“Actions may speak louder than words," writes the researcher Angela Duckworth, "but actions and words together send the clearest message of all.”
In this episode, Michelle Larson, marriage and family therapist associate, and Amanda Suarez, school psychologist, talk about why it's so essential for families to explore values together. When we talk about what's most important to us, we make it easier to live aligned with those values.
One of the values that we have at Uplift Kids is helping families be intentional together, and this can look many, many different ways.
Without *some* intentional time, there can be drifting apart and a lack of meaning. So we wanted to talk about ways to be intentional.
One of the sources that we've pulled from in this episode is a book called The Intentional Family by a family therapist named William Doherty. Doherty talks about the need to balance rigidity and flexibility.
This approach — an approach that might be called a "wisdom approach" — is something that we explore and hold to consistently at Uplift Kids. It's a "both-and" approach rather than an "either-or" approach. And so the idea here is that we want to find a way to have a bit of structure and flexibility, meaning *some* time together.
In this episode we explore ways to make intentional time together.
While kids typically don't need to (or want to) talk about political policies, there are things parents can do to help them talk about differences in healthy and productive ways. In this episode, Amanda Suarez (school psychologist) and Michelle Larson (marriage and family therapist associate) give practical ideas to help kids listen and speak about what matters to them.
How do you help kids make friends in a digital age, especially when digital communication can be so fraught. Amanda, Michelle, and Jon talk about guidelines that can help parents and kids alike.
Join our parenting workshop in Utah on October 5th. We'd love to meet you in person alongside other parents interested in expansive spirituality and timeless values.
See details: https://upliftkids.org/workshop/
Amanda Suarez (school psychologist) and Michelle Larson (marriage and family therapist associate) talk about how to best help kids develop the skill of self-advocacy so they can be clear about their wants and needs.
We also announce a family day camp in Utah on October 4th. See details: https://upliftkids.org/uplift-family-day-camp/
In this episode, Amanda Suarez (school psychologist) and Michelle Larsen (marriage and family therapist associate) talk about common responses to stress and trauma — and how to develop a wise, confident, and calm response to such situations instead.
It all pairs well with our printable on the topic in our social and emotional library, found at:
UpliftKids.org/SEL
*Note that we've switched to new episodes every other week. In this episode we talk about our latest printable in our social and emotional library — a printable that outlines 6 breathing strategies that can help kids find a sense of calm throughout their lives. It's a useful way to get through an emotionally overwhelming moment at home, with friends, at school, or anywhere!
How can you help kids respond to problems instead of react to them? School psychologist Amanda Suarez and marriage and family therapist associate Michelle Larson talk about a timeless concept conveyed simply in one of our original printables that families can use at home with kids.
See our printables for members: https://upliftkids.org/social-and-emotional-skills-printables-for-kids/
In this week's episode, Uplift Kids cofounder Jon Ogden talks about our third family camp in Scholls Valley, Oregon, including some highlights from the feedback we received. Join the waitlist for next year's camp:
https://upliftkids.org/family-camp/
Jon also announces a new direction for the podcast, which will focus on exploring a new skills-based printable each week from our growing social and emotional printables page. Members have full access to these printables here:
https://upliftkids.org/social-and-emotional-skills-printables-for-kids/
Stay tuned for more printables!
In our final exploration of the book Raising Securely Attached Kids, Amanda, Michelle, and Jon talk about the need to balance warmth and structure in the home to build a trusting environment.
An excerpt, from Amanda:
"When I think about what this could look like in a home like in the morning there could be a visual checklist of, "This is the routine. This is what we do in the morning: We wake up, we have breakfast, we brush our teeth, we put on our shoes, we pack our school bag."
So there's something visual that gives structure, but there's also some, ritual of connection. ... So you could have a way where you're attending to the different parts of the day and like, how much structure do we have and how much warmth is also built into that structure."
See our new Rupture and Repair printable for members: https://upliftkids.org/social-and-emotional-skills-printables-for-kids/
This week Michelle (therapist associate) and Amanda (school psychologist) continue the conversation about Eli Harwood's book Raising Securely Attached Kids. They talk about a cooperation-based approach to parenting and where parents might go wrong in getting to that approach by being either too domineering or too indulgent. They also talk about reflective functioning and "good enough parenting." It's a conversation with lots of pragmatic and timeless parenting tips.
Members can join our book club on Monday, July 7th at 10am PT. (See our weekly email to register!)
Michelle, Amanda, and Jon discuss practical insights from Raising Securely Attached Kids by Eli Harwood. Hear how to experience attunement and co-regulation, giving your kids a foundation of love and generosity.
In this episode, Amanda Suarez and Jon Ogden explore one of the three frameworks we use in our conflict lesson. Use it to navigate conflict at home.
https://upliftkids.org/lessons/conflict/
Michelle returns next week, which is when we will start our conversation about Raising Securely Attached Kids by Eli Harwood.
See our writeup about our first book club for members, which focused on the book Already Free by the therapist Bruce Tift: https://upliftkids.org/blog/parenting-therapy-buddhism/
Also get ready for our next book club in a month. We'll explore Raising Securely Attached Kids: Using Connection-Focused Parenting to Create Confidence, Empathy, and Resilience by Eli Harwood: https://attachmentnerd.com/books/raising-securely-attached-kids
We will resume our normal podcast next week!
Amanda and Jon talk about the concept of having kindness toward everything that arises — whether it be an emotion, a situation we can avoid, or something else. It's a timeless skill to learn as a parent and a timeless skill to teach kids.
Join us for our book club on Monday, June 2nd. If you're an Uplift member, check your email inbox to register.
Michelle interviews her friend Brenda, who attended our parenting retreat earlier this year and came away with amazing insights. Sign up for the next retreat's waitlist:
https://upliftkids.org/parenting/
Also: Members can join our book club on June 2nd! See the Sunday email for the link.
Amanda, Michelle, and Jon continue their discussion of Bruce Tift's Already Free ahead of the book club for members on Monday, June 2nd. Listen to get practical insights about how to stay with your embodied immediacy during intense parenting situations so you can respond with clarity.
In this episode we introduce the basic concepts in the book Already Free by Bruce Tift, which is our first book for the Uplift book club. Listen for practical insights to help kids know they are already free and whole — and could also use some improvement. :)
This book and conversation is perfect for exploring your own patterns and helping kids navigate theirs.
Join our book club discussion — for Uplift members — on Monday, June 2nd at 10am PT / 11am MT / 12pm CT / 1pm ET
We've wrapped up two year's worth of episodes related to the lessons in our lesson library! We hope they've been helpful for prepping to do the lessons in your home.
At this point we'll be doing a few new things with the Uplift Kids podcast, including a book club for Uplift Kids members. Join us as we explore the first book — Already Free by Bruce Tift. Stay tuned via our podcast and weekly Sunday morning emails for details about how to participate in the book club!
We'll also be doing interviews on this podcast as well as returning to explore specific parenting-related questions. Thanks for listening! And, as always, we'd love to hear from you if you have any feedback or insights for us.
When we break the cycle of shame, we can express ourselves more freely and better connect with the people we love.
Note that there are many definitions and approaches to shame. In this lesson, we follow leading psychologists, including university professor Brené Brown, who says that shame is the “intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.”
