The Family Lab

This month at the Family Lab, we're teaching kids how to manage money. This week, we talked to Lauren Santagate of The Anti-Chore Moms about her family's financial system: how her kids earn, spend, save, and invest using the Greenlight card. Lauren explains her system of paying her kids when they add value to their family, their community, or to their own brains!  You can find more information about The Anti-Chore Moms Family Exchange System at womenswealthsociety.com and follow them on Instagram @the_anti_chore_moms

It's Money Management month at the Family Lab, and we're kicking it off with author Richard Eyre to talk about the family economy he and his wife Linda set up decades ago.  In this episode, we talk about how to avoid raising entitled children and about why teaching kids to manage money is such a great way to teach them self reliance and responsibility. He'll share how their kids earned money, how they learned to manage it, and how the system evolved as they grew up. And Richard even helps me figure out how to handle the next stage of financial education for my own kids—as they start going to college! You can learn more details about the Eyre's family economy in their book, The Entitlement Trap. And listeners can get 40% off Richard Eyre's new book, The Grandparenting Blueprint. Just use the code EYREFRIEND at checkout. https://familius.com/book/the-grandparenting-blueprint/  

Potty training sounds scary, but it can actually be a great time to connect with your kid and build their confidence and self reliance. Today's guest is a firecracker of a human--Jamie Glowacki. She's a potty training expert who wrote the book I wish I had when I was potty training, called Oh Crap: Potty Training. She also hosts a fabulous podcast called Oh Crap! With Jamie.   Jamie is the first to acknowledge that there isn't one right way to potty train, since every kid is so different. But she has helped potty train a lot of kids and she has drilled it down to such a great method, divided into 5 stepping stones. But before we get into that method, we talk about the when and why of potty training and her overall potty training philosophy. Talking to Jamie almost makes me want to go back and do it again. Almost. You can find all of her resources at Jamieglowacki.com 

We're talking oral hygiene! My friend and our family dental hygienist, Megan Robbins, teaches us how to help our kids keep their teeth sparkly clean, including a demo with some giant choppers—so you might want to watch this one on YouTube rather than just listening. She'll answer some of your burning questions, like whether you should you floss first or brush first? Which would win in a fight--regular floss, flossers, toothpicks, or waterpicks? How bad are energy drinks and soda for your teeth? What about vaping? And what's the deal with fluoride? We also talk about strategies for kids who don't want to brush, and things may get a little out of hand when I decide to prove just how large my big, podcasting mouth really is.  

Kids can be gross. And as parents, we're their first line of defense to teach them how to wash those hands, scrub those stinky feet, wipe those bums, control their body odor, trim those toenails–all the things. To help us out, I invited my good friends Megan Robbins (a dental hygienist and one of the cleanest people I know) and Laura Nielson (a pediatric nurse) to help us lead our kids from helpers to workers to managers in this critical aspect of becoming a responsible human. I think you'll enjoy these lovely ladies as much as I do!

It's that time again, for an update of the experiments we've been trying in the Archibald home. In this edition, I talk about our latest new kitchen-cleaning system, our weekly family cleaning projects, our dinner menu system, monthly check-ins with the kids, family meetings, a college tour, fall sports, my son's hat business, a home organization project, water aerobics and more!    You can find my son's hat business on Instagram @skadi-apparel  

Welcome to Season 8! This whole season we'll be talking about how to teach our kids to eventually take care of themselves on their way to becoming self-reliant, responsible adults. This episode will help you take the first step: evaluating what your kids are already taking charge of and where they have room to grow.    I introduce you to the system I've been using with my own kids for years, and show you how you can use it to help your kids progress from helpers to workers to managers. Then I talk to my son and some of my nephews about what they learned from their own self-evaluations.    You can download the Self Reliance Checklist here and follow along with your own kids! And join me any Tuesday at 1:00-2:00 PM mountain time for my weekly open lab hour, where we can brainstorm and problem-solve any of your parenting and home management experiments. Sign up at this link: https://calendly.com/whitneyarchibald/open-lab-the-family-lab   Here's a tentative schedule of the skills we'll cover each month of 2026:   January: Self-Reliance Overview February: Hygiene March: Sleep April: Food May: Fitness June: Talents July: Finance August: Education September: Social Skills October: Cleaning November: Possessions December: Spirituality  

Ever wonder which of your holiday traditions are actually the most meaningful to your kids? For this episode, I went straight to the source and I asked five (incredible) teenagers what traditions they love the best: from that pesky elf to the jolly old elf himself, family bonding and family fights, re-enacting the nativity, and sibling sleepovers. It's an episode filled with music and merriment.  Here are more Christmas episodes you'll enjoy! How Beth Millward Does Christmas  How She Celebrates Christmas How She Serves Her Community and Beyond  How She Serves Family and Friends 

A conversation with organization genius Jen Martin, founder of Reset Your Nest, about how to align our home organization with our goals, values, and routines; how to set up different organizational zones in our kitchens; and how to create systems for our comings and goings, among other organizing tips. You can find Jen Martin at resetyournest.com and on Instagram @reset_your_nest And for another great conversation with Jen, check out: How Jen Martin Organizes https://youtu.be/RncC3Q-JNjs  

Stuck in the never-ending logistics of running a home? It's time to shift to a strategy-first perspective so you can build systems that work.    This episode talks about how to shift your thinking. Hence, you start with a strategy, then consider all the different tactics that could accomplish your strategy, and finally think about the logistics of getting it done.    For episodes with lots of great ideas about different strategies and tactics, check out:  How She Plans Meals: https://youtu.be/MZqkD_10IVQ?si=3vUTUtrWxvFn9oQZ Workshop: How You Do Laundry https://youtu.be/b98f6kT3sKk?si=iAF9Ra-rKTi3uKcc

Tired of meltdowns? And I'm not just talking about your kids! Emily Hamblin is here to help us deal with our big emotions and teach our kids to deal with theirs. She gives practical tips about how to talk to our kids about their emotions, how to identify the skills they're lacking, and how to teach emotional regulation and empathy. Then we both share experiments you can try at home. For more resources from Emily, check out enlighteningmotherhood.com.

Join a coven of Halloween experts--my mother and her three sisters--for a costume parade through history as they reminisce and share photos about Halloweens past. We talk about the antics of my Grandpa, the Halloween king, and his legacy of papier mache and discuss useful skills like how to black out your teeth and create a lifelike beard with nothing but vaseline and coffee grinds. 😂

My friend Ashley McGavin and I share all the experiments we tried this summer–in Ashley's case with a brand new baby! We talk about feeding kids in the summer, keeping them entertained, summer jobs, chores, personal development, a senior trip, and how to achieve a throwback 80s and 90s summer.    We both have 5 kids, but our families are in very different stages. My kids now range from 10 to 19, and her kids now range from four months to 14 years old.   Join us at our weekly Open Labs! Tuesdays at 10:00 MT www.familylab.com/events    

What's for dinner tonight? How about tomorrow? This episode helps you answer both questions--with favorite rollover meals from me and my guests Andrea Clark and Hillary Hess. Rollover meals allow you to take parts of one meal and roll it into another meal, to save time, money, and the tedium of leftovers. Hillary Hess shares great recipes and resources at helpingofhappiness.com Andrea Clark offers courses and printables at apurposefulhome.com Andrea 1. Chicken and Rice/ Hawaiian Haystacks/Fried Rice 2. Tacos (Pork or chicken) to Nachos 3. Scrambled Egg and Sausage/Breakfast Burritos 4. Rotisserie chicken with veggie, sourdough bread, or in a tortilla/leftover chicken to Thai Coconut Curry: https://everyday-reading.com/simple-thai-chicken-curry/ 5. Navajo tacos- use the chili leftover for baked potatoes, cornbread Bonus: Meatballs: spaghetti/meatball subs Pot Roast/sandwiches on french bread with meat and peppers Hillary  1. Chicken with salsa/taquitos or enchiladas 2. Tri-Tip-leftovers into stir-fry or fajitas 3. Hawaiian Haystacks/chicken pot pie 4. Leftover rice/rice cereal, pudding 5. Mashed potatoes/potato cheese soup Bonus: Watermelon/Watermelon feta salad/watermelon juice/watermelon popsicles  Whitney 1. Mashed Potatoes/Ajiaco (Columbian Chicken and Potato soup) (Link: https://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/ajiaco-bogotano-colombian-chicken-and/  2. Mashed potatoes/shepherd's pie 3. Chicken or pork/ lettuce wraps 4. Roast Beef and veggies/Ropa Vieja 5. Salmon/salmon patties with avocado

Archibald Experiments: Back to School Routine Roundup   https://youtu.be/vRngguIVeas   Transitioning from a lazy summer schedule to a back to school routine is no joke. So I went through past podcast episodes looking for experiments we've tried here in the Archibald home to make our morning, afternoon and bedtime routines run more smoothly during the school year, from waking kids up to getting them into the car, to cleaning up that car, to connecting with them during the after-school runaround.  Here are links to listen to the full episodes about our past fall experiments:    How Whitney Experiments: Fall 2022 https://youtu.be/PUdQI9vod40?si=OGwcf47XprCYXMRw    How Whitney Experiments: Fall 2020 https://youtu.be/4Af4Ae9DkAw?si=607HOeh1ozfcQ5nP   Routine Experimentation (Fall 2019) https://youtu.be/8Zbu456GGEk?si=Xm7jKoqmMRsEfakA   

Nothing like curling up under a tree with a good book! This episode is full of summer reading recommendations from kids for kids--with a good mix of avid and reluctant readers ages 8-16 with interests spanning all the genres. Here's a list of all the recommendations: (I'm an Amazon affiliate, so buying from these links helps support my podcast!) Hudson (14): Refugee  by Alan Gratz Ground Zero, by Alan Gratz Jacob (15): Magic Treehouse Series, by Mary Pope Osborne Halloween Party by Agatha Christie Slacker series by Gordon Korman Katie (13): Resistance by Jennifer A Nielson A Night Divided by Jennifer A Nielson The False Prince and the rest of the Ascendant series by Jennifer A Nielson Abel (15): Michael Vey series by Richard Paul Evans Aiden (16): Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls Percy Jackson Series, by Rick Riordan My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George Four Years Trapped in My Mind Palace by Johan Twiss The House of Months and Years Fablehaven by Brandon Mull Claire (12): Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George Anything by Gordon Korman Lydia (8): Charlotte's Web by E. B. White Stuart Little by E.B. White Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling Matilda by Roald Dahl Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner Heidi (10): The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate Wayside School Series by Louis Sachar Catwad by Jim Benton The Odd 1s Out by James Rallison The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak Ezra (9): James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl Holes, by Louis Sachar My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis Whitney: The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo Because of Winn Dixie  by Kate DiCamillo Masterminds, by Gordon Korman From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder Anne of Green Gables Series by Lucy Maud Montgomery Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene  

Ready for a career change? Wondering what to do in the next stage of your life? Heather Nemelka to the rescue! In this episode we talk about how to transition back to a traditional job after focusing on caregiving and home management, how to figure out what you want to be when you grow up, and how to gain the confidence to make big changes.  For more from Heather, check out elavare.com or watch her podcast on YouTube  Past episodes about motherhood and work: How She Dismantles the Mommy Wars What She Calls Herself How She Transitions To Motherhood: Work How Ashley Freehan Works from Home How She Outsources How She Identifies Her Passions How Wendy and Alex Pursue Their Passions (Flamenco and Podcasting) How Leslie Graff Pursues Her Passions (Artist, Child Life Specialist, Mother) How Nancy Maldonado Pursues Her Passions (helping underserved communities)   Listener Survey Listener survey HERE! I'd love your input for next season. Plus, I'll send you a free Independent Kids Self-Evaluation. Weekly Open Lab: Wednesdays at 10 am MT (through April 30 2025, then resuming in September)  Join Whitney in her virtual studio to share ideas, solve problems, craft experiments, chat about past and future episodes, or just drop in to say hi!  https://riverside.fm/studio/listener-ideas?t=880793c622433a15fcce  

Latest update on the experiments in the Archibald home--from new milestones to sleep habits to meal planning to morning routines.  Listener survey HERE! I'd love your input for next season. Plus, I'll send you a free Independent Kids Self-Evaluation. Weekly Open Lab: Wednesdays at 10 am MT (through April 30 2025, then resuming in September)  Join Whitney in her virtual studio to share ideas, solve problems, craft experiments, chat about past and future episodes, or just drop in to say hi!  https://riverside.fm/studio/listener-ideas?t=880793c622433a15fcce

We're bringing the band back together! The podcasters formerly known as Family Looking Up--Andrea Nielson, Beth Millward, and Camille Ward--reunite to talk about their unique family cultures and how to be deliberate as you design your own.  Weekly Open Lab: Wednesdays at 10 am MT (through April 30 2025, then resuming in September)  Join Whitney in her virtual studio to share ideas, solve problems, craft experiments, chat about past and future episodes, or just drop in to say hi!  https://riverside.fm/studio/listener-ideas?t=880793c622433a15fcce

Spring is in the air, and it's time to open the windows, grab the cleaning supplies and get 'er done--with the help of our guest Joy Williams. Joy has developed a whole series of step-by-step guides to help kids (and adults) learn how to clean every room in the house. I've been meaning to try them for years, and this is finally our year. This will be our main family experiment for April and I'm excited to kick it off with this episode. We'll talk about why it's important for kids to help around the house, how to teach them to do so, and of course we'll have some experiments for you to try.   Other episodes about teaching kids to clean:  Lab: Teaching Kids to "Notice and Do" with Sam Kelly How Maria Kemp Teaches Her Kids to Work--On a Ranch How Emily Teaches Kids to Work How She Motivates Kids to Work How To Teach Kids to Be Tidy How To Teach Kids to Clean Workshop: How She Shares Family Work: Part 1 Workshop: How She Shares Family Work: Part 2   Weekly Open Lab: Wednesdays at 10 am MT (through April 30 2025, then resuming in September)  Join Whitney in her virtual studio to share ideas, solve problems, craft experiments, chat about past and future episodes, discuss this quarter's book, or just drop in to say hi!  https://riverside.fm/studio/listener-ideas?t=880793c622433a15fcce