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

© 2026 Parents Making Time Parenting & Families Relationships Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 3 Parenting Shifts to Make as Your Kids Grow Up

    3 Parenting Shifts to Make as Your Kids Grow Up
    Feb 13 2026

    What happens when your child no longer needs you—but still needs you?

    For years, you’ve guided, protected, corrected, and directed. You’ve worked hard to practice to intentionally parent your infant, toddler, teenager. But when your child becomes an adult, everything changes.

    And here’s the mistake many busy parents make:
    We don’t adjust.

    We keep controlling instead of influencing.
    We keep fixing instead of coaching.
    We hold on to being needed instead of embracing being chosen.

    If we don’t make this shift, we risk damaging the very relationship we worked so hard to build.

    In this episode of Parents Making Time, Anthony and Jennifer share a real-life story about their daughter navigating a major financial decision, and the difficult but necessary step they made of letting go. They unpack what intentional parenting looks like when your child is 18, 19, or beyond.

    Because parenting adult children isn’t about letting go of love.
    It’s about changing how love looks.

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

    • The 3 essential parenting shifts that help busy parents stay connected to adult children
    • How to move from control to influence without losing your voice
    • Why being chosen by your adult child is more powerful than being needed

    If you want to build lasting family relationships without creating resentment, this episode will help you become the kind of parent your adult children still want to call, just because.

    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
    14 mins
  • A Simple Way to Create a Lasting Legacy

    A Simple Way to Create a Lasting Legacy
    Feb 6 2026

    What will your kids still have from you when you’re no longer there to guide them?

    So many of us spend years chasing accomplishments, careers, and milestones. We think we know what success looks like. But when you slow down and really think about it those aren’t the things your children will treasure most.

    Here’s the hard truth:

    If you don’t intentionally capture your stories they will disappear.

    Busy parents often assume journaling takes too much time, requires great writing skills, or just isn’t important enough to prioritize. So we put it off.

    But the cost of “someday” is huge for you and for your kids.

    Today, we’re sharing simple, realistic solutions that makes journaling doable in minutes a day, even for the busiest families, and how this small practice can become one of the greatest gifts you ever leave behind.

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

    • How 5–10 minutes of journaling can improve your mental health, clarity, and stress levels right now
    • Easy, practical journaling methods that work for busy parents (voice memos, planners, apps, or pen & paper)
    • How capturing your stories creates a lasting legacy that strengthens your children’s identity, resilience, and connection for generations

    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
    12 mins
  • The 3 Most Important Phrases You Can Say As a Parent

    The 3 Most Important Phrases You Can Say As a Parent
    Jan 30 2026

    Have you ever assumed your kids just know you love them even if you don’t always say it out loud?

    As busy parents, it’s easy to focus on schedules, discipline, homework, and getting through the day only to miss the small, intentional words that actually build trust and connection.

    Maybe you’ve lost your patience. Maybe pride made it hard to apologize.Maybe you thought, “They already know how I feel.”

    But the truth is that unspoken love, unspoken gratitude, and unspoken repair slowly create distance in our relationships. And over time, those little missed moments add up.

    In this episode of Parents Making Time, Anthony and Jennifer share three simple phrases that can completely transform your relationship with your kids — phrases backed by neuroscience, attachment research, and their own real-life parenting stories.

    Because intentional parenting isn’t about being perfect.

    It’s about being willing to say, “I’m sorry.”, “Thank you.”, and “I love you.”

    These small words create emotional safety, strengthen trust, and teach your kids how to build healthy relationships for the rest of their lives.


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

    • How saying “I’m sorry” actually strengthens trust and respect with your kids
    • Why gratitude and verbal affection rewire your child’s brain for safety and connection
    • A simple daily mindset to help busy parents make more emotional deposits than withdrawals

    If you’re a parent who wants to be more present, more connected, and more intentional without adding more to your already full plate, this episode will show you how three small phrases can make a lifelong impact.

    When you finish listening, we’d love for you to connect with us on social media!

    Follow us on Instagram and like our page on Facebook to keep the conversation going. It’s the best way to get quick tips, encouragement, and resources to help you make time for what matters most—your family.

    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
    10 mins
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