Summary: **Congratulations to Lisa of <a href="http://www.beingstepmom.com/" target="_blank">Being StepMom</a>, you are the winner of Liz Curtis Higgs latest book, “It’s Good to Be Queen”.**<br> Lately when I’ve hung out with mom friends, we end up swapping school stress stories. We commiserate over homework battles. And how to manage all the different kids’ needs with crammed afternoon & evening schedules.<br> We share how we want to instill responsibility, but struggle watching our kids get in trouble over forgetfulness.<br> Only a month into school, many of us have already received the negative behavior reports. And we wonder how to manage the issue from our end.<br> It seems to me we all need a little calming pep talk from our friend, Kirk Martin (<a href="http://celebratecalm.com/" target="_blank">CelebrateCalm.com</a>). <br> <a href="http://godcenteredmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/kirkmartinep88.jpg"></a><br> Before interviewing Kirk, I asked y’all on <a href="https://instagram.com/GodCenteredMom/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> & <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GodCenteredMom" target="_blank">Facebook</a> to share some of your school stress questions. And we got so many great ones! Thank you!!<br> So in this episode, we chat about creative ways to motivate our kids while keeping the long term goals in mind. We hit on the topic of perfectionism, children with special needs, competition among siblings, and loads more.<br> Most of all, I loved Kirk’s example of the prodigal son’s father (Luke 15) in fostering an inviting, grace-filled environment.<br> What we chat about:<br> <br> * How do I motivate my kids to “want” to do homework? (age specific ideas)<br> * What should my long term goals be when helping with their homework?<br> * Should kids do homework right when they get home from school?<br> * How do you manage 3 kids’ homework, especially if one has special learning needs?<br> * If my son gets in trouble at school, should he also have consequences at home?<br> * How do we handle competition, vying for position between sibling?<br> * What do we do with our perfectionist children? How do we help them not give up?<br> * How do you help a child with ASD persist when school is hard for him?<br> * What if my Kindergartener doesn’t want to go to school?<br> <br> Connect with Kirk:<br> <a href="http://celebratecalm.com/" target="_blank">Site</a> :: <a href="https://twitter.com/celebratecalm" target="_blank">Twitter</a> :: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CelebrateCalm" target="_blank">Facebook </a>:: <a href="http://celebratecalm.com/radio-show/" target="_blank">Podcast</a><br> Links Mentioned:<br> <br> <br> * <a href="http://www.pcstx.org/top-thirty-five-books-by-class/" target="_blank">Top 35 great books</a> by grade<br> * Email Newsletter–<a href="http://celebratecalm.com/top-10-newsletters/" target="_blank">top 10 free newsletters</a> (check out #6!!)<br> * <a href="http://celebratecalm.com/free-workshops/" target="_blank">Live (free) Workshops</a><br> * <a href="http://celebratecalm.com/products/" target="_blank">CDs/DVDs</a><br> * 1-888-506-1871–Toll Free Number for Frustrated Parents<br> <br> <br> <br> How to listen to the podcast:<br> 1.Listen on the blog. Click through to <a title="gcm" href="http://godcenteredmom.com/" target="_blank">GodCenteredMom.com</a> and click the play button at the beginning of this post.<br> 2. Listen on your smartphone, iPad or iPod Touch – There are a lot of great podcasting apps. Apple has a<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/podcasts/id525463029?mt=8" target="_blank"> free one</a> (that I mentioned) in the app store, there is also one called <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/downcast/id393858566?mt=8" target="_blank">Downcast</a>. It allows you to search for shows, subscribe to them and even speed up the audio.
