Our Nuclear Family - Parenting Ideas for an Explosive World
A podcast to fuel your parenting reactor and energize your mission: to enjoy raising responsible kids in an unpredictable world. Listen in as a homeschool mama chats with her nuclear launch officer and leadership author hubby to encourage other parents through real conversation. They welcome you to their at-home centrifuge where their fusion of ideas brings child-rearing encouragement to critical mass.
Episodes
64 episodes
Cross That Bridge When We Get There
Parenting is busy. It is hard. It is full of the potential for worry and anxiety. As parents, we will always worry about our children, and we should - to an extent. To keep our stress level at an acceptable level, we have a phrase we often use ...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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28:16
How Do We Build Our Kids' Confidence?
People who are confident are more likely to have better pay, get treated with greater respect, and develop better resiliency. These are just a few reasons why we want to cultivate confidence in our kids. The question is whether it is possible a...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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27:56
No Pets Allowed!
After our dog passed away, Kathryn and I were determined not to have any more pets, not even fish. It just did not fit our current life circumstances. But that changed when our sweet oldest daughter made a persuasive argument for getting guinea...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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31:54
Setting up Spaces For Success
We're back! And this is no April Fool's Joke! Our Nuclear Family needed some time to figure out our spaces in a new house with new routines and a new teenager. With so much turnover happening, we realized a need for systems and structures was n...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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31:59
A Recipe for the Perfect Summer
Do you feel the pressure of trying to squeeze every ounce of good energy out of summer or give your kids the perfect, memorable vacation this year? After all, we only get about 18 summers with our kids, right? We have to make it count! If you a...
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Season 3
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Episode 11
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34:42
Finding Balance as Parents
We are often looking for balance in life: a balanced diet, work-life balance, etc. so it would follow that we would seek balance in our parenting. But is that really what we want? Or is there something better? That's what this discussion is abo...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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30:50
Teaching Our Kids About Money - Two Years Later
A couple years ago, we started a plan to teach our kids about money. On this episode we answer some frequently asked questions and also bring in some experts: our kids!We are incredibly grateful to everyone who supports financially! If ...
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Season 3
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Episode 9
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42:06
RE-RELEASE: Teaching Our Kids About Money
Some of our most frequently asked questions are about our kids and their allowance so we are re-releasing our season 1 episode talking about how we help our kids understand the value of things and the ideas of spending, saving, and giving.<...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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32:52
When is Parenting Going to Get Fun?
Is parenting fun? Is it supposed to be? On this episode, we discuss what makes it difficult to enjoy parenting and how we can reframe these challenges into opportunities to experience the joy kids bring.If you have questions or comments...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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30:33
Are We Giving Our Kids Enough Attention?
Kids come out of the womb demanding our attention, and their need for it seems to never stop. On this episode, Matthew and Kathryn discuss the very real struggle of trying to determine the right amount and -- even more importantly -- the right ...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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20:47
Supporting Siblings
A sibling relationship is one of the most enduring relationships in our lives and hopefully one of the most rewarding, too. In this episode, we discuss what supporting siblings has looked like in our house in the past and what it could look lik...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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22:25
BONUS EPISODE: Modeling Self-Care
As soon as we hit stop on our last episode, we had more thoughts to get out. From bedtime routines to exercising and more, we discuss the importance of self-care in our lives, and especially the importance of modeling it for our kids.As...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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8:38
It's Bedtime! Go to Bed!
We all need sleep, adults and kids alike--but getting kids to fall asleep can be tricky! We definitely do not have all the answers, and each circumstance is different, but this episode is about us discussing what has worked for our kids and wil...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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39:03
Say You're Sorry!
As adults we know the value of apologies and forgiveness -- even if we don't always feel like doing it. We do, however, want our kids to experience the freedom that comes from learning these crucial life skills. So, do we force them to say the ...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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29:02
Diving in to 2023!
While the traditional time for New Year's Resolutions may have come and gone, there is always time to set our intention, especially as it comes to parenting. Instead of resolutions, we find it helpful to focus on a single word or phrase to guid...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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27:13
My Kids Will Never...The Christmas Edition
There are many times we have seen other peoples' kids act a certain way and think, "My kids will NEVER do that." There are just as many times we have looked at other parents acting a certain way and think, "I will NEVER do that." And of course,...
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Season 2
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Episode 22
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30:09
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
The Christmas Season is upon us once again, and if you are like us, there is so much fun to be had that it can feel overwhelming and even suck some of the joy out of the most wonderful time of the year. To avoid that, we are being intentional a...
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Season 2
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Episode 21
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29:54
Encouragement to Stay the Course
Parenting is HARD. There are so many difficult challenges that come again and again, and it is exhausting to have to say the same things or do the same things over and over. BUT, we have good news: the hard work does pay off. One day, we will b...
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Season 2
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Episode 20
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19:27
Grieving a Beloved Pet
Our family's first dog, Romeo, passed away after 14 years. In this episode, we talk about helping our kids walk through their grief while also processing our own grief. This is definitely not prescriptive as everybody's grief is different, but ...
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Season 2
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Episode 19
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41:22
Cultivating a Culture of Curiosity
Despite sayings such as "Curiosity killed the cat," our culture highly values curiosity and openness. These traits are essential in learning, innovation, and imagination, but answering our kids' "Why?" questions all the time can be exhausting. ...
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Season 2
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Episode 18
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30:37
Helping Kids Navigate Their Fears
Kids can have big, irrational fears, and because they are irrational, it can be hard for us as parents to know how best to help. On this episode, Kathryn and Matthew talk about some different strategies they have tried and how sometimes acknowl...
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Season 2
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Episode 17
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24:54
One Bite of Zucchini
We are not parenting experts; in fact, we do not even always agree on the best thing to do when parenting our own kids! On this episode, we invite you in on a recent parenting disagreement that happened over one of our kids not wanting to try a...
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Season 2
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Episode 16
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25:30
When Kids Ask Why
On our last episode, we talked about how important it is to know our Parenting "Why." This episode is a follow-up to that where we dive deeper into what it looks like when our kids ask us, "Why?" and what we do when we don't have the time or th...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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18:32
Start with Why - Parenting Edition
Simon Sinek's popular book Start With Why is not just good business advice; it's good for life and especially good in parenting. It can help us prioritize our schedules, identify why we are feeling frustrated, and grow deeper rela...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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32:07
The Who, What, When, Where, and Why of Kids and Electronic Devices
In our media-crazed adult world, us parents are continuously thinking about our kids and their media consumption. Should they have an electronic device? What parental controls do we need? How much time should we let them spend playing video gam...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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33:50