In the Arena with the Eyre Sisters

In this week's episode, we discuss the basic human need to be seen. We share ways we have felt seen or not seen. Saydi brings in her therapist wisdom to help us understand why being seen matters so much, and what some signs are that maybe our children aren't feeling seen by us. We brainstorm ways to help our kids and others around us feel seen.

We would love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this very important topic! Please join us on Instagram @eyresisters. 

Show Notes:

• Glennon Doyle quote from the book Love Warrior
• Dan Seigel's quote from the book The Power of Showing Up
• Tamara W. Runia's quote from her talk Seeing God's Family through the Overview Lens
• Steve Young's quote from the book The Law of Love

This week we come together to discuss the wildernesses that we go through in life. We all face them! We talk about ways we can acknowledge the difficulties, feel all the feelings, and also find support and move through them. We would be so grateful to hear from any of you on Instagram @eyresisters. We'd be honored to hear how you manage your own personal wildernesses. We're grateful to have you as a part of our community! 

Show Notes:

Bittersweet (book)

Brene Brown cartoon  on empathy

Everything Sad is Untrue (book)

We are so excited to be back for Season 4 of In the Arena! Thanks for joining us. This week's episode focuses on self-care. We talk about how we define self-care, and how to care for ourselves physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. We would love to hear your thoughts! Come share with us on Instagram @eyresisters. 

Show Notes:

- Podcast mentioned by Saydi

Merry Christmas everyone! This is our final episode in season 3, and we wanted to end by sharing how we find meaning during the busy, hectic Christmas season. We bring our parents on to discuss ways to slow down and find Jesus. We would love to hear how you do this in your home! Join us on Instagram @eyresisters. 

Notes: 

• Times Square Light the World
• Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck
• Other Christmas Book Ideas
• Image of Jesus holding a child's face
• Advent podcast
• A Boring Evening at Home by Gerda Klein
• Saydi's Christmas Mantra

This week, we dive into a discussion about family intimacy. By family intimacy, we don't mean the physical intimacy you share with your partner. Instead, we mean intimacy in the sense of closeness, connections, and a sense of being seen. We discuss things that get in the way of intimate relationships, and we also give some ideas for building intimacy. We would love to hear from you! What's worked well in your family? Come share with us on Instagram @eyresisters. 

Notes:

- How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber

We're getting so close to Christmas time! It can be a crazy time of year - hectic and stressful. In today's episode, we talk about how to get our kids (and ourselves!) excited about giving. We share our ideas, but we'd love to hear yours! Come share what you've done in your family with us on Instagram @eyresisters.   

Notes:

• Christmas ad

• The Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt

• Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck

• I Got a Robe SNL skit

Join us this week as we discuss using a village to help raise our kids in our modern age. We discuss how much of the parenting in our modern society falls to the mom and dad (and mostly the mom!), and how sad this is! There are so many great people who can contribute to our kids' lives, let's use them! We'd love to hear your thoughts about this on  Instagram @eyresisters. 

Notes:

Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans by Michaeleen Doucleff

We know it's Halloween today, but we wanted to kick off November a day early with a short and sweet episode focusing on the power and importance of gratitude. We're grateful for you! 

Notes:

Gratitude Meditation

We love reading! But not all of us have always loved reading, and not all of our kids love reading. Join us this week as we discuss ways to help our children discover the magic of reading. We talk about connecting with our kids through books, modeling a love of reading, and being patient with kids who are slower to find that love. What are some ways you help instill a love for reading in your home? We'd love to hear on Instagram, @eyresisters! 

Notes:

Books Lists - 

Come listen in this week as we talk with our brother, Eli, about the difficulty of parenting not-so-easy kids. We all have a kid who is trickier to parent - or a kid who's in a tricky stage, and it can be draining and frustrating! We talk with Eli about how we keep our cool, how we remember the kind of parent we want to be, and how we keep on loving them. What do you do when parenting gets tricky? Let us know on Instagram @eyresisters! 

Notes:

• Good Inside by Dr. Becky

• Seeing God's Family Through the Overview Lens by Sister Tamara W. Runia

We could talk about how much we love nature for hours! Growing up, our parents were very intentional about pointing out the beauties in the world. All of us have taken that appreciation for nature and woven it into the fabric of our own families. Join us as we discuss why nature is so important and share some ideas for getting your kids outside. How do you bring the benefits of nature into your family? Come share with us on Instagram! @eyresisters

Notes:

• Oregon episode

• Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

• How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art & Science of Falling in Love with Nature by Scott D. Sampson

• The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams

• National Wildlife Federation - Health Benefits & Tips

• Lost Connections: Why You're Really Depressed and How to Find Hope by Johann Hari

• Huberman Lab - Light, sleep, and circadian rhythm

• Stephen Moss quote 

• Amanda Morgan quote

• David Sobel quote

• Penny Whitehouse quote

• Forcing a Good Memory blog post

• Alfred Wainwright quote

Join us this week as we talk about the difference between seeing our children as growing seeds with inherent complex, internal personalities and traits, or as lumps of clay that we can mold into what we want. We discuss how hard it is to relenquish our desire to push our kids towards what we think would be great for them and share times when we've failed as well as times when we have done a pretty good job. We'd love to hear your thoughts about this - we'd love to know how you nurture your little seedlings. Come join the conversation @eyresisters on Instagram.

Show Notes:

• Dr. Russell Barkley on Parent as Shepherds 

• Ross Green, The Explosive Child

• "We don't see things as they are" Quote

• Episode 25 where we talk about control with Tal

This week's episode features our amazing sister-in-law, Anita. Anita is a life coach and she offered us some simple but powerful principles that can help transform our parenting thoughts and actions. We learned about managing our expectations, being our word, paying attention to our train of thought, and more. Anita generously offered a free hour of coaching to all our listeners so head to her website to schedule your free session right away!

Show Notes:

• Byron Katie, 4 Liberating Questions

• The Power of Words (Maya Angelou Quote)

• Share Your Story (Brene Brown Quote #1)

• Stand Your Sacred Ground (Brown Brown Quote #2)

• Anita's Instagram Feed

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  • Anita's Life Coaching Website

     

     

     

Welcome back for Season 3! We are so excited to be starting off another season with you. In this episode, recorded at the tail end of our annual Bear Lake reunion, we share how we do reunions and talk about the things we love and the challenges we face.

How do you handle reunions in your family? What suggestions do you have for balancing scheduled time vs. free time? We'd love to hear your experiences! Come share with us on Instagram @eyresisters. 

Show Notes:

Shawni's blog post about Grandfather's Secrets and Grammie Camp

Shawni's blog post about Eyrealm Reunion 2023 (this episode of our podcast was recorded at the close of this reunion)

Saren's post: 3 Keys to a Great Family Reunion (from 2018)

Summer is just around the corner! Join us for our last episode of season 2 as we discuss ideas for meaningful and do-able summer activities. We dive into ideas for little kids, elementary-aged kids, high school kids, and even your adult kids. What do you do to make summer awesome in your family? This week's challenge is to come up with the summer plan that best fits YOUR familiy. We'd love to have you share your ideas and plans with us on Instagram! @eyresisters

Have a great summer, and we'll see you next season! 

Show Notes: 

Listen in today as we discuss technology! It's a hot topic, for good reason. We discuss the good that technology brings, and we also discuss the difficulties - setting limits, keeping our kids engaged with the world, the problems with comparison & the effects on self-esteem, how technology affects our ability to focus, the waste of time... there is so much to think about. Come join us for this discussion! We also challenge you to go have a screen competition with someone to see how little you can use your phone this week! And don't forget to check in on Instagram @eyresisters and let us know how it goes. 

Show Notes: 

Book Saydi talked about - Stolen Focus

Technology contract from Shawni - 

Book Shawni quoted from - The Tech-Wise Family

15-minute book summaries app - Blinkist or Headway

Here's another episode of us answering questions submitted by you! We had a lot of fun talking about what we do for fun, how invovled we are in our kids' relationships, homeschooling, meal planning, and more. We love your questions! Thanks for asking. Don't forget to visit us on Instagram and add your thoughts - @eyresisters. 

Show Notes:

Shawni's blog post on Family Mottos

Saydi's list of red flags for emotional immaturity

podcast episode where Saren offers ideas about choosing schooling for your kids

podcast episode where Saren interviews her twins about their homeschooling experience

Join us this week as we talk with our brother, Talmadge (Tal). He lives in Switzerland with his wife and daughter. He's a poetry-reading, basketball-playing, book-writing, deep-thinking guy, and he has a lot to share!  Tal talks with us about his experience as a kid who really struggled wtih reading, the challenges that he and his wife had with infertility, and the intentional practices he's taken from his education in positive psychology, including locus of control, explanatory style, and blind spots. We're sure you will love learning from the awesome little brother we used to call "Tam the Lamb." Share what you learned with us on Instagram @eyresisters. 

We get asked all the time how we are so close as siblings. In this week's episode, we discuss ways we've built and maintained relationships with each as we've grown up and have our own families. We talk about how we work through differences, issues we've had with hurt feelings and tensions, the bond we have through our religion, and how we try to connect individually with each other. What do you do to build your relationship with your siblings? Come share with us on Instagram @eyresisters. 

This week we answer a listener's question about what our parents did to help us deal with negativity, and how we're working to build resilience in ourselves and our kids. We loved this discussion!  We share experiences that have helped us develop thick skin - from the time a guy proudly announced that he'd burned the book our dad gave him to dealing with negative blog comments. We share ideas about how our parents taught us resilience and ways we can help cultivate resilience in our kids. What do you do in your home to teach resilience? Come share with us on Instagram @eyresisters. 

Show Notes:

Brene Brown quote