Semi Crunchy Mama Podcast Stacy Spensley

It's hard enough to feed ourselves well, but adding kids to the mix? Suddenly, dinnertime can feel like the finals of American Ninja Warrior gone horribly awry.

Luckily, Amy Vig went through culinary training for the rest of us so she can help parents become kitchen ninjas themselves. In this episode we talk about the challenges of cooking for a family, some of our favorite tips and time saving tricks, and why a lot of us need to shift how we think about "healthy food." 

Show notes with recipe links at semicrunchymama.com/ep12

You're keeping your kid alive! Good job! How often does the phrase "good job" come out of your mouth? Why do we say it? Do we need to? Is it actually that bad? What's wrong with praising your kid?

Parenting Path's Aki Raymer helps break it down for us. She explains why we may be doing the wrong things with good intentions, and what to do instead from a positive, but productive, approach.

Get more resources and show notes at semicrunchymama.com/ep11

Most of us find it awkward to talk about sex in general, let alone with our kids. So what do you do when your children start asking how babies are made? When do you have the "birds and the bees" talk? When should you tell your kids about menstruation? How do you even Google this stuff without regretting it? Luckily, Melissa Carnagey from Sex Positive Families is here to tell us. We discuss how to foster a family environment to promote open communication around sexual education and health from an early age - and how to catch up. semicrunchymama.com/ep10

Did having kids affect your life pretty much as you imagined? Did it change everything for you? Or something in between? For Beryl Young, her path had changed a few times, but her first pregnancy and then loss brought her somewhere she didn't expect. Creativity played a huge part in that, and that's what we're talking about in this episode. How can you fit creativity into your life, and what can that even look like with kids? semicrunchymama.com/ep9

So many priorities can change after you have kids - some of them surprising. Depending on your own childhood, you may not have a solid financial background to start, then suddenly you're worried about college savings plans on top of paying all your bills this month. What should you prioritize, and how? Certified Financial Planner Bobbi Rebell is here to help demystify some of those things on this week's episode. semicrunchymama.com/ep8

In the first year of your baby's life the only constant is change. It's a period of rapid development, and we all want our babies to get the best start possible. But what is that? How do we communicate with our babies to teach them new skills? What's normal, what's delayed, and when should we worry? Speech language pathologist, parenting educator, author, and mom Ayelet Marinovich fills us on what we need to know about connecting and communicating with our newest family members.