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Life Skills
#LifeSkillsNow was created to serve the needs of families who desire their kids to have practical life skills that schools aren’t teaching. We host experts in fields ranging from entrepreneurship to finances, cooking, and soft skills like managing emotions and choosing a healthy mindset.
Helping Kids Take Ownership of Their Space and How Decluttering Can Solve Your Anxiety
What if the stress you feel at home is not just about your schedule… but about your stuff?
I know. That sounds almost too simple.
But when Katy Wells came back on the Healthy Parenting Handbook podcast, we did not just talk about decluttering. We talked about cortisol. About magnets for your attention. About why walking into your own kitchen can change your mood in seconds.
And friends, this one hit close to home.
Because if you are trying to raise independent kids, teach life skills, keep up with meals, laundry, school, sports, and somehow protect your own nervous system… your environment matters more than you think.
Here is what we dig into in this episode:
- The surprising research linking clutter and elevated cortisol levels
- Why the average American home may be holding over 300,000 “magnets for your attention”
- How clutter quietly fuels anxiety (even if you think it does not bother you)
- What a “nightly reset” looks like in real life with kids
- How to pass ownership of the home to your children without nagging
- The difference between modeling and inviting kids into responsibility
- Why action creates motivation (and not the other way around)
- The simple starting point that breaks the clutter and anxiety cycle
We also talk about something that might sting a little: why systems alone will not save you.
If you have ever walked into a messy kitchen and felt your shoulders tense… or walked into a clear counter and felt yourself exhale… this episode is for you.
Let’s talk about how simplifying your home can actually strengthen your parenting.
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Episode 98: Having Clear Intentions About Things, Memories, Relationships with Diane Boden
When your podcast guest says, “Our goal as parents is to raise up these self-sufficient, independent people someday,” you know she’s in the right place! Diane Boden and I talk all about her journey to minimalism and the intentional mindset she’s fostered over the last 14 years. It’s not just about the “stuff” but about...
Mess Is a Sign of Life: Overcoming Perfectionism and Overwhelm About Homemaking
Do you know any mom who ISN’T feeling a little overwhelmed by all the tasks she’s juggling, who’s NEVER thought, “My house isn’t clean/organized/gorgeous enough,” or who doesn’t think she has a lot of improvement to make on homemaking?
I thought so.
My guest today, Mystie Winckler, speaks to moms who are overwhelmed or paralyzed by perfectionism, who know their lives will never look like their favorite Instagram influencers, and who are tempted to just give up at home.
(Me! Raises hand…)
In case you’re looking for just the perfect system that will help you out of that, or if you’re hoping Mystie has a cleaning checklist you can try – because surely the next one you try will work even though others haven’t – you’ll be sorely disappointed.
Mystie starts somewhere else, and I believe her method is easier and more difficult at the same time.
For a positive conversation and a lot of encouragement for your home, tune in to this week’s episode!!
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The “Unteachable” Life Skills Our Kids Need Most (and How We Can Help)
As a parent, I’m often asked: “How do you teach life skills like cooking, cleaning, or budgeting?” I love answering that question (because that’s literally my jam!). It’s hard enough for parents to get over their psychological roadblocks and slowwwww down enough to teach tangible skills. It’s even harder to figure out how to pass...
Teaching Life Skills: The Best Hack I’ve Used (and What Other Smart Parents Swear By)
When I think about teaching life skills to my kids, I always come back to one core truth: it’s not just about checking a skill off a list. It’s about raising humans who can think, adapt, and stand on their own two feet. That’s why when I find a “hack” that actually works to make...
Episode 66: Why Teaching Your Kids Chores and Life Skills Is NOT Taking Advantage of Them
In today’s Healthy Parenting Handbook episode, I’m going to take 5 different arguments against kids doing chores and learning life skills and counter them with facts, stories, research, and a big ol’ dose of common sense. These are real arguments I hear from both well-meaning parents AND keyboard warriors on social media, plus one from...
Episode 61: How Kids Can Learn to Deal with Big Challenges and Big Emotions with Counselor and Coping Skills Expert Janine Halloran
We will ALL encounter tough situations and hard times in our lives. We will ALL cope with them in some way. But sometimes coping looks like throwing a chair or eat a whole box of cookies. Licensed Mental Health Counselor Janine Halloran joins us today to talk about the kind of coping that is safe...
Episode 57: Higher Level Thinking for Kids and How That Improves Independence and Life Skills with Author Noel Foy
Did you know the pre-frontal cortex where executive functioning lives doesn’t fully develop until our early 30s??? I still struggle with some executive functioning skills like time management and following a plan, but if I learned anything from this interview, it’s that we ALL can continue to grow, change, and improve. You are not married...
Episode 50: What If You Could Actually Tidy Up Your Life? with Tyler Moore
Have you seen the dad who cleans on Instagram? I don’t know if Tyler Moore, aka Tidy Dad, enjoys that people probably know him that way, but I think it’s accurate! I’ve followed Tyler since the summer of 2022 – but who in the world remembers WHEN they started following someone on Instagram? You’ll hear...
Episode 32: Olympic Gold Medalist Shannon Miller on “The Gold Medal Mindset”
Shannon Miller is a 7-time Olympic medalist and has over 100 national competition medals in gymnastics as well, more than half the gold kind. People in our generation certainly remember her name from the “Magnificent Seven” team gold winners in the 1996 Olympic games, where she captured the first balance beam gold an American had...