Minimally Acceptable Parents

Are My Kids on Track: Boundaries, Reflection, and COVID-19

We spend some time talking about COVID-19 and it's impact around us. Then we explore excellence with chore time, practicing spelling, & finding the silver lining during this difficult time. Then we attain imperfection with missed moments and dinner interruptions. We wrap-up our last book review of, "Are My Kids on Track?" by Sissy Goff, David Thomas, and Melissa Trevathan. We discuss the social milestones of awareness, reciprocity, ownership, & importance of boundaries for young men. Then we discuss spiritual milestones of foundation, identity, mercy, and meaning. We finish by reflecting on the past year and how we have grown in this season. Then we add our last quote for the Parent Board and read through our quotes for our vision statement for parenting. Show Notes - COVID-19 3:50 Exploring Excellence 7:42 Attaining Imperfection 15:14 Book Review 18:27 Parent Board 1:10:14

Are My Kids on Track?: Vocabulary, Entitlement, and the DMV

We explore excellence with practicing restraint and keeping new year's formations. Then we attain imperfection with distracted evenings and trying patience at the DMV. We kickoff our last book review of, "Are My Kids on Track?" by Sissy Goff, David Thomas, and Melissa Trevathan. We discuss the emotional milestones of emotional vocabulary, empathy, perspective, & resourcefulness and touch on masculinity and femininity, rating anxiety, creating space, and emotional entitlement. Then we save our last quote for the Parent Board for the season finale. Show Notes - Exploring Excellence 1:23 Attaining Imperfection 7:12 Little Things in Between 8:55 Book Review 11:57 Parent Board 41:21

The Gardener & The Carpenter: Imitation, Technological Pessimists, & Spats

We explore excellence with new books & animal facts. Then we attain imperfection with sick days and a difficult weekend. We complete our discussion on Alison Gopnik's book, "The Gardener & The Carpenter" with a discussion on some cool developmental psychology experiments, exploring how children learn through imitation and testimony, as well as touching on essentialism, why kids ask why, curiosity and play, playground culture, & technological pessimists. Then we end with a new quote for the Parent Board from the last sentence in the book. Show Notes - Exploring Excellence 2:40 Attaining Imperfection 09:50 Book Review 16:51 Parent Board 1:03:20

The Gardener & The Carpenter: Zombies, Oxytocin, & Vaccine Hesitancy

We explore excellence with exciting career news, removing ingrown toenails, and avoiding zombies. Then we attain imperfections in our budget and exercise routines. We start our discussion on Alison Gopnik's book, "The Gardener & The Carpenter" with a discussion on why the "parenting" model is insufficient, the connection between immaturity & prolonged lifespan, and the powers of oxytocin to "tend & befriend" but also to make ingroup versus outgroup. We then take a major to detour to discuss ingroup versus outgroup in the context of institutional racism and vaccine hesitancy. Then we end with a new quote for the Parent Board! Show Notes: Exploring Excellence 2:45 Attaining Imperfection 07:28 Book Review 10:48 36:19 - The book I mention - Divided By Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Michael O. Emerson & Christian Smith Parent Board 47:11

Simplicity Parenting: Cool Runnings, Blockbuster, & Crafting Rhythms

*This episode is PART B of Simplicity Parenting & picks up in the middle of our book review. So, we suggest checking out Episode 19A first.* In Part B we continue our discussion on increasing predictability & crafting rhythms through pause, dinner, and bedtime. We reminisce on our childhood family dinners and blockbuster video. Then we touch on letting go of control, simplifying schedules, boredom, Sabbath, screens, & filtering out the adult world.