Podcast Archives - Smart Foster Parenting

14Nov 2017 by Deb No Comments

TFP059-Highlights From Summer Break

Podcast

Summer's over. Now it's time for the real FUN! Highlights from our summer. Our longtime foster daughter graduated from high school and Utah Youth Village. Ben's sister, who was adopted from Russia, was married in Kansas City Missouri. While in Missouri, you might as well go to Silver Dollar City in Branson. So that's what we did for 3 amazing days. School trip to San Diego. School Discipline Training in Las Vegas. Deb's family reunion riding 4 wheelers. Ben's family reunion in Duck Creek, Utah. Struggles from our summer. Ben was gone, a lot! We had two of the toughest foster kids we've ever had. They weren't that bad..., well... It wasn't like they were intentionally tough or giving us a run for our money. They were just young and needed…

26May 2016 by Deb No Comments

TFP058-9 Tips: How to Be Nice to Your Kids

Podcast

Nice is Not Always Easy We know that being nice to our kids is not always the easiest thing to do. We get grumpy and we get emotional and we say or do things that we regret and are not nice at all. We get very complacent in our parenting sometimes and those emotions take control. We have a few suggestions that we hope will help you in being nicer to your kids, foster or not! Make Sure to Get Enough Sleep - We know that this can be hard depending on your situation, but do your best and actively make the effort to get enough sleep so that you can be nicer to your kids. Take Deep Breaths before dealing with negative behaviors - Sometimes deep breathing isn't enough,…

19May 2016 by Ben Pugh No Comments

TFP057-5 Ways to Get Your Kids to Listen

Podcast

Get them to Listen Without Yelling Every parent wants to get their kids to listen. Sometimes we just don't know how to get the results we want. Sometimes I just want to amp up the volume and get them to hear what I'm saying. By the way...It.Never.Works. Follow through on Consequences - Your kids need to know that you are serious. If you always give in when they don't listen, you make it seem acceptable when they don't listen. Don't Be Their Friend - You may think that being your kids' friend is the best way to help them, but they need you to be a constant parental figure. If you are great friends on top of that, it will be because your have been consistent. Don't Do It For…

12May 2016 by Ben Pugh No Comments

TFP056-It’s Time to Try Something New!

Podcast

Foster parenting is hard, and we've enjoyed helping other foster parents. One thing that we've noticed is that when it comes to solving problems, it helps to try something new. This has worked for us, and it has worked for other foster parents that we have worked with. Get out of your comfort zone! Have you ever heard the saying, "There's no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone"? We feel like this is true in foster care too. It is when we have pushed ourselves outside of our comfort zones that we have grown the most. Some of our biggest leaps outside of our comfort zones are: Becoming foster parents going from 1 teenage boy to 2 teenage boys going from 2 teenage boys…

05May 2016 by Ben Pugh No Comments

TFP055-How to Do a Family Meeting

Podcast

5 Simple Steps to doing a Family Meeting We've talked about in the past about how we do family meetings and why they are important in our home. On today's podcast we are going to talk about how we do family meetings in our home in 5 simple steps and how you can make them work in your home as well. Family meetings have a big role in helping the kids in your home feel like they a part of the family and team and a part of making decisions that affect them. Step 1: Have a sheet posted where everyone can write down topics throughout the week that they'd like to talk about. Step 2: Have a scheduled time when you hold your meeting. Step 3: Have everyone get a…

28Apr 2016 by Deb No Comments

TFP054-Struggles of the Week

Podcast

Struggles are okay, everyone has them! In this episode we are talking about some of our latest struggles and what we do to handle them when they come up. What we’ve been struggling with during the past week Moody teenager Getting nervous about graduation and what happens afterward No motivation to do anything after school (no college, trade school) Comfortable where she is (doesn’t want to leave here and have to find another job) Ben and the kids have been sick Much less sleep Lower tolerance for poor behavior Sometimes we struggle with caseworkers, school/schoolwork. Just be willing to work through what is frustrating you and think of ways to help get you through the hard times Call to Action: Know that you and your foster kids are going to…

21Apr 2016 by Deb No Comments

TFP053-Helping Bio Parents

Podcast

How are you helping? Welcome back to episode 53 of The Foster Parents' Podcast! We are excited to be able to talk about this topic. Here is what you are going to learn on this episode: Why it is important to support Bio Parents & Families. Some ways that we try and help Bio Parents The importance of being positive and empathetic You can also check out our latest blog post on Bio Parents by heading over to Bio Parents Need You If you still haven't had a chance to pick up our free Ebook on Rewards Systems you can get that free by Clicking Here! Call to Action: Take a look at your relationship with your foster kids' parents & choose something that you can improve on in the next…

14Apr 2016 by Deb No Comments

TFP052-Making Foster Care Fun with Family Activities

Podcast

Family Activities makes foster care more FUN! I know we are here to talk about family activities, but our podcast is 1 and we're excited. In the immortal words of the cartoon Frosty the Snow Man, "Happy Birthday!" That's right, our podcast is now 1 year old. So, we've got a gift for our listeners. We've written a short ebook all about the different rewards systems that we have use, and that we do regularly use. You can grab your FREE GIFT from us here. There's one thing that makes everything a little better. When things aren't quite going like we would like them to, we've found that family activities are a good tool to get things back on track. Here's a few of the benefits: Family activities are fun!…

07Apr 2016 by Deb No Comments

TFP051-How we use a Reward System

Podcast

Episode #51 - Our Rewards System, and Making Them Work! It's hard to create a Rewards System without some idea of what one looks like. Here's some examples of some of the rewards and systems that we've used in the past and tips for making it all work. By the way, you can still claim your FREE 6 Step Guide Creating Rewards Systems. Download it HERE Today! If you missed Part 1 and 2, you can listen to them by clicking Here for Part 1! or Here for Part 2! First, a word of caution! Please keep in mind that we use specific rewards for specific situations and specific foster kids. Rewards do NO good if your kids are not interested in them. So, please don't skip the part of discussing and choosing rewards with your foster kids. This…

31Mar 2016 by Ben Pugh No Comments

TFP050-How To Create A Rewards System Part 2

Podcast

Episode #50 - How to Create a Rewards System Part 2 Wowsa! Thanks to all of you who have already downloaded your FREE 6 Step Guide Creating Rewards Systems. We appreciate your support. If you haven't downloaded this yet, what are you waiting for? Download it HERE Today! Anyways, sorry to leave you hanging. We try and keep our podcast at a decent length. We know your time is valuable. So, as promised here is part 2 of How to Create a Rewards System. If you missed Part 1, you can listen to that by clicking Here! How to create your rewards system in 6 easy steps, even if your foster kids are very unmotivated. Part 2 Step 4/6: Get Buy In Let everyone involved know about the new rewards system. Explain the benefits. Get foster kids excited!…