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6 Comments

  1. Danielle Goudreau says:

    Hey There Monica!
    I just wanted to stop by and introduce myself as you asked on one of your episodes! I’m Danielle! I’m 33 with 3 boys 11,7, & 2. We currently live right outside of Pensacola, FL in a small rural farm town. A friend from church introduced me to your podcast last week. I am not a huge podcast person but loved loved your podcast. It really hit home with me having 3 boys!! I’m hoping to purchase book soon!! So, far I do love all your subjects on the podcast. I would love to hear more about dealing with age differences. My oldest is starting to go through the preteen stage. I still have two younger boys that love doing “younger” things. We do a lot of activities but it’s more geared towards “younger kids”. Everything around here that is free or inexpensive & fun to do seems to be geared for the younger kids. I feel like I hold him back sometimes from being a preteen and allowing him to do “preteen” things. It’s hard because we do not have a lot of money. We also do not live town. We only have a library and a playground. It’s 30+ mins into town. I budget our outings along with gas. We can’t buy the newest coolest things which I’d rather not anyways. I want to teach him there is more to life than materials. It’s also hard because we do not have a family to rely on and I can’t just take him to do a preteen thing without his brothers. His stepdad works a lot as well. It’s usually just the boys & myself. He doesn’t say a lot about it but I can tell it bothers him at times. It bothers me too. I’d really like him to have a little bit of freedom. He truly deserves it. Any suggestions??

    1. Hi Danielle!
      Thank you for the great suggestion (also fun to just hear about your family a little bit!) I’ll ad that to my list, but meanwhile just a couple thoughts from my experience: I think often we put our own fears/anxieties on our kids and perhaps your son won’t be that uncomfortable unless you make it into an issue. Sure, he should have the chance to have friends around that are his same age, but he doesn’t need to do that every day or even that often. Perhaps he can do a sport or activity with his age range kids? Then on a typical day it will not hurt him at all to hang with his younger siblings. I think kids enjoy extending their childhood a little and don’t need to grow up so fast. Unless he is around kids who make him feel bad…(at school? etc.) he’s probably more content than you realize. And always-best route is just to open it up and be honest. Let him know how much you appreciate him playing with his younger siblings and what a great help it is to you. Enjoy him — have more “adult” (relatively speaking) conversations with him to make him feel acknowledged and “older.” Hanging out with peers is not the only way to acknowledge a growing boy– there are many ways! 🙂
      Blessings and keep up the intentional parenting and great work! aloha

  2. Hi i am a mom of 3 boys ( 3 almost 4, 6 and 7) and i have to say i love the podcast and your blog!! As parents we are going through hard time and your word went straight into my heart!!! It really encouraged me to keep on in this amazing adventure with God raising world changers!! greetings from Belgium!!

    1. Oh bless you Mariale!! SO happy you found the podcast and blog…It’s my heart’s desire to be an encouragement so that makes me so happy. Please let me know if I can support you in any specific way. Much aloha — Monica

  3. Love, love the new podcast! Episode 2 was such a rich reminder for me this morning. I’m ready to tackle the day and show my kids more intentional love today.

    I feel like you got the nerves out on the 1st episode and it was so natural after that. You were right in my kitchen with me. Love you!

    1. Carla Rae Shaw says:

      Great first episode! Congratulations! So excited for this new adventure with you.