Podcast: Chicago Style Parenting

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Welcome to NPN's podcast, Chicago Style Parenting, where we delve into parenting life in Chicago and uncover the resources, information, and support that Chicago families need.

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SEASON 1

Season 1, Episode 7: Creating Family Travel Experiences in Chicago and Beyond

Listen here: Spotify

Published: 12/17/24

Description: Shambrekia Wise, author, entrepreneur, co-creator, mama, and explorer with a Masters Degree in Public Health, talks with Amy and Sitaara about traveling with Multiple Sclerosis, children, and within an environment where nobody looks like you. We talk about her background, writing career, and how travel can impact children and families. She also shares her experience managing a chronic illness while traveling. Finally, we discuss her favorite destinations for family vacations, her favorite neighborhood to explore in Chicago, and the secret gem she recommends to all Chicagoans and tourists!

Links:
Tea at the Drake
Bahá'í House of Worship
Home Alone House
The Reading Room at the University of Chicago

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Season 1, Episode 6: NPN Weekly Roundup November Edition

Listen here: Spotify

Published: 11/22/24

Description: Amy and Sitaara dive deep into NPN's popular email, the NPN Weekly. We talk about holiday theater productions and how NPN members won tickets to Annie and can enter now to win tickets to The Nutcracker. We touch on Building Blocks Toy Store's partnership with NPN and share a sneak peek of NPN's Giving Tuesday campaign. We also discuss parenting dilemmas pulled from the NPN discussion forum like the mom who is going to the Taylor Swift concert and not taking her daughters and the mom who was arrested when her 10-year-old took a walk alone. We find time to debate the value of AI shopping carts and camera-led traffic tickets. Finally, we mull over Thanksgiving plans and share some gratitude, too. Happy Thanksgiving!

Do you want to receive the popular email, NPN Weekly, every Friday? Sign up here or email us at podcasts@npnparents.org.

What should we discuss next month? Please tell us.

Season 1, Episode 5: Raising a Queer Child in Chicago

Listen here: Spotify

Published: 11/8/24

Description: Keisha J. Mathew, A.M., LCSW, founder and therapist of radicallyBLended Services, PLLC discusses the joys and challenges of raising a queer child in Chicago. She shares tips on creating a safe environment where children are comfortable sharing personal feelings, advice on how to react if your child comes out to you, how to advocate for queer children at school and beyond, and resources that adults can turn to for help in being an ally. Here are links to the resources that we discussed:

Resources within Chicago Public Schools

The Trevor Project

Gay Straight Alliance (GSA)

Howard Brown Health

Center on Halsted

Good Kids Mad City

About our guest: Keisha J. Mathew, A.M., LCSW, has been in social work since 2002. Her focus is primarily on BIPOC youth and their families. She has trained in several therapeutic approaches and modalities and has worked as a youth specialist, program manager, crisis intervention clinician, high school counselor, and group therapist within Chicago Public Schools. She collaborates extensively with school and community members around the city within communities of color. Her work with youth and their families extends to American-born, first-generation refugees, and those who Immigrated by choice. She is grateful to be considered a culturally competent clinician and activist; her work and passion for serving extends to all walks of life.

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Season 1, Episode 4: NPN Weekly Roundup 10/25/24

Listen here: Spotify

Published: 10/25/24

Description: Amy and Sitaara take a deep dive into NPN's popular email, the NPN Weekly along with special guest Natalie Monterastelli of Bubbles Academy. We talk about being a homebody, parenting homebody kids, parenting pressures, and Amy's op-ed in Crain's Chicago Business about Chicago Public Schools. On the lighter side, we share info on local Halloween attractions, Halloween events, and why we should exercise our social muscles. Then we share a bunch of ways that families of young kids can activate those social muscles at Bubbles Academy this weekend and beyond. Here are links to the events and sights we discuss:

Zombie house at Wilson and Richmond, Chicago

Halloween wedding at 140 N. Deleplaine Rd., Riverside

Bubbleween Bucktown 10/26

Trick-or-Treat Gold Coast 10/27

Bubbleween in Gold Coast 10/27

Halloween Snapshots in Gold Coast 10/27

Dia de los Muertos 11/1

Chicago Kids Diwali Celebration 11/2

Do you want to receive the NPN Weekly? Sign up here or email us at podcasts@npnparents.org.

What should we discuss next month? Please tell us.

Season 1, Episode 3: Understanding CPS Elementary School Options

Listen here: Spotify

Published: 10/15/24

Description: Grace Lee Sawin, founder of Chicago School GPS, discusses elementary school options in Chicago Public Schools with Amy and Sitaara. Resources discussed include the CPS application portal , the GoCPS Elementary Info and GoCPS Elementary Resources. You can find school tours listed here, here, and here.

About our guest: As a self-described “Tiger Mom Lite”, Grace has always felt that the most important role of a parent is to provide the best possible education for her children by putting in all the time and research required to successfully make that happen. Little did she know HOW MUCH time and research she would have to do in order to get her daughters into a sought-after private Montessori for preschool, then into a well-regarded selective enrollment elementary program followed by a top selective enrollment high school and to an Ivy League university. Throughout the years, Grace has seen the school choice landscape change in Chicago with more options for all types of students. She thrives on uncovering these nuggets of wisdom and “hidden” info that others simply don’t have time to discover. She also is excited to share that info with you as she firmly believes a great education is a right, not a privilege. It just so happens in Chicago, it’s a “right” that takes an inordinate amount of research.

NPN members receive special perks from our partners! Click on these links to learn more and redeem: Park West Cooperative Nursery School and Pilgrim Lutheran School. Not a member? Join now.

Who would you like to hear from next? Please tell us.

Season 1, Episode 2: NPN Weekly Roundup October Edition

Listen here: Spotify

Published: 9/27/24

Description: Amy and Sitaara take a deep dive into NPN's popular email, the NPN Weekly. Hear about the new Chicago-based dance party Earlybirds Club, the Hidden Gems High School Fair, NPN's Preschool and Elementary School Fair & Family Playdate, Chicago school board elections, and more. Resources mentioned include waituntill8th.org and the Dumb Phone app.

Do you want to receive the NPN Weekly? Sign up here or email us at podcasts@npnparents.org.

What should we discuss next month? Please tell us.

Season 1, Episode 1: Understanding Anxiety in Children and Teens

Listen here: Spotify

Published: 9/13/24, hosted by Amy with guest Caroline Adelman, PhD

Description: Dr. Adelman and Amy discuss anxiety in children and teens, and how parents can support their anxious child and teen.

About our guest: Dr. Adelman completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she completed her pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships at the Child Study Center at Yale University, and she is the founder and clinical director of Chicago Psychotherapy. Dr. Adelman has published book chapters and journal articles on the topics of anxiety disorders, childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other topics. She has presented her research regularly at national conferences and has conducted multiple clinical trainings on the topic of treating childhood OCD and anxiety disorders. She is also the proud mother of two girls.

NPN members receive special perks from our partners! Click on these links to learn more and redeem: Chicago Psychotherapy, Blue Bird Day, and Sonnets Academy. Not a member? Join now.

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