Messy Family Podcast : Catholic Conversations on Marriage and Family

"You left just as you were becoming interesting." ~ Professor Henry Jones to Indiana Jones All throughout our children's lives, we are laying a foundation, a foundation upon which the rest of their lives will be built. How we relate to them, the consequences we provide to their behavior, and the teaching we give when they are teens (or even younger) will affect how we relate to them when they become adults. Parenting an adult child can be heartbreaking or amazingly satisfying, depending on the decisions they make. In this podcast, we give seven tips on how to parent your adult child and help them to launch into the world of adulthood.

"Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one." ~ Benjamin Franklin We thought we were really nice people before we had kids. Our children can sometimes trigger anger that we didn't even realize was there, anger that can surprise us with its violence. To overcome unrighteous anger, we need to understand why we get angry (sometimes it's not unjustified!) and make a plan for how we are going to deal with it. This can be a difficult issue for many people because it takes humility to admit when we are wrong, and vulnerability to deal with our own brokenness. Show Notes: Check out these resources. Book: Taming the Lion Within: 5 Steps from Anger to Peace by Dr. Rhonda Chervin Great article: How to Deal with Parental Anger by Dr. Sears Our podcast on The Courage to Correct Your Spouse Our podcast on Words Matter

"For the grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents' help is important. So too is the role of the godfather and godmother, who must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized on the road of Christian life." Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1255 Our world presents images of cartoon fairy godmothers and mob-boss godfathers, but in actuality, being a godparent is a lifelong commitment with spiritual significance. To be an effective godparent, we need to be in a relationship with our godchild as a Christian as we assist the parents in the faith formation of their child. In this episode, we discuss how to choose a godparent, the importance of godparents in the life of the child, and how to be a godparent who actually makes an impact on the life of a young Catholic. Listen in to learn more about this important relationship. This sponsored podcast is dedicated to Katie Stockermans.

"If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy." ~ Corrie TenBoom If we are too busy to pray, eat with our family, or play with our kids, then we are too busy. When we look at our family's schedule, we need to make sure that we have the "big rocks" in place. We need to make sure that we invest time in those things that we say are our top priorities. Show me how you spend your time, and I will show you what you value. In this podcast, we talk about families and our busy schedules. We look at how we can juggle it all and make wise choices for our children and ourselves. Really, most of our podcast ideas boil down to this - how do you make it all happen? Thanks to the Master Planner for sponsoring this episode! Show Notes: Our podcast on Kids and Activities Our podcast on Raising confident kids who aren't full of themselves Our podcast on being Overwhelmed

"The future of evangelization depends in great part on the Church of the home." ~ St. John Paul the Great Every Catholic is called to evangelize. No matter where you are in life, we are to spreading the gospel of Christ in all we do. Does that mean that we need to carry a bible in the diaper bag and preach on the street? Not necessarily (though a bible in your diaper bag is a good idea!), the first step in evangelization is to love. When we evangelize as a family, that means that we first love, serve, and preach the gospel to our own children as we create a home in which others can come to be served and cared for. Your family can be a witness to Christ as you show how to love as Jesus loved. Thank you to Sean and Aine Ascough of Ireland for sponsoring this podcast! Show Notes: some resources we mentioned in this episode: Our podcast on Evangelizing your Kids Our podcast on Passing on the Faith Our podcast on Scripture and the Family

"The more ready you are to give yourselves to God and to others, the more you will discover the authentic meaning of life." ― Jason Evert, Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves Chastity is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and a virtue that frees us to love others for who they are, not for what they do for us. The foundation of chastity should be intentionally laid when our children are young, so this virtue can fully flower in their teen years and beyond. This podcast isn't a "chastity talk": it's fifty minutes of practical advice on what this virtue looks like when lived out in a family of all different ages and stages of development. Thank you to the Piwnicki family from St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Crystal Lake, IL for sponsoring this podcast! Show Notes: Our podcast on the importance of Friendship for your Kids Our podcast on Preparing Your Tween and Yourself for Adolescence Our podcast on the Messy Parenting Guide to Dating Book: Raising Pure Teens by Jason Evert and Chris Stefanick Book: Theology of His/Her Body by Jason Evert

"You can learn many things from toddlers! For example, how much patience you actually have." ~Anonymous One blessing of having ten kids is that we have matured and learned enough about kids to appreciate the toddler years of children #9 and 10 much more than those years with children #1 and 2. Our advice to parents of toddlers is to start by enjoying them! It's hard to do when they are destroying your house and embarrassing you in public, but with a few strategies and consistency on your part, you can begin to see that this little bundle of creative energy has been amazingly designed by the Divine Creator. It's all part of His plan to get this child to adulthood and independence, and to get you to heaven! Notes: The Absorbent Mind (Montessori book) Articles on toddlers from Focus on the Family (Christian website)

"It is in the family that young people have their first experience of Gospel values and of the love which gives itself to God and to others." ~ St. John Paul the Great As Catholic families, we want our children to be open to the call to the priesthood or religious life, but how do we do that in a practical way? Where does this call come from? How can we support our children in responding to that call? Ultimately, the answer comes down to teaching our children to love and know Jesus, because the path ahead of them can only be walked with His help. In this podcast, Father Joe Doman, Alicia's younger brother, shares his vocation story and insights into how the laity can foster vocations. We also discuss how to support the priests who care for us in our parishes.

"Wine is a constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy." ~Ben Franklin God could have made food boring, dull, and simply to sustain us. But He didn't. He made food good! Added with human creativity and work, food becomes a sign of love to our families. Parents work to buy food, prepare food, and serve food to nourish their children. It's amazing how much work goes into just feeding people! In this podcast, we talk about feeding babies, the kind of food we give our kids, our perspective on organic and non-GMO foods, and why we think it's important to consider the philosophy of food that you are passing on to your kids. Additional Resources: Plating Grace (Fr. Leo is awesome!) The Catholic Table (great book and blog!) Once-a-Month Cooking (Cook book)

"More than ever necessary in our times is preparation of young people for marriage and family life." – St. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio Preparing for a wedding can be a whirl of appointments, deposits, planning, decision-making, "Pintresting," and, sometimes, drama. But the wedding is just a day: marriage is a lifetime. Preparing for marriage is a very serious and important task for any couple. Marriage is naturally fraught with difficulties, and that's especially true in our culture, today. There is little support for faithful marriage, and many of us come from families who have given us poor examples of what a healthy marriage should look like. In this podcast, we list some topics that couples really need to discuss as well as some of our own insights on how to renew the sacrament of marriage in our Church. Show Notes: some resources we mentioned Catholic Bishops on Marriage Fr. John Riccardo: a Biblical Vision for Marriage Pt 1(iTunes) Video series: Beloved