parenting tips

Mindfulness, Wellness, Solo Parenting and Faith

Our guest on this episode of Village Mama is Sjoukje Kramer, a solo-mom of three kids (including one very active toddler) and the owner of a busy massage therapy clinic.

Sjoukje believes that it is essential for everyone to feel valued and empowered and to live life with higher health. She believes that healthy living is more than being illness free, it’s about cultivating a life where you can find happiness in the now, and to experience a passion that drives you to better your life and the lives of those around you. Through Massage Therapy and educational workshops, she’s able to share her passions and knowledge on how to live a more balanced life so that her clients can feel better, sleep better and breathe better.

Sjoukje is keeping it real with us in this episode about, ‘Mindfulness, Wellness, Solo Parenting and Faith’. We’re grateful to you for sharing your story mama!

+ Check out Sjoukje at: Continuum Wellness
+ Continuum Wellness Facebook Page

Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts and never miss an episode.

CONNECT

+ Website: charlekx.com

+ Instagram: @charlekx1

+ Join the Village Mama community @ Village Mama

+ Work with me by signing up for the Parenting from YOUR best self e-course!

REVIEW

Your written reviews and positive ratings encourage me so much. Plus they help introduce the Village Mama community, and ‘keep it real’ message, to other moms far and wide. If you love the Village Mama Podcast, please leave a review over on iTunes. Even one positive sentence would be amazing!

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Anxiety, Depression and Trying To Live A Badass Life

Our guest on this episode of Village Mama is Dr. Karen Hudes, mama of one and Toronto based chiropractor.

Karen has spent the last 18 years helping people understand their bodies, recover from injuries or pain, and achieve wellness and optimal health. She cares for people from every age group with problems ranging from pain in the big toe, achy knees, colds and flu, back pain and sciatica, headaches and migraines etc. She has a passion to help pre and post-partum moms with the aches and pains of pregnancy and breast feeding and more importantly, she’s an advocate for women’s health.

Karen is keeping it real with us in this episode about, ‘Anxiety, Depression and Trying To Live A Badass Life’. We’re grateful to you for sharing your story mama!

+ Check out Karen at: Dr. Karen Hudes
+ Facebook Page

Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts and never miss an episode.

CONNECT

+ Website: charlekx.com
+ Instagram: @charlekx1
+ Join the Village Mama community @ Village Mama
+ Work with me by signing up for the Parenting from YOUR best self e-course!

REVIEW

Your written reviews and positive ratings encourage me so much. Plus they help introduce the Village Mama community, and ‘keep it real’ message, to other moms far and wide. If you love the Village Mama Podcast, please leave a review over on iTunes. Even one positive sentence would be amazing!
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Foreign Mission Trip with a Young Family and Learning to Enjoy the Moments with Your Kids

Our guest on this episode of Village Mama is Kim Trimboli and awesome mom of 3.

She spent her 30s climbing the corporate ladder and is spending her 40s trying to raise healthy, compassionate kids who do their best and never dial it in. When Kim isn’t trying to pack lunches that won’t get returned you can find her planning events, fundraising, playing sports or organizing the next family adventure.

Kim and her family travelled to Nicaragua in March 2017 with an organization called SchoolBox. After months of political unrest that began in early 2018, SchoolBox operations have now resumed and in September 2018 they completed construction on their 100th classroom.

Kim is keeping it real with us in this episode about ‘Foreign Mission Trip with a Young Family and Learning to Enjoy the Moments with Your Kids!’ We’re grateful to you for sharing your story mama!

+ Check out SchoolBox here: SchoolBox

Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts and never miss an episode.

CONNECT

+ Website: charlekx.com
+ Instagram: @charlekx1
+ Join the Village Mama community @ Village Mama
+ Work with me by signing up for the Parenting from YOUR best self e-course!

REVIEW

Your written reviews and positive ratings encourage me so much. Plus they help introduce the Village Mama community, and ‘keep it real’ message, to other moms far and wide. If you love the Village Mama Podcast, please leave a review over on iTunes. Even one positive sentence would be amazing!

 

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Creating a Mommy Community, Expat Living and Learning to Just Do You Boo!

Our guest on this episode of Village Mama is AmandaMuse, a mom of 2 and one of YouTube’s original Mom’s!

While living as an expatriate in Malaysia, Amanda started her YouTube channel “AmandaMuse” to document her journey into motherhood with her children, and connect with woman around the world on a similar path. She has created an engaged community online. Her authenticity and optimism through the highs and lows resonates with her audience.

Now living in the Toronto area, AmandaMuse has become a lifestyle brand, where she shares her views on life through videos on YouTube, traditional media, social media, a webseries and her live online shows. In 2018, Amanda was featured on TIME.com, appeared several times as a Lifestyle Expert on Global’s The Morning Show, and was nominated for Livestream of the Year Iris Award.

Amanda is keeping it real with us in this episode about ‘Creating a Mommy Community, Expat Living and Learning to Just Do You Boo’. We’re grateful to you for sharing your story mama!

+ Check out Amanda on: The Sandwich Podcast
+ Facebook Page
+ AmandaMuse YouTube Channel

Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts and never miss an episode.

CONNECT

+ Website: charlekx.com
+ Instagram: @charlekx1
+ Join the Village Mama community @ Village Mama
+ Work with me by signing up for the Parenting from YOUR best self e-course!

REVIEW

Your written reviews and positive ratings encourage me so much. Plus they help introduce the Village Mama community, and ‘keep it real’ message, to other moms far and wide. If you love the Village Mama Podcast, please leave a review over on iTunes. Even one positive sentence would be amazing!
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The Enneagram, Slow Living and Flourishing in Parenting

Our guest on this episode of Village Mama is Courtney Pinkerton, a mom of 3, a certified holistic life coach and the author of the Amazon best-seller, The Flourish Formula: An Overachiever’s Guide to Slowing Down & Accomplishing More.

She is a student and a teacher of the Enneagram who has helped hundreds of busy women slow down and accomplish and enjoy more in their life. She holds dual master’s degrees from Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Kennedy School, and is the creator of the eight-step Flourish Formula Coaching program.

Courtney hosts international retreats for women. After selling their house and all their belongings and a year adventuring in Nicaragua, Courtney and her husband Richard Amory and their three children are making a new home in a co-housing community in Asheville, North Carolina. She is keeping it real with us in this episode about ‘The Enneagram, Slow Living and Flourishing in Parenting’! We’re grateful to you for sharing your story mama!

+ Check out Courtney on her website: Courtney Pinkerton
+ Facebook: Courtney Pinkerton Coach
+ Instagram

Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts and never miss an episode.

CONNECT

+ Website: charlekx.com
+ Instagram: @charlekx1
+ Join the Village Mama community @ Village Mama
+ Work with me by signing up for the Parenting from YOUR best self e-course!

REVIEW

Your written reviews and positive ratings encourage me so much. Plus they help introduce the Village Mama community, and ‘keep it real’ message, to other moms far and wide. If you love the Village Mama Podcast, please leave a review over on iTunes. Even one positive sentence would be amazing!
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Healing, Wholeness and Trying to Live Out Your Mompreneurship Dreams

Our guest on this episode of Village Mama is Marta Spirk, a mom of 2.5 year-old triplets and a health & success coach.

She works closely with moms and mompreneurs to help them find their path and purpose by identifying their passion and talents. After being a teacher/tutor/mentor for nearly 20 years, motherhood opened up a new doorway into encouraging and motivation moms to believe in their power and have more fulfilling lives.

Marta is keeping it real with us in this episode about ‘Healing, Wholeness and Trying to Live Out Your Mompreneurship Dreams’; we also discussed the joys and challenges of parenting multiples and a bit about the Enneagram. We’re grateful to you for sharing your story mama!

+ Check out Marta on her website: Marta Spirk Coach
+ Podcast: Mom Does it All
+ Facebook: Page
+ Instagram

Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts and never miss an episode.

CONNECT

+ Website: charlekx.com
+ Instagram: @charlekx1
+ Join the Village Mama community @ Village Mama
+ Work with me by signing up for the Parenting from YOUR best self e-course!

REVIEW

Your written reviews and positive ratings encourage me so much. Plus they help introduce the Village Mama community, and ‘keep it real’ message, to other moms far and wide. If you love the Village Mama Podcast, please leave a review over on iTunes. Even one positive sentence would be amazing!
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The Enneagram: Parenting and the Head Center of Intelligence

On this episode of Village Mama, Char Lekx is sharing a bit about, The Enneagram: Parenting and the Head Center of Intelligence, specifically Types 5, 6 and 7. She’ll be discussing some strengths of these types, some challenges they may have and she’ll be giving some mindful parenting tips to help them deepen their connection with their children.

Self-reflection is such an important part of our parenting journey. It helps us to be aware of how we’re showing up, how we’re behaving and how the people around us may be experiencing us. If you’d like to dive deeper into this topic of identifying your Enneagram type and figure out how to parent from a healthier and happier place, check out the e-course, Parenting from YOUR best self.

Char is a transformation coach, mom to two kids 8 & 9 and loves to travel.

+ Freebie from Char: The Blueprint of a Mindful Mama: 8 Steps to Parenting from a more mindful space
+ Facebook Page
+ Village Mama Group
+ Instagram

Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts and never miss an episode.

CONNECT

+ Website: charlekx.com
+ Instagram: @charlekx1
+ Join the Village Mama community @ Village Mama
+ Work with me by signing up for the Parenting from YOUR best self e-course!

REVIEW

Your written reviews and positive ratings encourage me so much. Plus they help introduce the Village Mama community, and ‘keep it real’ message, to other moms far and wide. If you love the Village Mama Podcast, please leave a review over on iTunes. Even one positive sentence would be amazing!
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The Enneagram: Parenting and the Heart Center of Intelligence

On this episode of Village Mama, Char Lekx is sharing a bit about, The Enneagram: Parenting and the Heart Center of Intelligence, specifically Types 2, 3 and 4.

She’ll be briefly looking at how they may be showing up in their journey of parenting. The unconscious childhood message that they have received and internalized as a child. And the message they need to hear now to begin their own healing and their journey towards living a healthier and happier life.

Char is a transformation coach, mom to two kids 8 & 9, loves to be at the beach and has quite a kooky sense of humour.

+ Freebie from Char: The Blueprint of a Mindful Mama: 8 Steps to Parenting from a more mindful space
+ Facebook Page
+ Village Mama Group
+ Instagram

Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts and never miss an episode.

CONNECT

+ Website: charlekx.com
+ Instagram: @charlekx1
+ Join the Village Mama community @ Village Mama
+ Work with me by signing up for the Parenting from YOUR best self e-course!

REVIEW

Your written reviews and positive ratings encourage me so much. Plus they help introduce the Village Mama community, and ‘keep it real’ message, to other moms far and wide. If you love the Village Mama Podcast, please leave a review over on iTunes. Even one positive sentence would be amazing!
Share the love

The Enneagram: Parenting and the Gut Center of Intelligence.

On this episode of Village Mama, Char Lekx is discussing a bit about The Enneagram, Parenting and the Gut Center of Intelligence.

The intersectionality between the Enneagram as personality typing system and parenting has been a fascinating area of interest for her. In this episode, she introduces the 3 types in the gut centre of intelligence, type 8s, 9s and 1s. She is intentionally not using the type names in the hopes that parents who are listening in, will simply focus on the characteristics and traits of each type, in an attempt to discover where they might land.

Char is a transformation coach, mom to two kids 8 & 9 and loves chocolate with hazelnuts a little too much. 😉

+ Freebie from Char: The Blueprint of a Mindful Mama: 8 Steps to Parenting from a more mindful space
+ Facebook Page
+ Village Mama Group
+ Instagram

Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts and never miss an episode.

CONNECT

+ Website: charlekx.com
+ Instagram: @charlekx1
+ Join the Village Mama community @ Village Mama
+ Work with me by signing up for the Parenting from YOUR best self e-course!

REVIEW

Your written reviews and positive ratings encourage me so much. Plus they help introduce the Village Mama community, and ‘keep it real’ message, to other moms far and wide. If you love the Village Mama Podcast, please leave a review over on iTunes. Even one positive sentence would be amazing!
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What to do when the parenting struggle is real

Here’s the truth.  Parenting was much easier when I was raising non-existent kids in hypothetical situations. If we’re honest, it’s happened to all of us. The daydreams about what it would be like to have our little ones someday. We saw ourselves spending countless hours playing with our kids, laughing and having fun. We pinned nursery furniture on Pinterest, picked out the cutest clothes and waited with anticipation to finally get to meet our little ones.

Some of us entered into this new phase of life with a list of things we adamantly said we weren’t going to do to our kids. We had strong feelings about what worked and didn’t work when we were kids. As adults, we were going to do it all differently, do it better than our parents did. Here’s the thing though:  these plans are so much easier when they’re hypothetical ideas confined to the structures of our minds. Fast-forward into the future, and we find ourselves with our very own real live children, smack dab in the midst of the reality of parenting and that’s when it hits us. The daily struggle is all too real.

Instead of hazily drifting from fun activity to fun activity, many moms find themselves in a constant battle of wills with their children. From cajoling them to eat, to struggling to get them to put on their shoes so you can get out the door already. For some moms, nagging, yelling and criticizing becomes a rollercoaster of habit, that as much as they try, they just can’t get off.

Parenting is hard, moms are chronically tired, they’re trying their best but it just doesn’t seem to be enough. They’re wracked with mommy guilt because they remember how they thought it would be but the reality isn’t measuring up and it just makes them feel absolutely crummy.

So what do you do when you’re feeling stuck in this frustrating space?  You’ve read the parenting books, you’ve tried the various approaches and you’re still feeling sick and tired because nothing seems to be working. I know the following approach to the daily parenting struggle will seem counter-intuitive but it’s absolutely necessary for your sanity. So what is it? What should you do? Here’s the answer…You need to simply stop.

So, what do you stop? You stop trying to do it all in your own strength. You stop trying to push yourself past your limit. You stop trying to pour out of your cup, because sweetheart…it’s empty. You choose to stop.

You choose to stop going on social media as much because looking at all of those other moms who seem to have it all together isn’t helping your mindset. Stop looking at their exotic Instagram filtered vacation photos. Or gourmet gluten-free, organic, vegan, locally sourced meals made from scratch. No more peeking at their Facebook feeds filled with photographs of them giving their children picture perfect childhoods. Stop looking, if when you do, you end up telling yourself that you’re not measuring up at all. Stop looking, if you’re comparing yourself to the seemingly social media super moms out there and as a consequence your inner critic is going berserk like a toddler who’s downed an entire bag of gummy worms. Stop looking; stop beating yourself up for not doing more or being more. Instead, once you’ve stopped, I want you to look at your precious children. Look into their eyes and see their truth. To them, you are enough.

They look at you and are so happy to have you in their lives. You are their mom. They’re rooting for you, not some stranger online. They’re on your side. Team (fill in your family’s name here)…all the way! They’re not expecting you to be like anybody else, they’ve bonded to you. You are theirs, they are yours; you’re each others person and that’s what’s relevant.

So stop; pause in this moment and welcome a feeling of gratitude and love. Let the jam flavoured hand print on the cupboard, the food that fell on the floor, the sink full of dishes, and the toys all over the place drift from your focus. Instead, stop and look into the eyes of the child you’ve held in your arms countless times and tell them three little words. These words won’t magically make everything better. You won’t wake up the next day feeling refreshed and energized and like you’ve figured it all out. What it will do is become a soothing balm for you and your little one. A reminder of what’s truly important.

Once you decide to pause; once you’re ready to stop and get grounded and centred, I want you to simply say, “I love you.” Offer that gracious gift to your child and to yourself. Keep saying it over and over, when they’re a baby, a toddler, a child, a tween, a teenager and an adult. It’s a reminder that no matter the age or stage, in spite of what you’re going through, one thing remains constant, and that is your love. Yes, parenting was much easier when we were raising non-existent kids in hypothetical situations but even with the daily challenges we face now, if we’re willing to stop long enough, we’ll be able to see how richly our lives have been blessed.

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