Parents Making Time with Anthony & Jennifer Craiker | Intentional Parenting for Busy Parents Podcast By Anthony & Jennifer Craiker | Parents Making Time cover art

Parents Making Time with Anthony & Jennifer Craiker | Intentional Parenting for Busy Parents

Parents Making Time with Anthony & Jennifer Craiker | Intentional Parenting for Busy Parents

By: Anthony & Jennifer Craiker | Parents Making Time
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Parents! Feel like you’re missing out on your kids’ lives while also never having enough time for yourself? Want to embrace intentional parenting but don't quite know how? Career pressures, shuttling kids around, volunteer commitments, and the endless tasks of caring for your home all place enormous demands on your time and energy, leading to mom guilt, dad guilt, stress, and ultimately regret. And while you’re trying to tend to your own self-care while also being a present parent who prioritizes family connection, your kids are growing up way too fast.


Sound familiar? If so—help is here! Unlike other parenting podcasts that just give you techniques for raising children or tips on childhood development, Parents Making Time focuses on helping YOU, the parent, prioritize YOUR life so that your parenting aligns with your values. Motherhood, fatherhood, marriage, and family are what we are all about. In 15-minutes or less, this weekly podcast helps busy parents like you learn to prioritize their relationships, be more present and intentional with family time, and build a lasting legacy of love—without neglecting their own well-being or feeling regret later in life. It's not just about learning to prioritize tasks or mastering time management, it's about becoming the parent you want to be so that you can stop feeling overwhelmed, learn how to have more time, and create lasting family memories.


Leveraging their 20+ years of parenting experience raising three thriving kids and leading and mentoring hundreds of children, youth, and families in volunteer church positions, hosts Anthony and Jennifer Craiker teach parents on a tight schedule how to balance work and family, create unbreakable family bonds, prevent parent burnout, and find JOY in parenting. In other words, we help you stop being busy and start actually applying the concept of intentional living.


If you’re ready to prioritize family time each day without feeling overwhelmed, you can count on this show to teach you how to be fully present with your kids, build lasting memories, prioritize your spouse, make dinner time count, connect with your kids after work, stop missing precious moments, savor family time, discover intentional parenting ideas, and so much more—all while learning how to implement quick self-care tips, create an intentional family legacy, and parent with no regret. So, hit PLAY, and let’s get started!


Popular Topics Include:


Intentional parenting

Present parenting

Self-care for parents

How to have meaningful connections with your kids

Work life balance

Mom guilt and Dad guilt

Building family bonds

Parenting anxiety

Time management

Motherhood

Fatherhood

Family life and routines

Tips for busy parents

Parenting in a digital world

Leaving a legacy

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Episodes
  • 5 Keys to Connecting with Your Kids in the Car

    5 Keys to Connecting with Your Kids in the Car
    Mar 13 2026

    Have you ever noticed that some of the most meaningful conversations with your kids happen when you least expect them, like during a car ride?

    For many busy parents, the car is simply a place to manage logistics. You're getting kids from school to activities and back home again. But what if those ordinary drives could become one of the most powerful opportunities for intentional parenting and connection?

    In this episode of Parents Making Time, Anthony and Jennifer Craiker explore how simple moments in the car can turn into meaningful conversations that strengthen your relationship with your child. They share a personal story, the common mistakes parents make during car rides, and practical strategies to help parents turn everyday driving time into powerful connection time.

    Because sometimes the moments that seem small, like a quiet ride, a shared song, or an open-ended question, become the ones your kids remember most.

    By the time you finish listening, you’ll discover:

    • Why the car is one of the safest places for kids to open up and talk
    • The common mistakes busy parents make during car rides that quietly weaken connection
    • Five simple habits that can turn everyday driving into meaningful conversations with your kids

    If you’re a parent who feels stretched thin by the demands of busy parenting, this episode will help you see that connection with your kids doesn’t always require more time - sometimes it simply requires more intention in the time you already have.

    Because the goal of intentional parenting isn’t perfection, it’s learning to recognize the moments that matter and making the most of them.

    Easily improve your intentional parenting efforts at mealtime with our FREE resource, Dinner Conversation Starters.

    Download our FREE resource, 30-Second Micro Moments of Intention with Your Kids, created for busy parents like you who need easy, actionable ways to have daily meaningful connections with their kids in less than a minute!

    Parenting Questions? Email us at parentsmakingtime@gmail.com (Please note, your question may be featured on the show).

    For parenting inspiration, time management ideas, and encouragement for families, follow the hosts' individual accounts:

    Anthony Craiker: Instagram | LinkedIn

    Jennifer Craiker: Instagram

    Interested in joining our free online parenting community? Send us a DM to receive an invite!

    VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://www.parentsmakingtime.com/

    Enjoy the show? Leave a rating & review: Apple | Spotify

    ...
    Show more Show less
    15 mins
  • Listener Announcements

    Listener Announcements
    Mar 6 2026

    Check out our new website at https://www.parentsmakingtime.com/

    Easily improve your intentional parenting efforts at mealtime with our FREE resource, Dinner Conversation Starters.

    Download our FREE resource, 30-Second Micro Moments of Intention with Your Kids, created for busy parents like you who need easy, actionable ways to have daily meaningful connections with their kids in less than a minute!

    Parenting Questions? Email us at parentsmakingtime@gmail.com (Please note, your question may be featured on the show).

    For parenting inspiration, time management ideas, and encouragement for families, follow the hosts' individual accounts:

    Anthony Craiker: Instagram | LinkedIn

    Jennifer Craiker: Instagram

    Interested in joining our free online parenting community? Send us a DM to receive an invite!

    Enjoy the show? Leave a rating & review: Apple | Spotify
    Show more Show less
    2 mins
  • Why Parent Burnout Doesn't Mean You're Failing

    Why Parent Burnout Doesn't Mean You're Failing
    Feb 27 2026

    Have you ever had one of those weeks where you’re technically “showing up" but you don’t feel like yourself?

    For busy parents, burnout doesn’t usually explode into your life. It builds quietly. You start forgetting small things. Your patience gets thinner. You feel stretched in ways you can’t quite explain.

    And then comes the dangerous thought:
    “I should be handling this better.”

    So many intentional parents assume that if they’re overwhelmed, they must be doing something wrong. We compare ourselves to other families. We assume they’re managing work, home, marriage, and parenting with more grace.

    But what we see is often just the polished version, not the missed appointments, the mental overload, or the quiet exhaustion happening behind the scenes.

    What if burnout isn’t proof you’re failing, but a signal that something in your life needs adjusting?

    In this episode of Parents Making Time, we reframe burnout for busy parents. Instead of treating it like a character flaw, we explore how it can serve as feedback. A prompt to pause, reflect, and simplify.

    Drawing on wisdom from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, we talk about the discipline of focusing on what’s essential and letting go of what isn’t. In modern family life, there is no shortage of good things to do. But not all of them are necessary.

    When busy parents learn to identify and remove the non-essential, they create space for energy, clarity, and more intentional parenting without adding anything new to their calendar.

    BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL DISCOVER:

    • A healthier way to think about parent burnout
    • Why comparison keeps busy parents stuck in guilt
    • One powerful reflection question that can reduce overwhelm immediately

    If you’re a busy parent trying to put family first without burning out, this conversation will help you step back, reset, and refocus on what matters most.

    Easily improve your intentional parenting efforts at mealtime with our FREE resource, Dinner Conversation Starters.

    Download our FREE resource, 30-Second Micro Moments of Intention with Your Kids, created for busy parents like you who need easy, actionable ways to have daily meaningful connections with their kids in less than a minute!

    Parenting Questions? Email us at parentsmakingtime@gmail.com (Please note, your question may be featured on the show).

    For parenting inspiration, time management ideas, and encouragement for families, follow the hosts' individual accounts:

    Anthony Craiker: Instagram | LinkedIn

    Jennifer Craiker: Instagram

    Interested in joining our free online parenting community? Send us a DM to receive an invite!

    VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://www.parentsmakingtime.com/

    Enjoy the show? Leave a rating & review: Apple | Spotify

    ...
    Show more Show less
    11 mins
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