Parenting for Well-Being: Navigating Uncertainty with Dr. Denise Pope

Feeling the weight of an uncertain world? It’s common for parents to grapple with anxiety about the future, and this can unintentionally affect their children.
Join us as we delve into this topic with Dr. Denise Pope, the visionary behind Stanford University’s groundbreaking research-based initiative, ⁠Challenge Success⁠. Discover how redefining “success” can lead to well-being, a sense of belonging, and greater engagement for families.

We’d love to hear what you think of this and any of our episodes. Rate us wherever you get your podcasts!

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Limits Are Love: Why Boundaries Help Kids Thrive

The Grounded and Soaring podcast is back for season two — and just in time for parents prepping for the new school year.
In this episode, authors and experts Sheri Glucoft Wong and Olaf Jorgenson join Sam Shapiro, Head of Marin Montessori School, to share parenting tips based on their book Raising Kids. Their guidance is compassionate, profound, and actionable.

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How to Raise Thrivers: Author Interview

As parents, we know our kids will face challenges and disappointments, but we don’t always know how to prepare them to bounce back. In this episode, Michelle Borba, author of Thrivers, joins Sam Shapiro, Head of Marin Montessori School, to discuss a handful of practical tools parents can use to increase their children’s resilience and confidence.

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Real Fear. Real Hope: A Conversation about Social Media

We all know it: something is not working for the youth in our society right now. Data, scholarship, and lived experience all tell us that social media and unimpeded technology have disrupted childhood profoundly and, often, destructively. In this episode, Sam Shapiro, head of Marin Montessori School, joins to reflect a bit on the series of blog posts he penned over spring break called Real Fear, Real Hope: Social Media, Mental Health, and Our Children.

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Tips for Healthy and Fun Family Food

What could be more essential — and challenging — than feeding your child food they love and that they need? It can be a struggle, but there’s hope! In this episode, Sam Shapiro, Head of Marin Montessori School, speaks with Nimisha Gandhi, who runs Moon Cycle Nutrition, about her approach to inspiring a love of healthy eating in children.

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Want a Healthy College Kid? Start Now.

In this episode, Sam Shapiro, Marin Montessori’s Head of School, speaks to ⁠Varun Soni⁠, Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California, about the mental health crisis on college campuses and what we might do about it.

Throughout their deeply felt conversation, they try to work backward to identify the strategies parents of young children can use to increase the likelihood that their kids will enter college healthy, confident, and whole.

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Why Creativity Matters: A Lesson from DrawBridge

Children are creative creatures — and not just with paints and clay but also with how they approach challenges. We know it’s crucial to nurture their creative spirits, but sometimes that’s easier said than done.

Enter DrawBridge, a nonprofit organization that provides free expressive arts programs to children in domestic violence and homeless shelters, affordable housing facilities, and in communities across seven San Francisco Bay Area counties. In this episode, Tracy Bays-Boothe, Executive Director of DrawBridge, shares about her organization, the power of nurturing the creative spirit, and why she’s so excited that DrawBridge is this year’s Community Partner for The Gather for Good, which takes place on April 15 this year.

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