Active & Connected Families

Today, we released one of those episodes that is full of knowledge gems and truth bombs for ALL parents out there. My conversation with Waki Wynn, in which he shares his invaluable insights into parenting, is truly one of my favorite conversations ever. We talk about finding your community as a parent, helping our high school boys develop lifelong friendships that will serve them for the rest of their lives, allowing our kids to eventually have their own family that's healthy and can move through sadness, grief and trauma together, and so much more! This episode with Waki is so fully packed with invaluable insights that we decided to release it in two parts. You can have a listen to part one today and we'll be back with the second part next week! In this episode filled with darn good parenting advice, we discuss: How Waki was able to create such strong, life-long friendships; How we're influenced by the people we spend time with; How your group of people defines your norms; Helping our kids develop healthy norms; Who's influencing your child beyond the doors of your house? Who else has their ear? And more! We always love hearing from you, so don't be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today's episode! Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much! And if you haven't done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don't miss any of our future episodes! More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at: https://www.activeconnected.com/darn-good-parenting-advice-1/

In just five days, Summer League Swimming season is starting across Virginia! I'm so excited - and not just for myself. The swim team is the most fruitful experience of social and emotional growth for my children I could wish for. Whether you're a pool rat or not at all, in this episode I will share with you what parts of the summer magic at the pool can be useful for you to integrate into parts of your kid's life, what parts you want to lean into and what parts might just not be a priority for your family right now. In this episode on Summer League Swimming, we cover: Why Summer League Swimming is ripe with developmental opportunities for our kids; How the pool helps our kids develop their identity; The 'third place'; The opportunities for building community at the pool for both our kids and ourselves; Strategies to help you and your kids capitalize on this magical part of your lives; And so much more! We always love hearing from you, so don't be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today's episode! Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much! And if you haven't done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don't miss any of our future episodes! More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at: https://www.activeconnected.com/summer-league-swimming/

It's May and that means it's almost swim-team season! With that, I notice the conversation around swimsuits, bodies, and body image coming up in my sessions more and more too. That's why we're-releasing an old episode on the toxic culture we live in around body image. In this episode, Caroline Megargel and I talk with Sarah Lewis from The Lewis Practice about the power we ourselves and our kids have when we start noticing the toxic messages we get around food and bodies. If you want to be more empowered about your own food and body image journey and if you want to give your sons and daughters the opportunity to empower themselves as they walk around this world, I'm sure you're going to enjoy this episode! [And if you want to dive deeper into the topic, scroll back to our episodes from January 2022. This is just the first episode of a 6-episode series on disordered eating!] In this episode on the toxic culture around body image, we cover: How we see the culture negatively impacting adults and teens; The image (social) media paints about how we should look, act, and feel; The role of Social Media's algorithm in the images we see; How the way we talk about our bodies impacts our kids' body image; What we as parents can do and say about this; And more! We always love hearing from you, so don't be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today's episode! Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much! And if you haven't done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don't miss any of our future episodes! More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at: https://www.activeconnected.com/toxic-culture-body-image-2/

Today, we're talking about the basics of screen time. With these tips you will be able to develop a screen time plan that will help your whole family work a little more smoothly. Screen time expectations is one of the things I work most on with families that walk through my door. That's why we made this episode part of our Therapy Greatest Hits series, in which we share the tips we as therapist use most. Because in the end, all families go through the same things. We hope these tips will get you through some tough conversations with your teen you definitely will have to have around screen time. In this episode on screen time basics, we discuss: The effects screen usage has on our kids and families; The positive things screen usage brings us and our kids; My top tips about screen time; Four rules I help families implement from the get-go; Some pro-tips; And much more! We always love hearing from you, so don't be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today's episode! Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much! And if you haven't done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don't miss any of our future episodes! More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at: https://www.activeconnected.com/screen-time-basics/

Today, we're starting our mini-series on the greatest therapy hits with the #1 thing I talk to parents about, no matter what their reason for coming into my office. Whether it's because their kid is having meltdowns, is feeling depressed, worries a lot, has difficulty following directions, … The very first thing I talk to the parents about is increasing the quality and frequency of the time we spend with our kids, i.e. strategies to enhance quality time. How do we as busy parents, with lots of demands and frequently raising multiple kids get the most bang for our buck when we're with them? The idea is to find something you can do EVERY DAY to truly connect with your children in a way that makes them feel seen and works for your family. Let's walk this through! In this episode on enhancing quality time with our kids, we cover: How to increase the quality and frequency of the time you spend with your kids; The 3 things to focus on during your special time with your kids; Leaning into your child's 'love language'; How I implement these strategies with each of my children, specific to their own needs; And much more around enhancing quality time with your kids! We always love hearing from you, so don't be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today's episode! Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much! And if you haven't done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don't miss any of our future episodes! More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at: https://virginiafamilytherapy.com/enhance-quality-time/

Let's talk about setting boundaries today. Because I know setting boundaries is something so many people, especially women, struggle with. And I'm certainly one of them. Today's guest Meg Allan Cole is an expert in the field of going from people pleaser to setting healthy boundaries and I'm so excited to share her insights with you. She struggled with a chronic illness for the last 5-10 years and woke up and figured out what her priorities in life are. She realized that in order to honor them she had to learn to say no. And so she did. We can all learn how to set healthy boundaries in order to be the person we want to be. So let's dive and start learning how to do this! In this episode on setting healthy boundaries, we cover: Historical and cultural reasons why we people-please; Acknowledging your own boundaries; Strategies & specific examples on how to set healthy boundaries; How the patriarchy taught women to apologize all the time and how this plays into people-pleasing and setting healthy boundaries; Meditation; And so much more! We always love hearing from you, so don't be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today's episode! Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much! And if you haven't done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don't miss any of our future episodes! More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at: https://virginiafamilytherapy.com/setting-healhty-boundaries/

Parents are still experiencing burnout after the pandemic. For those of you who are in your 40's, like me, this burnout is coinciding with a very natural increase in depression that hits most of us around this age. This shows how important it is for us to be proactive about how we're managing our stress! Today, I'm talking to Dr. Erik Korem, who's a sports scientist, entrepreneur, podcast host of The Blueprint, and father of three. We'll discuss what parents can learn from athletes about managing stress and burnout and how we can actually build our capacity to adapt to stress. I can't wait for you to learn more from him in today's episode! In this episode on parental burnout and managing stress, we cover: What happens physiologically with burnout and stress; Why so many people are experiencing burnout right now; What happens biologically when we experience stress; Living closer to our values; The 5 pillars to build the capacity to adapt to more stress; And more! We always love hearing from you, so don't be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today's episode! Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much! And if you haven't done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don't miss any of our future episodes! More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at: https://virginiafamilytherapy.com/parental-burnout-managing-stress/

Now that we have a better understanding of why it is so hard for boys to talk about feelings, let's dive into what we can do to help our boys talk about their emotions. I'm continuing the conversation with Matt Browning, who shares actionable strategies for helping our boys verbally express their feelings more easily. So how do we go about this? What are some actionable tactics to help our boys? And when is actually the right time to talk about this? Matt has all the answers in today's episode. In this episode on helping boys talk about feelings, we discuss: Actionable strategies for helping boys talk about feelings; The importance of education around emotions and how to go about it; Why it's helpful to keep it general at first instead of going personal right away; Leaning into the resistance you feel from your kid instead of going against it; When's the right time to talk about feelings?; And so much more! We always love hearing from you, so don't be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today's episode! Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much! And if you haven't done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don't miss any of our future episodes! More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at: https://virginiafamilytherapy.com/helping-boys-talk-about-feelings/