Messy Family Podcast : Catholic Conversations on Marriage and Family

January is a time of beginnings and new resolutions.  The best way to make plans for the future is to evaluate where you are today!  You can’t get directions unless you know where you are.  In this podcast, we give you some encouragement as well as a method to assess where your family is at using our Five Elements of Family Culture.  We hope that doing this assessment will inspire you to do your own Family Board Meeting, but even if you don’t, knowing where you are will help your family to make plans for your future.   *** Find out more about our February weekend workshop on the Family Board Meeting: https://messyfamilyhood.com/family-board-meeting-registration/    Two Quizzes:Five Love Languages Quiz - https://www.5lovelanguages.com/quizzes/couples-quiz/ Temperaments Quiz - http://www.temperamentquiz.com/

We are asked very often how parents can create an environment in the home that will keep their kids close to the faith. To help give parents even more resources for this, we decided to interview Colin and Aimee MacIver, who are both parents, teachers, and authors for Ascension Press. They have created resources for parents to help them catechize their children and also to communicate the beautiful truths found in the Theology of the Body. Both Colin and Aimee are kindred spirits who have a heart for teens and their parents. They bring a wealth of experience and wisdom that we think you will benefit from! Also, we discuss our upcoming free webinar and paid Family Board Meeting workshop designed to help parents create a game plan for their family as we begin 2021. Listen in! *** Find out more about our February weekend workshop on the Family Board Meeting: https://messyfamilyhood.com/family-board-meeting-registration/ Resources from Colin and Aimee: - The Catechist's Field Guide to Confirmation, by Colin MacIver - https://ascensionpress.com/products/the-catechists-field-guide-to-confirmation - Theology of the Body for Teens, Middle School Edition, Colin & Aimee MacIver, contributors - https://ascensionpress.com/products/theology-of-the-body-for-teens-middle-school-edition-student-pack-includes-online-course-access - Baptism: Belonging in the Family of God, Parent's Guide, Colin & Aimee MacIver, authors - https://ascensionpress.com/products/belonging-parents-guide-1 - Quick Catholic Lessons with Fr. Mike Schmitz - https://ascensionpress.com/collections/quick-catholic-lessons-with-fr-mike-vol-2

There are many parents who look for advice from friends, and sometimes the responses are in the form of absolute declarations about the “only way” to parent.  In reality, many parenting matters are best left to an individual’s judgment.  As Catholics, we believe that there are certain issues that are black and white, but not everything falls into that category!  The first step to responding to others with charity is to realize that our way is not always the way for everyone.  In this episode, we also take on a question about discipline when you have 3 under 3, which gives us the chance to talk about toddlers - one of our favorite topics!  And we play a recording of a question sent in by a listener about mentoring teen boys whose brains are being flooded with testosterone.  Our answer?  Look to the elephants.  No, really, we do say that.  Listen in and join the conversation!   **Sign up for the free webinar on the Family Board Meeting: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/family-board-meeting-2021/ For More: Elephants and Dads- https://www.fatherhood.org/fatherhood/humans-and-elephants-both-fare-better-with-dads-around Catholic Differences- https://reginadoman.blogspot.com/2020/12/my-family-church-church-as-big-rowdy.html  Discipling and Disciplining Our Teenagers- https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/mp-064-discipling-and-disciplining-our-teenagers-pt-1/ Guide to Discipline- https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/discipline-guide/

If you've been wondering how to bring the rich traditions of the Catholic Church's liturgical year into your home and into your family, this is the podcast for you! In it, we interview Kendra Tierney of Catholic All Year about incorporating the richness of our faith into the life of your family.  Kendra has lots of great ideas for moms and dads of all ages and family sizes.  After discussing the importance of incorporating Catholic traditions into family life we talk about what to do with kids of various ages, or when you have a spouse who is not enthusiastic about new traditions.  Kendra has some truly great wisdom to share!   Because this was an interview with our member site (the messy family neighborhood), we also have some great questions from other parents included in this podcast.  Listen in and get inspired to strengthen your family’s culture this Advent and Christmas season.    Referenced: Maidens Course: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/maidens-course/  Support our ministry to families: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/give/  Board Meeting Webinar: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/join/

The use of technology is a major issue in most households. Tech is invading our homes in an unprecedented manner and the influence on our children is something we are just beginning to comprehend. How can parents effectively navigate these waters with their children? Kids need guidance in this area more than almost any other area of Life, but it is here where parents usually are completely unaware. In this essential podcast for parents we try to light a fire underneath you and show the seriousness of the tech situation with kids. We share our own experience and start giving you tips and tricks to guide your children on their tech use. Referenced: Maidens Course: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/maidens-course/  Support our ministry to families: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/give/

Many times when we think about taking time to pray parents’ first reaction is “I don’t have time to pray!”  But the problem with that is that prayer is the foundation of our life of faith and relationship with God.  As we pray, we grow in knowledge and love of God.  We all need that! In this podcast, we discuss internal prayer which is also called mental prayer.  The many means that the Church has given us to pray such as in our liturgy are beautiful and some are essential, but that is not all there is.  We need to take time to speak to God and hear Him speak to us in the scriptures and within our hearts.  How should you do this?  Where can you start?  Listen in as we share about our own prayer life and walk you through how we take the time to be with Our Lord.     Referenced: Support the Messy Family Project: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/live-podcast-screens/ \ Join Live Podcast on Screens and Technology: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/give/

We have a treat for you as we are sharing a special date night interview with Scott and Kimberly Hahn. They have been married for 40 years and have six children along with eighteen grandchildren. They are world-renowned Catholic evangelists, speakers, authors and teachers. In this show they share their wisdom on falling in love and staying in love through the tough times. They share some of their struggles and not always being on the same page with great encouragement and direction for couples. They also share some of the challenges in parenting and how to effectively pass on the faith to our children.  You won’t want to miss this episode and you may want to take notes. We also had a follow-up handout if you would like to use this show as a conversation starter for you and your spouse.    Referenced in this episode: Handout for this special date night: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/date-night-with-hahns/    Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/join/ St. Paul Center: https://stpaulcenter.com/ Kimberly’s new podcast: https://www.belovedandblessed.com/

After 26 years of parenting you would think that we knew how to promote an atmosphere of virtue in our home automatically. But it doesn’t work that way!  We have had to stop and evaluate the way that our younger children have been treating each other and address it intentionally.  In this podcast, we share some of the teaching we gave to our kids about practicing kindness, how we followed up afterwards, and why its important to train the actions AND the hearts of our children. Listen in to hear our Seven Tips on Kids and Kindness at home as well as Mike’s reflections on his recent hike on the Appalachian Trail, update on our fabulously successful Date Night with the Hahns, upcoming events, and how to promote our podcast.    Referenced: Catholic moms summit register: https://www.cardinalstudios.org/a/34145/eFUzDCVz Marriage summit access if desired: https://www.joyfuleverafter.org/a/27520/xSMEEApS Scott and Kimberly Hahn interview: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/date-night-with-hahns/

The sexual relationship you have with your spouse is the most intimate relationship you will ever have, but it certainly can be complicated! In this podcast, we have a conversation with Byron and Francine Pirola, founders of Smartloving and international speakers and teachers.  Our conversation about physical intimacy between spouses is honest, frank, and explicit, so please listen to this podcast in privacy.  But we do believe this information is desperately needed by couples, so we have created a summary and download for you to use after listening to the podcast to create a conversation with your spouse.  Please listen in, use this topic as a conversation starter with your spouse, and share with others!     Referenced: Free Conversation Starter on Sexual Intimacy: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/physical-intimacy/  Webinar with Byron and Francine Pirola: https://smartloving.org/webinars/ Sign up for our virtual date night with Scott & Kimberly Hahn: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/date-night-with-hahns/

All parents will fail.  How do we know this?  Because we are all imperfect!  Many parents feel like failures when grieving over their children’s poor decisions or loss of faith. Or they look at themselves in the mirror and don’t like who they have become. How we define failure and how we deal with it will either paralyze us or call us on to greater holiness and virtue.  Recognizing how we have failed our children, and even how our own parents have failed us, is how we learn and grow.  In this podcast we define the difference between shame and guilt (one is good and the other bad!), the importance of recognizing what we can control and what we cannot, and the centrality of forgiveness in our relationships with our children, no matter what their age.  In addition to some hard truths, this podcast gives hope to every parent who wants to improve themselves through extreme ownership and humility.     Referenced: Virtual date night with Scott and Kimberly Hahn in October https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/date-night-with-hahns/  Covenant Eyes to protect your family - https://covenanteyes.sjv.io/MFP  Catholic Answers article: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/parents-and-the-law-of-love/ Sign up for one minute weekly encouragement: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/sign-up-for-minutes/