On today’s show, Rachel Johnson Greer will talk with us about what to look for in all those online purchases.  Her work in Amazon compliance and helping online sellers understand the manufacturing and distribution laws puts her in a unique position to inform us about how to discern a safe purchase from ones to be cautious about.  

Her book, “No Dead Babies” comes from the days when she and her team sighed in deep relief when at the end of the day they did not have to take a call from a grieving parent.  All too often were the conversations from these parents sharing how their child died because of faulty manufacturing or packaging.
Rachel agrees that the responsibility is on the seller.  But in the real world, there are gaps, and thus, it is wise and best for us, the parents, to know and understand how to determine if a product and it’s packaging is made in compliance with safety standards. 

So, from baby products and toys, to...

So, Mother’s Day has come and gone, again.  How are you?  Still so glad to be a mom or wondering how long you can hang in there with this mommy stuff?  

Did you entertain all day, were you ignored most of the day, or did the kids and others figure out how to honor you, in a way that was meaningful to you?

 On today’s show we’re talking about being yourself (Me) even while being a Mom.  

Managing so many things, balancing energy, relationships, figuring out how to escape - or connect and how to balance the mom hat with your beautiful wife hat.

What You’ll Learn in Today’s Episode

• Your personality, pre-motherhood - is still there.  Let “her” out sometimes.  It’s fun!
• Your mental-mass (brain so full of everything) is working very diligently.  Even when you feel like you are a mental-mess, use your mental-mass to sort out the mess. And, yes, sometimes that includes crying, praying and...

Inspiration from this Episode 

“As we nap, it reduces the fatigue, not just the physical fatigue but also that mental fatigue.” 

“It's not a bad idea to consider a nap when you're overwhelmed, because it gets you out of the way and lets your body naturally do the reset that it needs.” 

“You demonstrate to your kiddos as well, that taking good care of themselves is an important thing to do.”

106 | Us & Kids: Naps

Intro  

On today’s show, we're going to talk about napping. Now you can have all sorts of different emotional reactions around this, like, “Oh, I'd love to nap!”, or “They always nap way too long”, or “That kid who of mine does not know how to take a nap!” 

You can go all over the place with napping conversations. So today we're just going to talk a little bit, mostly from a general place, because napping is good for kiddos. It's often also good for...

Inspiration from this Episode 

“I know that I made list after list, after list, trying to keep track of everything everybody was doing.” 

“One of the things grandpa and I did is we spent a lot of time playing and studying together. We just spent a lot of time together.” 

“So within three days we spent 24 hours talking with each other in the car and we said, this is a perfect house for us.”

103 | Us & Kids: Interview with Grandkids

Intro  

On today’s show, we are doing something a little bit different. I’ve brought on a few guests to be on the show today but they aren’t just any guests - they are 3 of my grandkids. I told them they’d be allowed to ask me anything - so they did! 

And now, you get to listen in and hear our conversation together. These are random, unscripted, and unknown to me until they ask them - so, join the table and get a small snapshot of my life. And for...

Inspiration from this Episode

“When we can be playful, it releases the endorphins that help the body feel better.”

“Connection in that builds trust so that in those stressful situations you know the other person is trying their best.”

“So have fun with each other. Do something new, bring up something you haven't done for a while.”

098 | Us & Kids: 10 Tips for Playing as Adults

Intro 

On today’s show, we are going to talk about 10 tips for playing as adults. So you might think at first, how is this different from playing as kids? If you revisit our previous episode you’ll remember that the kid's play has more personal growth and brain development in it. 

Playing as an adult has a little bit of a different angle to it. It’s still very, very crucial to healthy living and to building good relationships. Also for keeping your own brain and body in a really good space for relationships and just your own...

Inspiration from this Episode

“For kiddos, we want them to understand that they have feelings and emotions and we help them put labels to them.”

“Put yourself in their shoes, understand their perspective. This is a key part of building empathy.”

“This is my looking for ways to help her and ways to apply how I use empathy and perspective for her age.”

089 | Us & Kids: Empathy

Intro 

On today’s show, we are using the DNA method. We are going to need to Define our desires or a dream. And that means today my dream or my desire is being emotionally connected with my family and with other people in very kind ways. What is my N, my necessary skill? Today is going to be about empathy. And the A is, how are we going to apply it? Empathy, yes for anyone in our family. 

In order for everyone to get on the same page, we need to know exactly what we mean by the word empathy. That is part of defining our dreams and desires, is...

 Inspiration from this Episode

“That is why when we blend imagination and let it grow into confidence through our conversations.”

“Where you would like to become better, you would like to have more confidence in your skill.”

“I'm going to practice it in my mind, I might even practice some of it out loud by myself.”

088 | Us & Kids: Imagination and Confidence

Intro 

On today’s show, our topic is all about using our imagination to build confidence and this is a timeless podcast because we are always as adults and as kiddos encountering new things and we can either become scared and a little shaky or unsure of ourselves, losing our confidence or we can be confident of ourselves and what we are able to do. 

Imagination plays a significant role in building up and maintaining confidence. Let’s talk, first of all, about what do I mean by imagination? And I think using our imagination is using our brain to...

Inspiration from this Episode

“Shame is our most powerful master emotion - meaning it has a lot of power and it’s a master over the other emotions.” 

“You could though be a very honorable and integral part of the functioning of those things.”

“They will feel comfortable with you and be able to calm down and take responsibility for their actions.”

075 | Us & Kids: Shame, Responsibility and Honor

Intro  

On today’s show, we are diving into shame and responsibility and it’s going to apply both to you as a husband or wife, and how you interact with your kiddos. We’re going to start by talking about yourself because so much of our parenting and interactions in our marriage can come from a place of shame and that can be somewhat contagious.  

The podcast today will help you understand where shame sneaks into your heart and mind...and how it sneaks into kiddos’ being as well. And...

Inspiration from this Episode

“My definition of explore is trying something new or taking something that we know and expanding it into a different area or place.”

“It helps us understand how our spouse thinks and how they move. It helps you build admiration towards them and appreciation for their processes.”

“Because it brings around such good interactions and attachments with each other that you can build on for years and years."

073 | Us & Kids: Explore and Expand

Intro 

We are carrying on with the series that we’ve been going through each week in January about how to have a fresh start after 2020. So today, we’re on chapter 4 and we’re talking about exploring and expanding because a part of building strong relationships is that the courage to be with each other and by each other to try new things to experience things together. 

Because it expands the way that you are connected so that if one of the...

Inspiration from this Episode 

“Happiness often helps to build our confidence that we are liked, and we are appreciated, or we are needed.” 

“When we succeed at something that pushes our skills just a little bit, we have a sense of happiness, a sense of accomplishment.”

“The momentary part of happiness by adding a bit of a challenge that we're pretty sure we can do, even if it needs a little support.”

063 | Us & Kids: Happy Hour at Home

Intro 

On today’s show, we’re going to talk about happy hour. Now you might think “Happy hour? I have to leave the house for that and I haven’t done that in months!”. My question is could there be a happy hour at your house? How's the happy hour at your house? Or, is there no happy hour? How about a happy minute? Or is it just to make it through the day?

But, the question becomes, what is happy? We know that usually it is listed as an emotion....