Podcasts about family looking up

After almost five years, it is time for us to say goodbye. We have loved our time together with Family Looking Up and are sad to say goodbye. In this episode we laugh about all the behind the scenes funny moments and talk about the great journey these last five years have been for us!  Thanks for listening and supporting us and being a part of our mom squad!

With the beginning of school comes the beginning of routines, chores, hopes and dreams! Join us as we talk and laugh about our ideas, families, struggles and successes on this episode of Family Looking Up!

On this episode of Family Looking Up, we are chatting with Richard and Linda Eyre all about Grandparenting and a new course they are getting ready to launch.  However, don't be fooled by the title, there is so much in here for parents as well!  We loved our discussion and hope that you do as well.

In this fantastic episode of Family Looking Up, we explore the four types of parenting styles with Dr. Amy Stoeber (a licensed psychologist, trainer and parenting consultant). Dr Stoeber outlines the four types of styles and gives tips and insights on how we can become more well rounded in whatever type we naturally gravitate toward. 

Do you ever look at other parents and wonder how you measure up? Today, I talk to the hosts of the podcast, Family Looking Up, Andrea Nielson, Beth Millward, and Camille Ward. Three very funny women, with very different upbringings, and very different parenting styles. We talk about the struggle of comparison, appreciation for others, and accepting ourselves for who we are. *New!* Watch video clips from this episode on the Mindful Mama Youtube channel! If you enjoyed this episode, and it inspired you in some way, I'd love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram stories, and tag me @mindfulmamamentor. Have you left a review yet? All you have to do is go to  Apple Podcasts or  Stitcher (or wherever you listen), and thanks for your support of the show! 3 Takeaways: It's ok that we all play to our strengths and we all do it differently. All parents need a community of support. Self-care can look very different for different people, but it's something we ALL need. Between the three of us we have 15 kids from the ages of 2 to 20.  As moms, we each parent differently, allowing us to share differing viewpoints on a myriad of motherhood topics.  Though we differ in technique, there are many things that we agree on; one of which is the knowledge that motherhood is the most important role in our lives.  Get Hunter's book, Raising Good Humans now! Click here to order and get book bonuses! ABOUT HUNTER CLARKE-FIELDS: Hunter Clarke-Fields is a mindful mama mentor. She coaches smart, thoughtful parents on how to create calm and cooperation in their daily lives. Hunter has over 20 years of experience in mindfulness practices. She has taught thousands worldwide. Be a part of the tribe—we're over 25 thousand strong! Join the Mindful Parenting membership. Take your learning further! Get my Top 2 Best Tools to Stop Yelling AND the Mindful Parenting Roadmap for FREE at: mindfulmamamentor.com/stopyelling/ Find more podcasts, blog posts, free resources, and how to work with Hunter at MindfulMamaMentor.com. Be sure to check out this deal from this week's sponsor: Get 50% off your first month plus FREE shipping on ANY crate line with code HUNTER at kiwico.com.

Sometimes it's nice to hear from some moms with older kids and more experience. In today's episode, we interview the ladies from the podcast ‘Family Looking up' as they share some tips they have learned over the years. Come listen for some laughs and new ideas!

Being a mom isn't easy. Some days you want to cry, and some days you just feel like it's a win when everyone makes it through the day in one piece!  But every day we laugh, we feel better. So why not strive to find that laughter in motherhood? In today's podcast we sit down with Andrea, Beth, and Camille of the podcast, Family Looking Up. We swap our mom stories and talk about how to find those joyous moments full of laughter in parenting. Find links to all the resources we shared at: https://www.noguiltmom.com/finding-laughter-in-motherhood/

In this fantastic episode of Family Looking Up, we explore the four types of parenting styles with Dr. Amy Stroeber (a licensed psychologist, trainer and parenting consultant).  Dr Stroeber outlines the four types of styles and gives tips and insights on how we can become more well rounded in whatever  type we naturally gravitate toward.

This week Valerie airs her guest appearance on the popular podcast “Family Looking Up” and shares the nitty gritty about attachment theory and parenting. Val shares not only the fundamentals of this philosophy, but also personal experiences around how she has learned how to become more securely attached to her children in the midst of … Continue reading "Episode 46: BONUS Episode Unpacking Attachment Parenting"

Show Notes:Everything seems to be crazy these days and we all seem to be baking and eating more batches of cookies than ever before. This is why Family Looking Up has gotten together a fun 8 week challenge to get your body and sanity back during the quarantine. It’s always more fun when we are supporting each other. I am in and I hope you will join me! I can’t wait for you to hear Beth share with you how this all works!Everyday better than lastDaily goals:64 oz of water30 mins exerciseSugary treats aim for once a weekGratitude Journal (3 things)Behavior Changes (here are some little ideas)praying morereading your scriptures dailyquit yelling at kidsstop biting nailsBeth’s Ideas for putting more veggies into your diet:Make a hamburger salad instead of having it on a bunEat spaghetti squash or broccoli with sauce on top instead of noodlesSet a stop time for when you’re done eating at night:Ideally give yourself 3 hours before you go to bed so your body has time to digest to give you better sleep and more time to heal before the next day.Bonus Challenge:This is related the eating or exercise- you’re just taking it to the next level. Such as running more than 30 minutes a day because you’re training for something or adding in some other kind of extra.Mom Win- write down something you are proud of yourself for that probably won’t be celebrated by the rest of the familyWeigh in - not if you feel shamed or upset, just a measuring tool to keep you on track if you want toWhere to find more from Beth:www.familylookingup.comGrab the Family Looking Up Gets Fit Worksheet!

Loving Bookstores from Afar may seem impossible, given the nature of brick-and-mortar stores. Add in the current #stayhome world we are in, we fear for our sanity and for the bookstores around the world. Libro.fm can help with both these concerns. This week we are joined by Stephanie Ballien, the director of marketing for a digital company called Libro FM. She worked with many other major brands before finding her passion and home at Libro FM. She hails from Seattle and enjoys life there with her two children. In this episode we talk about: 1. What Libro FM is. It is a company that provides a way for you to buy audiobooks through local and independent bookstores that they have partnered with- a great way to support bookstores while still getting the digital content we love! 2. How the partnership with bookstores makes Libro FM different from other audiobook platforms and what features they are able to bring to their customers thanks to that partnership. 3.  A speed-round of Frequently Asked Questions that Stephanie handled like a champ! So much good information about them, how they work, how much it costs, and so much more in such a short amount of time (you get to own the audio file! They have monthly sales! You can get a refund if you did not like the book! You can pick a bookstore to support!). 4. When we recorded and originally aired this episode, the world was in the middle of dealing with the outbreak of COVID-19. We chatted about what Libro FM was doing to support the local bookstores that they partner with, many of which had to close down while their cities tried to contain the virus. 5. And, as a final wrap-up, we got Stephanie about the latest book that she has read and fell in love with. In Libro.fm: Loving Bookstores From Afar we mention We are so grateful to Stephanie for taking the time to talk with us! More information about her, and LibroFM can be found in the following places: Instagram: @librofm @Childrenslitlove Websites: https://libro.fm Email: hello@libro.fm Books we mentioned: Stamped by Jason Reynolds Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer  (series) Disney's Frozen Anna and Elsa sister series by Erica David Nate the Great (series) by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat A Boy Called Bat (series) by Alana K Arnold Related Episodes If you're looking for another great way to listen to audiobooks, be sure to listen to Episode 9: Getting to Know Overdrive and Libby with Adam Sockel We also talk about listening to audiobooks in one of our earliest interviews with Family Looking Up in Episode 6: Finding Books for your Family

If you are done with feeling anxiety over COVID-19 (or anything else in your life) and you just need a good laugh, then this is the episode for you! We decided that what mom's need most right now is just to laugh so hard they cry.  During this episode of Family Looking Up we play the game "Table Topics" and laugh until it hurts! We hope you laugh with us!

We are joined this week by the hosts of the delightful podcast, Family Looking Up, Camille, Beth and Andrea! Their podcast, now in its third year, explores all aspects of motherhood, something that they know plenty about themselves with a gaggle of children distributed among the three of them. They joined us to share some of the wisdom they have gained through the years, reading, and more specifically finding books to read, with their kids of all ages. In this episode we talk about: 1. These three women are all very well-read, but their styles, their tastes, their methods and their searching habits differ, so we spent some time chatting about how they find books for themselves! 2. Recommendations. Firstly, from friends. Find which friends you have similar tastes and opinions about books with and they will be a rich source of book suggestions. Then, once you find your golden source of recommendations, keep track of the suggestions you get somehow! 3. Goodreads. This is a well-known site to many, but if you have not checked it out yet, take a look! It is a website and an app and it has reviews of most any book you could be curious about. 4. How do all these ladies do their reading? It depends! One likes to mix it up with hard copies and e-books on her phone while another almost exclusively listens to audio books. Find what works for you! 5. Saying to find the friends who share your taste in books is all find a good, but how do you go about that in real life? Just start talking about it! Ask anyone for recommendations and over time you will find the ones who  6. Finding audiobooks. How? Where? For those of us lucky enough to live in a country where they are available, the apps Overdrive and Libby are wonderful resources. They are where your local public library’s e-book and audio book collections live. You can check books out right there on the app! The downside of these apps are that you are limited as to how many books you can check out and have on hold and the more popular books will be on hold with longer waits. Audible is a service through Amazon that will give you instant access to the books you want (no waits!), but it costs. Once again, all the ladies have different ways of making these services work best for them and their families.  7. Along with their own reading habits, these women are also doing their best to raise their kids as readers. They have found several sources that have helped them along the way. As their kids read more, they cannot keep up and read every book their kids are reading, so they rely on research from Google or sites like Common Sense Media and Goodreads to be informed about what their kids are reading. 8. As we have talked about before, and will continue to talk about on our podcast, do not underestimate the listening level of your children! It will broaden their horizons and help them get over fear of bigger books and other forms of literature. These lovely ladies each left us with a great idea of how to get started on putting these great ideas into practice this week. Andrea invited us to let our children have a say in what they are reading (hashtag let them read!). Beth suggested rediscovering the joy of reading making it fun with things like movie parties or cousin/friend kid book clubs. Camille invited us as adults to branch out from our norm and try something we wouldn’t normally pick or use a different book format than you usually do. There are some surprises waiting out there for us if we look in different places! We are so grateful to Camille, Beth and Andrea for taking the time to talk with us! More information about them and their podcast can be found in the following places: Instagram: @familylookingup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familylookingup/ Websites: http://familylookingup.com Books we mentioned: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (the ladies didn’t mention this one by name,

Today’s guest is absolutely hilarious, full of amazing advice, and the best story teller. She has a gift for getting her 6 children to talk to her and lets us in on her parenting secrets.Meet Camille.Camille Ward was on our podcast before with the rest of the Family Looking Up Podcast crew, way back on episode #23. I am so happy to let you get to know her a little better on her own. She is such a kick!Camille gave us a fabulous promo code for a free, 30 page Chatbook!!Code: FAMILYLOOKINGUPCheck out even more about Camille on her podcast: Family Looking UpHer website: http://familylookingup.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/familylookingup/Facebook and Twitter

Traveling when you have kids takes patience, planning, and creativity—even if you're leaving them home—but it can be done! And, usually, it’s worth all the pain. In this episode, we talk about family travel strategy, packing, flying with kids, road trips with kids, and more.  Here are links to some great blogs and podcasts that I mention in this episode:  Podcasts Extraordinary Moms Podcast: "Tips for Packing with Jennica Woodbury" Jessica Dahlquist interviews Jennica Woodbury of mommyconvos.com and they both share great family packing ideas for both air and road trips. Family Looking Up, Episode 31: "Traveling as a Family"  My favorite podcasting trio talks to Kam and Shani of Our Family Passport about how and why they travel to exotic (and some not-so-exotic) places as a family. It's a fun listen, and packed with great ideas. It will inspire you to be adventurous.  Family Looking Up, Episode 79 “How To Travel as a Family and Actually Enjoy It” If you’re hesitant about traveling with kids this interview with Jessica Dabelich may just change your mind. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but the memories are worth it! The Mom Hour, Episode 185: Road Trips and Air Travel with Babies, Toddlers, and Kids Sarah has flown a lot with kids, and Meagan is an expert at road trips. Together, they created a great podcast episode full of great traveling hacks. What Fresh Hell, Episode 20: Vacationing with Kids: What to Pack Great packing tips with a dose of humor and a slight ziplock obsession.   Travel Blogs Flyingwithfour.com: Jessica Dabelich shares her family travel adventures with four small children, including lots of great articles with travel tips, packing lists, and great destinations. Our Family Passport: A family of ten that has traveled to over 40 different countries together. They share tips for the logistics of traveling, plus location-specific, family-friendly recommendations for what to do once you get there. Power of Moms: If you haven't yet discovered Power of Moms, you'll thank me for hooking you up. Saren Loosli has written the definitive family road trip article here. It also links to several other great travel posts from the site.  CSGinger.com Candice is an intrepid traveler with her twins, now three years old. She has great tips for traveling domestically and abroad with littles.  3kidstravel.com One of the best parts of this site is the interviews with other families that travel. Elise has great insights of her own and a knack for finding other intrepid traveling families.  Adventure Together Christina McEvoy and Rachel Von share fabulous tips and destination-specific travel guides for families.  travelmamas.com A great resource for traveling with kids, including some fabulous packing lists. thepointsguy.com Go-to resource for travel deals and navigating credit card, airline, and hotel points.

Today my guest is the amazing Camille Ward. Camille is one of the hosts of the awesome podcast Family Looking Up. It's a fun and informative podcast that never disappoints. But today  we  are  getting  a behind  the  scenes  look  at  Camille's childhood and what she learned from caring for her chronically ill mother. It's a powerful episode and I had so many aha moments! She's wise and inspirational and you're going to love this conversation.  And  here's  a picture  of  her  sweet  mom! Show Notes: Check out Camille's podcast Family Looking up Follow Family Looking up on Instagram This Show is Sponsored by... Hylands is a homepathic answer to ear pain and the related symptoms. This is the perfect answer for swimming vacations, so you can get you and your kids back to the pool at the first sign of ear pain! Visit hylands.com to find out more! And... Swanky Badger is a fantastic place to shop for the men in your life. They have unique manly gifts, including really cool wooden watches that any man in your life would just love. My brother just bought gifts for his groomsmen through Swanky Badger and loved the ease and selection they had. For 10% off your order to go www.swankybadger.com/EMP. And... ThirdLove is my favorite bra company, with their revolutionary fit finder quiz and half size bras! There's a bra for everyone at ThirdLove and their 60-day return policy allows you to see how well the bra truly works for you before you commit to keeping it. You can go to thirdlove.com/EEP for 15% off your first purchase. You're going to be so glad you tried ThirdLove!    

It's Christmas today!!!!! Merry Christmas Mom Squad! What a year it has been. If your house is like mine, we've been up since the crack of dawn (insert yawn).  I look like a junkie with mascara caked under my eyes and my family room looks like a wrapping paper company exploded. Christmas breakfast has already been made and cleaned up by yours truly (Am I a saint? Why, yes. Yes I am. Thanks for pointing that out). Currently there are kids playing with toys, teens reading new books, and a husband getting frustrated because the toys are not working correctly. All's right in the world! Now is the perfect time for mom to go listen to an episode of Family Looking Up! We decided to add some new content to episode #6 titled, "How to Have the MOST Stressful Christmas EVER!" We hope you will enjoy the episode. I have included the show notes from that episode below.

YAY!  We have so much to celebrate this week! We are celebrating our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!  We started this crazy podcast one year ago. We have loved learning from our many experts, laughing at our many mistakes and challenging ourselves to do better.  We are so grateful for our amazing Mom Squad. You all continually inspire us. In this week’s episode, in addition to celebrating our podcast anniversary, we also talk about one of our favorite holidays...THANKSGIVING.  This episode is full of laughter and holiday hacks. Here is what we talked about: Our anniversary episode How to win our “I’d Marry That Basket” (see instructions below) The highs and lows of our first year of podcasting Sharing our episode on social media Thanksgiving is about being with friends and family Ideas to encourage gratitude in our families The great pie making event A typical Thanksgiving day for our families Our favorite Thanksgiving traditions Our Thanksgiving hacks Black Friday craziness Mom Squad Challenge: Encourage your family to WRITE and MAIL a thank you note to a different person every day for a week. How to win our “I’d Marry That Basket” Post your favorite episode of Family Looking Up on your Instagram or Facebook Feed.  Be sure and tag us and use the hashtag #FLUgiveaway Make an instagram story with your favorite mom fail or mom success.  Again, make sure to tag us and use the hashtag #FLUgiveway Every day we will reveal a new item in our “I’d Marry That Basket.”  Repost our post and tag us and use the hashtag #FLUgiveaway. The winner will be announced November 19th.

Mornings,  after school, and bedtime--- these are by far the hardest times for moms to navigate.   Help is here, Mom Squad! On today's show we bring you one of our favorite mom helpers out there: Whitney Archibald from “How She Moms” (www.howshemoms.com).  If you are not familiar with her website, then just know that your life just got better. Whitney's motto, on the website, is “Different moms solving the same problems.”  The premise is that all parents have the same problems we are trying to solve, so why not look at each other's ideas as potential solutions for our own? Whitney came on Family Looking Up to talk about her blog post “Routine Experimentation” which delved into different moms’ ideas on how to deal with morning, after school, and bedtime routines. One thing that I loved about this interview was that the ideas covered a wide spectrum of what works for different kinds of moms.  If you are a “by-the-book-no-frills” kind of mom, we've got you covered. If you're a “snuggly-huggy-lovey-dovey” kind of mom, we've got you covered. If you're somewhere in between bear-hugs and high-fives we’ve STILL got you covered!   Whitney described figuring out what kind of routine works for you as “mom detective work”.   Look at problematic areas in your day to day routines with your kids and start trying to solve those problems by implementing different routine ideas to see if they help.  So many of Whitney's ideas were pure genius! Our very favorite idea solves the never-ending mom problem of sorting socks and having socks that never have matches! She implemented a terrific “sock dispenser” that she keeps in each child's cubby in the mud room. Listen in to hear the full description of how she makes this brilliant little contraption work!   Here's a visual to give you PVC pipe envy: Listen in for  so many more genius ideas!   In addition to all of that terrific material, listen to hear Beth, Andrea and Camille talk about skinny girl problems... it's actually more like Camille and Beth throwing Andrea under the bus because of our insane jealousy of her metabolism.  If you haven't figured it out by now, Andrea is a SAINT for what she lets Camille and Beth say! And most of all, you do not want to miss Whitney telling us about her brilliant Mom Fail, which she calls, “Street Pizza”!  It’s one of the best I've ever heard!   Links to books we talked about: Mom Squad Challenge:  

Have you guys ever heard of the Mom Conference?It’s a free conference with amazing presenters. I’ve listened to it for several years now and I love it. It always inspires me to be a better mom. This year I contributed a 3 Week Dinner Plan to the bundle they sell, so I’ve very happy to be part of that. Click this link to get registered for the free classes.Meet Beth, Andrea and Camille!I’m so pleased to have these hilarious ladies from the Family Looking Up Podcast on our show today. Their podcast is my favorite to listen to! I hope you’ll head over and subscribe to them as well. Today we’re talking about the highs and lows in motherhood. They have some great stories and fabulous advice.We talked a little bit about their episode with Melisa Moore about Getting Your Kids to Sleep. And when you sign up for their newsletter you will receive the fun little sleep tickets they talked about on the show.They also mentioned Ralphie Jacobs and her great tips on how to Stay Cool When You Feel Triggered. Such a great one. I really need to work on this!!Check out even more about Beth, Andrea and Camille at their website:http://familylookingup.com/For more family helps, recipes, travel tips and our other podcasts, head over to our website www.helpingofhappiness.com . We’re also all across social media. We’d love to have you interact with us there!

Family life is a bit insane. As mothers, we say and do things we never thought we would say or do. We can cry at the end of a harrowing day...or we can laugh. And the guests on today's episode choose to laugh! Beth, Andrea, and Camille from the podcast "Family Looking Up" are on the show today teaching us HOW to find humor and joy in the hard moments of motherhood. If you need a good chuckle or a pick-me-up to find the joy in your long days, this episode is for you. Show Notes Sign up to get ALL of the month's takeaways to your email: 3in30podcast.com/takeaways http://familylookingup.com/ My episode on their show: http://familylookingup.com/2018/04/17/creating-highlights-with-our-kids-guest-rachel-nielson/

It's just us on the episode today!  We asked our Mom Squad to ask us questions that they have been DYING to know the answer to and today we are answering them. Who are we? How did we meet our husbands? How did this podcast start? What goes into starting and running a podcast? Why are we so amazing? Ok no one asked us that :) We talk about how Family Looking Up got started, why we put in the hours to keep it going, and a little about each of our personal lives and families.      

Listen in as Saren is interviewed by the group "Family Looking Up" as they discuss ways to help prevent entitlement with our children.

Every Tuesday morning we wake up to a new episode of Family Looking Up with an amazing guest on the podcast.  They share their knowledge and experiences with all of us and hopefully give us some ideas of how to make our families a little better.  At the end of each episode we ask them for a “Mom Squad Challenge.” These challenges are meant to give us something plausible we can think about, work on, and apply to our lives each week.  This is one of my favorite parts of the episode. Instead of just hearing information and then moving on, we have the chance to make small changes for the better. In this episode Andrea, Beth, and Camille talk about some of our favorite “Mom squad Challenges” from past episodes and what we have done to apply them to our own lives.  We share the challenges that have made positive impacts in our lives and the ones that we completely failed at.

This week on Family Looking Up we were joined by Saren Eyre Loosli, founder of Power of Families, co-founder of Power of Moms, daughter of Richard and Linda Eyre, and mother of 5.  Saren holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and a Masters in Education from Harvard. She’s consulted and conducted training for numerous non-profits including the National Institute on Out-of-School Time, YMCA and One-Heart Bulgaria and has traveled to Africa and South America with Choice Humanitarian. ~ We discussed what entitlement is and why it is detrimental to the overall happiness and success of our children’s lives.   ~Saren shared great insights on what we can do, as parents, when we hear “My friends have this” or “ My friends don’t have to do that”.   ~We discussed a question that one of our listeners asked: "How do you raise entitlement free kids without being a “no mom” (always quick to say no to your kids)?”.   ~Gratitude is a great antidote to entitlement.  Saren discussed ways to teach gratitude to children.  We also explored the topic of teaching them the right principles that help them to FEEL the right things instead of just DOING the right things.   ~Many take their children into 3rd world countries to open their eyes to their blessings.  Not all parents can or want to do that. We talked about other options parents can explore without going to Ghana.   ~Saren had some terrific advice and insight on chore systems for children.  We discussed the pros and cons of them, why they are worth the trouble, and how to implement them.  We also discussed how defeated we all feel at our inability to be 100% dedicated to those systems, and why it’s okay to not be perfect.     Mom Squad Challenge Take 30 minutes this week to sit down with your kids and talk about the things they need to be responsible for in your home.  Include in the discussion, what you do in the home so they can understand how much you help them. If you don’t already have a simple chore system in place, this would be an ideal time to start one. To find out more about Saren Loosli, visit www.poweroffamilies.com . When you visit the website, you’ll find many books and resources available to you at no cost.  It is a fabulous resource!   Power of Families is also on Facebook and on Instagram as @poweroffamilies.   We want to thank Saren for her willingness to share her insights, experiences, and resources with us at Family Looking Up!

This week on Family Looking Up we are exploring the topic of fathering with Carey Casey, CEO of the National Center for Fathering (NCF).  Carey is the author of Championship Fathering: How to Win at Being a Dad and it’s sequel Championship Grandfathering: How to Build a Winning Legacy.  He was also general editor of the book 21-Day Dad’s Challenge: Three Weeks to a Better Relationship With Your Kids.  Since 2009, Carey has served on the White House Task Force on Fatherhood and Healthy Families.  Carey also served for five years as co-pastor of Lawndale Community Church, an inner-city church on Chicago’s west-side.  At Lawndale, Carey helped empower the community with health care, housing, education and economic growth. Carey has also served as a lecturer at the World Congress on Sports, the college football Senior Bowl, the National Association of Basketball Coaches Convention, at the Final Four, and the Super Bowl.  Carey and his wife Melanie live in Chicago Illinois. They are the parents of four children and have nine grandchildren.

This week on Family Looking Up we talk with author and Professor Josi Russell about literature and its impact on children and families.  We explore ways to help all family members to enjoy literature more and how to help use stories to teach and create meaningful conversations with our families. Josi Russell is an Associate Professor of English at Utah State University where she teaches Literature and Creative Writing.  She is a writer and has five published novels, one of which, The Caretaker, was a finalist for the Utah Book Award and for the Whitney Award. Josi’s number one tip for what parents can do to help kids have a positive reading experience and learn to love reading?  Parents need to read.  She said kids will love what you love in many instances and letting them see you read and enjoy books is the very first step. What if parents and/or kids really hate sitting down to read?  Are audiobooks an acceptable replacement for the reading experience?  Josi said that she believes in immersing kids in story and if that is through audio books then that’s fine. “What you are trying to accomplish here is a love for story and a love for narrative.  I would say give them all the options you can including audio books, picture books, chapter books, novels, anything you can to foster that love of narrative.  Once they get that they will find their own most comfortable path.” The Scholastic 2017 kids family reading report was referred to which showed that children who are read to hear millions more words than children who aren’t due to hearing words that are not in the everyday vocabulary of their parents.  As far as audio books are concerned, this would apply to reading or to listening. When dealing with a parent who really dislikes reading, she tells them to find the type of narrative that they enjoy whether that be sports stories, oral stories, family stories and communicate those to children to help them develop a love of story and the world of the mind. Josi said that if you can get kids to love story, then they will find the series that they love to read.  There isn’t one magic series for everyone because we all have very different intelligences.  If you help them to have a love of story then what they need in school will follow because they already have that passion and a confidence. Speaking of reading out loud to children, she said that it is the best thing that you can do with children.  First because of the literacy and second because it brings closeness with your child which they crave and need.  Read for fun rather than reading for a literacy goal.  If they enjoy the book with you then the literacy goal will intrinsically follow.   When picking great literature to read with your family look for “family strengthening themes.”  Those are the “big ideas” or themes “that will strengthen your family and give your kids a road map beyond what they see already around them.  Beyond the mirror, it gives them a window into new experiences and things they may face.  Some of those themes are the great themes of literature, such as sacrifice, where a character gives something up for another character.” Forgiveness, change, and redemption were others Josi talked about as wonderful themes to look for. How do we deal with finding books that we find appropriate for our kids?  First, we read the books ourselves to find what we want them to read.  Other than that, it’s hard to find good lists that mirror what we really want our kids to be exposed to.  Talking to friends who we trust and trying the books they recommend can be a very good resource for finding good literature.  At the end of these show notes there are lists from each of us at Family Looking Up as well as from Josi Russell on favorite books divided up by age.  One other resource available to parents is Amazon reviews.  A lot of content information can be gleaned as parents read reviews of books sold on Amazon. How do we help kids deal with coming across content in literature that they are uncomfortable with?  The best thing that parents can do to help?  Be talking with your kids about the books they are reading.  Be used to having literary conversations with our kids about the books they are reading. If we are having those literary conversations and find out about things they are uncomfortable about reading, then sometimes we need to advocate for our kids in appropriate circumstances.  We wouldn’t want our kids to watch a sexually explicit movie, but we oftentimes hold literature to a different standard.  We need to be in tune with how a book is affecting them and still be the parent. In Josi’s book Caretaker, there is an overarching theme of family and sacrifice that follows the lead character, Ethan Bryant.  In her writing Josi has been inspired by the good people that Josi has met in her life. She is also inspired by the big questions of “what would you do if you were in this circumstance?” Josi’s books are very family friendly. She has made a conscious choice to keep them that way because she says that stories are powerful and in our society we do not recognize the power that stories have.  Going through life and encountering stories that seemed to have more power to her than to others.  She saw how she would be devastated by certain stories that would stay with her for a long time.  This led her to understand as she writes that she has a strong respect for the power of story and if she is giving the world a story, she wants it to be one that matters and that anyone can read and come away with something positive from it. To learn more about Josi Russell go to www.josirussellwriting.com.  All of her books are also available at Amazon.com in E Book and print version.  The first two books in the Caretaker Chronicles, Caretaker, and it’s sequel, Guardian, are available in audiobook as well. To see our favorite book lists, as well as Josi's favorites, visit our website at http://www.familylookingup.com

Thanks for joining us on our very first episode of Family Looking Up. We want to help lift and encourage by discussing all things family. Today we talked about parenting, specifically raising more resilient kids with more teaching and less punishing. We talked with Niki Olsen, a Clinical Mental Health Counselor.   She has spent over 16 years working with youth and families specializing in a modality called Mind Body Bridging which can help a variety of issues. She is married with two little girls in elementary. She currently lives in Utah but is originally from Oregon. Niki loves to spend her free time with her family, exercising, and sleeping. We started our interview by discussing four conditions that have been identified as a common set of factors that predispose children to positive outcomes in the face of significant adversity.  These include facilitating supportive adult-child relationships (teaching v.s punishing), building a sense of self-efficacy and perceived control (effective consequences and praise), providing opportunities to strengthen adaptive skills and self-regulatory capacities (giving children independence now leads to becoming successful adults), and mobilizing sources of faith, hope, and cultural traditions (giving kids a sense of belonging and identity). Research has shown that children who have these things in their lives tend to be more resilient.  The skills she taught also can help us stop being mad and frustrated at our kids and give them (and  us) space to feel all the feelings and still teach our kids and get the results we want.   We finished by talking about not comparing ourselves to other moms. Niki pointed out that every family has their own issues.  Don’t compare your worst to their best! Mom Squad Challenge: Practice reflective listening with your kids. Instead of responding or reacting, just listen and repeat back to them what they are telling you.  By doing this, Niki teaches that the child is more likely to talk to you and tell you more than if you react. Books Niki loves: The Child Whisperer by Carol Tuttle Common Sense Parenting by Ray Burke Ph.D, Ron Heron, and Bridget A. Barnes M.S How to talk to your kids about Sex by Richard and Linda Eyre Where did I come From (I really don’t like it, but Camille loves it) by Peter Mayle and Arthur Robins