Parenting with a Story Podcast
113 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsTell a young person what to do – play fair, be yourself, stick to the task at hand – and most will tune you out. But show them how choices and consequences play out in the real world, and the impact will be far more effective and long lasting. Based on interviews with over 100 people from around the world and from all walks of life as they reflect on their most profound and unexpected moments of clarity about who they are and how they should treat others. The lessons help teach 23 powerful character traits that will help your child grow into the adult you’ll be proud to call your own. Character Traits include: ambition, open-mindedness, creativity, curiosity & learning, courage, integrity, self-reliance, grit, hard work, self-confidence, money & delayed gratification, health, positive mental attitude, dealing with loss, kindness, patience, fairness & justice, humility, respect for others, friendship, social intelligence, forgiveness & gratitude, appreciation of beauty.
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Episodes
Father Behind “Jordan’s Law” Speaks Out
April 15, 2021 14:33 - 28 minutes - 27 MBImagine having your child filmed getting sucker punched into unconsciousness just to generate a few likes on social media. Here's how you can help stop this gruesome practice. The post Father Behind “Jordan’s Law” Speaks Out appeared first on Paul Smith.
The Spare Room
April 11, 2021 21:59 - 26 minutes - 24.7 MB"Where are you going to sleep tonight?" Those words began Emily Chang's 25-year journey of generosity, offering a spare room to people when they needed it the most. The post The Spare Room appeared first on Paul Smith.
THE App to Help Your Kids Manage a Budget, Track Chores, Earn Their Allowance, and Learn Financial Responsibility
January 28, 2021 22:17 - 29 minutes - 27.6 MBBenny Nachman, CEO of Jassby, joins me to explain how a new APP can both make your home life easier, while teaching your kids about smart money management. The post THE App to Help Your Kids Manage a Budget, Track Chores, Earn Their Allowance, and Learn Financial Responsibility appeared first on Paul Smith.
How NOT to Treat Your Mother-in-Law this Thanksgiving
November 23, 2020 21:14 - 5 minutes - 6.17 MBThis might be the strangest Thanksgiving most of us ever have, due to the Coronavirus. So, to help you make it a good one, here’s a Thanksgiving lesson in humility that will help you make sure your interactions with family this year are ones you’ll be proud of. . . The post How NOT to Treat Your Mother-in-Law this Thanksgiving appeared first on Paul Smith.
What an 8-Year-Old Learned About Life Working in a Hardware Store During Hurricane Season
October 16, 2020 14:06 - 4 minutes - 4.86 MBFinding out a hurricane is about to bear down on your hometown isn’t the kind of thing most people get excited about, especially when they’re eight years old. But then, most people aren’t like Jayson Zoller. The post What an 8-Year-Old Learned About Life Working in a Hardware Store During Hurricane Season appeared first on Paul Smith.
SOCIAL Disobedience: It’s like civil disobedience with your friends and neighbors
June 19, 2020 20:00 - 5 minutes - 6.09 MBThe past three weeks have been an almost non-stop parade of protests, all centered around the most recent tragic deaths that didn’t have to happen. “Yes, that’s terrible. But what can I do?” you might ask. After all, you already changed your Facebook profile for BlackOut Day. And you even attended a Black Lives Matter … The post SOCIAL Disobedience: It’s like civil disobedience with your friends and neighbors appeared first on Paul Smith.
The Night I Lost My Manhood in the Haunted House
March 26, 2020 00:54 - 13 minutes - 12.9 MBThis won’t be a typical podcast and post. As I’m recording this, we’re about halfway into a national social distancing experiment to combat the Coronavirus. People are stressed out, anxious, and stepping all over each other at home. We’re worried about our jobs and our retirement savings and wondering if grandma’s going to get the [read more] The post The Night I Lost My Manhood in the Haunted House appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
7 Steps to Choosing the Right School for Your Child
January 21, 2020 13:37 - 26 minutes - 24.9 MBNext week is National School Choice Week. So I wanted to talk to an expert about how to choose the best school for your child. And I found exactly the right person! My guest this week is Andrew Campanella. He’s the president of National School Choice Week, and previously served in senior-level positions at the [read more] The post 7 Steps to Choosing the Right School for Your Child appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Four Days with Kenny Tedford
November 26, 2019 11:20 - 7 minutes - 7.53 MBI’ve been wanting to write this post for six years. Seriously. This is the day that I get to start telling the world about one of the most amazing human beings I’ve ever met. His name is Kenny Tedford. And he’s the subject of my new book that’s being published today, called Four Days with [read more] The post Four Days with Kenny Tedford appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Meeting Kenny Tedford
November 26, 2019 11:20 - 7 minutes - 7.53 MBI've been wanting to write this post for six years. Seriously. This is the day that I get to start telling the world The post Meeting Kenny Tedford appeared first on Paul Smith.
An Angry Therapist’s Guide to a Meaningful Life
October 17, 2019 21:49 - 19 minutes - 19 MBMy guest this week is John Kim. He's a licensed marriage and family therapist and one of the the pioneers of the online life coaching movement. The post An Angry Therapist’s Guide to a Meaningful Life appeared first on Paul Smith.
What to Know Before They Go (to College)
September 18, 2019 16:18 - 25 minutes - 24 MBMy guest today is Dr. Pamela Ellis. She conducts research into the areas of high school of college transition The post What to Know Before They Go (to College) appeared first on Paul Smith.
Kids, Sex, and Screens: Upping Your Parenting Game
August 27, 2019 14:21 - 36 minutes - 34.6 MBIf you're curious whether you should stalk your kids online (spoiler: you should, at least for a while), this is the woman to ask. The post Kids, Sex, and Screens: Upping Your Parenting Game appeared first on Paul Smith.
Montessori Parenting Without a Montessori School
April 16, 2019 18:08 - 31 minutes - 29.9 MBYou've no doubt heard that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were educated at Montessori schools and attribute much of their success to that upbringing. The post Montessori Parenting Without a Montessori School appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.
Teaching Your Kids to Think Critically and Detect C.R.A.P. Online
March 06, 2019 00:52 - 18 minutes - 17.8 MBThis week I got a chance to chat with digital literacy educator Diana Graber. Diana is the author of RAISING HUMANS IN A DIGITAL WORLD: Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology The post Teaching Your Kids to Think Critically and Detect C.R.A.P. Online appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.
Curiosity, and the Invention that Almost Never Happened
January 30, 2019 20:42 - 3 minutes - 3.95 MBOne day, nine-year-old James was in the kitchen with his mom's sister. Well, while Auntie was sitting at the table having a cup of tea The post Curiosity, and the Invention that Almost Never Happened appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.
“Is that really what I need to be happy?”: How one Summer in Bombay Changed Me Forever
November 28, 2018 21:51 - 6 minutes - 6.49 MBAmi Desai Mathur was born in New York, a first-generation natural-born American citizen. Her parents were born in India and immigrated to the United States after getting married. The post “Is that really what I need to be happy?”: How one Summer in Bombay Changed Me Forever appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.
The Shared Blanket: Life’s Most Important Lesson in a Single Story
October 30, 2018 14:10 - 3 minutes - 4.32 MBImagine you had to pick a single sentence to encapsulate all of the world’s knowledge about how we humans should behave. What would it be? What one statement could capture several millennia of history’s best thinkers, philosophers, and prophets on the topic of ethics and morality? I think you’d be hard pressed to do better … The post The Shared Blanket: Life’s Most Important Lesson in a Single Story appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.
Why I Wish I’d Never Bought That Fancy Red Sport Car
August 30, 2018 12:02 - 5 minutes - 5.24 MBJun-seo’s father loved fine automobiles. He always drove nice cars himself, and went to all the high-performance car shows — a real car aficionado. So Jun-seo grew up with a taste for fine cars himself. Having his own fancy sports car someday was a goal he set for himself at a young age. But buying … The post Why I Wish I’d Never Bought That Fancy Red Sport Car appeared first on Paul Smith | Business Storytelling Coach.
The Gift We Love to Receive But Hate to Give
August 02, 2018 04:15 - 6 minutes - 7.12 MBNot too long ago, “ropes” courses were all the rage. Remember those? Outdoor team-building programs where people climb through trees on ropes and ladders. The idea is that going through some hardship together builds camaraderie and team spirit. So learning the value of patience was not what Dave Orewiler expected from his nine-day ropes course [read more] The post The Gift We Love to Receive But Hate to Give appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
How to Build Confidence in New Situations
July 11, 2018 14:30 - 3 minutes - 4.32 MBI think all parents want their kids to have a healthy sense of confidence, especially when they’re going into a new or unfamiliar situation — like attending a new school, or moving to a new neighborhood. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a proven way to do that in exactly those situations? Well, it turns [read more] The post How to Build Confidence in New Situations appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
“What do you care what other people think?”
June 13, 2018 15:53 - 5 minutes - 5.98 MBOne of the most prevalent human frailties — one that begins in childhood and stays with us the rest of our lives — is a concern about what other people think of us. To a 10-year-old, it might be what the other kids will think of her new tennis shoes. To a teenage boy, it [read more] The post “What do you care what other people think?” appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Problem of Getting Something for Nothing
May 16, 2018 20:58 - 5 minutes - 5.62 MBThomas Paine once observed, “That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.” If true, that might suggest that something we obtain for free we don’t esteem at all. But so what? Does it really matter if we esteem something too lightly? One person who knows something about that is John Chancellor. Paying for [read more] The post The Problem of Getting Something for Nothing appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
What Happens When a Japanese Woman Decides to be Friends with a “Very White Male”
April 23, 2018 15:13 - 5 minutes - 6.19 MBBecky Okamoto is the principal and founder of an operational consulting company called the Evoke Strategy Group, LLC. But she’s an engineer by training, and spent most of her career in and around manufacturing. Meeting Marvin Earlier in her career, she was part of the leadership team at a production facility in California. It was [read more] The post What Happens When a Japanese Woman Decides to be Friends with a “Very White Male” appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Surviving Prom Night
April 03, 2018 17:59 - 8 minutes - 8.93 MBProm night is supposed to be one of the most exciting events of our lives. At least that’s what Walethia Aquil thought as a senior at Northwestern High School in Flint, Michigan. Unfortunately for her, it turned out to be one of the worst. Just a few weeks before the prom, Walethia didn’t even think [read more] The post Surviving Prom Night appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Here’s What Happens When You Wait Too Long to Say, “I’m Sorry”
March 06, 2018 13:33 - 5 minutes - 5.52 MBWhen Darrell was in the third grade he did something he’s regretted for the thirty-five years since. What was his unforgettable and unpardonable sin? He wrote a poem. A very bad poem. Darrell’s class had been learning the rhyme and meter of several forms of poetry. One particular week they learned about limericks. That’s a [read more] The post Here’s What Happens When You Wait Too Long to Say, “I’m Sorry” appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Only Way to Listen Better by Talking More
February 12, 2018 20:43 - 6 minutes - 6.52 MBListening is one of the most important communication tools we have. In fact, it’s one of the only two requirements for actually having a conversation — the other being it’s far more popular teammate: talking. But even when we do listen, most of us listen with the intent of responding, not with the intent of [read more] The post The Only Way to Listen Better by Talking More appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Dealing with Loss: The Great Berkeley Fire of 1991
January 22, 2018 19:36 - 8 minutes - 8.64 MBPeople lose things every day—a set of keys, a matching sock, or the homework they can’t find on their computer—all minor daily frustrations. Not the kind of loss most people need help dealing with. The kind we need help with is the kind of loss that stops your heart, forever alters the course of your [read more] The post Dealing with Loss: The Great Berkeley Fire of 1991 appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Professional Comedian Drew Tarvin Shares an Antidote for Prejudice and Hatred
December 18, 2017 12:32 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBIf you follow my Lead with a Story blog or podcast, you’ll know that last week I had professional comedian and self-described “humor engineer” Drew Tarvin on to talk about one of the most attractive parts of human nature — courage. This week I’m having him join me on my Parenting with a Story channel to [read more] The post Professional Comedian Drew Tarvin Shares an Antidote for Prejudice and Hatred appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Facing Down the Demon of Perfectionism
November 27, 2017 23:18 - 17 minutes - 16.6 MBGiving up isn’t always a bad thing. There are many legitimate reasons to give up on any task. Maybe you’ve accomplished enough of it already. Maybe the cost of continuing outweighs the benefits of succeeding. Or maybe you’ve just lost interest in the goal. But there are some bad reasons to give up as well. [read more] The post Facing Down the Demon of Perfectionism appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
A Dying Mother’s Gift to Her Children
November 07, 2017 14:30 - 6 minutes - 6.5 MBWhen I was fourteen years old, my mother was diagnosed with an advanced case of pneumonia. For four months, her doctors tried every treatment known to cure it, none of which had any effect. Then they realized why. She didn’t have pneumonia. She had lung cancer. They’d been misled by the strangely uniform and checkered [read more] The post A Dying Mother’s Gift to Her Children appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
4 Steps to Ending the Parent-Teen Control Battle
October 16, 2017 13:16 - 22 minutes - 21.7 MBNeil Brown is a psychotherapist and author of the book Ending the Parent-Teen Control Battle. He joined me this week to share 4 steps to break out of the too-typical battle of wills parents have with their teenagers. He shared an all too familiar example of parents of teenagers who fall short of their school and [read more] The post 4 Steps to Ending the Parent-Teen Control Battle appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
How NOT to Break a Date with a Boy
September 25, 2017 15:27 - 7 minutes - 7.26 MBWhen Renée was a high school freshman, she did what many fifteen-year-old girls do. She developed a crush on a senior. We’ll call him Dave, and he was gorgeous. He was also smart, and funny, and mature, and he could drive a car. What was not to like? But he was a senior and not [read more] The post How NOT to Break a Date with a Boy appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
What Self-Reliant People Do When “I’m sorry, we tried everything” Just Won’t Cut It
September 05, 2017 14:31 - 6 minutes - 6.9 MBWhat can kids and grown-ups learn from a 5-year-old boy with Down syndrome, an unsympathetic insurance company, and a leadership team willing to take matters into their own hands? A lot, it turns out, about self-empowered, and self-reliant behavior — something most parents want to see in their kids (and most executives want to see more [read more] The post What Self-Reliant People Do When “I’m sorry, we tried everything” Just Won’t Cut It appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Forest Fires, Missing the Boat, and Sleeping in Our Clothes: 11 Life Skills Learned Through Our Mediterranean Vacation Disaster
August 01, 2017 18:34 - 7 minutes - 7.5 MBI’m writing these words from a tiny, hot, and unglamorous airport hotel room at the Charles De Gaulle airport outside Paris with no luggage, no change of clothes, and no air conditioning. I should be home in Ohio right now. But instead, I’m hunkered down with my family at the end of a 10-day vacation [read more] The post Forest Fires, Missing the Boat, and Sleeping in Our Clothes: 11 Life Skills Learned Through Our Mediterranean Vacation Disaster appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, O...
Justice, Conscience, and Backyard Fireworks: An Independence Day Ethical Dilemma
July 04, 2017 17:04 - 7 minutes - 7.4 MBEvery culture has a code of conduct by which behavior is measured. Some is written in our laws, and we often learn of those expectations in formal schooling. But much is left for subtler forms of influence. We generally learn those from our own gut reaction and from the reaction our behavior elicits from other [read more] The post Justice, Conscience, and Backyard Fireworks: An Independence Day Ethical Dilemma appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Showing Up — The First Strategy of Successful People
June 19, 2017 14:29 - 5 MBWoody Allen once said, “80% of success is showing up.” Here’s what that looks like in real life. In this case, the life of a 16-year-old high school student in New York. In most cases when you try to be self-reliant, people around you will encourage you. But it’s not always that way. Sometimes being [read more] The post Showing Up — The First Strategy of Successful People appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
“Do I Really Need to Hear This?”
May 30, 2017 16:02 - 4 minutes - 5.05 MBIn 2013, I was having lunch with a colleague of mine who used to work for me in the department I ran. A few months earlier she’d moved to a new department and so now had a new boss. She reminded me of something she’d told me earlier — that in talking to her new [read more] The post “Do I Really Need to Hear This?” appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Unto the Least of My Brothers: The Unforgettable Stranger I Met in a California Hot Tub
May 10, 2017 05:18 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBIt wasn’t the experience I expected twenty minutes earlier when I stepped into the hotel hot tub. I stopped to pause on each step for a few seconds to get used to the heat. I looked up at an almost full moon and a cloudless, starry sky. It’s 8pm in Carpinteria, California, just outside of [read more] The post Unto the Least of My Brothers: The Unforgettable Stranger I Met in a California Hot Tub appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
One Sure Sign You Need New Friends
May 08, 2017 11:17 - 4 minutes - 4.98 MBFor most people, especially young people, hearing one person demean another is a particularly juicy piece of gossip. It’s therefore one of the hardest to keep from sharing, especially from the person the insulting comments are about. They sometimes justify it by telling themselves, “I’m just being a good friend by telling her. After all, [read more] The post One Sure Sign You Need New Friends appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Ambition, Regret, and College Applications: The Conversation I Wish I’d Had 30 Years Ago
April 17, 2017 18:42 - 5 minutes - 6.29 MBWhat colleges did you apply to in high school? Did you apply to colleges at all? Do you regret those decisions now? And what would you do differently if you could do it over again? Those are the questions I would have liked to have asked my future middle-aged self when I was a teenager. [read more] The post Ambition, Regret, and College Applications: The Conversation I Wish I’d Had 30 Years Ago appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
The 25-Year-Late Apology
March 27, 2017 13:08 - 7 minutes - 7.8 MBDavid Hutchens spent his elementary school years in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the age of five, he met a classmate who would become his best friend for most of those elementary years. We’ll call him Pete. David and Pete spent much of their time together as best friends will do. Until fifth grade, that is. [read more] The post The 25-Year-Late Apology appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
“Silence, please. My king is coming.”
March 06, 2017 20:08 - 8 minutes - 8.58 MBThere’s a difference between respect and reverence. Showing respect involves being considerate and tolerant of other people. In short, treating other people the way you would want to be treated. But reverence is another thing entirely. Reverence is “a feeling of profound awe and respect and often love.” So while most well-mannered people display respect [read more] The post “Silence, please. My king is coming.” appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Phone Call My Parents Never Return
February 11, 2017 21:32 - 3 minutes - 4.33 MBThe Phone Message I call my parents on my birthday. I have done this for the past 30 years. I am their only child. Not surprisingly, they do not answer. I leave a lengthy message sharing all that has happened with me and my family. I ask them to return my call. They never have. [read more] The post The Phone Call My Parents Never Return appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Two Takes on One Event: What a Difference Attitude Makes
January 23, 2017 19:27 - 4 minutes - 4.92 MBIt’s amazing how two people can sit through the exact same experience and have completely different impressions about it. When that happens, there’s usually something interesting to be learned in the reason why, if you bothered to look. Dorinda Phillips looked. Dorinda is an organizational learning expert in Geneva, Switzerland. Early in her career in [read more] The post Two Takes on One Event: What a Difference Attitude Makes appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
“Because the sky is blue”: An 11-year-old boy’s secret to happiness
January 09, 2017 15:13 - 5 minutes - 5.98 MBHappiness is not something that happens to you. It’s something you choose to be. That fact isn’t really a secret anyone’s been keeping from you. But it takes a surprisingly long time for most people to realize it, if they ever do. Jeremy McInnis learned that powerful lesson at the young age of twenty. And [read more] The post “Because the sky is blue”: An 11-year-old boy’s secret to happiness appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Winning the Cosmic Lottery
December 12, 2016 13:42 - 22 minutes - 21.2 MBDale McGowan is a writer, editor, critical thinking educator, and the author of several books, including Raising Freethinkers, Atheism for Dummies, and In Faith and in Doubt: How Religious Believers and NonBelievers Can Create Strong Marriages. I asked him to join me on my podcast this week to talk about the newest edition of one [read more] The post Winning the Cosmic Lottery appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Theft, Lies, and Ninja Turtles
November 29, 2016 01:50 - 18 minutes - 18 MBToday, Andrew Tarvin describes himself as a humor engineer. What that means is that he’s a speaker, trainer, author, and coach who helps people be more successful at work by using humor. That also helps explain the partly funny, partly self-depreciating subtitles he chose for the pictures of him you see here. But the story [read more] The post Theft, Lies, and Ninja Turtles appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
Why people do stupid things and who’s to blame
November 14, 2016 18:00 - 8 minutes - 8.88 MBSince we’re all so enamored of our own opinion, it’s sometimes hard to imagine why anyone would do something we see no sense in. So it’s easy to dismiss a decision we don’t understand as being foolish, which means we think the person who made that decision is foolish. And it’s certainly possible she is. [read more] The post Why people do stupid things and who’s to blame appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.
What Matrix Algebra Can Teach You About Open-mindedness
October 31, 2016 19:46 - 7 minutes - 7.53 MBSometimes being open-minded doesn’t mean having to admit being wrong. It just means admitting that someone else might be right. Those aren’t the same thing. And to do that, you have to start by seeing things from that other person’s perspective, which doesn’t come easily or naturally to most people. Looking at things from a [read more] The post What Matrix Algebra Can Teach You About Open-mindedness appeared first on Paul Smith | Cincinnati, Ohio.