How We Can Create a Healthy Home for Our Kids
By Movieguide® Contributor
On a recent episode of the Candace Cameron Bure podcast, Dr. Josh and Christi Straub spoke about how to create an “emotionally healthy home environment” as parents.
Josh began by sharing about a very challenging time he faced as a child. When he was 10 years old, his mom left his dad and gave him the option to come with her or stay with his father.
“She said, ‘Hey, Josh,’ she said, ‘I’m moving out today. Do you want to stay here with your dad, or do you want to go with me?’ And up to that point, as a 10-year-old boy, I’d never seen my parents argue. At least if I did, I didn’t really remember,” Straub explained. “And so, my mom leaving my dad was a…it was a shock to the system for me.”
Despite having to navigate such major changes as a child, Josh says that both of his parents are amazing. He also takes the positive things that he learned from them and applies them to his own life.
“So, for me, I look at the moments of our lives, I look at the moments with my children, and I just kind of see through that lens of ‘how can I take the good into my relationship with my kids?’’ he explained.
He said how, as parents, we so often are hard on ourselves, fearing what kind of memories we are creating for our kids, but even he remembers the good from his childhood more often than the bad. “What our kids are truly experiencing, I think, is a real important question to ask, even them to check in with them from time to time to go, ‘What feels peaceful right now in our home to you?’”
Josh believes it’s important to be mindful of the environment in your household.
“If we don’t pay attention to the environment of the home, the world will define that environment for us,” he emphasized.
To do this better, the couple implemented weekly Sunday meetings for their family.
“It felt like as we’ve gotten older and like the pace of life has picked up and people are going different directions, and it was this like weekly check-in, and the question we just ask [our kids] is, ‘What do you need from us this week?’ And that seems really simple, but I think it’s often — that’s the thing that we all need, like what do you need? And I think, for one, it taught our kids that it’s okay to have needs,” Christi said.
In light of the Straubs’ presence on the podcast, Bure took to Instagram to share a little more about them with her followers.
“Meet your Season 7 Co-Hosts, Dr. Josh + Christi Straub 🎉 They are marriage and leadership coaches and pastors of households,” she said. “They lead a coaching organization called Famous at Home where they help leaders and families cultivate emotional connection and spiritual growth. Together, they host the weekly Famous at Home podcast, have published five children’s books including What Am I Feeling? and their latest book for families called ‘Famous at Home.’”
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9TMagPSp1s/
Famous at Home is “a company equipping leaders, organizations, military families, and churches in emotional intelligence and family wellness.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Bure’s first conversation with the Straubs:
Candace Cameron Bure is helping moms confidently step into motherhood with God’s help.
Bure told Dr. Josh and Christi Straub about how, as a young mom, she struggled with balancing motherhood with other aspects of her life.
“I had been selfish my whole life. I’d only thought about myself. My career, my marriage, my, my everything. And now I’m like, I have a child and now my child comes first,” she explained.
Josh chimed in, saying, “As our kids get older, we want to help them find who they are, What’s God created them to be, who’s he created, what’s their gifts? What’s their strengths, what’s their talents? And then yet here we are, and I’m hearing you two as moms wrestling, and I see this all the time, wrestling with your own identity.”
Straub explained how even when we are doing what God has asked us to do, it can still feel new and uncomfortable.
