Episode 132: We Didn’t Plan to Have Seven Kids: Accommodating Life w/ Barbra Bottaro
Being Human
The Power of Intention
"We are really intentional. Like we take our kids out for individual dates, you know, each week," he says. "And it's the most amazing thing to see like a five and a six year old negotiate a compromise or like a seven year old step in and then just share out of their own volition."
This week, Dr. Greg welcomes his wife Barbra (and their baby, David) to the show for a fun episode about the joys and challenges of the vocation to marriage and the call to be generous in love!
Discussed in this episode:
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Learning how to parent as a process of trial and error, learning from mistakes, and adapting;
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Relying on God's grace and others in one’s community as necessary when navigating the challenges of family life;
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How the spirit of generosity in love that Christians are called to is being eroded by the contraceptive mentality prevalent in our culture;
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Accommodating life rather than having life accommodate to one’s desires and needs;
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The family as a community and school of love and the natural progression of having children;
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The importance of trusting God to provide for what is needed for the lives He entrusts to one’s care;
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Love as a duty, responsibility, and challenge rather than just a good feeling;
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Striving to give 100% to one’s spouse in marriage rather than relying on a 50/50 split of responsibilities;
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The importance of being intentional in noticing and caring for each child's needs as a way to teach them self-worth;
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The necessity of working through wounds from one’s family-of-origin in order not to pass them along to one’s children;
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The great need for parental love in our culture and ways that couples can love others without being a biological parent;
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Complementarity between the married and consecrated vocations and how each vocation can benefit the other.
Resources mentioned or relevant:
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A Marriage Built to Last - Dr. Greg’s 8-part relationships course;
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Need help? Schedule a free consultation call with someone on our team to discuss how we can support you;
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Learn about IDDM (Mentorship), our new model of accompaniment;
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Sign up for Being Human, our weekly newsletter, to stay up to date on the exciting developments at CatholicPsych;
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Visit our website to read the CatholicPsych blog, shop in the CatholicPsych bookshop, or discover other resources we have available;
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Download The Integrated App for access to free audio exercises, the Catholic Mindfulness Virtual Retreat, courses, prayer resources, and more;
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Become a member of the Integrated Life Community to get access to every course Dr. Greg has created, plus the opportunity to participate in Integrated LIVE’s - weekly, Mentor hosted Q&As covering topics like boundaries, communication, trauma, forgiveness, and more!
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Join the waitlist to be notified about our next Open House to learn more about the new CPMAP certification!
Contact us! Have a topic or a question you would like Dr. Greg to address on the podcast? Want to give some feedback about this episode? Email us at beinghuman@catholicpsych.com - we would love to hear from you!
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