Tools and ideas about moving from guided homework to independent homework with school-age kids. Homework demands change. As kids get older, there are new skills to master with homework. Examples like time management on a project, using software and overcoming problems during the process of work. If our kids dine out on their natural talent only, eventually they will hit some hard walls as work becomes more difficult and be stuck. They need to get used to effort, hard work and learning how to get...
Oct 19, 2018•44 min
Our guest today Dr Michele Borba talks about how to help our kids tap into empathy. We talk about social and emotional learning and its value both now in school and as adults, the empathy advantage, how to talk about empathy with school age kids and what’s the most important thing to know about empathy. Growing Nimble Families podcast encourages the celebration of school age kids traveling through middle childhood Show Notes Follow: Dr Borba Website: micheleborba.com Resource : Book discussion g...
Sep 25, 2018•29 min
How about a different run-up to the start of back to school time? With a little planning and a little sharing, there’s a better way to have a successful back to school season. As the school age kids are getting older, there’s a possibility that they can share in the back to school systems and get started on learning to make some school decisions. As gatekeepers, often we know where to buy all the things, what to do first and how to organize the lists around the start of school and how to manage ...
Aug 31, 2018•33 min
Middle and secondary school kids have a lot of new things to handle. We’ve talked about managing projects and how to study in previous episodes. Today we’re talking 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. We’re talking about some of the big questions to do with motivation, learning and grades that appear in middle school including portals and letting them ask for help. Middle and S...
May 19, 2018•38 min
Jobs are disappearing and lots of new types of jobs appear all the time. The path towards school age kids future career and job ideas doesn’t have to be random. With the student ratio of students to career counselor in many schools being 491:1 it is really important that parents are involved in supporting the whole process. Our guest today is Jamie Beck, M.S, speaker and former CSU Career Counselor. She’s the founder of Career vision by jamie.com where she is reshaping the way job seekers fundam...
Mar 13, 2018•46 min
Anyone else experiencing a new normal with the kids? Things are different. There’s more of things happening that didn’t use to happen like arguments or talking back. You know it’s part of growing up but this doesn’t seem like the kids you know. Where has my child gone? This episode is all about how to be comfortable in this transition. Honor who they were, are and going to be and without losing your mind. Encouragement to establish new baselines and figure a way for more autonomy to happen. Grow...
Feb 19, 2018•25 min
As school age kids mature they bump up against a few truths. They are not perfect or the best. There are others who are better. They have to work harder at some things than others and it doesn’t seem fair that others find it easier. Feelings are hurt. They question themselves. They wonder, ‘I used to be good- great- amazing. What happened?’ “I can’t do this? I’m embarrassed to ask?’ ‘What do you mean I missed the deadline? It’s not that late. No one told me it was important! It’s not my fault! ‘...
Jan 12, 2018•35 min
This episode we are looking for the good in the stage we are in. We love to look back and remember fondly especially when times are tough in our current stage. If you’ve ever been stuck looking back and worrying about the future this is the episode for you to see how to move positively forward with your school age kid. Rituals help us move along and enjoy the stage we are at. Being positive with the things we are doing and going to be doing helps us see our kids struggles and keeps us on track. ...
Oct 28, 2017•32 min
Did you know there are six scientifically better ways to study and prepare for tests and quizzes that will help kids learn? As kids are starting back to school many are experiencing those words, ” Study for the test on Friday!” and coming home and reading through their work the night before ( morning of!) believing that this is a good way of studying. It’s generally the only study method they know at the beginning. Parent’s edition of study skills at home This is a Parent’s edition of how to stu...
Sep 02, 2017•43 min
School age kids have a lot of big feelings. Dr Carla Naumburg from Carla Naumburg shares mindfulness practices families can do that help develop skills of listening, paying attention and empathy. Mindfulness sets the stage for dealing with stress and managing big feelings. Growing Nimble Families podcast encourages the celebration of school age kids traveling through middle childhood Why is mindfulness such a big deal to learn for our kids? Ever wondered what mindfulness is not Teaching about bi...
Jun 10, 2017•40 min
May is the season of testing. With testing comes stress and anxiety. And that’s just the parents! Just kidding. Well not really. There’s a different tone in the house as each child in the family prepares for tests. Whether they are elementary or Primary kids who just go in and test or middle and secondary students who need to study for their test they could all do with a lot of encouraging words. If you’re not into the positive phrase habit, now is a great time to get started on this year round ...
May 13, 2017•48 min
Project work can really test the limits of modern families. We all tackle projects differently and each child is no different. Do you have a cram it all in at the last minute, stay up late child? Do you have a start strong and get sidetracked with the colours and font child? Chances are however your child tackles project work it’s different to you and when you need to work together to go buy the things or what to say to Grandpa on the phone it’s not unusual for things to get heated. Listen in fo...
Apr 14, 2017•33 min
There are some big changes for RaisingPlayfulTots and Play-Activities. Tune in and hear what’s up! Would welcome your feedback WHAT TO DO NEXT: So you’ve listened to this episode – if you liked it and want to hear other ones – and I really think you will….you should do this right now: How to listen and subscribe to this show I’d love to hear from you about the show. Any comments about the podcast use the Voicemail Use the hashtag #creatingfamilyhaven If you’ve enjoyed the show please take the ti...
Mar 30, 2017•8 min
That gap between loving them in a protective cocoon and letting them experience the struggles and hardships of life is so hard for parents. Even a butterfly has to leave that protective cocoon and fly. Parents are often told they are overprotective. It’s not good. Do different. There’s a lot of fear around what might happen to our children that leads to being overprotective; some of it is genuine fear and some caught fear. This school aged time is a good time to address taking risk issues in an ...
Feb 10, 2017
Routines and Rhythms become more important as our lifestyles change. In the early years there were a lot individual milestones like walking, reading first words, blowing bubbles, staying and playing with something for longer and longer times. As we move on into the school years we need many more whole family systems . Systems where we all have to work together to make it work. Things like family meeting, contributions, family meals/ lunch, family game night/day/afternoon and reading aloud togeth...
Jan 21, 2017•30 min
We know about Early Childhood, Tweens and Teens but what is that time between Early Childhood and Tweens all about? We discuss that school aged time I call Midhood that starts at aged 5 and goes through to about 12. Today I want to talk about the importance of the school age years and how this overlooked time really is a missed opportunity for family growth, family culture and family connectedness. I want to show you how to change this so you continue to build on all that Early Childhood wisenes...
Nov 19, 2016•23 min
If you’ve not seen, Raising a digital kid without having been one by Galit Breen of theselittlewaves.net you are missing out. It’s a really good TED talk. Galit is our guest today and is author of the book Kindness Wins . In an age of grit, perseverance and growth mindset some of the other skills like kindness have taken a bit of a battering. Isn’t kindness too soft a skill? Won’t they get eaten alive unless we teach them how to win at all costs? We want our children to be kind and we enjoy expe...
Oct 28, 2016•47 min
Today we’re continuing the theme of Life Skills but not the practical hands on life skills of mowing the lawn or following a system like learning how to use a washing machine. We’re going to look at 10 social life skills. Social life skills are trickier to pin down. Just like life skills over time practice makes it easier but these skills are impacted by each of our families and the personalities that make up our families. Leave a comment below or on a voicemail Growing Nimble Families podcast e...
Oct 08, 2016•59 min
Tony and Alisa DiLorenzo, who are best selling authors and hosts of the world’s #1 Marriage Podcast, One extraordinary marriage . share their tips on maintaining relationships, marriage and the art of balancing kids, the spouse and not forgetting yourself. We get into adult conversation about relationships so maybe this is an episode for headphones and away from little ears. It’s exciting to have a husband and wife perspective on family and kids together in one interview. We go beyond, spend tim...
Sep 23, 2016•47 min
Part two of creating a family meal ritual that lasts for families. Listen to part one Now we’re at the table and beginning to eat. Listen in to hear ideas on how to create your family meal ritual full of memories and connection that grows with you from high chair to teens. Leave a comment below or on a voicemail Raising Playful Tots – the podcast for parents who want to make the most of their playtime and enjoy simple parenting Click the play button above and let’s get some ideas Show notes 00:0...
Sep 09, 2016•34 min
New choices to make with the new school year for everyone. What will happen in your family this year? It’s really easy to just fall into a routine with back to school but our family is different each and every year. We made different priorities depending on our stage, where we live and what’s going on with work. Do we want some of what we had last year or a lot of something new? When we start a new school year we have a chance for a new start in our parent mindset. A new way we want to handle th...
Aug 19, 2016•28 min
Families should gather together over a meal. Yeah yeah yeah! We’ve heard that before. Tried it before and it didn’t really work out. This week we we focus less on the why and more on the how we create a meal ritual so that family times run smoothly. ( For the family and us!) Leave a comment below or on a voicemail Raising Playful Tots – the podcast for parents who want to make the most of their playtime and enjoy simple parenting Click the play button above and let’s get some ideas Show notes 00...
Jun 10, 2016•24 min
We only know what we know. This episode is a little different, perhaps in mindset as different education systems are shared. But the theme is simple parenting. We want all our children to make progress and achieve. The common measurement for achievement is usually solely high attainment or grades. The higher the grade the better. There will be many children who find achieving those high grades and maintaining them hard or they are just unobtainable however they have worked hard and made signific...
May 31, 2016•47 min
Do you get stuck in the loop of nag, complain, wait, nag, complain and wait? We know that learning from our mistakes and failures makes us a better person but it is so so hard to see our children heading for a fall or when failure is just visible. Parents usual are quick to jump in and rescue. Shouldn’t we rescue? Isn’t that part of our role? As children get older some seem more resilient when they make mistakes and brush them off. Others have parents who manage their children’s lives to avoid t...
May 16, 2016•52 min
Character Conversation Cards are available in two formats: task cards (pdf) and an audio file. The audio file is a downloadable .mp3 file of the 25 conversation task cards read with a special effect to signal when to stop the audio to answer questions. This set is all about developing habits,goal setting, unity and cooperation and is the Audio version. Note: Audio bundles have the music note and Audio and do not contain the the pdf version. Developing habits, goal setting, unity and cooperation ...
May 02, 2016
Summer is coming! What memories do you have of childhood? Often they are around summer. If you want to create lasting memories why not try some simple family traditions. Every season is a good opportunity to have special traditions just for that season. Summer is no different. There are lots of traditions to choose from and you can’t do them all. But when you find you few then it’s awesome. Everyone looks forward to them. Listen into this episode to hear some ideas for simple summer traditions f...
Apr 30, 2016•34 min
There are so many things that we are juggling with parenting. If this is you then this episode might be just what you’re looking for because if we’re so busy trying to keep all the plates spinning we may not realize that we don’t actually need all the plates spinning. There might be another way. As usual in this episodes I want to challenge you to think deeply about your family and see if small changes will make big impacts in the family atmosphere and the way our families run. We rotate our mat...
Apr 15, 2016•43 min
Who doesn’t love sleep? When I cut my sleep time I know what will happen and often we assume the same thing will happen to our children. We’ll just be a little blurry and we just have to get through it! Brain science is telling us differently now. Children with sleep loss have very different effects than adults. It’s surprising how differently sleep loss is to a child and teen than it is to an adult. We’re not talking about babies and sleep but elementary and older children. So much happens when...
Mar 25, 2016•27 min
Screens are a magnet in some homes and not in others. Lisa Weiner from Handmade Parenting in this episode talks about what types of things children can be doing if they are not on screens. We look at other screen time woes in this interview and peek into a screen free home and ask those questions. During this episode we explore screen time questions for families. Listen out for the special coupon code . 2.18 What types of things will the children be doing if they’re not on screens ? 6.33 Element...
Mar 19, 2016•42 min
If I want to have quality verbal interactions, what are 5 ways that I can improve that? The famous Hart/Risley study showed us the massive ( 30 million) word gap that happens between a low income family and other families in a very specific age group. Further down I have lots of resources to learn about why that happens and more detail about the study. The bigger question now for us is how do we have quality verbal interactions beyond the instructional with each child when we lead full lives. We...
Mar 11, 2016•26 min
