Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Great Job! Podcast, hosted by Emily and Dan Mall. We see parenting as a (great!) job with no rule book. Much like in our marriage, we’re learning everyday, every step of the way by making very intentional choices.

Our two kids have entered what we call the pivotal age, commonly known as the tween years. Not only is this stretch of time transitional for our children in many ways but also for ourselves as parents. 

We discuss having to confront your own childhood stuff while parenting in real time and how to handle modern technology issues like cell phone boundaries as parents without any generational precedent.

We introduce the five key areas of parenting that our Podcast will be exploring this season and why each is so important to consider:

1. Family values: how can we figure out what we hold really important in order to simplify decision making?

2. Boundaries: what even are they? And what do they look like in real life?

3. Teaching life skills: should my child be able to do x,y,z by a certain age?

4. Emotions: because so many feelings come up when parenting and as a child, how do we regulate our ability to express emotions?

5. Mental health: how do we work through the hard stuff?

Expect at least two sides to every issue! We love to have a healthy debate and encourage the same from our kids. We wrap up the episode by sharing what it's been like to work together on this podcast project, and how it differs from other projects we’ve collaborated on in the past. We’ve been friends since elementary school but new experiences bring out new sides of each other to learn about and appreciate.