise) podcast guest, Sara Kuljis of Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp and Emerald Cove Day Camp , joined me on Facebook Live for this month's One Simple Thing topic: Peaceful Mornings. You can read more ideas in this month's post: 10 Solutions for Chaotic Mornings . This podcast is the audio from Sara's and my  Facebook Live discussion about creating more peaceful mornings...