family

screen time featured
  • Chase Jennings
  • No Comments

AT HOME WITH HOMER: Screen Time as Purposeful Time — with Stephanie Dua
AT HOME WITH HOMER: Screen Time as Purposeful Time — with Stephanie Dua 1920 1080 Chase Jennings

Kanika: The last year has given us a new perspective on screen time. While it allowed for remote learning during a pandemic, we also have screen time fatigue — and new blue light lenses : ) — from too much of it. What are some tips, resources, and guardrails you can share regarding screen time for young learners.

Stephanie: As you mentioned, technology has saved us in so many ways this past year. We’ve been able to stay connected to the outside world — teachers, family, friends — because of our screens. Furthermore, The pandemic has accelerated the spread of laptops and learning apps in schools, they say, normalizing digital education tools for millions of teachers, students and their families.” -NYT

While those are 2 examples of beneficial screen time, we are fatigued by it and for early learnings especially, not all screen time is created equal

Kanika: So how do we as parents and caregivers determine what is good screen time?

Stephanie: For starters, recommend embracing Mindful Media. Rather than using the amount of time our kids are spending on screen as the only consideration, we came up with the P-L-A-Y Framework: a quick and easy guide to help you make smart media decisions for your children.

  • P – Purpose
    • There are so many reasons to hand your child a screen — It could be to keep them entertained, to give them an opportunity to connect with family and friends, to assist in their schoolwork, to help them wind down at night, or to keep them safely occupied while you cook dinner.
    • Whatever the purpose might be, think about whether the type of media you are putting on that device matches up with the intended purpose. For example, in the evening if you’re winding your kids down, you want to make sure the content is calming.
    • Additionally, experts estimate that 65% of kids will have jobs that don’t currently exist. So even if the purpose of giving your child a screen doesn’t have direct learning value, you can feel good that your child is learning 21st-century skills that will set them up for 21st-century jobs.
  • L – Learning Value
    • Understand the learning value: There are so many rich, entertaining apps and digital experiences that you can find for your children
    • Common Sense Media is a great resource that has done a lot of the legwork for parents—I personally found them to be a lifesaver with my kids.
  • A – Appropriateness
    • Deciding whether an app or digital experience is appropriate for your child can seem daunting, but it doesn’t need to be difficult. Here are a couple of things to think about:
      • Is it appropriate for their age?
      • Will they engage with it? For example, will it make them giggle? Get up and dance? Try out a new word?
      • Is it personalized to them? Does it appeal to their individual interests and learning needs, or encourage them to look at the world in a new way?
      • Is it going to be a positive experience? Keep in mind what makes them feel confident, and what might make them feel scared or upset.
  • Y – YES!
    • Yes, you can use screens – Parents should feel empowered to use screens in a way that is mindful for themselves and for their family. They aren’t designed to ruin your child’s future, but rather when used appropriately, will give children the skills to thrive in the 21st century.

Episode Links:

Visit learnwithhomer.com/momsense for a 60-day FREE trial

76 Gail Becker on Thats Total Mom Sense with Kanika Chadda-Gupta
  • Chase Jennings
  • No Comments

075: Gail Becker — It’s a Vegolution!
075: Gail Becker — It’s a Vegolution! 1920 1080 Chase Jennings

Gail Becker is the Founder and CEO of CAULIPOWER. As a mom in the corporate world, Gail’s time was at a premium. For two sons with celiac disease, family pizza night was a choice between high-sugar, high-calorie, low-nutrition store-bought gluten-free pizza or tedious, messy process making it on her own. She finally cracked the code with a cauliflower recipe and is now selling nationwide.

Forbes Article – Starting in 30 Whole Foods stores in March, 2017, Becker’s Caulipower pizza line has surpassed sales of 10 million pizzas, and is available in an estimated 25,000 national and regional grocery stores, such as Whole Foods, Kroger, Walmart and Safeway, Target.

Her company, Vegolutionary Foods, is branching into new product lines, including a toast made from sweet potatoes that has just hit the market.

Gail previously served as President of Strategic Partnerships and Global Integration at Edelman. She began her career at Edelman as General Manager of the Los Angeles office, which she led for seven years and served as Western Region President for more than eight. Then, as Chair of Canada and Latin America, she helped triple the firm’s business in LatAm and grew revenue in Canada by 77 percent in five years. Gail served as Chair of Edelman’s Global Women’s Executive Network (GWEN) and was responsible for overseeing the company’s effort to increase the number of women at the senior-most levels of the firm. Throughout her tenure with Edelman, Gail has served as strategic counsel on a broad range of clients, including Warner Bros., Starbucks, Microsoft, Norton, Activision, MPAA and The Recording Academy/Grammys. A

She joined Edelman after serving as vice president of communications at Warner Home Entertainment, where she spearheaded the global public relations launch of the DVD format on behalf of Warner Bros. and Time Warner, leaders in development of the technology, and served as the primary PR strategist and spokesperson for the companies throughout several controversial format and copyright battles.

Gail served as director of communications for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Donna Shalala during the first Clinton Administration. There, she developed and implemented communications programs to promote the agency and its divisions, including the FDA and Centers for Disease Control.

Prior to that post, she served as a member of the national press staff and as the primary on-site satellite producer for candidates Bill Clinton and Al Gore during their ’92 presidential campaign.

Gail began her career as an on-air broadcast journalist in local news and correspondent in Washington, D.C., covering Capitol Hill and the White House. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California Los Angeles and a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. Gail also directed a short documentary film, which has been recognized by a number of international film festivals. “A Journey with Purpose,” follows her nine-year old son’s trip to Auschwitz with his grandfather, who was a prisoner there for four years. Gail wrote and produced the film with her 14-year old son, which is now among the library of teaching resources of Facing History, a non-profit providing supplemental learning materials to schools around the world to combat racism, anti-Semitism and prejudice, nurturing democracy through education.

Meet My Guest:

Press

Mom Haul:

  • Chase Jennings
  • No Comments

064: Alice Benedict — Back To School Or Not? An Insider’s Take
064: Alice Benedict — Back To School Or Not? An Insider’s Take 1024 512 Chase Jennings

Parents are in a state of frenzy as we navigate Back To School season. Gone are the days of buying binders and decorations for our kids lockers. Now we’re ensuring our Wifi is up to the mark and are having our kids become acclimated with Zoom, Google Meet, and Google Classroom.

Alice Benedict is a retired paralegal and president of the board of education in Botavia City School District in upstate New York since May of 2020/elected in July 2020. Our school district has approximately 2200 students.

She’s also a mother of three. Mother of three children since 1978. They are all adults now.

Contact:

  • Chase Jennings
  • No Comments

054: CeJai Taylor and Chase Moore — Raising Black Children to Dream Big
054: CeJai Taylor and Chase Moore — Raising Black Children to Dream Big 1024 512 Chase Jennings

“God could not be everywhere, so he created Mothers.” This adage could not ring more true when it comes to the life of C.J. Taylor. Her life story could be made into an Oscar-winning biopic, and believe me, it’s just a matter of time.

She is a divorced single mom of three, an attorney, and a football coach with over 20 years of experience – she is the first female coach in the Snoop Dogg’s youth football league, is the Former Director of Football Operations and Assistant Coach at Los Angeles Southwest College, and was an the Junior Varsity HEAD COACH and Assistant Coach on Varsity at Verbum Dei High School, a private all boys school in southern California. She has generated more than 45 millions dollars, sending hundreds of student-athletes to college on scholarships with over 300 NCAA programs including with Marist College, Univ. of Texas, TCU, Vanderbilt, FAMU, LSU, CAL, Boise State, USC, UCLA, Notre Dame, Syracuse and more.

She has single handedly raised three tremendously successful children: her daughter Mi-Calynn is a California State Licensed Nurse who is on the front line during the COVID pandemic. Caylin is a 2017 Rhodes Scholar, 2014 Fulbright Scholar, D-1 Student-Athlete and graduate of Texas Christian University, 2019 graduate of Oxford University, a current PhD candidate, and author of the NY Times bestselling memoir, A Dream Too Big. Last but not least Chase Moore, an Archer Fellow, Children’s Defense Fund recipient, and a recent D1Student-Athlete at the University of Texas at Austin victor of the 2019 Sugar Bowl, and member of the AFCA Allstate Good Works Team.

Though the family has witnessed many glory days, life has not been easy.

As written in an ESPN profile by Senior Writer Adam Rittenberg, CJ shares,

“We used to have a five-bath, four-bedroom house and seven vehicles. We had what looked like the Cosby life. It was like a Monet: From a distance, it looked beautiful, but up close, it was all messed up.”

Inside those walls, C.J.’s now ex-husband, Louis Moore, was psychologically abusive toward her. She twice saw him physically abuse Caylin, who was just 2 at the time. In 2000, she left him, taking the children to live with her mother in Carson, on the border of Compton. She filed for divorce but still feared for their safety.

She always told her kids: “We may live in the hood, but the hood doesn’t live in us.”
In 2004, she went to the hospital for heart surgery and came back in even worse shape. She was assaulted while being sedated, and later slipped into a depression. In 2009, her ex-husband was convicted of murder. He had a drunken argument with his girlfriend and fatally shot her with a rifle.

After weeks of her kids feeding her and bathing her, her middle child told her, “Get up, Mom. You’ve got to live. You’ve got three kids. We need you!”

That’s exactly what she did and she continues to give every bit of her soul to her children every single day.

Today, I am honored to welcome CJ Taylor and her youngest son Chase Moore to the show.

Meet My Guest:

Press:

Mom Haul:

  • Chase Jennings
  • No Comments

053: Eve Rodsky — Playing Fair As You Raise Your Kids
053: Eve Rodsky — Playing Fair As You Raise Your Kids 1024 512 Chase Jennings


Eve Rodsky is working to change society one marriage at a time with a new 21st century solution to an age-old problem: women shouldering the brunt of childrearing and domestic life responsibilities regardless of whether they work outside the home.

In her New York Times bestselling book Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live), she uses her Harvard Law School training and years of organizational management experience to create a gamified life-management system to help couples rebalance all of the work it takes to run a home and allow them to reimagine their relationship, time and purpose.

Eve Rodsky received her B.A. in economics and anthropology from the University of Michigan, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. After working in foundation management at J.P. Morgan, she founded the Philanthropy Advisory Group to advise high-net worth families and charitable foundations on best practices for harmonious operations, governance and disposition of funds. In her work with hundreds of families over a decade, she realized that her expertise in family mediation, strategy, and organizational management could be applied to a problem closer to home – a system for couples seeking balance, efficiency, and peace in their home. Rodsky was born and raised by a single mom in New York City and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband Seth and their three children.

Tune In:

Meet My Guest:

Mom Haul:

3 Pain-Free and Stress-Free Ways Busy Moms Can Maintain a Healthy Weight
  • Chase Jennings
  • No Comments

3 Pain-Free and Stress-Free Ways Busy Moms Can Maintain a Healthy Weight
3 Pain-Free and Stress-Free Ways Busy Moms Can Maintain a Healthy Weight 2000 1339 Chase Jennings

3 Pain-Free and Stress-Free Ways Busy Moms Can Maintain a Healthy Weight

Let’s talk about a touchy subject: maintaining a healthy weight. While the world has moved toward the acceptance of healthy bodies — and we are so here for that positive change — it’s still important for people to find simple, healthy, and effective ways to prevent obesity. That’s because obesity and chronic diseases are still closely linked. If you want to take better care of your health, you can use these effective and painless tips to do so.

Cut Out Those High-Calorie Coffee Drinks

Taking a break at your local coffee shop is a great way to de-stress and decompress after a long morning with the kids. If you’re picking up fancy lattes and blended drinks while you’re there, however, you could be sabotaging your weight loss efforts and your budget. So, consider ditching those expensive and calorie-loaded drinks for homemade pour-over coffee instead. You can snag a top-rated and affordable pour-over coffee maker for the same price as a few of those fancy drinks; plus, you will be cutting out a lot of excess sugar and carbohydrates in the process. If you really miss the flavors of those lattes and specialty drinks, you can also search coffee recipes online to start jazzing up your pour-over coffee with low-sugar and low-calorie additions that won’t throw off your diet. Some coffee beverages have more calories than a few eggs or slices of bacon, so you’re definitely better off preparing your own drinks so you can control the calories and sugar in each cup.

Try Spending a Few Minutes on Meditation

If you’re like most moms, mornings are probably pretty busy in your house. Whether you’re getting your baby fed or getting your older kids ready for school, moms never seem to have a break during the morning rush. That can leave your mental health seriously neglected, which can ultimately impact your weight and other aspects of your physical well-being. So, instead of waking up right before the kids do, why not try getting up a few minutes earlier so you have some time to yourself before things get hectic? If you really want to boost your happiness and health, you can spend those extra minutes on mindful meditation. Getting started with meditation can be tricky at first but once you get the hang of it, you are likely to feel less stressed. Pair your morning meditation with a quick yoga routine, which you can squeeze into as little as 10 minutes,  and you have the perfect recipe for boosting your weight and mood.

Find Fun Workouts That Don’t Feel Like Work

Starting your day with some meditation and power yoga can put you on track toward a healthy weight, but you need a little more exercise to beat obesity and maintain your overall health and well-being. In fact, studies have found that people who exercise at least 30 minutes each day, or a total of 200 minutes per week, tend to weigh less and feel better than those who lead a more sedentary lifestyle. While 30 minutes per day may not sound like a lot to many folks, carving out an extra half hour for exercise can feel like a serious challenge for busy moms. So, instead of stressing yourself out over getting to the gym or getting out for a run, try to find fun and practical ways to stay active during the day. Grab the kids and your dog for a nice evening walk or make it a habit to pace around as you talk on your phone. Want an even more engaging way to workout with your little ones? Then you should definitely try this super-fun playground workout!

Obesity has been linked to so many other serious health issues, so it’s so crucial for moms, and anyone really, to find a balance between maintaining a healthy body and being proud of having a different body. Doing so can mean getting more time to spend with your children as they grow older, and the simple tweaks above can make fighting obesity feel like less of an obligation.

Guest post by Jennifer McGregor

Photo Credit: Pexels

 

Katya and Amri on Thats Total Momsense with Kanika Chadda Gupta hey mama
  • Chase Jennings
  • No Comments

032: Amri Kibbler & Katya Libin — Impacting Mothers Through Community + Collaboration
032: Amri Kibbler & Katya Libin — Impacting Mothers Through Community + Collaboration 1024 512 Chase Jennings

When you’re a first time mom, it can be extremely isolating, daunting, and overwhelming. There are times when you feel so alone because you don’t have the ability to socialize, connect, and network with women and friends like you once did. Evolutionarily speaking, we all need a village.

And for me, that’s HeyMama. I live and work from my home in NJ and as you know I have twins and a baby under 3. I am juggling a ton going from digital marketing clients to podcast recordings to family life and found it so challenging to meet new people and prospect since I’m not going to weekly night time events anymore. I was introduced to HeyMama shortly after I had my third by my friend Michelle Ranavat, founder Ranavat Botanics, who lives in CA and then my friend Patrice Poltzer who is also in New York whom I know through BNI (I’m the president of the Activate 58 Chapter in NY) told me about the same week so I applied and was accepted and it’s been just the community I was seeking to be a part of both online and offline.

Tune In:

Meet My Guest:

Show Notes:

  • 00:52 – Introduction
  • 03:20 – Backgrounds
  • 05:00 – Creating an opportunity
  • 07:46 – Pregnancy and maternity leave
  • 13:00 – Family friends
  • 19:00 – Membership model
  • 23:00 – Helping women out
  • 30:00 – ‘Global domination’
  • 31:00 – Online community and offline community (events)
  • 46:00 – Examples of great leaders
  • 49:00 – Work should be something you love instead of something you have to do
  • 49:30 – ‘Mom Sense’ moments
  • 56:00 – Quote of the day
  • 1:00:00 – Mom Haul

Mom Haul:

  • Chase Jennings
  • No Comments

How Busy Moms Can Also Keep Aging Parents Healthy and Happy
How Busy Moms Can Also Keep Aging Parents Healthy and Happy 1920 1282 Chase Jennings

Cheerful granny is treating her granddaughter with fresh baked Christmas cookies. Girl is taking one from tray with excitement

Taking care of a family is already such an immense responsibility, and when you are juggling those duties with tasks associated with caring for a senior parent, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Caregiver burnout can be a serious risk for children and grandchildren in this situation, but if you are a family caregiver who is feeling overly stressed by your responsibilities, there are some steps you can take to keep aging parents healthy and ease your feelings of stress.

Transitioning Senior Parents to Independent Living

If your parent is simply lonely and not in need of care, they may be better off moving into a local independent living community. In New York, the cost of independent senior living can range from $1,500 to $17,250 per month, and these communities can provide a smaller space and many social opportunities senior parents need to thrive. It may also help to understand that these independent living communities are very different from assisted living and nursing home facilities, in that they do not provide assistance with medical care or tasks of daily living. So, while an independent living community can be a favorable choice for well-abled seniors, it’s also important for family caregivers to be able to recognize when seniors need more care.

Incorporating Simple Exercises into Daily Care Routines

Seniors need regular exercise, like walking, to avoid falls, reduce disease, and fend off other physical ailments that can lead them to need more dedicated care from family members. If you can find time in your day, try to accompany your senior parent on daily walks to provide these health and wellness benefits. If you cannot squeeze a walk into your daily care routine, or if the weather is not favorable for outdoor activities, you can also help your loved one stay healthy with safe indoor exercises. Stretching, working out in a home gym, and following along with fitness videos can be a simple way for both busy moms and aging parents to stay in shape. And if your parent feels like getting out of the house, he/she can always burn calories by walking around a mall or museum, swimming at an indoor pool, or looking for indoor fitness classes.

Utilizing Meal & Grocery Delivery Services for Daily Meal Prep

In addition to providing your aging parents and young children with daily care, you also need to provide them with daily nutrition. That can be a major challenge for busy moms, especially when you cannot seem to find the time to even visit a grocery store, let alone prepare a healthy meal for your extended family. If you have a smartphone, however, you may be able to solve your shopping and meal prep dilemmas by using various food delivery services. For moms who still want to cook meals from scratch, local grocery delivery may be the best option for keeping seniors healthy and other family members happy. If you have a little more room in your budget, and less time in your day, family-friendly meal kits may be a more convenient choice.

Teaching Children About Responsibility By Having Them Help With Care

If you have older children, there’s no reason why they cannot contribute and help you care for your senior parent, as well as your household. For example, you can always ask your children to help with cooking, which will lighten your load and also provide a practical way to enhance their academic skills. Children who cook are learning valuable lessons in math, science, reading comprehension, and communication, in addition to gaining a skill that will better prepare them for adulthood. You can also write out a daily chore list that includes tasks that will make it easier for you to care for grandparents who live in your home, but be sure that the chores you assign to your children are appropriate for their age and abilities.

Living with senior parents when you are also trying to raise a family can come with unique challenges. If you can navigate these challenges and find ways to make your life easier, while keeping an aging parent healthy, you both can make the most of a multigenerational home.

Attribution:

Written by guest author, Karen Weeks

Photo by sk on Unsplash

  • Chase Jennings
  • No Comments

011: Sahar Martinez — Getting Your Groove Back In Your Marriage After Kids
011: Sahar Martinez — Getting Your Groove Back In Your Marriage After Kids 1024 512 Chase Jennings

Sahar Martinez - Horizontal (1)

Ever since we had our baby, my husband and I are at odds with each other. It’s like he’s my roommate and not my partner anymore. We just co exist. We never have time to sit down and talk. And when we do talk, it’s about laundry list items pertaining to the kids like – can you order more diapers or by the way, baby has his doctor’s appointment tomorrow. Every little argument snowballs into a fight. It feels like we’re constantly bickering. I don’t even want to talk about how long it’s been since we’ve been intimate. I’ve lost track of how many months it’s been. Why are my kids ruining my marriage??” -Dazed and Confused, New York, NY

If this sounds like you — don’t worry. All couples go through this transition after they bring kids into their life. Priorities change and time is limited. I am doing this episode because I want to ensure you have the tools to reconnect with your partner and get your marriage back on track.

On today’s episode, I am joined by Marriage and Family Therapist Sahar Martinez. She says the process of healing often leads to deeper understanding of ourselves and our relationships. She works collaboratively with her clients, creating a safe, healing, therapeutic space that allows for growth and change. She offers an integrative approach to therapy, tailored to your unique needs. She specializes in working with individuals, couples and families struggling with issues related to trauma, grief, depression, anxiety, and major life changes, like having a baby.

She says the challenges we face as we move through various phases of life can seem overwhelming and isolating. It doesn’t have to be this way. She truly believes that each individual possesses the power within to live to their highest potential, and she’s here to support your journey to a place of hope, compassion and self love.

Tune In:

About My Guest:

Show Notes:

  • 1:22 — Excerpt from one of my listeners
  • 6:19 — Biological responses
  • 10:47 — Making time
  • 15:50 — Setting boundaries
  • 17:25 — Money
  • 22:24 — Agreeing on how to raise children
  • 28:00 — How to explain arguments to children
  • 37:50 — Products

Mom Haul:

  • Chase Jennings
  • 1 Comment

001: Sweta Doshi — Massage is the New Bath!
001: Sweta Doshi — Massage is the New Bath! 1024 512 Chase Jennings

Massage has numerous benefits for children including infant weight gain, stress and anxiety relief, motor development, and cognitive development. On this episode, I’m joined by Sweta Doshi, the founder of Bubbsi, a skincare brand for babies and toddlers. Leveraging her 10 years of experience working in strategy and marketing at major beauty and apparel brands, Sweta decided to solve a problem that all moms face — finding all-natural skincare for our babies. Drawing from her own experience when her daughter developed eczema as a newborn, Sweta explains that bathing our babies every day can be extremely drying on their skin, especially if they have sensitive skin or suffer from eczema, so parents should make massage the focal point of their bedtime routine. Listeners, enter promo code MOMSENSE10 for 10% off your first Bubbsi order.

Tune In:

About My Guest:

Show Notes:

  • 1:26 – Overview of the benefits of massage
  • 3:00 – Meet Sweta Doshi, founder of Bubbsi
  • 6:00 – Babies with eczema and doctor’s orders
  • 8:15 – Skincare products for kids
  • 11:15 – Sustainability element 
  • 12:40 – Massage is the new bath!
  • 16:00 – Statistics about massage
  • 17:45 – Did your cultural upbringing and ayurveda influence you?
  • 19:20 – What is a good massage routine for kids
  • 23:22 – Which is harder – being an entrepreneur or a mom?
  • 25:55 – Sweta’s Mom Sense moment
  • 27:15 – Mom Haul

Mom Haul:

Enter your
text here