Blog

How to be Heard without Being Harsh in Parenting: KSL Moms Show

I've done a lot of interviews over the past decade, but honestly, this is one of my favorites! Sometimes things just flow. How to be heard without being harsh in parenting. They talk about her book, The Assertiveness Guide for Women, how to practice a Gottman technique called the soft start, and how to recognize and tame a "Mom-ster" moment. If you want some tips for more peaceful mothering...this is your episode!

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Mormons and Shame: When You Feel You Don't Measure Up to the Ideal

There is nothing wrong with teaching ideals and one could argue that that is the primary job of religious institutions. However, in real life, holding up ideals often leaves members never feeling “good enough” because they have not achieved the ideal righteous Mormon life. Chronic feelings of “never good enough” because your life doesn’t look like an Ensign magazine cover, your child has left the Church, your spouse isn’t committed to church callings, you’re struggling with the word of wisdom, you’re having difficulty forgiving someone, you’re not a good provider, or you’re not an attentive mother or father, can erode our whole sense of self.

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Mormon Women and the Challenge of Assertiveness: A Thoughtful Faith Podcast

I had a delightful chat with the passionate and brilliant Gina Colvin, host of A Thoughtful Faith podcast a few days ago about Mormon women, particularly those from Utah, and the challenge of developing and using our own voices.

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"Husband Lets Our 4-year old Have Too Much Screen Time"

Husband and I have been married for 8 years, and we've always had a different mindset regarding television and media usage. I grew up with the belief that TV was almost sinful in its idleness and wastefulness, and even had parents that would cancel cable/satellite for stretches of my growing up years. My husband, on the other hand, grew up in a family where television after dinner was how the family spent time together and still his family regularly spends time in front of the television. We just had our second daughter, and our oldest one is 4 years old and watches what I believe to be too much television.

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Love & Gender Equality at Home: Sunstone Symposium Audio

Listen to Dr. Julie Hanks' Sunstone presentation. Early relationship patterns lay the framework for our identity development, social interactions, and assumptions about others. If gender equality is to be achieved within Mormon culture and theology, it must first be modeled in family relationships. Cultural Transformation Theory provides a framework for moving from a domination model that values “masculine” over “feminine” to a partnership model where relationships are based on connection and equality.

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Say Yes to Saying No! Real Simple Magazine Interview

Watch for my advice on saying no in Jan. 2017 Real Simple Magazine cover story "Say Yes to Saying No"! Saying no is necessary but it's rarely easy. Need help to to say no? Look no further. Get better at saying No in 2017!

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How to Navigate Political Talk During Holiday Gatherings: Interview with Shape.com

If someone starts a conversation leading down a road you know will be bumpy, feel free to duck out—just acknowledge their comment first, says Hanks. "No one can engage you in an intense political discussion without your willingness to enter that discussion," she says. "You can be really respectful and validate or hear them and then change the subject."

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Our Definition of "Good Mothering" is Bad For Mental Health

Preparing to be a “good mother” is emphasized in Primary, Young Women’s, and continues as a central thread woven throughout Relief Society lessons and discussions. Unfortunately, it turns out that many of our beliefs about “good mothering” are correlated with poor maternal mental health. When I first read findings from a study published in The Journal of Child and Family Studies that suggest that five specific beliefs about mothering–essentialism, fulfillment, stimulation, challenging, and child-centered–are correlated with poorer mental health among mothers with young children, I thought to myself, “These beliefs align with how we, in America, and in LDS culture define good mothering!”

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