The Greta Eskridge Podcast Greta Eskridge & Christian Parenting

*Don’t forget this is your last chance to sign up for my webinar, Parenting in the Digital Age. You are going to get help with so many of the issues facing parents today—whether your kids are 3, 13 or 23. Sign up here. 
 
In this week’s episode, I get to talk to Kristen Miele from Sex Ed Reclaimed. I love the mission of her organization: to empower and encourage families to have consistent, honest conversations while accessing God-honoring sexual health education because God calls us to disciple the next generation. And her vision is just as powerful: to break the cycle of silence about sex in the Christian world. Gosh how we need Kristen’s voice and message in our world today!  
 
Here are some key takeaways from this episode: 
*Sex is good and it is God’s gift, so we don’t have to be afraid or embarrassed to talk about it. 
* It’s a work of the devil to shut us up about sex and to add shame to it. 
* The world is constantly talking about sex. They are discipling our kids on the topic so we need to step in and add God to the conversation. 
* Sex is an opportunity to talk about Jesus. (Yes! This is my favorite.) 
Some tips Kristen gave are so helpful: 
*Our kid’s questions are an opportunity for discipleship. So answer their questions honestly. 
*Only give them as much information as they need—just a little bit at a time. 
*Think about the expression on your face and the tone of your voice when you answer their questions. Don’t panic! Instead be warm and welcoming. 
*Invite your older kids to look at the world around them and answer the question, “is that working for them? Are they joyful, peace filled, and hopeful?” 
 
Be sure to check out the courses at Sex Ed Reclaimed. 
There are courses designed for families, home school students, Christian schools and churches and for ages 3-18. 
You can get curriculum samples on her website. 
Kristen generously gave my podcast listeners a discount of 15% off. Just use the code: CHRISTIANPARENTING 
 
Please take a minute to subscribe to this podcast. I’d also be so very grateful if you leave a 5 star rating and write a quick review.  
Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster. 
Thank you for listening and being part of my team.  
I love you guys! 
Greta 

Fair warning, this episode is ALL over the place!  
You will laugh and maybe cringe at my faux pas. 
You might cry with me at the end of the episode, and you’ll definitely learn about a lot of great books. 
In this episode I get to talk to my dear friend Elsie Iudicello.  
Elsie is a wife to my friend Jeff, and mom to 4 boys. Elsie lives in Florida where she is a farmer, a writer, a reader, a cook, and one of the most compelling and hilarious speakers I have ever the pleasure of hearing.  
Here are some highlights from our conversation: 
*Elsie tells me she loves old movies but also loves natural disaster movies. *Well, only one really. The movie Twister. For an interesting reason! 
*This is when I suggest another movie Elsie might like but that doesn’t actually exist and if it did, you might see it behind the curtain at Blockbuster. Enjoy the laughter that ensues. I’m never going to live this one down. 
*Elsie shares: “books bonded us in the beginning because we got to go play in different worlds together, and that has sustained us in the teen years. 
*We can meet on the bridge of a story. 
*Kids want a book where the author isn’t talking down to them. That doesn’t preach at them or sanitize everything. 
*Reading biographies and especially missionary biographies are so good for our kids to read. 
*Give them books about people stepping out of their comfortable worlds. Read those things into their hearts! 
* I want my kids to get to know people who have had to fight for their faith. 
* Parents need to be readers too. Because this statistic is true and makes my heart sad. “roughly a quarter of American adults say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year in print, electronic or even in audio form”. 
*”Don’t be in such a hurry to read the great books that you miss the good books.” Cindy Rawlins 
*On re-reading books: “I would rather be friends with 40 or 50 good dear books than read all the books in the world once.” 
*Find Elsie on Instagram at Farmhouse Schoolhouse 
 
Here's a list of all the books we mention in this episode: 
Ourselves by Charlotte Mason 
The Emperor’s Handbook by Marcus Aurelius 
The Good Master by Kate Seredy 
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit 
Little Britches by Ralph Moody 
Wind and the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 
Green Ember by S. D. Smith 
Wing Feather Saga by Andrew Peterson 
The Mad Scientist Club by Bertrand Brinley 
The Great Brain by John D Fitzgerald 
Homer Price by Robert McCloskey 
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain 
Jules Verne books 
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing 
God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew 
10 Fingers for God: the life and work of Dr. Paul Brand by Dorothy Wilson 
Christian Heroes Then and Now series  
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morely 
The Awaking of Miss Prim: a Novel by Natalia Fenollera 
The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery 
The Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter 
Little Women Louisa May Alcott 
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 
How Green was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn 
The Count of Monte Christo by Alexander Dumas 
 
Don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast, and I’d be so very grateful if you leave a 5 star rating of the podcast and also a quick review.  
Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster. 
Thank you for listening and being part of my team.  
I love you guys! 
Greta 

In this episode I talked with my friend S.D. Smith. Sam is the author of the beloved Green Ember series. He also wrote the book Jack Zulu and the Waylanders’s Key with his son, Josiah. And he most recently wrote the book Mooses with Bazookas and Other Stories Children Should Never Read. 
I loved this conversation with Sam. We have a lot of fun together because he is a story teller and I love stories! 
Here are some highlights from our talk: 
*The book that turned him into a reader around the age of 15 was Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. 
*Some of the other books that were read aloud to him by his mom and his teachers and shaped him as a storyteller were: 
The Chronicles of Narnia 
Little Women 
The Box Car Children 
God’s Smuggler 
*As an adult, Sam has loved and re-read the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O Brian. 
*My favorite part of our conversation was when Sam gives a message to all parents, but especially to Dads about connecting with their kids through stories: “kids just want attention and time. They want their dads so much! They’re desperate for their dad’s attention. So if you’re a dad and you just make up a story about something you care about, it’s going to be really, really fun for them. They love it when you care. They love it when you try.” 
*And if you can’t think of your own story, take a note from my husband and re-tell movies and books to your kids. You can change the names if you want and your kids will be none the wiser. Until they grow up and watch the movie and figure it out. Then you’ll all get a great laugh over it! 
*I love Sam’s motto for life: Modesty, fidelity, and audacity. 
*Sam shared he’s chasing joy by taking walks, which he finds to be an opportunity to pursue connection, creativity and beauty.” 
*You can find Sam on Instagram, on his website and in his books! 
 
Don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast, and I’d be so very grateful if you leave a 5 star rating of the podcast and also a quick review.  
Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster. 
Thank you for listening and being part of my team. 
I love you guys! 
Greta 

I can’t believe this is the start of my 3rd month of the podcast! I am having so much fun and I am so glad you guys are coming along for the ride. 
Since we haven’t just hung out and talked for a while, I decided this episode will be a little bit of that along with a special Mother’s Day message at the end. Because mothers matter so much to me! 
Here is all that I talk about in this episode, along with the all the links I mention. 
*Get tickets to my online seminar “Parenting in the Digital Age” right here. 
*My seminar will encourage you, inform you and empower you! 
*Remember this about parenting in the digital age—there is a lot we can do wrong, but a lot we can do right! 
*Find me on Instagram here. 
*Learn more about the Wild and Free homeschooling community here. 
*Read the “Tale for the Weary Mom” essay here. 
Some thoughts to remember from my message to moms: 
* Moms are one of the best gifts God has given to us. 
*The love of a mother can be one of the most grounding , supportive and safe things in a really crazy world. 
*If you didn’t have a mom that loved, supported and believed in you, you get to write a new story for your own kids! 
*The work you’re doing as a mom matters even if no one is really noticing. 
* The work of motherhood is holy work. 
*The world may not value the work you’re doing but it has eternal value. 
*Mama, you’re doing a good job. 
*Galatians 6:9 “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” 
 
Please take a minute to subscribe to this podcast. I’d also be so very grateful if you leave a 5-star rating and write a quick review.  
Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster. 
Thank you for listening and being part of my team.  
I love you guys! 
Greta 

In this episode I talk about how to create a healthy sexual culture in your home. Creating a healthy sexual culture falls under the umbrella of parenting in the digital age and protecting our kids from porn, because there are so many ways the digital world offers our kids an unhealthy to downright dangerous view of sexuality. Of course, pornography is right up there on the list. 
Some key takeaways from this episode here: 
*If our kids are growing up in a world that is trying to offer them an unhealthy and dangerous view of sex, it is our job to show them the opposite of that. 
*Your kids have questions about sex, even if they’re not asking them. Create a culture where they can ask you anything. Be their Google! 
*Let’s raise kids who aren’t afraid of God’s good gift of sex, but also have a healthy respect for God’s plan for it. 
*The message of the world is that “sex is everything” and “sex is nothing”. What a confusing world for our kids to grow up in. 
*Our kids need help to see themselves and all people in the world around them as fully human, to cherish and uphold, not objectify, or dismiss. *Read my article about objectification here. 
*Teach your kids that sex and their sexual body parts are  not shameful.  
*Use real, anatomically correct language for all the body parts. 
*Books to read with your littles on these topics  
God Made All of Me 
God Made Me In His Image  
*Creating a healthy sexual culture is an investment in our children’s future.  
*A healthy sexual outlook can help protect your kids from porn because it shines the light of truth in the darkness.  
*“Like it or not, we either add to the darkness of indifference and out-and-out evil which surrounds us, or we light a candle to see by.” Madeleine L’Engle 
 
Don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast. And I’d be so very grateful if you leave a 5 star rating and a short review of the podcast. 
Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster. 
Thank you for listening and being part of my team.  
I love you guys! 
Greta 

This is the 4th episode in a month long series on Parenting in the Digital Age and Protecting Our Kids from Porn. In this episode, I have the pleasure of talking with Megan Michelson, of Birds and Bees. Birds and Bees exists to equip and empower parents to have healthy and comfortable conversations with their kids about sex.  
In this episode, Megan and I discuss how things could be so different if parents knew how to talk to their kids about sex in this healthy way. 
Here are some key takeaways from our conversation: 
*We don’t have to be afraid of these conversations--2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 
*Remember, the story of sex is good news! 
*The world wants to shout out a bad story, but we have a good story to tell! 
*We need to talk to our kids pornography just like we speak to them about every other danger in their life: be careful crossing the street, touching the stove etc. 
*Your kids need to know they can ask you anything instead of googling it. 
*This is the number one safe search tip! Be their google! 
*For kids under 10: 
*Kids have a God given curiosity about sexual things and that is not a bad thing. 
*Use anatomically correct words for body parts. These are not bad words and these are not bad parts! 
*Answer tough questions like this: “That is a great question and I am so glad you asked that.” 
*For kids 11+ 
*Be direct and have honest and open conversations. 
*Bring up these topics and stories at the dinner table. Discuss as a family. 
*Be a safe landing spot for them even if you are uncomfortable. 
*The Lord has equipped you for the children you have! 
 
Find more from Birds and Bees here. 
Find the amazing course at Birds and Bees here. 
Get 20% off the Birds and Bees course by using the code GRETA20. 
Find the course here. 
 
Don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast, and give it a five-star rating. I’d also be so very grateful if you leave a review of the podcast wherever you listen. Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster. 
Thank you for listening and being part of my team.  
I love you guys! 
Greta