How to Prepare Children for the Real World

By Jen Lumanlan | March 16, 2025
Two smiling young children with their arms around each other taking a selfie outdoors.

Note: this blog post is adapted from the podcast episode, How to prepare your kids for the real world. Parents often ask me: “How can I prepare my child for the real world?” This question emerges in three distinct contexts: Navigating external influences like junk food and media; Dealing with broader social systems that don’t…

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9 Ways to Raise Value-Driven Kids in Today’s Political Climate

By Jen Lumanlan | November 18, 2024

The 2024 election season has put a lot of us through the wringer.  We may have deeply held values around fairness, freedom, and what it means to belong in a community – and it can feel scary when other people don’t share those values. For parents, the election obviously gives us an opportunity to discuss…

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Why rape culture hurts us so much (It doesn’t have to be this way)

By Jen Lumanlan | February 25, 2024

Note: This blog post is an adaptation of the podcast episode How to Create a Culture of Consent in our Families   When my daughter was three, her doctor prescribed antibiotics for an infection.  She said she didn’t like the flavor and refused to take them, and I forced the dropper into her mouth.  I…

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How social forces have hurt us and will hurt our children (and what to do about it)

By Jen Lumanlan | January 31, 2024

Does it sometimes seem like things would be a lot easier if your children would just listen to you? Would it make you feel uncomfortable to see your boy dressed in pink clothes, and your girl being loud, demanding, and ‘rude’? Do you ever feel as though you’re always trying to get to the bottom…

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The Magic Trick that Makes us Better Parents.

By Jen Lumanlan | January 26, 2024

When my daughter was a toddler, I used to tell a lot of stories. Of course there were the stories I made up for her before bed; her favorites were the ones where she went on adventures with Squirrel Number One and Squirrel Number Two from our backyard. At least once in every story she and…

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The connection between social challenges and power

By Jen Lumanlan | August 16, 2023

A few weeks ago I sent an email to YPM subscribers about Juneteenth, and how I see the connections between parenting and power, and one of you wrote back to me:   I as a white parent am exerting power over my white child. How does this connect to racism?   I understand modeling how…

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What to read instead of the Your X-Year-Old child books

By Jen Lumanlan | December 11, 2022
A smiling woman and man reading together from a red book, looking happy and engaged.

Key Takeaways: Dr. Louise Bates Ames’ Your X-Year-Old child books are based on biased research that defined “normal” development using only White, middle-class children raised in the 1920s-30s. The research methods used by Dr. Arnold Gesell and Dr. Bates Ames were culturally biased despite claiming scientific neutrality, with rigid definitions of what constitutes ‘normal’ child…

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‘Authoritative’ isn’t the best parenting style

By Jen Lumanlan | May 8, 2022
A father in a coral-colored button-up shirt sits on a sofa next to his young daughter who appears upset or sad

Note: This blog post is adapted from the podcast episode 154: Authoritative isn’t the best Parenting “Style”.   “On average, authoritative parents spanked just as much as the average of all other parents.  Undoubtedly, some parents can be authoritative without using spanking but we have no evidence that all or even most parents can achieve…

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How to reconnect with your body – and your child

By Jen Lumanlan | February 12, 2021

If you’re like most parents, you find yourself asking ‘why, why, why?’ on a daily basis. Sometimes you’re referring to your child’s behavior–‘why did he decide to lick the floor at the grocery store?’ Other times, you’re likely asking yourself about your own behavior–‘why did I just lose my mind about an unfinished bowl of…

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Using everyday activities as a foundation for learning

By Jen Lumanlan | December 26, 2020

Have you ever observed a child setting a toy car at the top of a ramp and watching it roll down over and over again? What is it that enables a child to do this for 45 minutes at a time when they won’t sit and listen to a story for more than five minutes?…

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