Sunshine Parenting

Visit Sunshine Parenting for more resources & episodes. Get on your shoes, hop on your treadmill or go outside, and join summer camp directors, moms, & joy chasers Audrey "Sunshine" Monke & Sara "Salsa" Kuljis as they share updates, resources, ideas and encouragement with each other and with you! Related Episodes & Posts Ep. 28: Focusing on Our Kids’ Strengths with Audrey and Sara 4 Ways to Focus on our Kids' Strengths Ep.115: Giving Kids Meaningful Compliments (Sara talks about 3 "Levels of Affirmation") Ep. 57: The Importance of Adult Friendships with Sara Kuljis Links Parenting in Place Masterclass

This episode features my conversation with Dr. Michele Borba about her phenomenal, must-read book THRIVERS: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine - 7 Teachable skills of heart, mind, & will that set happy, healthy, high-performing kids apart. Links Dr. Michele Borba's Website Thrivers book info & video series [ENCORE] Ep. 138: Unselfie with Dr. Michele Borba About Dr. Michele Borba Dr. Michele Borba is an educational psychologist, best-selling author, and TODAY show contributor who has spoken to over one million participants on five continents and to countless media about child development issues. She blends 40 years of teaching and consulting experience with latest science to offer sound, realistic advice to parents teachers and child advocates about helping children thrive. Learn more about Michele.  

Visit Sunshine Parenting for more resources & episodes. Get on your shoes, hop on your treadmill or go outside, and join summer camp directors, moms, & joy chasers Audrey "Sunshine" Monke & Sara "Salsa" Kuljis as they share updates, resources, ideas and encouragement with each other and with you! Related Episodes & Posts Ep.115: Giving Kids Meaningful Compliments (Sara talks about 3 "Levels of Affirmation") Presence: My One Word for 2020 Ep. 57: The Importance of Adult Friendships with Sara Kuljis Links Parenting in Place Masterclass Simple Boiled Crab Recipe (Cookpad.com)

Through her psychotherapy practice and her own experience as a divorced mother of three children, Dr. Jenna Flowers knows the importance of prioritizing children's well-being and practicing "conscious coparenting." Her book, The Conscious Parent's Guide to Coparenting: A Mindful Approach to Creating a Collaborative, Positive Parenting Plan, About Dr. Jenna Flowers Dr. Jenna Flowers has her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist. She has a private practice in Newport Beach, California teaching parenting classes, and seeing individuals, children and couples and is often asked to consult on divorce cases addressing coparenting issues. In 2016, The Conscious Parent's Guide to Coparenting was published by Simon and Schuster. Dr. Jenna is EMDR therapy trained and has studied Attachment Focused EMDR. She has had the privilege of attending consultation groups with interpersonal neurobiology pioneer and author of "Parenting From the Inside Out" Daniel Siegel, MD., Tina Payne

Visit Sunshine Parenting for more resources & episodes. Get on your shoes, hop on your treadmill or go outside, and join summer camp directors, moms, & joy chasers Audrey "Sunshine" Monke & Sara "Salsa" Kuljis as they share updates, resources, ideas and encouragement with each other and with you!

Show notes & links available here. Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources.  Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families. This is an encore presentation of one of my favorite episodes from 2020, my conversation with Jim Burns, President of HomeWord and the Executive Director of the HomeWord Center for Youth and Family at Azusa Pacific University. Jim speaks to thousands of people around the world each year. He has close to 2 million resources in print in 30 languages. He primarily writes and speaks on the values of HomeWord which are: Strong Marriages, Confident Parents, Empowered Kids, and Healthy Leaders. Some of his most popular books include: Confident Parenting, The Purity Code, Creating an Intimate Marriage, and Closer. Jim and his wife, Cathy, live in Southern California and have three grown daughters, Christy, Rebecca, and Heidi; two sons-in-law, Steve and Matt; and two grandchildren, James and Charlotte.

Put on your shoes, hop on your treadmill or go outside, and join Audrey "Sunshine" Monke & Sara "Salsa" Kuljis as they walk and talk, sharing updates, resources, ideas and encouragement with each other and with you! Visit Sunshine Parenting for more resources & episodes.

Show notes & links. Check out Audrey's book, HAPPY CAMPERS. Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources.  Subscribe to Sunshine Parenting email updates for free resources and ideas for happier, more connected families. Links The Parent Compass: Navigating Your Teen's Wellness & Academic Journey in Today's Competitive World. website | parentcompassbook.com instagram | @parentcompass facebook | TheParentCompass linkedIn | Cindy Muchnick and Jenn Curtis podcast | Parent Compass on SmartSocial About this episode In this episode, I talk with co-authors Cynthia Clumeck Muchnick, MA and Jenn Curtis, MSW, about their book, The Parent Compass: Navigating Your Teen's Wellness & Academic Journey in Today's Competitive World. Bragging rights and bumper stickers are some of the social forces fueling today’s parenting behavior—and, as a result, even well-intentioned parents are behaving badly. Many parents don’t know how best to support their teens,

Show notes & links available here. Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources.  Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families. In this episode, Audrey's guest is Dr. Michele Borba, an educational psychologist, parenting expert, and author of 24 books. Her most recent book is Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World. The aim of Dr. Borba's work is to strengthen children's empathy and resilience and break the cycle of youth violence. In this book, she shares her experience meeting kids from all over the world and discovering the unprecedented global epidemic of mental health disorders. Watch Audrey & Michele's chat on video Big Ideas 1 in 3 kids has overwhelming stress levels. As a generation, kids today are lonelier, more risk-averse, and lacking in curiosity. Dr. Borba began to examine the causes and found the lower the income of the kid, the happier the child. Studies found that in the U.S

Show Notes Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources.  Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  This is an encore presentation of one of my favorite episodes. Enjoy! In this episode, I'm reading one of my most popular blog posts. It's one that's really applicable during these times that we often take to just spend some time reconnecting with our families: Why We Need To Unplug to Connect with Our Families. I’ve been following the trends and research about screen use and have long been an advocate of unplugging. I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of unplugging each summer at camp and have fought back in my own family to rescue us from being sucked into our screens 24/7. Yet, even with all that I've learned and know about the importance of getting off our screens, I've still struggled with myself and my kids when we're not at camp getting us off our screens consistently. It's really easy to get sucked right back into t

Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources.  Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  This is an encore presentation of one of my favorite episodes. Enjoy! Each month this year, I've shared a One Simple Thing tip for creating happier, more connected families. For this episode, I share all twelve tips! 12 Tips for Happier, More Connected Families January: Daily Family Sharing February: Calm the Morning Chaos March: Discovering Your "Authentic" Self April: How to get Closer to your Kid in 5 Minutes a Day May: 3 Reasons to Give Your Kid a "WOW" Today: How to Create More Positivity at Home June: Pick a Summer Theme! July: 4 Ways to Focus on our Kids' Strengths August: More of, Less of, Same of September: The Magic Relationship Ratio October: Why We Need to Unplug to Connect with Our Families November: 7 Reasons to #optoutside December: 100 Family Memories Related Posts/Podcast Episodes 5 Simple Year-End Reflection Act

Show Notes Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources.  Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  This is an encore presentation of one of my favorite episodes. Enjoy! In episode 108, I'm chatting with Natalie Silverstein about her new book, Simple Acts: The Busy Family's Guide to Giving Back. We talk about the importance of instilling the value of service and acts of kindness. She shares how she created a resource of volunteer opportunities for parents and children in her community and what led to her writing this book for families. It is full of ways to make time in your family's busy life for service and suggestions for making service part of your family's culture. Big Ideas Doing service, acts of kindness, helping others is a wonderful way to grow empathy, compassion, and open-mindedness in young children. Studies show that people who volunteer with their families as children are more likely to do so as an adul

Show Notes Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources.  Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  This is an encore presentation of one of my favorite episodes. Enjoy! At its core, the Enneagram helps us to see ourselves at a deeper, more objective level and can be of invaluable assistance on our path to self-knowledge.- The Enneagram Institute Website In Episode 104, I'm chatting with my daughter Meredith who--like me--enjoys learning more about herself and other people. The tool we discuss most is the Enneagram, which Meredith discovered last year through her employer and introduced to me and the rest of our family. Big Ideas It is important for parents, and anyone who works with kids, to be self-aware. Understanding personality types can help us to create healthier relationships because it affects the way we view the behavior of others, as well as our own reactions in different situations. Empathy increases wh

Show Notes Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources.  Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  This is an encore presentation of one of my favorite episodes. Enjoy! You don’t have to adopt or foster a kid to help kids in the system. There is so much need. You can volunteer. Especially for older kids, you can provide scholarships or skills training… Don’t forget these children in your communities. Just think about some way you or your family can contribute. It can even be as simple as taking a meal to a foster family. Audrey Monke In Episode 61, for November’s National Adoption Month, I’m chatting with Anne Driscoll, owner of Branches Books & Gifts in Oakhurst, California. We talk about our families’ experiences with adoption and share advice for prospective adoptive parents. Big Ideas We compare and contrast international adoption and domestic foster care adoption. Which route to take depends on many factor

SHOW NOTES Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources.  Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families. Kindness is a character trait we value highly in our friends, family members, and co-workers, and yet our kids may not know how much we want them to be kind, considerate, contributing members of their community. For World Kindness Day (November 13 - the day this episode is being released), I'm doing a deep dive into simple ideas for raising kinder kids and creating a kinder world. Let's focus on kindness, not just today but every day. BIG IDEAS 80% of the youth surveyed agreed with the statement, “My parents are prouder if I get good grades in my classes then if I'm a caring community member in class and school." We need to focus on raising kinder humans. Giving a compliment is a really simple way to spread kindness and also to show our kids a really, really important social skill. "Being considerate of others will take

SHOW NOTES Raise Thriving Kids  Join my PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources!  Subscribe for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  In Episode 164, I’m chatting with my friend Sara Kuljis of Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp and Emerald Cove Day Camp. We talk about family gratitude practices and lessons from camp for having more grateful families. At Thanksgiving, it's easy to remember to be grateful, but the habit of gratitude -- practiced at camp, at home, and in the world -- helps us to be happier all year long. BIG IDEAS Gratitude is a muscle. We can build it with practice. Research has shown that those who express gratitude daily have a more optimistic view of life and a healthier well-being. Developing relationships with the people around us makes it easier to share authentic gratitude. Model respect by thanking others, especially those who serve us. Use their first names when possible. Make eye contact Ways to show gratitud

SHOW NOTES Join the Sunshine Parenting PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources! This month's Patreon resource: 31 Simple Things: 31 of my favorite tips for happier, more connected families. Join Audrey's email subscriber community for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  Wondering what to do about your personal - and our world's - current struggles? Niki Spears has practical strategies for finding the opportunities within our struggles. Niki is a former school principal who now works as an educator and change leader. She shares her passion and enthusiasm for creating positive school culture based on shared leadership. Niki is leading the charge to develop positive schools by sharing the importance of embracing a leadership mindset. Niki Spears is the co-founder of the Energy Bus for Schools Leadership Journey. She started this organization to bring the positive messages of Jon Gordon’s book, The Energy Bus, to schools everywhere.

SHOW NOTES Join the Sunshine Parenting PATREON squad for special perks, including bonus podcast episodes, exclusive posts, and resources! This month's Patreon resource: 31 Simple Things: 31 of my favorite tips for happier, more connected families. Join Audrey's email subscriber community for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  Frustrated with your kids' (or your partner's) behavior? Dr. Catherine Pearlman discovered, over her many years of coaching parents, that often the best way to curb an undesired behavior is to give it less attention. In this episode, I talk with Catherine, who is the founder of The Family Coach and author of Ignore It! How Selectively Looking the Other Way Can Decrease Behavioral Problems and Increase Parenting Satisfaction, about the helpful strategies Catherine has shared with countless parents in her columns, speaking, and coaching practice. In Ignore It, Pearlman outlines the occasions when ignoring behavior is appropriate, how to reengage when the behavior s

Join the Sunshine Parenting PATREON squad for bonus perks, including bonus podcast episodes and exclusive posts and resources! Join Audrey's email subscriber community for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  This week on the podcast, hear directly from my kids about their thoughts about my parenting. My guests are my oldest and youngest kids, Gretchen (age 26) and Owen (age 17). They happen to be the only two of our kids at home with us during quarantine. We talk about life at home together during COVID, how my parenting has changed over the years, and their thoughts on rules, fairness, screen time, early bed times, siblings getting along, independence, and much more. BIG IDEAS • Parenting can get more "relaxed" over the years so that sometimes kids in different birth order positions have some different experiences. • Understanding different family member's personalities can help you better understand areas where there are repeated arguments and learn how to better respond to each other

Check out Sara & Audrey's Raise Thriving Kids Course! Join the Sunshine Parenting PATREON squad for bonus perks, including bonus podcast episodes and exclusive posts and resources! Join Audrey's email subscriber community for resources and ideas for happier, more connected families.  This week on the podcast, Sara Kuljis and I talk about the challenges of having young adults (high school and college age) stuck at home during a season of their lives when they are most wanting to separate from us and be with their peers. In this episode, we talk about how to better understand and cope with our young adult children's behavior, especially during COVID. ABOUT SARA KULJIS Sara is a good friend, fellow camp professional, and a regular podcast guest on Sunshine Parenting. Sara is the mother of three young adults (two college students and one high schooler) and a Gallup Strengths Coach. She is the owner and director of Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp and Emerald Cove Day Camp. Sara offers popular parenting workshops i