NOT every girl wants to be a princess. Some want to run the castle. Design the moat. Or break the glass slipper and open a company with better footwear.

The Startup Squad inspires young girls to be entrepreneurs so they can realize their potential, whatever their passions.

In this episode, we talk to Brian Weisfeld on how he helps girls learn basic business skills, grit, a growth mindset, how to fail, and start again. And again.

Joy and her husband adopted 10 abandoned and abused kids of various ethnic backgrounds. Through her book, Joy explains that all types of people, no matter their skin color, or where they live, or how they look, can work together for a common cause. In this episode, we talk to Joy about raising 13 children, her experiences bringing people and animals together from different walks of life, to achieve a greater good.

Students may not consider STEM fields due to a lack of confidence in math skills. For Marsha, it was not grades, but all the hobbies and creative projects she dreamed up, that kept her on course. An engineer with 35 years at GE Aviation, Marsha, in this episode tells us how to set kids up for success in Math, build resilience from failure, and empower them to follow their dreams.

After her 6-year-old son died of cancer, her 3-year-old daughter’s heartbreaking statement – “Mommy, half of me is gone,” – defined Michele’s life purpose. In this episode, Michele tells her story, what she needed as a bereaved parent of a young child, and provides some guidance on how to cope, build resilience and live after such a devastating loss. She is now a certified Grief Recovery Specialist and founder of Good Grief Parenting.

When your young child reaches school age, there is anxiety for both parents and children. For parents, doubt of whether their child is ready for school: Are they going to be ok? How will they survive without us? For kids, they might even be a little scared: new teachers and a new environment, without mom and dad. In this episode, Dr. Brown provides insight into how to support your child’s learning & address issues that arise during early school years. A must-listen for any parents needing help with kindergarten prep.

Parents & educators have a responsibility to raise children who are productive citizens. Nate Turner created a backward design life process to help his unborn child become a great global citizen without wealth, privilege, legacy status, or wrong-doing. In this episode, Nate, author & TED Speaker, shares his blueprint to raise a successful Gen Zer, as he wrote about in his book “Raising Supaman.”

Student debt has just reached an all-time high amounting to $1.4 trillion dollars!   Kids are getting out of college with tens of thousands of dollars in debt and sometimes having to move back in with their parents.   In this Episode, Shellee outlines top things that colleges look for in you, how to avoid student loans, what are the ingredients for a successful college application.

Linsey Knerl is a mother of six, an author, and a freelance journalist whose own children learn at home. In her book, Homeschool Hacks, Linsey shares stories of homeschooling families and dispels the myth that it’s only for religious or stay-at-home parents. In this episode, we talk to Linsey about her experiences teaching 6 kids at home, how you can create your own schedule & curriculum, and what tools you can access to navigate the world of homeschooling.

STEM-based education teaches children more than science and math. It focuses on hands-on learning and real-world applications to help develop broader skill sets like creativity, problem-solving, acceptance of failure, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

Stephanie Ryan, author of Let’s Learn about Chemistry, wrote a creative fun book for young kids to learn science, using everyday objects. Today, she talks to us about how this can help your kids.

Couples experience added challenges to their relationships once they become parents. Between unwanted parenting advice from outsiders and no time for self-care, communication with your partner can halt to a standstill. Catherine O’Brien is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the author of her book Happy With Baby. In this episode, we talk to Catherine about the advice she wishes she could have had when managing expectations of parenthood and relationships, and her guidance on how to build a happier and passionate relationship with your partner.

Maria and Zelmira, authors of the book Happy Mom, Happy Kid, say “Motherhood is a gift of unimaginable love and happiness.” Motherhood’s nurturing responsibilities and emotions of anxiety and guilt can provide ample room and reason to occupy all your time, focus, and energy. Today, we talk to Maria and Zelmira about what they learned from studying over 600 women who were struggling to achieve a balanced life. And we discuss why guilt, shame, and unrealistic expectations are robbing you.

In this episode, we talk to Holly about her journey of ditching debt, creating wealth, and how she is helping other parents do the same. Holly Reid believes that, as parents, you can break the chain of poor money habits. That way, your child will never face mounds of consumer debt or the dreaded paycheck-to-paycheck living. Holly is the creator of The Master Playbook and the author of the book “Teach Your Child to Fish”.

Kids might be gay, lesbian, bi, trans or queer – but how do kids figure out what these feelings are? Mercedes Killeen, an award-winning author and social media marketer, talks to us about her struggles with coming out as queer and mental illness, with a view to informing parents on how they can support their children to a healthier and happier LGBTQ life.

Coding is no longer something that we opted in to learn in computer class.   Instead, today coding is the basic literacy skill of the 21^st century – it is the language that makes everything around us actually work.  The issue, however, is where and how do we start?   In this episode, we talk to David Dodge, CEO of CodaKid, and veteran game designer about the importance and the approaches we can take to help our kids learn coding.

Kids like to spend money! But are they thinking it through?  As a parent, we all want our kids to do well in life; however, without a working knowledge of money, this can be hard. Pam Liyanage created MoneyPrep because as a mother of 4 she knew it mattered and wanted kids to benefit from learning about the universal language of money! In this episode, we talk to Pam about how we can prepare our kids to have a constructive relationship with money.

When people make you question your beliefs, decisions, or preferences in a way that causes shame, it is demoralizing. In this episode, we talk to Janette about her feelings on being judged, dealing with rejection, and how she channelled those negative experiences to make her a stronger person and a better mother.

If you have teens, you’ve probably seen anger, sadness, happiness, and other emotions. Getting to know our emotions better allows us to identify what we feel. Emotional awareness helps us create better relationships and recover faster. In this episode, we talk to Megan Saxelby. She discusses how teens can become more emotionally intelligent and aware. Megan is a career educator specializing in emotional intelligence, prosocial critical thinking, and dignity. 

Parents choose to homeschool their children for various reasons.  Usually, because they can give their child a better education than the local school can, integrate teachings on religion or there is some other reason that their child may not be able to attend school.

In this episode, we talk to Krystin Godfrey about the benefits and challenges of homeschooling.   Krystin is the owner and creator of Growing Up Godfrey — a family lifestyle blog.  She is also the mom and homeschool teacher of 4 children.

Over the past 20 years since the massacre at Columbine High School, there are more than 248,000 children at 258 schools that have experienced these unspeakable acts of violence, according to a Washington Post database.  Back in the 1950s, students did “duck and cover” drills in anticipation of a nuclear bomb. Today, students in K-12 classrooms do regular school lockdown drills.  Tizzie Nuss, of The Spark Project, talks about what schools can do to protect children and her unique bullet-proof shield that is a school folder.

As a parent, you want your kids to be confident and resilient with high self-esteem and ambition to achieve great things in life. People with Growth Mindsets understand the importance of persistence and realize that changing the way you think can help change the way you learn. This is not an easy task, and in this episode we talk to Alexandra Eidens about what it takes to create this growth mindset.

In this episode, Allison discusses the importance of developing a love for reading early and provides us with easy-to-implement tips to create a literate environment and build your child’s early reading and writing skills.  Allison McDonald is a teacher, founder of No Time for Flash Cards, and the co-author of the book Raising a Rock-Star Reader for parents and a subsequent book as a resource for teachers to help develop young readers.

In 2012, Sara Olsher, left her marriage with an 18-month old and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017.   Life is not always happy times.   Every family has their challenges and struggles.

When we’re facing the worst times in our lives, it’s hard to know what and how to tell our kids.   In this episode, Sara provides us with strategies on how to talk to your kids about difficult situations like death, divorce, cancer.    Sara is the founder of Might & Bright, and author of six children’s books and a speaker.

Every parent has been there before – you need to find a babysitter for date night, or you wake up one morning to discover your child is too sick for school or daycare.   You call around to find someone to watch the kids but strikeout.  Many parents find themselves unable to secure their regular sitters, due to short notice and other commitments. Liz Oertle is the CEO and Founder of Nanno, an app that provides parents with an easier way to find safe childcare with short notice, so parents can get comfortable and confident in who they leave their children with.

Children can face significant childhood adversity: the loss of a parent through death or divorce, domestic violence, an alcoholic parent, sexual abuse, and bullying.  Meg Jay, in her book Supernormal, points out that these people are not abnormal, but beyond normal and extraordinary.  In this episode, we talk about the resourcefulness kids develop when they’re surrounded by chaos and trauma.  Meg Jay, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist, an Associate Professor of Human Development and the author of the books “Supernormal” and “The Defining Decade”.

Any current education system must continually adapt and change to keep pace with the needs of the future. For large schools with a “one-size-fits-all” curriculum, this change can be a struggle.  Micro Schools provide flexibility in terms of learning environments, schedules and curriculum and might do a better job teaching your children 21st century skills. In this episode we talk to Chris Bennett about the benefits and challenges of micro schools for your children.  Chris Bennett is a co-founder and the CEO of Wonderschool, a network of early childhood programs or micro schools.

In this episode, we talk about the positive and negative impacts of COVID on your children’s mental health.  Dr. Ashley Miller talks about practical tips for you to nurture positive growth and learning in your children during this time.   She provides ways for you to understand your kids’ behaviour and feelings, validate them, and support your children, so everyone feels better.

Dr. Ashley Miller is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the BC Children’s Hospital, speaker, award-winning educator and co-author of the book “What to Say to Kids When Nothing Seems to Work”