The Kidmin Huddle
The Kidmin Huddle is your go-to weekly resource for children’s ministry leaders who want to disciple kids with biblical depth, practical wisdom, and intentional creativity. Hosted by veteran ministry leader and RenewaNation’s Church & Family Ministry Coordinator Amber Pike, each episode equips you with tools for teaching Scripture, engaging families, planning events, and growing in your leadership role. Whether you're building a safe and Christ-centered environment, preparing for VBS, or helping parents disciple their kids at home, The Kidmin Huddle gives you faith-driven strategies grounded in experience. Subscribe now and join a growing community of leaders transforming the next generation—one Bible lesson at a time.
The Kidmin Huddle
Choosing Good Resources with Guest Mud Hen Mama
Meet Michelle from Mud Hen Mama, and join us as we discuss how to help parents choose quality resources.
Use code "Amber" to get a special discount from mudhenmama.com.
Welcome to the Kidman Huddle. Amber Pi. Children's kid. Equipment, courage, and power to disciple intentionality. Growing God's king to one child at a time.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome back to the Kidman Huddle. We are joined by a super cool ministry that I have just found out about recently called Mud Hidden Mama. Michelle, you are owner, CEO, creator, amazing woman behind it. Welcome.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you so much for having me. I really, really appreciate it. I'm excited to be on.
SPEAKER_02:So we at Renew Nation are fans of Mudhid Mama, and I've been digging into a little bit more of what you do and what your ministry does. And I'm excited to share it with our kidmen friends that are listening. So go ahead, start us out strong. Tell us about you and what Mudhid Mama is.
SPEAKER_01:Well, um, I started this ministry probably it I was trying to think back, it was right around 2020, but that's when sort of the the first thoughts of putting together a book, book provider, an online book book provider came into my my head. And then it was um so sh like a few months after around 2021 is when I started to get to contact um schools and getting my list together of books. At the time, um was familiar with a lot of homeschooling books because um I did I had homeschooled for about a year and a half and I loved it. I thought it was fantastic, and I loved all the books that I found that you know I wasn't familiar with because I wasn't um I I had just never homeschooled. So I thought, wow, these would be so great to share with other families that I think it would be such a blessing. So that's what sort of we I started off with. It was not a lot. I mean, I think maybe we had like 50 or 60 titles, not not a lot, but I but like I said, but um I just went ahead and I was started contacting schools. I grabbed um the ACSI uh list of schools and started off in California and I just went across. And um and yeah, I I just think you know, the the reason why I started again back to the 2020, is that I had seen, I had already seen a lot of things that were very much um bothering me that I had seen with my kids bringing home, you know, the the the flyers that were selling books to my children. And so, you know, our kids were going to a Christian school, but you know, scholastic is was definitely, I mean, it's it's everywhere. And so um, and in general, I just never thought about it. But I when I was flipping through, I realized that it was just very junky. Like it wasn't um it it to use a Charlotte Mason word, um, it was like twaddle. Like it just it there was nothing edifying about it. And I thought, you know, why am I I'm I don't want to purchase books like this for my kids. Like I want them to actually have some things that make them think, some some books that will, you know, they I don't want them to just be completely dry, but fun and and interesting and not just, you know, Cheetos for the brain is how I always describe it. So um so there was that. And then there was also um with 2020, there was a lot of cultural stuff happening and um stuff that I hadn't even um I didn't realize it had uh it was so to the to the breaking point, I guess, of of just the the insanity of what happened. And so um, you know, that was something else that I thought, you know what, we've we've got to have a place, Christians have to have a place where we can have resources that um can be edifying and helpful to navigate the current cultural moment. So and I have found that a lot of churches just did not want to wade into those waters. It was extremely disappointing. I was so sad because I thought, you know, we're all on the same team, let's move forward. And I felt like I was just out there on my own and and you know, really sad that that that was the case. And so um a lot of these issues I had, you know, I was always concerned about, I guess, like, you know, specifically CRT, um, with critical race theory. I'm Hispanic, so you know, I I know a lot of the issues. I've been on both sides of this equation, and so I'm very familiar with all the arguments. And um, you know, as I matured as a believer, I realized there's there's definitely a lot of things wrong with you know the the more of the leftist ideology, and and that they just weren't being talked about in church. So again, I you know, I all of these things were just sort of merging at one time, and so I thought, you know what, like at least let's start off with kids' books. But my my the whole time I was thinking I want this for the entire family because I want to be able to enable not only the children but the parents, because the parents are the ones who are supposed to be stewarding our children. And so I wanted to give to be to be able to have like awesome books, whether that's apologetics or CRT or gender ideology or abortion, like you know, pro pro life stance. I wanted to have all those books in one place that um so so families can go and and just know, okay, I can get great books at this, you know, at this site. So that's what we've tried to do every uh every few months. We try to, you know, we we um usually, you know, one or two one or two a week it ends up being that you know we're we're adding books, but it's usually a a larger number of books in the summer and it and at Christmas, because that's usually the time when there aren't a million things happening with respect to the you know book fairs and stuff, and also just you know, kids' activities and stuff, of course. So um, so yeah, so right now we have over 2,500 titles, and you know, we have achieved that pre-K all the way through adult. We have parenting books, we have cultural books, um, we have classics, we have uh mysteries, we have um just a very we try to make it so that everyone can find a couple books that they would minimally a couple books that they could really enjoy. And um so we have that, we also have book bundles, so you know, if if a child really loves dogs, we have a dog book bundle, or you know, somebody wants to learn about apologetics and we have an apologetics bundle. Um we I think we have about 12 book bundles, and we also have like a membership program, so a family book savings club where you know if if um a family wants to have books on the regular coming in, you know, that we could customize it as well. So, you know, if if somebody would want to have um, let's say, you know, like I said, like specific books, like they they really like graphic novels or they really like a specific something or other, then you know, we would talk and you know, we'd be able to send those books, specifically those books for for the family's needs. So um, so yeah, so that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to provide something that they can, you know, they can cancel if it doesn't work out for whatever reason, but that it's something that that they can look forward to getting, you know, every month, and there's different levels and just something that could be a huge blessing. And of course, it's discounted if you know whether you get one subscription or two subscriptions, depending on how large your family is and what your the needs are. So so anyway, yeah, so we have a lot of things going on at Mud Hen Mama. Really excited about it, and we're just trying to get the word out to to everyone um about about what we're trying to do.
SPEAKER_02:So love it, I love it. I talk frequently about resources and books, and you can't just pick a book off of Amazon and give it to your kids and expect it to be okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's crazy, it's crazy because I I didn't I knew it was bad, but I don't think I realized how bad it was. Um, I know that um this was something else that happened a few years ago. My my daughter was reading um Wings the Wings of Fire series. It's super popular, and um it was fine until you know she was reading and she said, Mom, is is this what I think it is? Uh and it was clearly LGBTQ uh like identification, and it wasn't necessary at all, but they just sort of threw it in there. And that's the problem with a lot of the books. I mean, that we I I actually was looking to see, like clearly there's been an increase in the number of LGBTQ books, but what I didn't realize is that so there there was an if from from the past 10 years, apparently the self-publishing world has has just exploded. So, you know, in 2015, 2014, there were barely any self-published books, but now there's like a ton. So I think that has added to the the problem. But um there has been an increase. It depends on um, I guess, where the numbers are coming from. But I've seen anywhere from 200 to a 900% increase in LGBTQ titles, and that's just titles. I I don't even think that's including, you know, those off characters that slip it in. Yeah, where they sort of slip it in to normalize it. And you know, I I it's not that I think that we should be um uncompassionate, I guess is what uh is the best way to see it to say it. Like obviously there's an issue, and and we do have to have compassion, but there's no reason why these characters need to be normalized into the literature that our children are reading, especially they're impressionable, they don't understand the implications of all of it, and um it's just it's it's maddening because you you know you may not even realize you look at the title and you would have no idea. There were there's several books that have been like that. Um, I mean, there was even a book that, and I'm not gonna remember the name of it, but there was a book that we had on our site, and I had no idea. I thought it was completely fine, and then somebody contacted me, and and I actually it was on screen at first. It's an actually a wonderful website for for everybody to check out. Um, it's a place where they're all of the books are reviewed, but you it's no one actually writes anything. You just take pictures of anything that's questionable, whether it's violent um themes or if they're you know LGBTQ or if there's um magic, anything like that. You take a picture of it and you highlight it, and so you know, you people can see for themselves and decide, you know, whether or not this is something that you want to expose your child to. But anyway, it was um on screen at first that that it was shown to me that it wasn't, I thought it was uh a stepmother and uh like from two different marriages, but it it was actually a couple that was two females. And so we obviously we pulled the title right away, but you know, it's it's just it's so snuck in there that it's very, very hard to discern. So, you know, we we have very well, I mean that that it's one out of 2,500. So, you know, I I think we've done a pretty good job, but you know, we're we're trying to, like I said, you know, we we've at every single book to make sure that um that they're aligned with a biblical worldview. They're not all Christian books in the sense of they're they're not all sharing the gospel, but they are all sharing something that's good, beautiful, and true, which is you know, I think it's um it's super important, like because we don't want to just take out of the picture there's so many classics and so many beautiful stories that don't necessarily, you know, claim the name of Christ, but there's they're showing Christ. And you know, because we all we all know God's all truth is God's truth. And so they're sharing a truth that's um that's important to understand. Uh so yeah, so we've we have included some of those books as well.
SPEAKER_02:So I I warn parents or I warn children's ministry leaders to never send something home without looking through it because I've found, you know, even in the Christian publishing world, things that are just so anti-everything the Bible. Um and and I'm encouraging them, you know, to read it, to check it, to, to think through. So I kind of have my like rubric, if you will, of my checklist of what I'm looking through. When you were looking at a new title, what are some of the things that you are looking through to check and see? Does it line up with the biblical worldview? Or in the case of something that's you know not necessarily Christian, what would be your kind of standard for, okay, yes, this is good, beautiful, true? It's okay to read. What would be a couple of your things that you're gauging books with?
SPEAKER_01:The the the biggest thing honestly that I do is I'll go and I'll um look at the different reviews that have been posted. Um the I so I'll look and I'll and I'll see, okay, these are the good reviews, and then I look at the one-star reviews and I say, okay, what what exactly is being shared that you know if it's a one-star review because the the pages were bent, okay, well, well, obviously that doesn't matter. But if it's something else, then I, you know, I just say, okay, well, this isn't gonna fit. We do try to include as many titles as possible, but we're not gonna include anything that's um, I don't know, that that's I for lack of a better word, sketchy. You you know, that that if it's questionable at all, we're we're just not gonna include it. There was a book that was actually very highly rated. I was just looking at yesterday, and I noticed that the author actually had in her title that she was an activist. And I thought, even though there's nothing in there that's probably gonna you know go against that good, beautiful, and true, I just think like uh I'm not gonna include that because it's when in one of those like sort of sketchy areas that I'm just not comfortable sharing with other people. Because I know if I wouldn't want it for my child, then I'm not gonna have it for someone else. So um, so yeah, so that's that's sort of what we normally do. So if there's, like I said, if there's anything that's questionable, then it's definitely not gonna be included. But you know, if it's on a book list, I mean we've gotten a ton of titles that have been on different book lists, like whether that's a school book list, like a first summer reading, or uh, you know, a Christian book list that that is from someone that we know is reliable, then you know, we we try to include those. Actually, we had a ton of um books that was shared by Renewanation. So we we included a lot of those as well. So that's that's how we've pretty much done it. And then now it's like you know, there was a time where I was adding maybe you know 40 books or 50 books. And at this point, our you know, the the selection is pretty pretty good, but um, we're just adding like one at a time. So like you know, last night we we added a couple of Sophie Mouse, super cute books, very benign, and you know, my my children love it. So that that's if I know it's it has um I mean obviously we always have to be careful because stuff is gets stuck in just like wings of fire. But if I know that it's pretty it's been pretty solid, then I, you know, I usually just try to I I will include it.
SPEAKER_02:So I like what you said about the author because I absolutely have some authors that I will look nothing from them. I'm like, if I've heard you say something that is counter to God's word, I want nothing of your stuff. And so there are a couple of authors on my on my no list. Um I also I think I told you this before, I have a box of shame in my basement in my office, and my son finds this hilarious, and it's literally labeled because of why not, box of shame. Um, and this is where I put the stuff that is just so anti-God. Um, wrong theology, um some of this uh really bad. There was there was one that I got from a publisher, and this was the story of Jesus' birth, except they made it a Native American tale. And so Mary got a new name. No, and this so so here's here's my argument against not always completely trusting those reviews. This book was getting all these wonderful reviews, people just loved it, and Mary had a new name, and Jesus' name meant something, and um and people were so excited about, you know, oh great, you're bringing the story of Jesus' birth to the indigenous people. It's not where Jesus was born. They complete and it's it's in the box of shame.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's it's just it's frustrating when it's coming out of uh somewhere where you think you could trust. But you know, unfortunately now you you really do have to be very, very careful. So, you know, we've like I said, we've tried to be very careful about you, you know, now and we're we're really um like with every additional book, like I said, we we review we review it and just make sure that the like what they're even talking about, like it makes sense. And but like I'm I'm just thinking um uh is it Johnny Had Haddad? Not Johnny Haddad. The the person who wrote the the book about the um that it's it's been extremely popular with the screens, the technology. I'm I'm forgetting his name, but he's not a Christian, but it was extremely helpful. The anxious the anxious generation? The anxious generation, yes. I'm sorry, yes, that book. It was he had a lot of really great insight. Uh but he was clear he was clearly not a Christian, or he is clear, you know, he never he wasn't pretending to be or anything, but I do think that's helpful though. And and I I think that it's it's just good to have that perspective and to have that information because um we need it right now specifically with screens. So that's you know, that's one book. That's why I'm I'm always like, well, you know, as long they may not be Christian, the author may not be a Christian, however, they still may have something really great to say. So, you know, whether whether that's that they are a Christian or they're conservative, or they are um, like I said, just sharing general information that I think is really helpful. I think that it's important that we do include it because it's it'll help with that, you know, navigating the cultural moment that we're in. And so um, so yeah, so we have done that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, excellent book. That was probably it's one of my favorites this year. I listened to that. I'm not a big listener to books of learning books. I will listen to fun books because it's a story, but I am a don't hate me, I'm a notes in the book kind of person. I definitely write in my books, and I can't do that if I'm listening. But I listened to it on the six-hour drive home from camp and I was like riveted. So that one, and then I read The Read Aloud Family this year and loved it. Like I devoured that book in like a week, lots of notes. Um, also I dog ear my pages when I need to come back to it. So there are a lot of dog earned pages, and it was it was so good just about I was reading a book about reading a book because I'm I'm that cool.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, I highlight a ton. It's it's really helpful. I I try to review all the books that I'm reading, so I highlight whatever I think is important, and it does help me to remember because half the time I'm exhausted when by the time I'm finally getting to the book. So I I don't I never explained I I guess a little bit more about my background though. So I have we have 10 kids, and our youngest is two, and our oldest is 23, and she actually just had a baby, so I'm technically a grandma. So um, yeah, so we that's why I'm always exhausted at the end of the day. Although we only right now we only have seven of our kids at home, and um only seven, you know. Well you seven, it's just seven. Yeah. It seems quiet, which is crazy, but it does feel as if it's really quiet right now. But um, our two boys two of our boys are in college, and like I said, our our oldest is married, and she she has uh one month old, so which is really fun.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so Mudhim Mama, where did you get the name? Or what is the name?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so the name. So when I had mentioned I homeschooled, so when uh we were homeschooling, I had a couple I well first of all, I guess I should I should explain that I was trying to think of the name. I could not think of anything, and I was struggling to, you know, think of something that could represent what I was trying to do, which is to, you know, empower families and and and help them to be able to um defend themselves from what was attacking them, whether or not they realized it. They needed to have some you know information because you don't know what you don't know, right? So um that was sort of what I was trying to communicate. So um I prayed about it, and the Lord brought to mind that I had when I was homeschooling, there were two big honkin books, and they were all about how these different animals had various characteristics of God. And so I was flipping through and I came across um the American coot, which the nickname is um mud hen. And so when I was reading about the characteristics of this American coot, it said that when they they feel like something's trying to hurt them, like uh an enemy is coming to attack them, they all come together and they squawk at their enemy. And I was like, oh, that's sort of what I'm trying to do is to you know get us all together and to, you know, say no, we're not, we're not gonna we're not gonna do this anymore. We're standing our ground and you get away from us. And we're when we're all collectively together, I think it's just so much more powerful. There's synergy and all that stuff. So so that's where the mud hen came from and mud and mama, just because I guess I'm I'm a mom. And so I just figured this, you know, and obviously I think moms in general are the ones who are choosing the books for their children. This is obviously for men too. So um, you know, but but it I just thought, well, Mudhead Mama is probably a little bit more appropriate because I think the the moms are uh usually the gatekeepers, and so I want to really be able to help them to be able to help their children. And so um, so yeah, so that's where the name came from. I love that. I love that.
SPEAKER_02:So kidmen leaders, Mudhead Mama is a great resource for you to pass along to your families. Um, I big fan, I'm a big fan of books. I think if you can read, you can do anything. So our house is full of books. I actually, fun story, a friend had borrowed a book and two books, and I she returned them and I was putting them in their place on my bookshelf. I moved one book on my bookshelf, and my whole bookshelf in my bedroom was collapsing. Like it was lean bending at the seam, and I'm like holding it up and I'm yelling for my husband, and the whole bookshelf was coming down because it was like triple stacked. I have we have so many books. I have I got a new bookshelf that has more room. It's a corner one now. It's it's it's great. Um, under my bed is full of books. I have four shelves in the basement. My son has piles of books in his floor because he can almost keep up with me, and I'm a fast reader. Um, and he reads like we have we have so many books in our house. We love books. So this is a great resource for you to pass along to your families. Hey, moms and dads, here is a way that you can have the some of the legwork done for you. Go get a subscription. You have books that are good and wholesome, no surprises, books that are helping your family grow your faith. Um, but then also maybe this is something you want to look at for your resource library. Parents are looking for things, and they don't necessarily know where to look. I am I I just miss the days of Christian bookstores because now I waste money. I ordered two books last week. Psalm recommended, okay. When I check out these books, are these ones I want to recommend to families? And I am really, really picky. And both of them went into my no. They did not make it to the box of shame. Um, I thought about making a box of disappointments because one of them got one key area of theology wrong. The rest of it was wonderful. It was like 95% solid, but a little like side, it got the the the doctrine that we were made in the image of God, it got it wrong. And I'm like, I can't recommend you. So this could be a resource to you. Definitely go and maybe you just need to peruse Mud Hand Mama's website and see. Maybe you want to start a subscription for your church library, whether you do the here parents, I bought you books, or the here parents, look at this book, you should go buy your own. Hey, your time is busy. Here's a great resource for you. Get a subscription for your church so you can have some things sent to you that you can recommend to parents. Michelle, where can people find out more about you? Um, how do they follow you, both social and then your website to make their subscriptions?
SPEAKER_01:So I made it super easy. It's all Mud Hen Mama. So um, and you it I guess I may have to make sure that I spell it right though, because mama, you'd be surprised how many different spellings there are for that. So it's M-U-D like muddy shoes, H-E-N like a chicken, and mama is m-a-m-a.com. But you can easily find me on Facebook and Instagram, that's where I'm most um active on are those two sites. So yeah, I would love if if anyone has any suggestions too for books, I'm happy to look it over and see if it would be a good fit. But um, yeah, because we're always looking to, you know, add add more so that other people can be blessed by, you know, great books that they don't have to worry about. So, you know, we have a good selection as it is, but we're like I said, we're always looking to add more. So thanks so much again, Amber. This was great. I really, really appreciate you having me.
SPEAKER_02:Go to mudhinmama.com, go follow Michelle on social media, Mudhid Mama. Okay, I'm gonna put you on the spot. Give us your favorite book that you've read recently with your kids. With my children, okay. Um, we'll count if you're reading for her too.
SPEAKER_01:Or grandchild. Um I love there's this great book. It's um gotta give it to God. I hope it's okay. It's a board book. Uh, we we've read a couple of um other books, like longer books, but gotta give it to God. It's such a it's just a sweet book because it's this little girl that, and actually my two-year-old loves it. Like she she actually pulls it out for me to read it to her, but it's just this little girl that's um frustrated because she can't tie her shoes and she can't do all these little things, and it just she keeps saying, I just gotta give it to God because if a got if God can calm the storm, then he can calm the storm that's in my heart. It's just it's such a sweet book. I really, really like it. There's so many books like that though. It's hard for me to even put my like to say, like, oh, this is my ultimate, you know, best one. But I do love that book. So I guess that would be my my answer.
SPEAKER_02:Well, hey, there's one for you guys to check out, kidman leader. It's not one that I've heard of. So I'm gonna go look it up on Amazon and see. Yeah. Or you can look it up on Mudhead Mala. I can go look it up on see, there we go. Just awesome. Michelle, thank you so much for being here. Kidman friends, what we are consuming, what our kids are consuming, it matters. So be intentional with helping mom and dad realize this. They might not have a clue that what their kids are reading might be questionable. Um, I know I as a parent, I don't read everything that my kid reads. Uh there's not there's not that much time in my life. You are likely in the same boat. So this is a great resource. Point your parents to it so that they can be intentional in making sure that their kids are are being filled with godly things, with wholesome things, not with the um lies of the world. Go check out mudheadmama.com, go follow Michelle on social media, and remember, kidmen leaders, what you do matters.