Kids can be gross. And as parents, we're their first line of defense to teach them how to wash those hands, scrub those stinky feet, wipe those bums, control their body odor, trim those toenails–all the things. To help us out, I invited my good friends Megan Robbins (a dental hygienist and one of the cleanest people I know) and Laura Nielson (a pediatric nurse) to help us lead our kids from helpers to workers to managers in this critical aspect of becoming a responsible human. I think you'll enjoy these lovely ladies as much as I do!

It's that time again, for an update of the experiments we've been trying in the Archibald home. In this edition, I talk about our latest new kitchen-cleaning system, our weekly family cleaning projects, our dinner menu system, monthly check-ins with the kids, family meetings, a college tour, fall sports, my son's hat business, a home organization project, water aerobics and more!

You can find my son's hat business on Instagram @skadi-apparel

Welcome to Season 8! This whole season we'll be talking about how to teach our kids to eventually take care of themselves on their way to becoming self-reliant, responsible adults. This episode will help you take the first step: evaluating what your kids are already taking charge of and where they have room to grow.

I introduce you to the system I've been using with my own kids for years, and show you how you can use it to help your kids progress from helpers to workers to managers. Then I talk to my son and some of my nephews about what they learned from their own self-evaluations.

You can download the Self Reliance Checklist here and follow along with your own kids! And join me any Tuesday at 1:00-2:00 PM mountain time for my weekly open lab hour, where we can brainstorm and problem-solve any of your parenting and home management experiments. Sign up at this link: https://calendly.com/whitneyarchibald/open-lab-the-family-lab

Here's a tentative schedule of the skills we'll cover each month of 2026:

January: Self-Reliance Overview

February: Hygiene

March: Sleep

April: Food

May: Fitness

June: Talents

July: Finance

August: Education

September: Social Skills

October: Cleaning

November: Possessions

December: Spirituality