Empowered Parenting & Emotional Intelligence Coaching

Newsletter October 2025

Subject: Rings, Ribbons & Resilience: Temple Day, Tissues, and Tiny Miracles 💍⛪🤧💸

Dear Friends,

If September was ramen with a bossy smoke alarm, October was lace and Lysol—bridal ribbons in one hand, cough drops in the other, and Aloha steady at the center. Somehow, we celebrated big love, honored sacred moments, got knocked down by COVID…and got back up. 🌺

Here’s what I set out to do this month:
✨ Turn island‑rooted stories into practical parenting tools.
🎙️ Ship strong podcast assets with clear takeaways.
🏡 Stand up a simple in‑home coaching pilot for Polynesian parents in South Jordan.
🌐 Polish website bits so people land in the right place.
🧰 Tame a few tech tangles so creativity flows without three extra clicks.

Here’s what I actually finished:
🌊 Podcast progress: Heritage & Parenting EQ went live; Navigating Teen Years with Aloha EQ is outlined with “connection before correction” baked in. 🎧🌴
🎨 Design sprints: New covers with tapa accents, Polynesian teens, and tropical fonts—warm, dignified, unmistakably Island. 🖼️🌺
📝 Island essays: Reworked “Everyone Wants a Village” with Tonga/Samoa/NZ/Hawaiʻi flavor—humor sprinkled, EQ threaded throughout. ✍️🏝️
📚 Story craft: Polished the Haʻapai boy story for Substack—truer, simpler, heart‑first. 📖💫
🏠 Coaching pilot: Framed an in‑home parent coaching option for South Jordan families—culturally aware, outcomes‑clear. 🏠🤝
🔧 Back office wins: Downloaded recordings the right way, exported iMovie to MP4, and finally tamed zip/unzip gremlins. 🧩💻
🌐 Site cleanups: Fixed links, clarified copy, kept all roads leading to Aloha EQ. 🔗✨
👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 Family milestones (the best part):

Bridal shower for my granddaughter: aunties, cousins, tapa touches, and laughter you could hear from the driveway. 🎀👗🥥
A wedding of worlds: my granddaughter married a palangi—two cultures braided with joy, respect, and lots of cake. 💍🤵🏻‍♂️👰🏽‍♀️🍰
Payson Temple day: quiet grounds, bright promises, and a deep breath of peace I didn’t know I needed. ⛪🌤️🙏
Reception reality (money dance edition): aunties on the floor, uncles at the ready, and love made visible—💸💸💸 floating like confetti. (Yes, we made it rain—with gratitude and giggles.) 🕺🏽💃🏽🎶
After the sparkle: I left with more than memories—COVID hit hard. It felt like “last attempts at life”…and then, by grace, breath by breath, I lived. Pain was loud; love was louder. 🤒🫁❤️‍🩹

Tragic moment: 😩 Realizing my “favor” from the reception was a fever.
Humorous moment: 😂 Explaining “palangi” to the DJ while he tried to pronounce “Payson” like a Paris runway.
Hopeful moment: 🌱 Temple steps, sunlight on vows, and a granddaughter’s smile that said, “We’re ready.”
Desperate moment: 😵‍💫 Whispered at 2 a.m., “Is this it?” It wasn’t. I’m still here—sore, grateful, and stubbornly hopeful.

EQ Notes I’m keeping:

Presence > perfection. One grounded breath changes a room. 🧘‍♀️
Clarity builds trust. Outcomes simple enough to circle with a crayon. 🖍️
Love is bilingual. It speaks palangi and Polynesian—fluently—when led by respect. 🌍
Energy is currency. Rest is an investment, not a refund request. ⚖️
Aloha is strong. Firm on values, gentle with people. 🤝

By the Numbers (vibes, not vanity):

Podcast episode shipped: ✔︎
Teen‑years episode scoped: ✔︎
Cover variations (tapa/teens/tropical): ✔︎
In‑home coaching pilot framed: ✔︎
Island “village” essay revised: ✔︎
Substack story polished: ✔︎
Temple trip taken: ✔︎
Bridal shower hosted: ✔︎
Wedding danced (slowly): ✔︎
Money dance celebrated: 💸💸💸
COVID battled—and lived: ✔︎

Progress isn’t always loud. Sometimes it’s vows on a temple lawn, a laugh in a kitchen full of aunties, or one more breath on a hard night. That counts. 🧩

Onward,
Ruth 🌺

Quotes about Parenting

Your calm is the classroom; your mood is the lesson. 🧘‍♀️🏫
Connection before correction; curiosity before conclusions. 🤝🧩
Boundaries are bridges that teach where we end and love begins. 🚧❤️
Children borrow our nervous system before they build their own. 🧠🤍
Say it so it can be heard: simple, kind, and true. 🗣️✨
Model the apology you wished you received as a child. 🙏🪞
Rupture and repair is how trust learns to walk. 💔➡️🤝
When in doubt, slow the conversation to the speed of understanding. 🐢💬
Presence beats perfection; show up on purpose, not on edge. 🎯🫶
Discipline without dignity becomes distance. 🎓🤍➡️↔️
We don’t raise children; we raise future ancestors. 🌱👣
Listen until their shoulders drop; that’s when they start talking. 👂🫂
Name the feeling, not the villain. 🏷️💖
Your child’s behavior is a message, not a verdict. 📬🧩
Traditions are love that learned a routine. 🕯️📜
Speak to who they’re becoming; coach the skill, not the shame. 🗺️🛠️
Correction lands softly when connection holds firmly. 🪶🤲
Make home the place where hard truths and soft landings can coexist. 🏡🛏️
Teach choices, practice chances, celebrate changes. ✅🎯🎉
Aloha at home: firm on values, gentle with people. 🌺🤝"There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one." - Sue Atkins

"The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice." - Peggy O’Mara

"Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life." - Sophocles

"The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, the second half by our children." - Clarence Darrow

"The best way to make children good is to make them happy." - Oscar Wilde

"To understand your parents' love, you must raise children yourself." - Chinese Proverb

"Children make your life important." - Erma Bombeck

"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you." - Robert Fulghum

Newsletter September 2025

Subject: Ruth’s Mnthly Report: Nerves, Noodles, and Noticing 🧠🍜✨

Dear Friends,

If August was juggling flaming swords on a unicycle, September was trying to make ramen while the smoke alarm “coached” me from across the room. 🔥🍜🚨 Somehow, we still ate—and learned a lot along the way.

Here’s what I set out to accomplish in the past 30 days:
✨ Share more conversations about emotional intelligence (gentle, practical, human).
🎙️ Shape a few meaningful audio episodes that favor compassion over criticism.
🧰 Tidy up some behind-the-scenes systems so creativity flows with fewer hiccups.
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Refresh a simple parent-support offer with clearer outcomes.
📝 Draft bite-sized EQ prompts people can use in real life—not just read and forget.

Here’s what I actually finished:
🌊 Refined messages that keep Aloha at the center—firm on values, soft on people.
🔧 Simplified a couple of workflows so I spend more time creating, less time clicking.
🤝 Clarified what parents can expect: calmer moments, clearer boundaries, kinder conversations.
🧩 Organized EQ prompts into a small toolkit: notice → name → choose a kind next step.
📣 Wrote short, hopeful posts designed to spark reflection (not arguments).

Tragic moment: 😩 Realizing “add more hours to the day” is still not a viable productivity hack.
Humorous moment: 😂 Counting my drafts and realizing I could start a “Museum of Nearly Finished Things.”
Hopeful moment: 🌱 Watching one well-crafted message land with someone who needed it—that’s enough.
Desperate moment: 😵‍💫 Whispering to my to-do list at midnight, “What if we… didn’t?” (We did. Eventually.)

EQ Notes I’m keeping:

Presence > perfection. One grounded piece beats three rushed ones. 🧘‍♀️
Clarity builds trust. Outcomes simple enough to circle with a crayon. 🖍️
Energy is currency. Systems should serve soul, not the other way around. ⚖️

By the Numbers (vibes, not vanity):

Conversations outlined: ✔︎
Support offer clarified: ✔︎
EQ prompts organized: ✔︎
Workflows simplified: ✔︎
Gentle posts drafted: ✔︎

Progress isn’t always loud. Sometimes it’s a quiet click where something finally fits. 🧩

Onward,
Ruth 🌺

Quotes about Children

"The best inheritance a parent can give to his children is a few minutes of their time each day." - Orlando Aloysius Battista

"Your children need your presence more than your presents." - Jesse Jackson

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." - Theodore Hesburgh

"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." - Neil Postman

"A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path." - Agatha Christie

"Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands." - Anne Frank

"Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you." - Kahlil Gibran

"To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while." - Josh Billings

"Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded." - Jess Lair

"The soul is healed by being with chIldren." - Fyodor Dostoevsky

"The most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home." - Harold B. Lee

"Every child begins the world anew, inheriting both the blessings and the burdens of the past." - T.H. White

"There is no such thing as a perfect parent. So just be a real one." - Sue Atkins