Extraordinary Parenting Episodes

As a parent, if you knew there was ONE major characteristic which — if developed — would drastically increase your child’s chances of success and happiness , not only now but as an adult… wouldn’t you want to know what it is? And wouldn’t you do everything in your power to help your child develop that characteristic? As parents of seven children, we give a definite ‘ Yes !’ We want to know and we want to help them develop it as fully as possible. Well, researchers have followed a large group of ...

Emotions can be big and scary — for both parents and children. But it is possible to teach — and model — emotional management for your kids. Emotions are EVERYTHING. Our lives our experienced through emotions, so by default, the quality, quantity, and content of our emotions determine the quality and content of our lives. We can and should educate our emotions — and teach our children to do the same. How? That’s what we’ll cover in this episode. Strategies for dealing with a range of feelings (w...

We get a little serious in this episode -- and Greg sheds a few tears -- because in our work with clients, we've seen the trauma caused by yelling parents. We do not use this word lightly. “People are people no matter how small.” Your children are people. And when you yell at them — consistently and in anger — you’re traumatizing them . A child's self-worth comes from the view their parents have of them. How dare you treat a precious being in your care with such contempt. Stop it! You’re the adu...

Have you ever thought of chores as child abuse? I haven’t either. But I shared a post on Instagram about our system for organizing chores and I was shocked at the number of NEGATIVE comments I received from people who believe that giving your children chores is akin to child labor and abuse. One comment said, “Parents who want to do less [sic] things by dumping it on kids should be ashamed of themselves. Kids do not need to have regular chores in order to learn responsibility and you know it VER...

When Greg Denning was out on his own as a teenager it wasn’t difficult for him to realize that his life sucked … but he desperately wanted it to be better and different. Nobody wants to live a sucky life and stay there. But it was so interesting to him to watch people live a sucky life — and stay there. They would keep doing the same things that would produce the same sucky results. As a 16-year-old he was able — miraculously enough — to look around and say, “Dude, stop doing what you’re doing a...

We received some great questions about parenting that we’re addressing today. We love it receiving questions so if you have one please don’t hesitate to ask us. You can leave a voice message for us on our podcast page, or you can email us support@extraordinaryfamilylife.com The first question is about teen device usage and sneaky behavior . We are having an issue with our son's cell phone usage …We limit it and have always made him turn in his cellphone at night to promote good, healthy habits. ...

Welcome to the podcast! We’re discussing something today that is crucially important to raising healthy, well-adjusted kids . We want to teach them to NOT be quitters, to follow through , and to have grit and perseverance . But in this episode, we lay out some arguments which show that the way many parents are trying to accomplish this is actually having the opposite effect . When we make a six-year-old take dance class even though she hates it but we don’t want her to be a ‘quitter’, what we’re...

Welcome to this episode where we will be discussing a sensitive and sometimes frightening topic to many parents — and that’s WHY and HOW to expose your children to the darkness in order to help them be stronger and more prepared to face and fight evil and malice in the world (which does exist, in case you’re like I used to be and naively thought there are no ‘bad people’ in the world or that bad things don’t happen to me or my family. We’ll also touch on the Law of Attraction or Expectation and ...

In this episode, we’re discussing teen mental health and strategies for helping them not only overcome mental health challenges but to learn to thrive despite their difficult circumstances. We’re empathetic to the real struggles and suffering that parents and youth are dealing with and want to provide hope in this episode. Through personal experience, as well as from working with thousands of youth, and doing decades of research, we’ve discovered what actually works to help teens deal with the c...

In this episode, we’re talking about Failure to Launch syndrome — a significant growing phenomenon among young adults who are not successfully making the transition to adulthood . Its symptoms include young adults who continue to live at home or to be supported by their parents, YA who don’t contribute financially to their own living expenses and begin to withdraw from the world and society. Failure to launch — known as Peter Pan syndrome in the U.S. -- can take the form of unrealistic (or NO) g...

"Rebellion of basically any kind stems from needs that are not being met." "Which needs are commonly not met that are likely to lead to rebellion?" Is there a difference between healthy and unhealthy rebellion ? Do you consider some kind of rebellion necessary in a person’s life? In this episode, we discuss these and other parenting topics and how 'restaurant parenting' (as I call it) may contribute to future teen rebellion. We also talk about rule-breaking and why we encourage a healthy version...

With so many misconceptions about what it means to be a man, and so many men living far below the standard, we all need to put forth the greatest effort to help boys and men be real men! "At each moment in man's life, he is either a King or a slave. As he surrenders to a wrong appetite, to any human weakness; as he falls prostrate in hopeless subjection to any condition, to any environment, to any failure, he is a slave. As he day by day crushes out human weakness, masters opposing elements with...

I love giving gifts and doing things for the people I love most of my life! I’m sure you do too.We spend a lot of time and effort thinking about gifts that we can give and about ways we can serve the people we love. But we often miss the very thing that would be the best thing that we could do for the people we cherish and appreciate the most.Hands down, the best thing you can do for those you love... is to make the most of yourself!For all of us, that means really changing, truly improving and ...

We often say that our family is the most important thing in our lives, but we don’t always show it.The reality is that we prove our priorities with our actions.I want to invite and challenge all of us to put our families first with our words, our attitudes, our thoughts, our emotions, our actions, our reactions, and our habits.Are you putting your family first?What will you do this month, this year, and this decade to put your family first? How will they know without a doubt that they are the mo...

Trust is one of the most important things in all of our relationships and therefore in every part of our lives. We work with people and in order to work well with people whether in family or in business we have to trust. We need to be able to trust ourselves, trust others, and have others trust us.Do I trust myself?Do I trust others?Do others trust me?In order to trust yourself you have to make and keep commitments.I’ll trust is built on character, competence, and caring! RESOURCES: Let us help ...

Do you have an insecurity that is holding you back from who you want to be and how you want to live? I used to have loads of them, and they were preventing me from progressing. So I learned how to lean into them and transform them into strengths. YOU CAN TOO! This episode is about how to take an insecurity and respond to differently so that it becomes a source of positive power for you to become your best self! RESOURCES: Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey. How We Raised 7...

This episode, “Watch Your Words,” is a powerful reminder of how deeply our language shapes relationships. Greg Denning exposes the hidden damage caused by sarcasm, teasing, and mockery—habits so normalized in our culture that we barely notice them. He reveals how these words quietly erode trust, safety, and connection within families, marriages, and friendships. By learning to watch your words and eliminate humor at another’s expense, you create an atmosphere where people feel respected, valued, and safe to be authentic. True bonding happens through kindness, not cutting remarks—and when you speak with love and intention, your words can heal instead of hurt.

In this powerful rant-style message, Greg Denning explains why servant leadership is a moral obligation anytime you hold authority—at work, in an organization, in church, or at home as a parent. Using real stories from airports, border crossings, and leadership roles, he shows how uniforms, titles, and power can tempt people to misuse control—yet the highest form of influence is kindness, empathy, and gentle persuasion. He challenges listeners to lead like the “sun” instead of the “north wind,” making people feel seen, valued, and understood—because how you treat people is how you’ll be remembered.