Simply Jewish Parenting
Practical Jewish parenting tips for raising resilient, grateful, value-driven children in today’s world.
Welcome to Simply Jewish Parenting — practical guidance for raising confident, resilient, values-driven Jewish kids. Hosted by Adina Soclof, Parent Educator, Speech Pathologist, and founder of ParentingSimply.com, this channel helps parents build calm homes, strong character, gratitude, emotional intelligence, and Jewish connection.
Expect short, research-based episodes on real parenting challenges: tantrums, entitlement, sibling conflict, screen time, teens pulling away, and holiday overwhelm. Learn how Jewish wisdom, rituals, Shabbat, blessings, Modeh Ani, and traditions can make parenting easier, not harder.
Adina has taught thousands of parents and professionals and is the author of Parenting Simply: Preparing Kids for Life. Join a community that understands your struggles and equips you with language, tools, and compassion.
Subscribe for Jewish parenting tips, behavior insights, family communication skills, and encouragement—because parenting is hard, but you don’t have to do it alone.
Episodes
42 episodes
Simple Elul Practices For Busy Jewish Families
Elul shows up at the most inconvenient time, right when school starts, calendars fill up, and everyone’s patience is already thin. So how do we bring the spirit of Elul into our homes in a way that feels calm and real for kids, instead of becom...
Elul Gives Us A Simple Way To Raise A Mensch
Elul has a way of shining a light on what we want to change, but as parents, the question isn’t only “How do I improve?” It’s also “How do I help my child grow into a mensch?” I’m sharing a grounded, realistic approach to Jewish parenting that ...
Family Vacation Survival Guide
Your family vacation doesn’t fall apart because you picked the wrong destination. It falls apart when the plan ignores what your kids can actually handle. We’re talking about the practical side of traveling with children and how to make trips g...
Realistic Family Vacations Without The Meltdown
You can spend months planning a family vacation and still end up thinking, why is this so hard? I get it, because the hardest part is often not the travel, the packing, or the budget. It is the pressure we pile onto the trip before we ever leav...
Screen Time Limits Without The Fight
Turning off the TV or tablet shouldn’t feel like pulling a fire alarm, but for a lot of families, ending screen time sparks instant negotiating, complaining, and dramatic predictions of doom. I’m Adina Sakloff, and I’m walking through how to se...
What To Say When Your Teen Says You Don’t Trust Me
“You don’t trust me.” Few teen phrases hit faster or harder, and it’s so easy to snap into defense mode, lecture, or sarcasm. Today we slow that moment down and look at what’s usually happening under the words so we can respond with more calm a...
A Simple Parenting Tool To Reframe “Difficult” Behavior
The fastest way to change a child’s behavior might be changing the story we tell ourselves about who they are. When we’re deep into summer routines and siblings are together all day, it’s easy to slip into labels like “messy,” “bossy,” “lazy,” ...
What Happens When You Trade Control For Trust
Summer can turn parents into nonstop reminder machines. Camp bags, towels, sunscreen, water bottles, library books, and somehow we’re the ones holding the entire plan in our heads. I want to offer a calmer, more effective alternative: trade the...
Summer Misbehavior Reset
Summer sounds like it should be easy, but a lot of parents quietly experience the opposite: louder days, bigger feelings, more whining, and a shorter fuse for everyone. We’re naming what’s really going on when kids “misbehave” in the summer and...
Packing A Social Toolbox For Camp
Camp is packed with little social landmines that adults forget are even there. Where can I sit? Can I touch someone’s stuff? How do I join a game without getting shut down? If your child is heading to summer camp and you’re worried they might f...
What Kids Learn When We Praise Dad Out Loud
We talk about fathers as active, essential parents and why the “clueless dad” storyline in books, media, and jokes quietly shapes what kids believe. We share what research says about father involvement and a simple daily practice that helps kid...
How To Get More Cooperation By Offering Real Choices
Power struggles usually aren’t about shoes, shirts, or toothbrushing. They’re about control. Kids crave autonomy, parents have to keep structure and safety, and that gap can turn everyday routines into arguments. We walk through one of the most...
How Chores Build Responsible Kids In Real Life
You know the moment: you ask your kid to clear the table, put away toys, or help with laundry and after the fifth reminder you think, “It’s faster if I do it myself.” I’m Adina Sakloff, and I’m pulling apart why chores feel so loaded and how we...
How Jewish Parents Build Respectful Kids
Respect can feel like a constant battle at home, but we’ve learned something that flips the whole dynamic: respect is not mainly for us as parents. It’s for our children. When kids experience respectful authority, they feel secure and steady, a...
Shavuot Parenting: Teaching Honor Without Power Struggles
If your child’s tone is getting sharper and you feel like you’re negotiating every basic request, this conversation offers a calm reset. We take Shavuot as a launching point, focusing on kibbud av va’em (honoring parents) and what it means for ...
Simple Self Care For Moms
We share three simple self-care habits that help moms stay calmer, more patient, and more grounded when parenting gets messy. We focus on changing self-talk after mistakes, setting respectful boundaries with kids, and using one small treat plus...
Let Go Of Perfect Mothering
Motherhood can feel like an endless test you never signed up for and Mother’s Day can turn the pressure up even more. I want to offer something kinder and more useful: a set of small, practical shifts that make family life more meaningful, more...
Sibling Rivalry Reset
The fighting starts over nothing, then suddenly you’re refereeing a full-blown sibling war. We get it. Sibling rivalry can be one of the most draining parts of parenting, and it can leave you wondering whether you’re doing something wrong. We t...
Letting Go Of Perfect Parenting For Good
That quiet question many parents carry, “Am I doing this right?” can haunt even the most loving home. We’re pulling that fear into the open and untangling why “perfect parenting” feels so required, especially for mothers, and why that pressure ...
Your Child Learns More From Your Reactions Than Your Rules
Your child is learning from you all day long, even when you don’t realize you’re “teaching.” We’re talking about role modeling in Jewish parenting and why the most powerful influence on a child’s resilience, kindness, and character is not our s...
What If The Seder Structure Is Already Enough
Pesach is coming, and if your stomach tightens a little when you think about the Seder, you’re not alone. The planning, the pressure, the hope that our kids will actually connect, and the very real fear of bedtime meltdowns can make Passover fe...
Four Simple Phrases That Get Kids To Help Clean For Pesach
We share four small communication shifts that help kids cooperate with Pesach cleaning without turning it into a fight. We focus on connection first, because teamwork and responsibility grow faster when our words lower defensiveness and build o...
Seven Practical Ways To Get Kids Helping With Cleaning And Cooking
Pesach prep is intense, and we want real cooperation from our kids without yelling, bribing, or losing our minds. We share simple, practical ways to teach kids how to step in, contribute, and feel capable in the middle of cleaning, cooking, and...
Calm Pesach Prep
We turn Pesach prep from chaos into teamwork with clear scripts, simple systems, and a calm tone. We share 12 practical tips, plus a one-page job board that replaces nagging with ownership and helps us arrive at the Seder with energy to spare.<...
Why Trying To Make Kids Happy Can Backfire And What To Do Instead
We push past quick fixes and show how structure, calm modeling, and a Jewish lens on meaning build lasting confidence in kids. We share phrases, stories, and simple tools that turn daily hassles into chances to grow resilience and real joy....