Just Winging It

33 // Is Santa Claus Coming to Town?

The concept of Santa Claus is just one of those things that's in the air during the holiday season; our kids will catch it one way or another. But the extent to which we indulge in the magic (lie!) of Santa and the way we work through the eventual unraveling is a parenting responsibility worth giving some thought.

John is about to enter this holiday season with a three-year-old who's only just starting to become aware of Santa Claus. Patrick helps him work through whether and how he'll go about it. Oh, and this article from PBS NewsHour helps too.

32 // Nostalgia

Hard to believe we're already breaking out the, "back in my day" phrase, but here we are. Young parents have been through dramatic changes in pop culture, technology, and life over the last few decades. Sometimes it's nice to pause and remember how damn cool the nineties were.

Patrick and John look out to their past from rocking chairs on the front porch as they dwell on the good ol' days. And then ponder what their kids will look back upon with nostalgia.

31 // Perception of Time

When you become a parent, time and its passing can quickly become an obsession. The whole notion of time, of memory, of aging surfaces constantly as that little being grows.

John and Patrick stumble into this episode's subject, looking at how they perceive time and how they can maintain a healthy relationship with it.

30 // Cultivating Character (Avoiding Entitlement)

Maybe there's more to this whole identity thing after all. While our kids are the center of our world, how do we raise them to know they aren't the center of the world?

Patrick and John go deeper to explore a parent's role in cultivating moral character, this time with some guidance from the book 8 Keys to Old School Parenting for Modern-Day Families by Michael Mascolo. They talk through why their generation often gets labeled as entitled and how they can prioritize virtues that avoid that sort of behavior in their own kids.

29 // Forming Identity

Much of the time our focus as parents is on the now; helping our kids and ourselves navigate daily life. But we're also playing the long game, attempting to raise what we hope will become well-adjusted, self-sufficient human beings.

Who are our kids going to be when they grow up? How much of their identity is set and how much is being shaped?

John and Patrick think back to their (sometimes awkward) searching for themselves as they grew up, and talk about how they might help their kids form identities of their own.

28 // Halloween

This is Halloween! A day that doesn't come with the stresses of most holidays, Halloween becomes all the more fun to celebrate with kids.

Hang out with Patrick and John for a spooktacular conversation about festivities, costumes, and frights. And maybe something about how to Halloween with kids, too.

27 // Grasping Death

There's a moment in each of our lives where we first come to terms with the concept of death. The concept, like so many, carries even more weight now as a parent. How do we help our kids have a healthy understanding of the fact that we've all got an expiration date? And what are we going to tell them happens next?

Probably, these are questions we've got to work through ourselves first. Just another light, fluffy conversation as John and Patrick reflect on how their own understanding of death has been shaped over the years.

26 // Parenting Hacks

It's amazing how much more efficient we can get with everyday tasks in order to (sort of) keep up with taking care of kids. We've all got our techniques and shortcuts to make the best of the limited time now.

Patrick and John share some of what you might barely call parenting hacks, proving once and for all that they have nothing of value to offer listeners. Thankfully, some of you shared your own parenting hacks to add into the mix for this episode.

25 // Exposure to Violent Themes

Violence is everywhere in our culture, both real and fictional. When it comes to the former, we do our best to shelter our kids for as long as possible. But when and how do we handle exposing them to violent toys, games, and media?

In this episode—which originally featured an entirely different topic, by the way—John and Patrick work through experiences introducing their kids to some favorite action-packed fiction from their own childhood and how they've handled violent play.

24 // The Power of Limitations

"The enemy of art is the absence of limitations," said the brilliant actor/director Orson Welles. The adage seems fitting when it comes to parenting, too.

Patrick and John talk about how limitations have played powerful roles in their creative works and personal journeys, giving shape and providing direction where it'd otherwise remain absent. Now how do they put those kind of healthy limitations on their kids?