Spontaneous mothers, a Japanese mum in Chicagoland &amp; a Venezuelan mum in Germany, shares own experiences: we call it “everyday wonderful chaos” regarding raising boys, parenting and anything adults want to talk about! Get your tea or coffee and hope you enjoy this podcast!

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Hello again! In this episode we talk about mom&#39;s burnout and how real it is. Kazu goes through tough times and Grecia also shares how it was for her.We talk about what has worked for us. Of course the most immediate solution is to get help in whatever task you can (babysitting, housework...) but if you can&#39;t afford it, talk to your partner, relative... to see how they can support. If you are struggling please talk to your partner/ friend/ therapist /...

#21 How do we keep our mental health?

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Hi everyone on this episode we have a fun conversation about Grecia&#39;s holidays in Bali with her family (17-month old toddler included!)I actually really enjoy travelling with my toddler this time, I felt it was special as he&#39;s older he was really interacting and being very independent as opposed to previous trips where we needed to do more things for him.My motto for traveling with kids is prepare and plan but don&#39;t overthink it, try to relax and also have fun. Kids can also be unpredictable so be flexible.Enjoy!

#20 Bali Trip with kids

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In this episode we continue to talk about our experience in Forest School. Kazu&#39;s son is now becoming a scientist (actually aren&#39;t all kids scientists?!), not but really they have been doing lots of cool experiments and we bring you some here. Grecia talks about the balance between letting your little one explore and keeping him/her safe (not an easy task!)Experiments to do with kids*: <ol><li>Making snow: ingredients: Baking soda &amp; shaving cream - that&#39;s it! We use our hands to make them (all the mess with hands/ clothes at home, highly recommend doing it outside or anywhere easy to clean afterwards) it was fun and good for sensory play!</li><li>Changing colour water: ingredients: violet flowers, baking soda and vinegar. We boiled flowers to get colours but you can also boil vegetables such as purple cabbage or any vivid colour vegetables. Mixing baking soda and vinegar is a key because it makes bubbles, looks fun and kids will love it!</li></ol> *under adult supervision

#19 Stem with kids!

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In today&#39;s episode Kazu and Grecia talk about everyday parenting challenges...How to make friends with other moms, kids&#39; social skills, and everyday differences we face regarding raising kids between various cultures among USA and Singapore.As challenging as parenthood can be, it&#39;s also great!! Grecia finds that sometimes taking things not so seriously helps. &#34;My child is soooo curious you would go crazy trying to make him behave in a certain &#39;acceptable&#39; way, but why would you? I enjoy his sense of humor, and try to guide him in a loving manner, ultimately coping with this new world is tougher for them than us as parents&#34;instagram: spontaneousmother

#18 Everyday challenges

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In this episode we talk about the challenges of being a mother and wanting to have a career. Yes it is possible! Grecia shares her struggles.I have talked to so many other women and it is definitely possible to have a successful career while being a mom. A strong support system is needed (at home) and an understanding partner so that you can both support each other when needed. Yet, one part of me wants to be with my baby 24/7...they grow so fast....and the other wants to work on interesting topics. Actually, having a kid has also given me perspective on what really matters. I don&#39;t want to go back to working long hours for the sake of working as now the opportunity cost is so high! Enjoy!

#17 Motherhood Challenges - How to have a career?

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In this episode we go deeper in our conversation about childcare / schools. Kazu takes her older son everyday to Forest School in Chicago, after a difficult time in other type of schools; and Grecia coincidentally also takes her little one to forest school once a week in Singapore. How is forest school different in these 2 countries?, What is forest school anyway? Are the kids feeling better?Is there forest school in your country / city?If you are currently living in Chicagoland or Singapore we give you the details to our forest schools! This episode is not sponsored so these are actually places we likeChicagolandForest School Village provides: https://www.parkfun.com/news/forest-playschoolForest school in the Morton Arboretum (Kazu personally loves it so much because this is the only one she can send her kid without her attending! It&#39;s very rare finding the places without adults for 3 year old kid still with diaper!!!) : https://mortonarb.org/explore/activities/childrens-family-programs/curiosity-woods-forest-play-program/SingaporeWildlings Singapore - Forest school, they also offer camps and much more!. The dynamic is really free so kids are not bound to do a specific activity for a period of time: https://www.wildlings.sg/

#16 Forest School? - what is it?

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Today is Kazu only speaking about the situation regarding her first son who stop going to the school because of the stress. Kazu got stuck and stressed because she was thinking too much what to do with him while still breastfeeding her second son. However, she managed to change her perception to see the world and think positive, everything changed. Mental feels so good, physical gets better! Thinking happy, live the moment is a key for parenting. (and of course, patience!) Hope you enjoy listening what she wants to shout out to all the parents!

#15 Changing perception to think positive

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This is a continuation of our school series, we explore the specificities of each country and how we try to navigate themCultural differences are so great but they also add a layer of complexity when it comes to finding childcare / schools! Maybe we as parents need to be more flexible and embrace these differences Enjoy!

#14 Finding daycare in Singapore, Germany and USA

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Hi everyone, Very short episode!On this episode we discuss some ideas to transition kids at school. However we notice this is different in every country dependent on the culture but also on how much bandwidth parents have to support this transition. We would love to hear what is typical in your country!!

#13  School transition - one size fits all?

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In this Episode we share our struggle with finding and continuing school for our kids.Finding school for kids is never ending! Kazu&#39;s son quit Montessori school because of stress. Sharing how Kazu felt and thought about Montessori.Grecia‘s journey trying to find childcare for her 1 yo and how cultural differences make it challenging. We also discuss tips &amp; advice on different schooling topics.

#12 Quitting School - when our kids struggle at school

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In this episode we talk about some of our tips and tricks when it comes to traveling with babies.in fact, if you google you will find lots of Information on this topic, maybe too much?traveling with a baby shouldn’t be so much different from how you have been traveling so far… some people prefer fancy traveling, others are backpackers … in any case you continue doing what you have been doing just with a bit more preparation :)

#11 Grecia is in Singapore - how to travel with a baby?

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Today is continuation from last episode regarding natural talents with Lindsey Silva. We discuss how we can encourage &amp; discourage our kids&#39; natural talents. On this episode we talked to Lindsey Silva about discovering your child&#39;s natural talents. Lindsey is passionate about this topic, greatly driven by being raised discovering her natural talents guided by her mom Becky Preble; author of &#34;Discover your Child&#39;s Natural Talents&#34; and &#34;My Enjoyable Activities Journal&#34; by Becky Preble (to be re-released in the future! stay tuned)Find more information on<ul><li>Lindsey&#39;s IG account: @discoveryourchildsnts</li><li>Becky Preble&#39;s website: <a href="http://www.getadirection.com/" rel="nofollow">www.getadirection.com</a> (geared toward parents of high schoolers but all parents can find great insights about kids and natural talents!)</li></ul> Enjoy!

#10 Encourage & discourage your child's natural talents with Lindsey Silva (3/3)

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This episode is continuation from last episode regarding discover your child&#39;s natural talent with Lindsey Silva. On this episode we talked to Lindsey Silva about discovering your child&#39;s natural talents. Lindsey is passionate about this topic, greatly driven by being raised discovering her natural talents guided by her mom Becky Preble; author of &#34;Discover your Child&#39;s Natural Talents&#34; and &#34;My Enjoyable Activities Journal&#34; by Becky Preble (to be re-released in the future! stay tuned)Find more information on<ul><li>Lindsey&#39;s IG account: @discoveryourchildsnts</li><li>Becky Preble&#39;s website: <a href="http://www.getadirection.com/" rel="nofollow">www.getadirection.com</a> (geared toward parents of high schoolers but all parents can find great insights about kids and natural talents!)</li></ul> Enjoy!

#9 Natural talents pattern with Lindsey Silva (2/3)

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On this episode we talked to Lindsey Silva about discovering your child&#39;s natural talents. Lindsey is passionate about this topic, greatly driven by being raised discovering her natural talents guided by her mom Becky Preble; author of &#34;Discover your Child&#39;s Natural Talents&#34; and &#34;My Enjoyable Activities Journal&#34; by Becky Preble (to be re-released in the future! stay tuned)Find more information on<ul><li>Lindsey&#39;s IG account: @discoveryourchildsnts</li><li>Becky Preble&#39;s website: <a href="http://www.getadirection.com" rel="nofollow">www.getadirection.com</a> (geared toward parents of high schoolers but all parents can find great insights about kids and natural talents!)</li></ul> Enjoy!

#8 Discover your child's natural talents with Lindsey Silva (1/3)

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In this episode we discuss some of our favorite books to read to our kids! Actually reading is great to encourage language skills, bonding and in our experience a great way to inspire or teach something to your little one(s)!Chris Ferrie lives in Australia! Sorry about that. There are so many of his books Kazu has starting from block chain for babies, climate change for babies and so much more! Here is his site: https://www.csferrie.com/books<ul><li>Poo book was: Mag ik eens in je luier kijken? by Guido Van Genechten (In Japanese it is おむつの中みせてみせて！by ヒドファンへネヒテン）</li><li>Interactive book was: Let&#39;s Play! by Herve Tullet</li><li>Baby Kumon books: https://www.kumon.ne.jp/babykumon/</li></ul> Grecia mentioned the following books:<ul><li>Change starts with us by Sophie Beer</li><li>Love makes a family by Sophie Beer</li><li>Kindness makes us strong by Sophie Beer</li><li>The Big Eating Book by Guido Van Genechten</li><li>I&#39;ll Always Hold your Hand by Guido Van Genechten</li><li>Ten Little Series by Mike Brownlow and Simon Rickerty</li></ul>

#7 Books we read to our kids

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This is continuation from our episode #5 Books we read as parents but also talking about how we control (and uncontrol) our screen TV time for kids.Kazu decided to &#34;destroy&#34; her TV and Grecia doesn&#39;t own a TV...In Germany the advice is to avoid screen time ENTIRELY before the age of 2 (except for video calls with family) and after that age very much regulated due to cognitive, visual impact on baby / kid. But of course we understand it is hard. However we encourage you to find alternative ways instead of screens (or at least reduce screen time) : -)Would love to hear your feedback!

#6 Do your kids watch TV?

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In this episode we talk about our favorite books (so far!) for parenting. Enjoy!Books Kazu mentioned:<ol><li>One book By Nicola Schmidt which I don&#39;t know the original title in German, I only know it in Japanese which is 怒らない子育てをやってみた子育てライフ by 二コラシュミット</li><li>A Japanese book 伸びる子供は●●がすごい by 榎本博明</li><li>The ‘Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies</li></ol>Books Grecia mentioned:<ol><li>Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina</li><li>The Baby Book by William Sears M.D., Martha Sears, RN, Robert Sears, MD and James Sears, MD</li><li>Safe Infant Sleep by James J. McKenna PhD</li><li>The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp</li><li>Positive Discipline the first three years (but they have for many other age brackets) by Dr. Jane Nelsen</li><li>The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel M.D, and Tina Payne Bryson, PhD</li><li>If you speak Spanish Lucia Mi Pediatra has many books that are worth checking out!</li></ol>

#5 Parenting Books we read

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While someone was trying to break into Kazu&#39;s house, bats are scaring Grecia&#39;s house. Raising kids is already so much work but everyday wonderful chaos is really more than that! Thank God we are safe!

#4 Motherhood in the midst of thief & bats... Scary!

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Kazu from Japan in Chicago USA and Grecia from Venezuela in Mannheim in Germany talks about everyday motherhood challenges including baby food, how to play with kids at home under heat wave summer time etc etc Hope you enjoy our stories!

#3 Baby food - Everyday Motherhood Challenges

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Hello everyone! In this episode we compare practices for delivering babies across the US, Germany, Japan and Latin America (based on our experience! so differences may exist)

#2 - Baby delivery across cultures

Spontaneous mothers, a Japanese mum in Chicagoland & a Venezuelan mum in Germany, shares own experiences: we call it “everyday wonderful chaos” regarding raising boys, parenting and anything adults want to talk about! Get your tea or coffee and hope you enjoy this podcast!