Sarah Hamaker

How Philippians 4:8 Informs Our Parenting (Episode 70)

On this week’s “You’ve Got This,” I talk with Tierney Boggs about discovery, dream, design and destiny in our parenting. PCI Certified Parent Coach, Tierney Boggs supports parents to be present, authentic and intentional all while using their God-given strengths fully to release their arrows with all of their might. “Often, we are so focused on a tiny piece of the picture, we can’t see the whole,” Tierney said. “We need to think about planning what we would love our ideal situations in parenting to look like. … Then we actually use our child’s strengths to make this ideal happen. … As we give our children autonomy, they take ownership over that in a new way.” Listen to the podcast for more insights and suggestions about how encouraging Philippians 4:8—“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”—can be in raising kids.

The Gift of Sleep (Episode 69)

On this week’s “You’ve Got This,” I talk with Eva Klein about why we’re so worried about our kids and their sleep habits. Eva is a wife and mom of three, a recovering lawyer, a certified infant and child sleep consultant, and the owner and founder of My Sleeping Baby and the Sleep Bible program. Eva’s main goal is to assist her clients establish healthy sleep habits for their children. After experiencing the debilitating effects of chronic sleep deprivation from her two children, Eva was inspired to help families overcome their sleep challenges. “Sleep deprivation is torturous. When we aren’t sleeping well, we are not at our best,” Eva said. “I’m a little bit the scary person to be around when I don’t have enough sleep. … It’s easy to forget that toddlers are little humans with similar needs: They need sleep, they need food, they need activity. When they don’t get the sleep that they need, they are not able to function at 100%.” Listen to the podcast for more insights and suggestions about how to get your toddler or preschooler sleeping well.

Opting Out of Mom Shaming (Episode 68)

On this week’s “You’ve Got This,” I talk with Bernie Rosquites about granting grace, not judgment, to our fellow moms. Bernie is a stay-at-home mom, wife and a mother of one awesome six year old. She is also one of four cohosts for a parenting podcast. One of her favorite episodes of this podcast is Understanding Your Child’s Meltdown. “What mother has not lost it once in public [with her kids]? We have all been there,” Bernie said. “I’m a really big supporter of having a mom tribe, a mom village, and making sure that mom village is going to be a positive and supportive mom village because when mom shaming happens, it’s so easy to get so caught up in that. … Let’s hug each other more, let’s squeeze that shoulder a little more. Check in a little bit more.” Listen to the podcast for more insights and encouragement about being a mom.

Helping Your Teen Figure Out Life After High School (Episode 67)

On this week’s “You’ve Got This,” I talk with Doug Morneau about how to talk to our teens about finding their passion and path forward after graduation. Doug is a best-selling author, speaker, podcaster and serial marketer. He’s also a CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting athlete, husband, dad and granddad. Married for 30 years, Doug and his wife, Heather, live in Vancouver, Canada. Together they have three adult children, two grandchildren with the third one on the way. You can often meet up with Doug as he’s serving his local church and at community events both locally and globally. In his spare time, you can find him in the CrossFit box, Olympic weightlifting, and chasing his grandsons around. “We just encouraged our kids to try different things. Our kind of rule of thumb in our household was try it for a season before quitting,” Doug said. “We are not trying to put our goals and ambitions on our kids. My advice to my kids was to find something that wakes you up 30 minutes before your alarm every day and do that. And that something didn’t necessarily mean going to college.” Listen to the podcast for more insights and suggestions about letting our kids make their own life choices.

Feeding Your Picky Eater (Episode 66)

On this week’s “You’ve Got This,” I talk with Dr. Orlena Kerek about how to help kids expand their palates at the dinner table. Orlena is a pediatric doctor from the United Kingdom and the mother of four. In 2011, she moved to Spain and started her first parenting site, snottynoses. She’s done a lot of work on picky eaters and how to help kids eat healthily. Her books include Feeding Toddlers Crunch! Put a Stop to Picky Eating and Help Your Kids Love Veggies. She’s also a weight loss coach for moms and talks about easy and simple ways to reduce the risk of illness on her podcast, Fit and Fabulous. “It’s really, really frustrating when you are faced with a toddler or a child who doesn’t want to eat. We’ve spent a lot of time making dinner, and we want to sit down and have a nice family dinner together,” Orlena said. “Our ideas are about our children eating healthily and nicely, and connecting with our kids, but the reality is hugely different. … [But] toddlers’ tastes change, and it’s really normal to see what we call picky eating.” Listen to the podcast for more insights and suggestions about helping your picky eater eat.