Inspiration from this Episode 

“I know that I made list after list, after list, trying to keep track of everything everybody was doing.” 

“One of the things grandpa and I did is we spent a lot of time playing and studying together. We just spent a lot of time together.” 

“So within three days we spent 24 hours talking with each other in the car and we said, this is a perfect house for us.”

103 | Us & Kids: Interview with Grandkids

Intro  

On today’s show, we are doing something a little bit different. I’ve brought on a few guests to be on the show today but they aren’t just any guests - they are 3 of my grandkids. I told them they’d be allowed to ask me anything - so they did! 

And now, you get to listen in and hear our conversation together. These are random, unscripted, and unknown to me until they ask them - so, join the table and get a small snapshot of my life. And for...

Inspiration from this Episode 

“The kids also see that when their parents value their effort, it encourages them.” 

“Kiddos grow up respecting your authority because you've demonstrated it kindly.”

“We help our kids learn to understand that other kids have feelings that we have to pay attention to.”

102 | Us & Kids: Raising Gritty Kids

Intro  

On today’s show, we're talking about how to help your kids be successful. We sort of think of it in terms of how to help your kids be gritty. How do you help them get along in life? So we're going to split this into two different thoughts. 

This is more about parenting, that it isn't necessarily about what's happening for kiddos. It's more about how to help you parent well. The first part of this podcast is about what's happening for you. And for that adult relationship between you and your spouse or your partner.

What You’ll Learn in...

Inspiration from this Episode

“That anxiety is this reaction in the brain and where, since it's something scary and it needs to protect the body.”

“Another way that kiddos tell us that they're nervous is they just have this heightened level of emotion.”

“They want to focus. They want to be able to accomplish tasks.”

101 | Us & Kids: Naughty or Nervous

Intro 

On today’s show, we are gearing up to send our kiddos back to school or preschool, or perhaps just a more structured schedule for the day in the week. And we could easily be noticing some changes in our kiddos as well - maybe even in ourselves.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell why our little ones are being a bit naughty and hard to distinguish if it is really misplaced nerves. Listen in today to see how you can help, because as you know, stress and anxiety for our kiddos can build off of our own stress and worry.

What You’ll Learn in Today’s...

Inspiration from this Episode

“Read their signals and adapt your interaction to them. As you do, they are going to relax, and they’re going to move forward.”

“But talking is also more than words because it’s communicating our desires.”

“It moves us to choose our thoughts and our emotions for the good of ourselves and for others.”

100 | Us & Kids: Top 10 Tips for You

Intro 

On today’s show, we are looking through pulling together the last seven podcasts where we listed 10 tips and integrated those top tips from each of those podcasts into the top three podcasts out of the last 100. 

We are taking old material that we talked about in other podcast episodes and repurposing them so that they integrate a little bit more for you, your marriage, and your family. I hope that you enjoy this too because I found it fun to do.

What You’ll Learn in Today’s Episode

• Enjoying vacation time for...

Inspiration from this Episode 

“Those nice things help us know that we’re being trusted and they soften the fear of really connecting.” 

“We have to turn those chemical connections on again over and over throughout the course of our marriage.” 

“Spend time with each other talking about, how can we make our intimate life a bit better?”

099 | Us & Kids: 10 Tips for Intimacy

Intro  

On today’s show, we are doing our last one of our 10 tips in our series. This is podcast 99 moving into podcast 100 and I wanted to think about what I haven’t covered much and I realized I haven't directly talked about intimacy. Intimacy comes not just from having bodies close to each other but also comes from what happens before those bodies ever get close. 

So as we talk about intimacy, I'm talking less about close bodies and more about what happens before then which makes that time of close bodies...

Inspiration from this Episode

“When we can be playful, it releases the endorphins that help the body feel better.”

“Connection in that builds trust so that in those stressful situations you know the other person is trying their best.”

“So have fun with each other. Do something new, bring up something you haven't done for a while.”

098 | Us & Kids: 10 Tips for Playing as Adults

Intro 

On today’s show, we are going to talk about 10 tips for playing as adults. So you might think at first, how is this different from playing as kids? If you revisit our previous episode you’ll remember that the kid's play has more personal growth and brain development in it. 

Playing as an adult has a little bit of a different angle to it. It’s still very, very crucial to healthy living and to building good relationships. Also for keeping your own brain and body in a really good space for relationships and just your own...

Inspiration from this Episode

“If we understand the depth of the wound, we will also understand the depth of forgiveness that we are looking for.”

“I'm going to be calm, cool, and collected. If my emotions are in trouble, I'm going to pause.”

“Realize that forgiving others is often a supernatural and spiritual experience or exercise.”

097 | Us & Kids: 10 Tips for Forgiving

Intro 

Forgiveness is messy, challenging and necessary. That hurt from that person will never leave me. I am scared and damaged for life because of what they did. I will never be whole, worthy or valued because of their ...words, actions, opinions. This week’s podcast will help you get out of the painfulness of unforgiveness and into the freedom that comes with granting forgiveness.

We've done some of our 10 tips around how you talk, listen and play. Different things like all of that can feed right into how we forgive. So I’m going to invite...

Inspiration from this Episode

“As we get to know that information, we’ll be able to change what else were thinking and what else we need to say.”

“Now we can work towards a picture and an idea and a goal more.”

“There are approaches that build oxytocin, and oxytocin builds the idea that we’re connected.”

096 | Us & Kids: 10 Tips for Talking

Intro 

On today’s show, we're going to do 10 tips about talking. We're going to borrow some from the corporate world and the neurophysiological world. We talk about speaking in our course but we’re going to take it a little differently and apply what we know from corporate studies of communication in groups and upper management and apply those to our own relationships. 

I think it's fairly easily done and it's just a little different way of thinking about things that often can open up and help us just make those 3-5% shifts that make such a difference in our...

Inspiration from this Episode 

“Take care of yourself so you can pay attention to others and adjust so that you can be more present.” 

“Unfold your arms, lean in a little bit, soften it up and you'll see that people share more of themselves and your connection and respect for each will go up.” 

“What is their perspective? What is their understanding? What is their experience?”

095 | Us & Kids: 10 Tips for Listening Well

Intro  

On today’s show, we are talking about how do we listen well? What are some tips for helping me just listen a little better? Sometimes it's a little harder during the summer time because it's hot outside and we're tired. We often need a little bit more hydration and sometimes we just end up being up later and drinking more alcohol because there's more hanging out time.  

Take a few minutes here to listen to 10 tips about how to develop a really good listening...

Inspiration from this Episode

“The most important kind of play is usually free play, especially for kiddos but for some adults as well.”

“This just shows your kiddo that you're involved. that you're there for them and it builds their confidence.”

“You will learn things about how she's playing, but she sees you as an important role.”

094 | Us & Kids: 10 Tips for Playing with Kids

Intro 

On today's show, we are talking about the 10 tips for playing with your kiddos. This is not about how to have your kids play by themselves, this is 10 tips for how you can best play with your kiddos. When we play, we are so busy using so many different aspects of her brain, problem-solving, and creative and trying new things. 

Play is our brain's favorite way of learning. We don't learn separate from play, we learn while playing. Have fun with your kiddos as you listen to these 10 tips. I'm hoping that you find one or two that you like...