Jen and Sara discuss what characteristics make up a strong family. Chances are you're already doing a good number of them, and there could be some that you disagree with, but these are things Research has found help strengthen families.
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Jen: Hello and welcome to the Parents Place, a podcast put out by The Family Place for parents to develop skills that will strengthen families and provide tools that will help each of us in our parenting efforts. No matter our skills, we can always use reminders that help us work towards a safer, happier home. I'm your host, Jennifer Daly, the Education Director at The Family Place and my co-host is Sara Hendricks, a Family Educator at The Family Place. Every week, we will interview professionals that will provide valuable information that will make a difference when you apply it directly to your life. Thank you for joining us, now, let's get started with today's episode. Hi and welcome to the Parents Place podcast, I'm Jen Daly, your host.
Sara: And I'm Sara Hendricks, your co-host,
Jen: And today we are going to be talking about characteristics of what makes a healthy family. I think just realizing what things do make a healthy family, what are some things that we want to work on? But I also want to just let you know that just because you may not have every single one of these does not mean you don't have a healthy family. This is just what research has found healthy families having and again, just because you may not be great in one area or you don't agree with one area doesn't mean you don't have a healthy family. These are just some things to help you and if you want to implement them in your family, then we are all for that.
Sara: So, the first thing is to have a sense of respect for each other and this includes the children in our family that we accept other people as a person of worth regardless. No matter what. It's important that we earn respect by treating our children with respect. So, if we're always disrespecting them, yelling at them, saying unkind things to them, then it's hard for them to reciprocate using respect towards us. So, we want to treat our children with respect and by using manners.
Jen: I think if we stop and think, if we're thinking to ourselves my child's disrespecting me or disrespecting others, then let's stop and take a look at ourselves. Am I doing the things that my child is doing? And we're considering disrespectful, and just because we're an adult doesn't mean it's okay for us to do disrespectful things to our children. They’re, we are their mirrors, we are their teachers and they are going to mimic the things that we do. That's how they learn, especially with respect.
Sara: There's so much truth to that, I've seen that happen in my own home where my kids will do something that I think oof, they got that from me. And it's kind of this reality check for me if I don't want them to behave that way, I need to check myself and do better because they got it from me in the first place.
Jen: Yeah, and I think this could be a tricky one, I am just thinking of my, my personal family of stepfamily situations. It might look different in the two homes of what is considered respectful and what's not respectful. And I think that doesn't mean just because you are our step parent, new disregard what you feel is respectful behavior you teach, you build that relationship with that step child and then you teach them what you find respectful for you.
Sara: Definitely.
Jen: I just want to also say, with a sense of respect, I think an important piece of that is not shaming our children. Lots of times we see on social media or whatever this shame of I did this and so I have to stand out here with this sign on or I wore this, these short little shorts so my dad put on short little shorts and then got on social media and said, look, this is what my daughter looks like or whatnot. Things like that putting your kids in corners or making them stare at a wall, I just think there's a lack of respect there, and it's a lack of teaching them how to handle things in the real world. We should never make them feel less than when we're trying to teach them.
Sara: Yeah, definitely, social media, I feel like people see those and think it's funny, and then they add to it like, oh, I'm going to do that when my child has that or whatever. It just gives them these ideas of how to curb those behaviors in their children but ultimately it is shaming them and it's not healthy.
Jen: Flip it, how would you like that done to you if your boss made you wear a thing around your neck every time you made a mistake? Yeah. So, respect each other and each other's feelings.
Sara: There’re two more things to include, for having a sense of respect, and that's to not talk about your kids in front of them as if they don't exist. And then also don't share your kid's problems with everyone else, you want to keep that confidential so that if your children are sharing things with you that they feel are private and you want them to keep sharing those things with you, then you need to respect that privacy and keep it to yourself and not share it with everyone else.
Jen: Anything that goes nicely into our next one of having a sense of trust with your kids or just with your family in general. But if you are going and you are talking to your best friend about how you know so-and-so is still wetting the bed or your teenager had a fight with their girlfriend or boyfriend, things like that, and then it comes back to them. That trust is going to be broken and that child is not going to come to you to share those things that you need to know and be a part of to strengthen that relationship. Also, I think this is super important for partners, I mean, there's got to be that sense of trust between partners and kids need to see that there's trust between their parents. I also think that we need to teach our kids that trust can be broken, like if you know, we as a parent do go and share something that we probably shouldn't have shared and it comes back to your child and your child's not going to trust us. But we also need to teach them that it can be earned as well.
Sara: And I think that it's so important as parents that we apologize when we make mistakes and that we show our children that we as adults make mistakes and we need to come clean about that as well. Admit that we made that mistake and work towards regaining that trust.
Jen: I think these top two have a lot of importance of us teaching our children because it's important in the real world when they grow up and are doing jobs and going to college and having families of their own. These are two really important characteristics that are going to help them be a healthy individual within our society.
Sara: For sure, so the next one that makes a healthy family is having a sense of empathy and this is our ability to understand what another feels. So, there's a difference between having empathy and having sympathy in a situation. Sympathy is where you can't really relate you’re just sympathizing with them, whereas empathy is putting yourself in that situation and having understanding of what they're feeling so it's the part of us that makes us human.
Jen: I always think of empathy as well, we're not going to take away that feeling from them we want them, not that we want them to hurt or anything like that, but we want them to feel it so that they can then learn how to handle it and cope with it in an appropriate way. I always think about sympathy is I'm trying to take something away from you or I'm going to fix it or help you as much as I possibly can. And with empathy, I always think of, yeah, that does suck, and I'm here for you, but I'll help you in any way that I can, but I'm not going to take it away or solve it for you.
Sara: Yeah, with sympathy, I kind of think of it's where we find the silver lining and at least on somebody, at least this didn't happen or at least you still have that. And that kind of invalidates how somebody is feeling so empathy is really being vulnerable ourselves to listen and feel what they're feeling.
Jen: I have a favorite and I'll admit I have not seen the entire movie, but I do have a favorite part of Inside Out, where Bing Bong, I think, is his name, he loses his airplane and I think it's out in the dump or something like that, and they've taken it away. And he's really sad and joy is there trying to do everything she can to make him happy but it's really sadness that comes by and says, boy, that's really gotta be hard, that's really sad and that's all he needed and I think that's where that empathy really works well is when you’re like we sit and we acknowledge and we validate. The next one is to share feelings without a sense of fear and this for me, I think for kids, I think that's a lot of the reason why they don't come and tell us when they have done something wrong or have made a mistake or anything like that is because they're afraid of our response. And really, I mean, I think that just in life in general, that's why a lot of people don't share why things go wrong is because they're afraid of what other people will feel and that's not a healthy way to go about life.
Sara: Yeah, it's already hard to admit that you made a mistake and then if the person you're admitting it to has this big reaction, that makes you feel even worse that would be hard as a kid to admit those faults.
Jen: I think I've shared it before, I can't quite remember, but we had a I think I did a young girl that was 15 and pregnant, and she never told her parents, and she didn't get prenatal care until she was seven months and couldn't hide it anymore. And so, I would hope that I never had a child that was too afraid to tell me something like that, because they were afraid that I would get mad at the decision that they made and, you know, consequences that came with that decision. But I would be prouder of them if they came and told me so that we
Sara: Yeah, that's something that I say with my kids is it only makes it worse if you're not honest up front, the consequences are harder on you if we find out that you are lying about whatever it is that they're telling us.
Jen: I think also lots of times, and for some reason this happens more with boys than girls, it happens with girls too, but just crying. And if they fall in, if they hurt themselves, anything like that that may cause physical or emotional pain. We tell them to buck up, come on, you're a big girl, you're a big boy. And you know what? That hurts. It hurts when I fall and I skinned my knee, I'm going to cry so I should allow my child to express their feelings in the way that they feel like they need to express them.
Sara: Without them being afraid to express those feelings, that's something that we've had to work on in my house because often my husband will respond to my kids, that didn't hurt. And I'll say, how do you know? You didn't experience it?
Jen: Yep, my mom just had back surgery and I was over there and I had some family members telling her, come on, get up and walk, you can do this you got to walk. And of course, she knows she needs to walk to get that part of her body moving so that the muscles don't get tight. But, you know, we stopped and said, hey, none of us have had this back surgery, none of us know how this feels. And it's the same way with kids. We don't know exactly how they're feeling, I mean, it may be just a skin knee, but it may not be, there may be more to it.
Sara: And it could be the first time they have ever experienced that kind of injury or fall and so it is a big deal to them that pain is new for them.
Jen: And just by picking them up and saying all of that must hurt let me give you a hug or let me kiss it better. That's not going to make them a wimpy kid it's going to make them recognize and be able to express their feelings in a healthy way.
Sara: Yeah, and I think that's important for our little boys is to not make them feel like they're not allowed to cry.
Jen: It's one of the things that attracted me to my husband, he shared his feelings and his emotions, and I really liked that.
Sara: That's one of my favorite things about my husband, too, is that he's pretty sensitive. So, our next one is about communication and listening to each other. So, an interesting statistic comes from the national PTA that says that ninety four percent of what we say to our children are instructions, which just seems crazy to me that we're always telling our kids what to do, and we're not really having that communication with them. So, a challenge, keep a journal of what you say to your children for one day to see if you fall in that 94 percent instruction, or if there's more happening in how you communicate with your kids.
Jen: If you don't journal, videotape yourself, we all have video recording stuff now, so record yourself and see even for three minutes and see what is your percentage, count how many times you are, you know you spoke to your child, how many of those times were instructions?
Sara: Yeah and to think of school age children, I mean, we're not spending a ton of time with them during waking hours because they're at school. And so that window of time that we're with them is small and is our communication are mostly instruction?
Jen: I can't imagine being told to do something 94 percent of the time throughout the day. I might go loonie.
Sara: No kidding, something else with listening and communication is to ask your child for their opinions and have conversations with them, which I think is so great. If you're planning out something to do for the day have your children weigh in on the things that they want to do and what they would enjoy and get down on their level and make it about them when you're including them in these conversations.
Jen: Children are more likely to give you less misbehaviors if we include them in things, because now it is more important they're a part of it.
Sara: Yeah, that's something I've actually learned with my oldest is sometimes I get excited to kind of surprise my kids of something that we're going to do but she really takes all of the fun out of it because she wants to know so badly that she just like nags and makes it hard to carry out that surprise because eventually I'm so frustrated. I just want to yell at her that says what we're doing so so stop. But I've just kind of learned with her that doesn't work for her to feel excited about something she wants to be in the know and weigh in and participate in the planning process. Yeah.
Jen: Yeah, another great characteristic of healthy families is teaching a sense of right and wrong. And I think there's this is a two parter for me because there's a sense of right and wrong for what's with in your home and then there's a sense of right and wrong within society. And they need to know both of those, so when I think of right and wrong of we can eat our breakfast in the living room, that's okay for some people. I think we also need to let them know that when they are over at a friend's house, they need to follow what's right and wrong in their house. So, if it's not okay to eat snacks or whatever in the living room that you've got to stay in the kitchen, but it's okay in your home, we need to teach our kids to respect that rule in someone else's home. Now, that doesn't mean if you have a friend that their, right, goes against your morals and values, that doesn't mean we teach our kids why you do it, because you're over at their house. If it's going against our morals or values, then we tell them, yeah, you can say, no, I'm not going to do that. If that's, you know, a younger child watching a rated R movie or, you know, a teen, their parents may let them have a sip of this or that when they're not 21 and but if that's not okay in your home, then we shouldn't. We should teach them that it's okay to say no and that I'm not going to do that.
Sara: Yeah, that was something when I was a kid, I was never allowed to watch The Simpsons but all of my friends were and so when I was in their homes and The Simpsons were on, I would have to stand up for that value that my family had because it felt wrong to me to watch it knowing my family didn't allow it. And I easily could have watched it, my parents weren't there, you know? But I had that instilled in me that sense of right and wrong, and so I would have to go in another room or ask if we could change the channel.
Jen: And I think that is a strong lesson for kids to learn that it's okay to stand up for what they believe is right when it comes to their values. The other one is just within society and knowing what is okay and what is not okay, meaning laws and things like that. Speed limits, I mean, those are very simple things that we can teach of right and wrong. So, within society, in teaching our kids that, yes, it's okay to stand up for things when you have strong beliefs and teaching them the appropriate way to stand up for those beliefs in our society instead of creating hard feelings or creating conflict with others out in society. I think often when I'm thinking about society and doing what's right or wrong, I think of Martin Luther King. I mean, he had strong beliefs and he was standing up for them and he had every right to stand up and fight for those beliefs. But he did it in a way that was safe for others and made other people take notice, so that's what I'm kind of talking about with a sense of right and wrong within society.
Sara: Yeah, if you're going to stand up for your beliefs, you want to do it in a nonviolent way that attracts positive reactions from people instead of negative reactions. Okay, so our next characteristic for healthy family is a sense of privacy. So, we need a sense of privacy when it comes to our bodies, so staying out of the bathroom when others are using it or changing that also includes closing the door when you're in the bathroom, doing those things.
Jen: I agree. No one wants the door open.
Sara: Right. And privacy when it comes to notes in our backpacks or friends’ backpacks, we don't go into their belongings and read those private things. We don't listen in on phone call conversations or read text messages that's in somebody else's phone, we have to teach that privacy in our families.
Jen: It connects with trust because if we're doing those things and we get caught, then that trust is broken again.
Sara: Yeah, and it's important when it comes to privacy to have that right to personal property. So that means that we don't always have to share with our young children, we teach them that they have to share and we might set a timer and say, okay, you can have it for five minutes and then it's time to give it to this child because they want it to. But if it belongs to that child, they have the right not to share it, especially if they feel attachment that it's really special to them and so, one thing you can do with your small children is if you know that you're going to be watching other children in your home or friends are coming over. Or cousins before they come over, say you can pick three things that we're going to put away, and nobody else gets to play with those three things while they're here. But everything else is fair game and so they know those things belong to them, and they're set aside to remain special to them. They don't have to share those things, but everything else, we're going to allow our friends while they're here to play with our things.
Jen: So, I have this question, what about parents’ stuff? Sarah, how do you feel about sharing your stuff as a parent and saying that this is just family items?
Sara: So that's a really interesting question, because I think as a parent, I feel like I've had to share so much more now that I have children. I mean, I when my kids were smaller, I didn't even get a meal to myself, I was sharing bites off of my plate. And still, I guess technically that happens just yesterday I had a salad for lunch and like every three bites, I'm giving one to my four-year-old because she wanted some of it. And so, there is a lot more sharing I feel like that happens as a parent but there are things that my children have to ask for permission to use. They don't get to just be in my things and take whatever they want and I still have the right to tell them, no, that they can't use those things, okay?
Jen: It's just one that I ponder often, hmm, I've just because I was single for so long, so everything was just mine and to get into a family situation and now it's like, oh, well, I'm going to use this of yours or I'm going to have you know, if I buy myself a bag of my favorite chocolates. I can make a bag of chocolates last a long time, I just like knowing that they're there for when I want them. But now in a family situation, that bag of chocolate can be gone within hours, if not minutes. And then it's not there when I need it.
Sara: Here's what you do, Jen. This something that I have learned over the years because even between my husband and myself, things like that disappear so fast and it's so frustrating. Like a family sized bag of chips will be gone in one evening and I'm like, ah seriously! I'll go the next day for lunch to grab that bag of chips, and it's gone, and that's so frustrating to me. But chocolate especially repackage it, don't leave it in the same package. Don't put it in the candy jar for the family, you know, like stick it in a box that you know nobody's going to touch like a pasta box or something and have it hidden in the pantry or wherever. I actually did that once with a package of cookies that I did not want to share, and I forgot I put it in that box. And it was probably a year later that I pulled out that box and was like, oh hey. The other thing that I do now, more recently, is I keep chocolate hidden in my bedroom closet that nobody else knows about. You got to do what you gotta do, right? And that's my self-care to know that there is chocolate just for me, that I don't have to share.
Jen: Well, that was a little bit of a soapbox about privacy and sharing, but it's one that I've thought about a lot lately of this concept of because you're in a family, everything belongs to the family.
Sara: Yeah, no, I don't agree with that, I think about my oldest is about the same size shoe as me now. There are some shoes that we can share and some that are still too big for her, and she's not allowed to just wear my shoes whenever she wants. And it's the same, I can't go on where her shoes, whenever I want, they're hers. And if I want to wear them, I would have to ask her for permission, I think we all need to feel like things belong only to us.
Jen: Okay, our next healthy characteristic is having a sense of predictability. Kids need to know what is coming next, they thrive off of that. They do so much better if they know what's coming next, if they're just like in the dark, that's when you have problems. My family, really, when we get together, it is just and I think to me, I think this is normal, but we just sit and chitchat and we chit chat and tell someone's like, okay, I really gotta go home now because it's 11 o'clock at night or whatever the case may be. But my stepdaughter, she really needs to know, how long are we going to be there? Like, what are the parameters if I get two peopled-out, can I go in and be by myself and just look at my phone for a while? And that was really frustrating, we're going to be there as long as we're going to be there. And then I, so now we're like, we're probably going to be there until at least nine, 9:30. So if you need to take some things, if you need to get away and have some you time, then that's what she can do. And that's been a lot better but I never thought that that would be a big to do, but it really is for her. She needs to know, okay, we're going to Jen's family's house, this is about how long we're going to be there.
Sara: Yeah, I would say that predictability is really important for children because they just need to know what to expect because it helps them feel more prepared and more in control in the situation.
Jen: Another thing that is essential for children is to be able to predict discipline, so when they do something wrong, they kind of know what's going to come, what is going to be my consequence. But if we're giving consequences one day in and then not the other day or one day, we give a really harsh one and then next time we're really lenient. I mean, they need to have a sense of predictability about discipline.
Sara: Yeah, because I think that ties back to that characteristic of fear, if they can't predict it, then they're fearful. All right so, another one is balance of interaction and this means that sometimes in our families, we have a child that might need more attention than another, maybe because of a disability or because of hard behaviors. And so that child is getting more attention but we need to balance how we're spending time with each of our children so that it's being received from all of them equally.
Jen: Also, when a new baby comes into the home, you know, talking to our other kids of yeah, I'm going to have to spend a little bit more time, a lot more time with this baby. Because this baby doesn't know how to do anything, I have to do everything for them, so letting them know that I still love you and I'm here for you and I want to spend time with you. But, hopefully we can also understand that this baby needs a lot of attention and time.
Sara: Yes, and that whichever child, the baby or the one with the disability or the one with big behaviors, it doesn't mean that they're more important than you because they're getting more attention.
Jen: You remember years ago in a parenting class, there is a mom that said, oh my family, when we get home from school or work, we are together until we go to bed. We play games, we eat dinner, we are just always together. And I said, how is that working out for you? And she's like, there are a lot of fights and misbehaviors, and we were talking about this balance of interaction and I said, it's because everybody needs time to themselves. I mean, not only are we going to spend more time with other kids because of certain situations, but also, I don't want to be with my family 24-7. I love them dearly, but I need me time too and kids are the same way. They need their time by themselves and not be expected to be with everyone 24-7.
Sara: Yeah, I’d go crazy. It makes me think of that saying to not be roommates with your best friends, have you heard that before something like that? I don't know if I'm saying that right, but when you spend too much time together, it becomes a negative thing and you start to fight more and feel like you're just at each other's throats all the time. You need that space.
Jen: Then little things become big things, the next one is to have a sense of family. I think it's important to where we're going in so many different places now you know, step families are very common. And in a step family creating that sense of family, but also not forgetting, you know, we may have biological siblings that are living in another home or that our biological parent that we're not living with is still super important and part of that family. But I think that's one thing that is kind of falling apart is that sense of family and that we're here together. I really miss having family dinner together with my family, like my husband and I, he just didn't grow up that way. So, sitting at a dinner table for him is not important, but for me, that was one of the best times as I look back on my childhood to where that was our family time, and I think we just run in far too many places and don't spend enough time with our family. That sense of interaction and balance is kind of lopsided with soccer and basketball and gymnastics and dance and swimming and all of these other things, and we're not spending that time together as a family.
Sara: Mm-Hmm, so that sense of family, how you can build that is through traditions and rituals and giving your kids things that they look forward to and take pride in because kids love to talk about their family and they need those things to draw from like, oh yes, my family, we do this every year for whatever holiday or I mean, my kids and I, we do something for Harry Potter's birthday every July, so just something that gives them that sense of belonging.
Jen: Our next one is to place a premium on service to others and I think we've had a couple of other podcasts that have talked about the importance of service. So, if this is one that you're wanting to try out within your family or get a little bit better at, I would really recommend going back to those podcasts that deal with serving our communities and serving others.
Sara: Definitely. So, then we have sherry leisure time and this is spending time with our kids and our family, giving them undivided attention and doing activities that they enjoy doing. And this doesn't mean that this is what we spend our waking time with our family doing. 15 minutes a day, that's all it takes for our family to grow stronger together because we've spent that time together doing a leisurely activity.
Jen: And that rolls right into the sense of play, getting down on the floor, playing on our kids’ level, playing the things that they want to play. Even though that can be torture, sometimes playing Skipbo 20 times in a row, but you do it because they want to do it and they want to play. Don't get me wrong, I love Skipbo, but sometimes 20 times in a row can get a bit much, but playing with him and what they want to play. So, if that means that your son wants to teach you how to play their crazy video game, then you sit down for 15 minutes and play that crazy video game.
Sara: Yeah, my kids, right now, it's Legos that they're always asking if we'll play with them, and it's not when they're asking me. It's not to build Legos with them. It's to play with the already built Legos.
Jen: Ooo, pretend play is super hard for me.
Sara: I struggle with it too, so yesterday they were begging me and I had a headache, so I just use that as an excuse not to, but I really need to be better about that pretend play because it's not my favorite.
Jen: Here is a plug for Lego Master on Hulu that's where I watch it. It is the coolest show, have you ever watched it?
Sara: Yeah, we've seen a few.
Jen: Oh, I love it, and it’s that taking nothing and creating something? The one talent I want in all of this world and yeah, so Lego Masters.
Sara: Yeah, my husband has the biggest Lego collection, it's ridiculous. And so, there's all these little booklets of specific things to build and when I grew up playing Legos, it was just a bucket of Legos and you built whatever you wanted. And so, it's really hard for me to play with Legos the way that he is teaching my children to play with Legos because this is a ship.
Jen: Let's build a ship!
Sara: Yes. And that's just not how my brain works when it comes to Legos, you just build a house and then you can play that pretend play as if you're playing Barbies or something, you're just playing with the little Lego people. But no, that's not how he plays with Legos, with my kids.
Jen: I maybe because I've loved Lego Master so much and I've said Lego Master three times, so if anyone who is from Lego Masters, you can give us.
Sara: Sponsor us.
Jen: Give us a little cash, I think for my birthday, that's my what I might just do is buy me a Lego set that I have to build something. Taking something from nothing, even though I have instructions, it's not an original idea, but I gotta start somewhere, I guess.
Sara: Yeah, it's a lot of work, there's a ton of pieces and it's pricey.
Jen: I'll get a little one.
Sara: There you go, all right so our last characteristic for a healthy family is to have a sense of humor. See the fun in life and find humor in the different things that happen when your child spills their drink all over the kitchen floor, find humor in it instead of lecturing them and getting upset with them. Laugh about it and say, oh no, now what are we going to do? Or, you know, like instead of turning it into a big problem that makes them feel bad, find the humor and laugh about it.
Jen: One thing my mom would always do at dinner time if you spilled something reaching for something. Well, it looks like you got the Bozo Award for the day so that always kind of softens that old cred. I just spilled something I just made a mess, or why not? For some reason, when I was a kid, I was always afraid of breaking glasses. My mom must have gotten mad at me, and I was probably an adult when I finally figured out it's just a glass but she was great at dinnertime. If you spilled something you got the Bozo Award.
Sara: Yeah, I mean, for all of us, if we make mistakes, spill something, whatever it is, we instantly feel that like, uh oh, in us, you know, like, oh man, look what I just did? Maybe some embarrassment if you've done it in front of other people and so then to have somebody pointed out and shame you and make you feel bad just adds to those feelings. So, find humor in those moments that lighten how we're feeling.
Jen: Kids do a lot of funny things, and it's okay to laugh at those funny things, just because you're laughing doesn't mean you excuse behaviors. You can laugh at funny misbehaviors and still have teaching moments.
Sara: I found that that helps soften some of those behaviors in my kids is if we just kind of find the humor in how they're behaving, not in a making fun kind of way, but laughing together more like when they know that they're kind of being ridiculous. Those grumpy faces and kind of pouting or tantrums, you know, and finding some humor in that they always laugh, too, because they're realizing, like, yes, I'm kind of being ridiculous right now. All right, well, I think that wraps up this episode on healthy families, and your challenge is to take one of the things that we've talked about and try to apply it in your family to just help strengthen your family in a positive way. We also challenge you to join our parenting texts you can text TFP, meaning the family place TFP to 33222. And if you have any questions, you can contact us through email at parents at TheFamilyPlaceUtah.org or you can leave us a voice recording in the show notes. There's a place to click on and it will guide you to leave us a voice recording, it's really easy.
Jen: You can also reach us on social media Jen Daly-The Family Place
Sara: or Sara Hendricks -The Family Place. Or We have a Facebook group called The Parents Place, and you can find us there as well and receive parenting information in that group. That's all that we have for you. We'll catch you again next time on the Parents Place. Thanks again for listening The Family Place is a non-profit organization in Logan, Utah, with a mission to strengthen families and protect children. We call ourselves starfish throwers, if you're unsure what that means, refer back to our introduction episode where we explain it. The good news is you can be a starfish thrower too, by subscribing to the Parents Place podcast and liking your social media pages. If this episode resonated with you, please share it with others and help us get our message out to more people. Also, be sure to check the show notes for links to information referenced in this episode. That's all for now, but we'll catch you again next time on The Parents Place.
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