PODCAST · kids
Sparkler Parents
by Christine Robenalt
Cultivating a present moment awareness can be challenging in our busy, tech-savvy, productivity driven world, but it is not impossible. In fact, it is one key to understanding out children more and creating more connections with them.Join me on my own adventure in parenting my 3 kids and being a pediatric physical therapist. We can learn together from my experiences and from my guests.Take 5 minutes to listen to some quick insights and tips to build your present moment awareness and become a Sparkler Parent.https://youtu.be/i9FIOKzM9l8
Episodes
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Episode 33 - Empathetic Observer of Our Own Experience
Today we are going to take a DEEP DIVE into the sensations of the present moment and begin to cultivate what I have been calling being an "Empathetic Observer Of Our Own Experience". We do too much judging of ourselves and others and this exercise that you are about to do will help gain…
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Episode 32 - Brain-Based Parenting Book Club; Ch 4. - A Caregiving Formula (Acceptance)
This episode we review PACE, which stands for Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy. We talk a little more about playfulness and then dive acceptance. QOD: Describe a time when you miscued with your child. In that moment were you able to stay playful and accepting, or not? Jump on over…
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Episode 31 - Brain Based Parenting, Chapter 4 - A Caregiving Formula
This chapter introduces the PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy) acronym. We talk about Playfulness and how that can help get you as the parent back into a parental state of mind so that you can better read your child's cues and want to engage more (release of dopamine). Join the...
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Ep 30 - Brain Based Parenting Chapter 3: Stressed Out Parenting
If I threw 100 tennis balls at you all at once, how many would you catch? I know that we would like to think we could catch at least 1 or 2, but in reality, the answer is none...in fact, I think I would turn around and just let all of the pummel me in the back. So, stress, can be adaptive, if we...
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Episode 29 - Brain Based Parenting Chapter 3 Blocked Care
There were some viewers/listeners who requested a YouTube Format, so this is it. You can still catch the podcast version too outlets like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This episode continues to Chapter 3 of Brain Based Parenting and it discusses Blocked Care. The question of the week to discuss…
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Episode 28 - Brain Based Parenting Chapter 2 - The Parental-Child Reading System
Let's dive in to Chapter 2 a little more. So far we have learned that innately we, as parents, have different neurochemicals in our brains that help us connect to our children. These chemicals help strengthen pathways to build a strong attachment to our child first to orientate to the child, then...
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Episode 27 - Brain Based Parenting Chapter 2 The Parental Approach System
What is the Parental Approach System and why is it important to me? This is the idea that we are biologically engineered to want to have experiences with our kids. But I know that some parents find this difficult. What about when you rarely feel this way? This is a warning sign that there is too...
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Episode 26 - Brain Based Parenting Chapter 2 The Five Domains of Parenting
Join the Discussion at the FB Group! Sparkler Parents Podcast Share an example of a time when you did not use your executive brain while parenting? I used to do this a lot more related to behaviors my children did or if my husband was about to arrive at home and one of the kids just made a big...
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Meditation #8 - I Spy (Sensory Edition)
This is not truly a meditation, but rather a way to develop an awareness of our senses. We have 10! In this game, 7 of the senses could be used including: sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell, proprioception and vestibular. Have a few items prepared and start the game off with SIGHT, I spy with my...
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Episode 25 - Brain Based Parenting Chapter 1 (cont'd)
This podcast episodes pulls in a little bit of the discussion from the FB group, Sparkler Parents. Please join us over on FB. Also we round out Chapter 1 with the concept of neuroception.
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Meditation #7 - Heart Center
This meditation to to help open your heart to allow loving energy to come in and flow back out to your child(ren), family members, neighbors, neighbors' kids and on and on. Check out Parents Thrive! This is a valuable resource of parents' stories around birth, anxiety and depression and realize...
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Episode 24: Brain-Based Parenting Chapter 1
This was a long chapter, but it lays the foundation for everything else that we will be discussing and learning about in this book. Some key take-a-ways included: We as parents are really striving to help our children be parents themselves one day. So all of the experiences of our child's early...
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Episode 23 - Book Club Edition: Brain-Based Parenting #1
Welcome back Sparkler Parents. After about a 2 week hiatus, I am back. Over the next 8-9 episodes we are going to explore together a book that was required reading for my infant massage certification that I hold. I will admit, I did not read the book! But over the past 3 years since I received…
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22 - Vision Quest
We often think our children’s vision is based off of how about they can see the letters and the page or at a certain distance we don’t often think about how well our children’s eyes are working together as a team. But in fact this is as important as how well the eyes are working individually…
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Sing, sing a song
Are you sick of Baby Shark, Daddy Finger or Wheels on The Bus? Check in with your child when they sing a song or listen to music, because even if you aren't "feeling" the song in the moment, it might just be the ticket to strengthening your connection. Some ideas to create connections with music...
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Episode 20 - Love and Laughter
Love and logic is usually what we are going for as parents, but I often feel that love and laughter creates more connection. The logic part comes naturally the more connected we are to our kids. When our children sense our love and are relaxed, there no longer is resistance...or at least less...
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Episode 19 - Drawing our kids closer - Cultivating creativity through drawing and coloring
Connecting with our kids is not always a serious matter. This week we will explore how to have fun, be creative and laugh together. Checkin out a few resources to get the creative juices flowing! Online Cartooning Workshops for kids and adults https://sarahjanevickery.com/ Take the 3 Marker...
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Meditation #6 - Creating Self-love and Compassion
This is truly time just for you. You are worthy of love. You are worthy of self-love. You are worthy of other people's love. You are able to give love to others.
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Self-compassion is more than just for your benefit
As Sparkler Parents we are working toward cultivating present moment awareness with our children. But there are other parts of our day when we may not be directly interacting with our kids, but they are listening, watching, observing us and our responses to situations. They feel our stress as…
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Episode 17 - Can you please repeat?
This episode cover s a couple of tools that we as parents can use, but so can our children to help create some space for our emotions without reacting out of anger or fear. I also wanted to share with you the idea of a Share Journal. Check out this little video tutorial and download the PDF's to...
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Episode 16 - Wave of Emotions
Emotions are very similar to playing in the ocean. Both Susan David and Joan Rosenberg speak to psychological flexibility in their books (Emotional agility and 90 Second to a Life You Love) and this concept is very important for us as parents as well as for our children.
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Balloons in the sky - Meditation #5
This meditation is great for adults and kids alike. You will be be invited to move your body during this practice, so you want to make sure that you have enough space. Lie down so that your feet are flat against the wall or the side of a couch. If you need to, you can do this lying in your bed or...
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Phone a friend
This is a quick little PSA to make an intention to reach out to a friend. Whether you text, call, Skype or get together in person, make that connection and I promise, you will be so happy you made time for yourself and that other person. If you would like to learn more about me or listen to some…
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Meditation #4 - Same and Different
This is a meditation that involves you focusing your attention (and intention) on your hands and fingers. We will be using different hand mudras or seals to practice motor control of opposites. You will hopefully experience how it is easier to control the same movement (finger flexion or finger...
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Perfectly Imperfect
The strive to fit it to a group over leads us to act outside of our values. The longing to feel recognized, appreciated, valued can drive to to thoughts, behaviors and habits that are really about trying to make other people feel comfortable at the expense of our own well being. I grew up…
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Meditation #3 - Rainbow Reach
This is a meditation/game to play with your kids. I have played this game first as a swim instructor to help kids get used to putting their faces in the water, but now as a pediatric physical therapist this game is perfect to teach kids about their senses, especially, sight, touch and...
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Laughing isn't always funny
What is your sense of humor and how to you help foster a healthy sense of humor within your child? Looking for signs of engagement and signs within your child's body that the joke is perceived as funny is important. Plus thinking about our child's developmental age and whether or not the child is...
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The Last Love Language - Physical Touch
Physical touch means a lot to me as a physical therapist, but some kids (and even some adults) do not like physical touch. In order to help create safety around positive, safe touch we need to be able to figure out what safe touch feels like for our child. This episode goes over 3 different types...
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Mediation #2 - Creating Safety in Your Space
This meditation is just over 5 minutes long. It aligns with the Root Chakra and creating a safe container for yourself and being within your environment, no matter where you find yourself right now at this moment.
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The Power of Gifts
Gifts, both giving and receiving, can be an effective love language for many. At the same time, when the gift is given with an expectation (even named) of something in return, it is no longer a gift. This is perceived by the receiver as not being genuine or even just as something that is now...
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Meditation #1 (all meditations will be listed under Season 3)
These meditations will be listed as such. My hope for you is that you will begin to try some silent sitting a few minutes each day. You may be ready to move on to more time. Using Insight Timer app or even meditations that you can find on YouTube are often 6-20 minutes in length. Where as it…
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JOY vs ANNOY List part 2
This is the second part in a series of 2 episodes looking at ways to create more space to allow joy into your life. Again another self-care and buffering activity to be able to be ok right now in this moment, but also realize that we have other options. We as parents have a lot of stress. And…
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JOY vs. ANNOY part 1
Let's have some fun! Looking for little things that bring us joy and noticing what might be slowing sucking joy out from our lives is a good practice. Also, it allows you to dive deeper underneath the actual experience and relate to the emotion being felt. Once we acknowledge the emotion, we can...
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Breathe with me
We learn through our experiences. In this episode we will explore linking a known experience of breathing to focus in on how well we are able to stabilize our mind amidst distractions, like random thoughts, children yelling, the T.V., the dog barking and yes, even the "ding" from your phone....
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Coordination within our environment
Often I feel we, collectively as humans, forget that we don't always have control. And in reality, gaining control over a situation, emotion, another person isn't accomplished by demanding it. Yes, this will work in the short term, but it takes too much energy and effort to sustain. Gain control…
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Quality time and space
Moving through the Love Languages, we come to a pretty obvious one of "quality time". 10 minutes, 1-2x per day per child is what I strive for with my own three children. Some days I do better than others. We have also implemented alternating dates with either parent once per month. So this month…
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Practicing empathy with our children
Brené Brown speaks a lot of empathy and compassion. Tara Brach speaks about loving kindness. These are big concepts that connect all of us as human beings. These tools will also help strengthen the love and connection between our children, but it is HARD to do. What makes hard things...
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Moment of gratitude paired with acts of service
Set your intention for this week. My intention is to focus on how important acts of service are to my kids, even when I think they can do whatever they are asking help with on their own. There is actually a reason that my child and your child asks us for help, because at that moment they are...
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Words of encouragement challenge
Valentines Day is tomorrow, but everyday we should be finding ways to tell our children, multiple times per day how we value them, why we are proud of them and specific reasons why we love them. This is important for us as parents to acknowledge out loud all of the things that we love about our...
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Weekly recap and noticing your breath
Let's recap the intention that was set for this week. How well were you able to align your actions with what you valued? What is 1 thing you might be able to do next week to bring you closer to the desired change? Take the last 2 minutes to notice your breath and feel how connecting with your...
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Amazing and Open - tools for self care
I get it you don’t have enough time to exercise there’s too many things going on in your life if you don’t have a enough time to dedicate to journaling or meditation. But for sure you have enough time to stop and pause and notice how you are feeling in the moment. This is a step in the process of...
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Compassion as a Sparkler Parent
Sparkler Parents are right there in the moment with our children. This is whether the situation is fun, sad, happy, angry, silly. Not everything is going to work out the way we want it to. We know this is true, but do we always create the space for our children to feel the sadness or do we...
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STOP and take in some AIR - Tools to use
Check out my self-control book I made for our kids...it may be useful for you too! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wbejj0c5uESY84quPmVK5gXv9tcSkz_u/view?usp=sharing Video on how to put the book together. https://youtu.be/5fvON6Ztggc S: Stop what you are doing T: Take a full breath to create some...
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Setting an intention for the week
Take less than 5 minutes to listen to this episode to help you create an intention for your week. If you are looking for some ways to play with your child check out this playlist on my YouTube Channel : https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG8sRZMlEDZD8EiB_3_YYUAlGkXuhdKMs
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Intro To Sparkler Parents
Podcast Update - This Podcast is changing. As of 2/7/2021, it will now be made up fo 3-5 minute episodes on creating Sparkler Moments with your child. This podcast will often tips, strategies and solutions to help parents stay in the present moment and become Sparkler Parents. The moments with…
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Wired to Breathe
The American Lung Association once used the catchphrase, "If you can't breathe, nothing else matters." This is very true, but besides the obvious reason as to why breathing matters, have you ever considered its relationship to movement and postural control. In this episode, Vincent Leddy, PT and...
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Panel Discussion #2 - Vicki Mackinder, OTR and Christine Robenalt, P.T. Discuss Sensory Regulation and the Therapist-Parent Dynamic Pre and Post Mommyhood
Sensory experiences and Sensory regulation are hot button topics. Vicki and Christine break it down a little and provide some additional resources. Then they have a discussion about what changed for them as therapists after having kids of their own and how this impacted their relationship with…
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Panel Discussion #1 - Mona Ready ECSE and Christine Robenalt, P.T.
Mona and Christine field a couple of questions from the Peds Therapy Collective FB Group. We also discuss a great resource for feeding challenges with children from My Munch Bug LLC and Melanie Potock. https://mymunchbug.com/
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The need for everyone to be calm and alert for new learning and listening.
We ask our children (our patients or our own) to have a calm body and listening ears, but do we have this same expectations for ourselves? Sign up here to appear on this podcast. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D44AFAA23A5FD0-healthcare
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Emotions in Action - Part 1
This is the episode for the child and parent to listen together.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Cultivating a present moment awareness can be challenging in our busy, tech-savvy, productivity driven world, but it is not impossible. In fact, it is one key to understanding out children more and creating more connections with them.Join me on my own adventure in parenting my 3 kids and being a pediatric physical therapist. We can learn together from my experiences and from my guests.Take 5 minutes to listen to some quick insights and tips to build your present moment awareness and become a Sparkler Parent.https://youtu.be/i9FIOKzM9l8
HOSTED BY
Christine Robenalt
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Sparkler Parents have?
Sparkler Parents currently has 52 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Sparkler Parents about?
Cultivating a present moment awareness can be challenging in our busy, tech-savvy, productivity driven world, but it is not impossible. In fact, it is one key to understanding out children more and creating more connections with them.Join me on my own adventure in parenting my 3 kids and being a...
How often does Sparkler Parents release new episodes?
Sparkler Parents has 52 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Sparkler Parents?
You can listen to Sparkler Parents on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Sparkler Parents?
Sparkler Parents is created and hosted by Christine Robenalt.
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