Art Creativity & Wellbeing

Back in episode 140, parenting author KJ Dell'Antonia gave us many more great ideas than could be digested in one conversation… So for the first time in We Turned Out Okay history she's got 3 Your Child Explained episodes all to herself! In our conversation KJ commented: "after a month we get tired of nagging, "… it's easier just to load this dishwasher myself…" and then we do - and then we're back to square one." Today: the one thing you can do in your parenting that makes everything else either easier or unnecessary! (Can you tell I've been reading The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan?) Click weturnedoutokay.com/147 to to listen, to sign up for tonight's (Thursday, March 30, 2017, 8 PM EST) live, free NPC FAQ Q&A (at which you can grab a free copy of Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics, my e-book that helps you handle everything your little kids can throw at you) AND to sign up for the free, live Common Parenting Challenges class coming up in April! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe

Today's episode – which has some swears, please listen away from your kids or with headphones – is one I've been working on putting together for a really long time: in it, a corporate lawyer, a midwife, and I sit down in a roundtable and discuss 3 topics really relevant to you, one chosen by each of us. Corporate lawyer and mom-of-2 Angela Gregory lived down the street from us until just a few years ago, and has been a great role model for me about how to follow your passion as the family breadwinner and support your loved ones as the kids grow up. Midwife and mom in a blended family of five children Dina Fraize has also been a great role model, showing how to embrace the chaos in a large family and raise thoughtful, engaged young men. We've been friends now for years, since our kids were pretty small, and I know you're going to get so much out of our conversation! Or should I say, conversations… this is part one of 2 roundtables because we just had so much to talk about. Up for discussion today: how to not raise a-holes, The French Toast Alert System and how the culture of fear really messes with parents of young children, and making sure sure that we don't put the wrong kinds of pressure on our young kids! Click weturnedoutokay.com/146 for show notes and key links, including sign-up links to two upcoming free, live online classes I'm teaching: 1) the FAQ Q&A about the Ninja Parenting Community coming up THIS Thursday, March 30 and where you can get a free copy of my parenting book, Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics and 2) the Common Parenting Challenges class coming up April 20! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe

"My four-year-old daughter is fine with our schedule a lot of the time. But sometimes she rejects it altogether! How can I make it so she's going along?" Recently I spoke with a mom who shared 3 key parenting struggles; I knew that you'd be struggling (most likely, anyway) with the same stuff, so I've put together a series of Common Parenting Challenges based on our conversation. Today, we dig into scheduling! Sometimes kids really rail against a schedule of any kind. How to help? Listen to today's episode : ) Click weturnedoutokay.com/145 for complete show notes and key links – including "Helping Marla Streamline Busy Mornings" episode 82, and to sign up for two things: the upcoming free, live NPC FAQ Q&A on March 30, 8 PM EST (where you can get a free copy of Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics); and the free, live Common Parenting Challenges class on Thursday night April 20, 8 PM EST! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe

A few weeks ago, in episode 140, guest KJ Dell'Antonia dropped so many knowledge bombs that I knew we'd need more than one Your Child Explained to really comprehend them all. Here's part 2 of 3 – all about homework and how to intervene when your child can't take anymore! Click weturnedoutokay.com/144 for show notes, links to last fall's homework episode and conversation with the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics – and to sign up for the free, live NPC FAQ Q&A I'm hosting Thursday night, March 30 at 8 PM EST (where you can grab your free copy of Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics, the book that helps you handle every challenge your kids throw at you!) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe

"How do I keep my kids safe online? How do I keep my devices safe from hackers?" If you've ever asked yourself either of these questions, you are going to love today's episode. Today's guest, Rich Stearman, president of the web design company Ashdown Technologies, addresses these issues and lots more on the show! Ben, our boys, and I have been really close with Rich, his wife Kathy, and their boys for decades – since before either of us couples had any kids, in fact. Rich is our go-to guy for technology questions; I asked him onto the show so that he can be your go-to guy as well! (At least for the length of this episode : ) True to form, our conversation ranges far and wide, and there's a lot more great parenting information in here than merely about technology. Click weturnedoutokay.com/143 for key links and to listen! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe

You don't want your kids to have any more screen time – and your spouse plops them in front of the tube. You know that giving in to a temper tantrum is the fastest route to more, and longer, temper tantrums; yet your spouse gives in again and again. Sound familiar? Today we talk all about how to handle when your spouse isn't on the same page (and your page is the right page). Recently while talking with a mom of 2 young girls, some pretty major - and common - parenting issues came up. I knew that, if this mom is struggling with these issues, that you probably are as well! Hence our series: Common Parenting Challenges. Join us during the March and April Just You and Me episodes as we address these parenting challenges one by one! Read the show notes, get the How to Handle Every Temper Tantrum guide, and listen to the show by going to https://weturnedoutokay.com/142! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe

During Tuesday's guest conversation, mom and author KJ Dell'Antonia shared the results of a pretty big (1000-person) survey of parents she commissioned as research for her upcoming book. The thing that parents worry about most? "Discipline," KJ shares. Discipline enters into many aspects of our parenting lives. It's firmness in enforcing rules; consistency in keeping routines established; being good models for our children. During our conversation, I share a lesson taught to me long ago, in my first years of teaching, about "not moving our kids' walls." KJ was so taken with this idea that she quotes me in her blog this week! Click weturnedoutokay.com/141 to listen, and to read about how moving our children's walls creates the bad behavior we really don't want to see. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe

Today's guest didn't set out to be a writer. But after getting her law degree and being a practicing attorney for six years, she made a discovery: law just wasn't her thing; instead, she found, she was a writer. In the spirit of finding stuff out through writing, KJ Dell'Antonia began freelancing about motherhood; she's written for Slate magazine, Parenting magazine, Parents magazine, and many others. She is now a contributing editor and columnist on the Well Family page at the New York Times, and currently on book leave to write – what else? – a book that's going to help us be happier in our parenting. KJ shares where her research for this as-yet-unnamed parenting book is taking her, and you're going to be thrilled because she's investigating all the problems that you are most likely currently living with! To find out how to handle getting your kids to do more around the house, how to help with homework, and how to be a part of KJ's chores project (i.e.: getting your kids to do more chores) click weturnedoutokay.com/140! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe

When listener Marcy wrote recently, asking for help with her son, whom "counselors and therapists believe may be suffering from depression and anxiety," and the decision to either keep him in school or pull him out to homeschool, I initially thought I'd answer her question in a Your Child Explained episode, and address the school-homeschool decision. On reflection, however, I saw something bigger in Marcy's question and decided to focus this Just You and Me episode on the bigger issue: how to help when a child is anxious or depressed. Kids can be anxious and/or depressed for any number of reasons. As parents, even if we are not completely sure what's causing the worries and anxiety, it's our job to do everything we can to help. Click weturnedoutokay.com/139 to read Marcy's full question and the three ways I identify to help, as well as links to other helpful resources! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe

I've been really wanting to do a show on potty training, but I've held back for a few reasons: one biggie is that I just haven't found a great book on the subject, and another is that my experience potty training my oldest was really tough! But recently I heard from listener Erika, who had this to say: "I have to have the most stubborn child on the planet and have tried everything I can think of. Rewards, candy, bribes, consequences, charts, toys, reverse psychology. I am out of ideas and at my wits end." Erika goes on to say that her son has twice been completely potty trained – and has regressed. She's very worried because he will start kindergarten in the fall and she's concerned about the social aspects of that, harassment by other kids, etc.… Very similar, in fact, to how I was feeling when my oldest was totally not into potty training! And so today we take on possibly one of the biggest, scariest subjects in all of parenting young children… Go to weturnedoutokay.com/138 for show notes and to listen to this episode! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe