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Jun 25 • 45:13
The Opt Out FamilyGiving Your Kids What Technology Cant with Erin Loechner
Episode:

The Opt Out FamilyGiving Your Kids What Technology Cant with Erin Loechner

June 25, 2024 • 45:13 • Greta Eskridge

In this episode I got to talk to my internet friend turned real life friend, Erin Loechner. Erin is a homeschooling mom to 3, a wife, a gifted writer and an incredibly creative, brilliant, unique person. I adore her. 

In this episode Erin shared with us about her brand-new book, The Opt-Out Family: How to Give Your Kids What Technology Cant.  Erins book is a call to action and an invitation for every parent. It calls them to sit up and take notice of how the algorithm is coming after our kids, and then invites them to do something about it. The book is full of compelling research and helpful, practical ideas for helping your family opt out.  

What makes Erins book even more compelling is that she is actually living that life with her family. Four years ago Erin left her successful career as a social media influencer, shut down her social media accounts and opted out. She knows what she is talking about. I really enjoyed this conversation with Erin and I learned a lot. I know you will too. 

Here are some of my favorite quotes from this episode: 

*I wanted to model for my daughter what it looked like to have a vibrant career and life without social media.  

*If my kids say, I dont like how social media makes me feel, but I dont know any other way. I want to be able to say, Ive got another way. Lets do it together.  

*You cant know the opportunity missed but you can know the fruit gained.  

*This is the world our children live in, where playground swings become selfie props. It is not an accident. It is the work of the algorithm. It is the work of a machine, a mission and a great strategy dreamed up by people in board rooms who make a living by stealing a life.  

*We are no longer asking why we would opt out. We are asking how we opt out.  

*Its not enough to say no to devices. We have to say yes to something better.  

*We parents can do it better than the tech guys!  

*Our kids just want to be with us. Its really so simple.  

*There is a powerful message being sent to parents that our kids dont want to be with us, especially as they grow up. Then we get afraid and think we have to compete, to be cool, to be better than Tik Tok. But when we slow down and just spend time with our kids, even our teens, we find out that they really do want to be with us.  

*Start here: Give your kids your eyes.  

The 2 books Erin and I talked about are: The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio (here) and Grandma Gatewoods Walk (here) Chase joy and go read them now! 

Find Erins book here 

Visit her website here for additional resources and helpful info. 

 

If you havent already, please take a minute to subscribe to my podcast.  

Id also be so very grateful if you leave a 5-star rating and write a quick review.  

Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster. 

Thank you for listening and being part of my team.  

I love you guys! 

Greta 

 

Podcast:

The Greta Eskridge Podcast

With Greta Eskridge
We're living in a time filled with distraction and disconnection from the things that matter most. Things like faith, family, friendship, and childhood innocence feel harder and harder to hold onto. But I believe a joyful, connected life is possible with Jesus's help because he offers us life to the full! It's time to open our eyes to the wonder God has put all around us, so join me each week on The Greta Eskridge Podcast as some of my favorite friends and I explore ways to create connection in our families and chase joy through both the peaks and valleys of parenting and life.
All Episodes:
Apr 29 • 37:16
The Best Potluck Dish, Favorite Books to Grow Your Childs Faith, 2 Reasons I Home School and more!with Greta Eskridge

It's time for another episode where its just me and you chatting about all kinds of thingsfrom my favorite dish to bring to a potluck, the one of the most impactful books Ive ever read to my kids and all sorts of things in between! 

This is a fun and insightful episode, albeit kind of random. And I cant decide if my ability to talk about practically any subject at length is my superpower, or just one of my most annoying traits. If its the former, break it to my gently, OK? 

I hope youll get some helpful insight from this episode and be sure to check out the links below as I have included all the things mentioned in the episode. I know youll get a lot out of them. 

Last thing, please remember to order my new book, Its Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn, if you havent already. Or if you have read it, to leave a rating and review on Amazon. You can do that right here and it is wildly helpful when you do! 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

Find Gretas favorite stove top espresso maker here 

Find Gretas favorite milk frother here 

Find copies of The Hiding place here (original version) here (young readers) and here (youngest readers)  

Find Instagram post about visiting Corrie ten Booms grave here 

Find my Home School 101 highlight here 

 

Find Greta: 

Find Gretas books here, here and here 

Find Greta on Instagram here 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Apr 22 • 42:13
No, You Dont Have to be Afraid of the Teen Years with Abbie Halberstadt

Home schooling mom of 10, podcaster, author of 2 beloved books and pickleball champion.  

One of the things I love about Abbie is that she is vocal about her how much she loves spending time with her teens. Like me, she really enjoys the teen years and has made it a bit of her personal mission to remind the mamas with littles that the goodness doesnt stop the moment their kids hit puberty. 

So in this episode Abbie and I talk about all things having teens. We talk about parenting with expectant hope. That means determining that well love our kids through their whole life, not just when they are cute and cuddly babies. We discuss ways to connect with our teens and how that starts by enjoying being with our kids when they are little and then continuing that as they grow. 

One of the things our kids will face as they grow up, and especially in the teen years is exposure to pornography. Abbie and I talk about how we can prepare our kids for growing up in a porn saturated world and also share with them about Gods good plan for sex. This part of our conversation was really helpful and honestly so powerful. I just know youll get a lot from it! And friends, if you are looking for more information on this topic, and still havent gotten my new book, Its Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn, this is your sign to get the book! Its time! Get your copy right here. 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

Find the Parenting and Pornography video here 

 

Where to find Abbie: 

Find Abbies books here and here 

Find Abbies website here 

Find Abbies podcast here 

Find Abbie on Instagram here 

 

Apr 15 • 1:6:53
Filtering the Noise in a Loud World with Aubrey McGowan

Friends! Have you gotten my new book Its Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn yet? If not, listen to todays guest give a review of the book at the end of the podcast and be inspired to get your copy right here today! 

I met todays guest, Aubrey McGowan, at a home school mom conference called Wild and Free! What a fun way to meet this guy. Aubrey and his wife Jen are tremendous musicians, and they have performed at many of the Wild and Free conferences I have been a part of. Aubrey is also creative in other ways: hes a passionate communicator and a gifted writer. 

In todays episode we are talking about Aubreys new book, Filter the Noise: how to Hear Gods Voice in a Culture of Chaos

We have so much noise in our life--the noise of the physical world, the noise of the digital world and the inner noisethose voices in our head that so often tell us things that arent true. 

Aubrey asks the question: what does Christ say to this?  

While the world tells us we always need more, Christ tells us He is enough. 

Aubrey shares with us the practice he outlines in the book that can help us filter the noise we dont want or need in this life. But Aubrey reminds us: The power is in Jesus, not in the practice 

This practice is a way to point people to Jesus 

Friends, this is a longer than usual episode, but when Aubrey gets fired up he brings the wisdom and the fire and I dont want to stop him! So sit down, grab a cup of coffee and be inspired by what Aubrey shares here. Lets go! 

 

Resources from this episode: 

Quote from Gordon Hempton: "We have an epidemic of extinction of quiet places in our world." 

Pray Psalm 23 every morning 

Find the book Gods Smuggler here 

Quote by Corrie ten Boom If the devil cant make you sin hell make you busy 

 

Where to find Aubrey: 

Find Aubreys book here 

Find Aubreys website here 

Find Aubrey on Instagram here 

Find Aubreys Family Field Guide ministry here 

Find Aubreys mens ministry Whetstone here 

Listen to Aubrey and Jens music here 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

 

Apr 8 • 39:29
Raising Out of the Box Kids with Sally Clarkson

Oh friends, this episode is a dream come true! The incredible and dear, the epic, the lovely, the legend, the truly wonderful Sally Clarkson is on my show! 

I met Sally when I was 19 years old, through one of the books she wrote about homeschooling. I was babysitting a homeschooling family and found one of Sallys books on their bookshelf. After the kids went to bed, I began to read and Ive been the biggest Sally fan ever since. 

Unbelievably, Sally has become a real-life friend. And today she joined me on my podcast. It is just beyond what I could have imagined all those years ago. 

In this episode Sally shares that she is wild at heart! She likes to shake things up , have adventures and live outside the box. 

We talked about how God made us out of the box women and mothers and that He made our children that way too.  

And Sally reminds us that letting our children be out of the box is such a gift to them! 

 

We also talked about feeling alone in mothering kids who are different and finding the freedom to let our kids be themselves rather than worry about what other people think about us or them. Sally reminds us that life isnt about being the perfect mom, but getting to know the perfect God and living in His perfect plan for your life. 

Sally is just amazing and youll love hearing from her in this episode.  

 

Find Sally: 

Find her book Different here 

Find her book Uniquely You here 

Find her book Well Lived here 

Find Sallys website here 

Find Sally on Instagram here 

Find Sallys podcast here 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Apr 1 • 47:19
Elevating motherhood through nurturing ourselves and others with Lori Beth Auldridge

I am so glad to introduce my friend Lori Beth Auldridge to you on the podcast today! Lori Beth is such an interesting person and I knew a lot of the interesting parts of her story already. But on the podcast today, I learned even more. We talked about everything from how Lori Beth collects heritage breed animals, heritage seeds from the incredible childrens artist Tasha Tudor, was a home schooler for 11 years before she ever home schooled her own kids, her gift for hospitality, and about her business that focuses on supporting mothers and elevating motherhood.  

 

You will walk away from this episode feeling excited and inspired about how important it is that we nurture our kids and their learning, that we nurture ourselves as mothers and also that we nurture each other in our motherhood journey. I know youre going to love it! 

 

And since you do love this podcast, would you consider leaving a review on iTunes? Just a sentence or two about how The Greta Eskridge Podcast is meaningful to you will help other people find it and learn from it. You can also give it a quick 5 star rating and that helps too. Than you friends! 

 

Where to find Lori Beth: 

Find Lori Beths website here 

Find Lori Beths podcast here 

Find Lori Beth on Instagram here 

 

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

About the Host

Greta Eskridge

Greta Eskridge is a second-generation homeschooler, an author, a speaker, and a podcast host. Greta’s faith in God is the lens through which she sees the world.

Greta loves encouraging parents to pursue joyful, connected parenting. And she is passionate about helping families create connection in a disconnected world through things like purposeful adventures, online safety, and keeping their eyes wide open to wonder. Greta firmly believes that “joy is the serious business of heaven” and is on mission to chase joy through both the peaks and valleys of parenting and life.

Greta lives in sunny southern California with her artist husband, Aaron, and their four kids--1 young adult and 3 teens. Greta loves nature, books and coffee and her favorite place to be is on a hiking trail. 

More from Greta →