Hands Off Parents

Latest Episodes:

89: Scheduling Time for Yourself Feb 19, 2018

Show notes

This week Steph and Abby are thrilled to welcome mom, business owner, amazing person, and good smeller, Aimee Woodall to the show. Aimee owns and runs a highly successful cause-driven branding and strategy agency (Black Sheep Agency) that has serviced the likes of the Obamas! (Yes, the real ones). Aimee is also a mom of a 16-month old, a wife, and a human being with a lot going on. She imparts some sage advice that she got from Michelle (yeah, Obama) on managing your time as a whole and making time for yourself, which Aimee now lives by. Send yourself an iCal reminder to listen to her eye-opening advice!

88: The Problem With Our Schools Feb 12, 2018

Show notes

This week, Steph and Abby welcome parent, advocate, and activist, Sarah Becker. A former school psychologist, Sarah and her husband founded HISD Parent Advocates, a local organization that keeps parents in the loop on issues related to our school district, board, and policies that directly affect our kids. Sarah discusses many of the recent (and dare we say, controversial) proposals to reorganize Houston's public school system. She also describes the choice her own family made to move their children out of a highly coveted, disproportionately white (relative to HISD as a whole) magnet school and into an under-enrolled school with a primarily brown and black student population in a neighborhood with lots of poverty. For those not in Houston, the conversation is equally important as they discuss larger implications of living in a diverse country, where racial lines are still drawn when it comes to our schools. Sarah educates the ladies on the works of Nikole Hannah-Jones and the movement to integrate America's schools. It's both an important and eye-opening conversation. Join us!

87: How To Talk So Kids Will Listen (JK!) Feb 06, 2018

Show notes

This week, Steph and Abby dive further in the topic of getting kids to listen. They delve into the (often frustrating) world of kid emotions...and tantrums and meltdowns and whining and crying and screaming and irrational behavior and how you deal with it. (Wine.) Steph has been reading a book on the subject and shares this with Abby and their listeners. The idea is to have several approaches in your parenting toolbox, some more direct than others, but in the hopes that one of them will get your kids to do what you want them to. Do they work? Probably not, but definitely worth a try. Tell them how you get your kids to listen in the comments!

86: Passing Down Anxiety Jan 29, 2018

Show notes

This week Steph and Abby discuss anxiety, what it is, how it manifests, and all the ways parents pass it down to their children. Is it inevitable that our kids will get all the crazies that we have? Or is it possible to be mindful of the anxieties we are fostering in our children? Or maybe they are just being anxious over anxieties? Share your own anxieties on their Facebook page!

85: Fine, We'll Weigh In Jan 23, 2018

Show notes

Despite their better judgement, Steph and Abby decided to weigh in on the Aziz Ansari media storm. (Cue thunder) The ladies discuss why this particular case resonated so much with so many different voices and how they might think about this from a parenting perspective. It's a challenging conversation but an important one to have, they decide. And they also decide they are old, like "get off our lawns" old. Tell them how you might use this event in your parenting.

84: No Year's Resolution Jan 09, 2018

Show notes

Before the new year, Steph and Abby vowed to have a more cohesive approach to the podcast and they immediately broke this resolution. Instead of cohesion, they discuss lice. Yup, lice. These pesky buggers will outlive us all! To address their lack of resolutions, they cover CNN's 2018 Parenting Resolution list, which is just completely ridiculous. Mock it along with them. Did you make any resolutions? Parenting or otherwise? Share in the comments!

83: Let Your Garden Grow Jan 02, 2018

Show notes

This week the ladies discuss a recently published parenting book that advocates that parents act like gardeners -- plant the seeds and then let your kids grow! It is about creating the right environment and letting kids be themselves, as opposed to trying to build your kids into what you want them to be (like a carpenter). The ladies wonder if they think they are gardeners but really they are more like the carpenters. Is any parent a true gardener? They also discuss two other books they've been reading, Steph's is about how to talk to difficult children; Abby's is about the robots taking over the world! Naturally, they are both doomed.

82: Holidayz Dec 19, 2017

Show notes

Oh it's the obligatory holiday episode, where Steph and Abby discuss how many teachers they need to buy presents for, what their kids want and what they won't get for them, and the Alabama election results! Also Steph shares some BIG news. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Spread the joy and write them a review on iTunes.

81: Parenting Through Transitions Dec 12, 2017

Show notes

This week Steph and Abby are honored to welcome Lisa Stanton, mother to a transgender daughter named Maya. Lisa's story is heartwarming and heartbreaking, as she details the struggles that Maya had with being born a boy. Lisa and her husband realized that Maya knew who she was better than anyone else, and that they would support her in becoming the person she wanted to be. Get your tissues out because this episode will definitely make you cry (Steph and Abby were hysterical half the conversation).

80: Thanks...oh and giving. Nov 21, 2017

Show notes

This week Steph and Abby describe all the things they are thankful for: Their fear of impending doom, death, the break down of social civility... wait, that doesn't make sense. They are thankful for all their listeners and pie. Lots of pie. They wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving; let your kids eat all the junk food, watch all the TV and be thankful that distractions exist!

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