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How Christina Builds Friendship and Community

The Family Lab

Release Date: 02/22/2023

How Whitney Experiments Spring 2025 show art How Whitney Experiments Spring 2025

The Family Lab

Latest update on the experiments in the Archibald home--from new milestones to sleep habits to meal planning to morning routines.  I'd love your input for next season. Plus, I'll send you a free Independent Kids Self-Evaluation. Weekly Open Lab: Wednesdays at 10 am MT (through April 30 2025, then resuming in September)  Join Whitney in her virtual studio to share ideas, solve problems, craft experiments, chat about past and future episodes, or just drop in to say hi! 

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Designing Your Family Culture with Family Looking Up show art Designing Your Family Culture with Family Looking Up

The Family Lab

We're bringing the band back together! The podcasters formerly known as Family Looking Up--Andrea Nielson, Beth Millward, and Camille Ward--reunite to talk about their unique family cultures and how to be deliberate as you design your own.  Weekly Open Lab: Wednesdays at 10 am MT (through April 30 2025, then resuming in September)  Join Whitney in her virtual studio to share ideas, solve problems, craft experiments, chat about past and future episodes, or just drop in to say hi! 

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Teaching Kids to Clean, with Joy Williams show art Teaching Kids to Clean, with Joy Williams

The Family Lab

Spring is in the air, and it's time to open the windows, grab the cleaning supplies and get 'er done--with the help of our guest Joy Williams. Joy has developed a whole series of step-by-step guides to help kids (and adults) learn how to clean every room in the house. I've been meaning to try them for years, and this is finally our year. This will be our main family experiment for April and I'm excited to kick it off with this episode. We'll talk about why it's important for kids to help around the house, how to teach them to do so, and of course we'll have some experiments for you to...

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Top 5 Family Movies show art Top 5 Family Movies

The Family Lab

This week, I invited my four siblings--Cassie Gadd, Brad Singley, Brett Singley, and Hayley Kirkland--into the studio to talk about our top family movies. We intended to each share 5 favorite movies from our childhood and then in our own families, but we definitely got carried away. I'm going to list our childhood movies and then our current favorite family movies by the person who recommended them. I'll omit the ones that we mentioned but do not recommend. (Sorry, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) We also talk about how we make family movie nights happen and what they look like for each of us. ...

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Book Club: The Art of Gathering Part 3 (Chapters 4-8) show art Book Club: The Art of Gathering Part 3 (Chapters 4-8)

The Family Lab

Time to tackle larger events, like weddings, funerals, family reunions, and community events! In this third installment, we talk about the structure of events, from the invitations to the send off. This week Whitney is joined by Angela Halliday and Debbie Siebert. The book we've been discussing is The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker. To listen to the other two episodes about this book, click the links below:    Weekly Open Lab: Wednesdays at 10 am MT (through April 30 2025, then resuming in September)  Join Whitney in her virtual studio to share ideas, solve problems, craft...

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Lab: Making Friends, with Elise Caffee show art Lab: Making Friends, with Elise Caffee

The Family Lab

On March 6, 2025, Elise Caffee was in a terrible car accident in Cancun. The car she was in was hit by an asphalt truck, and she was rescued, but severely burned. Since this was published, Elise passed away from her injuries. You can find more of her story at I decided to change my planned schedule to bring you a conversation I had with Elise about friendship in 2022. I used clips from it in two different episodes, but never released the entirety of it. Elise had so many beautiful things to say about friendship and kindness. Please enjoy her wisdom today and say a prayer for Elise and her...

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Lab: Discovering Your Parenting Superpowers, with Maria Eckersley show art Lab: Discovering Your Parenting Superpowers, with Maria Eckersley

The Family Lab

So you have never been a room mom. (Guilty!) Look how many books you read with your kids, or magnificent meals you made, or epic hikes you went on. In this episode Maria Eckersley and Whitney Archibald talk about the tradeoffs that come with discovering and leaning into our superpowers. You can't do everything all at once. But you can build different strengths in different seasons and turn out to be amazing in your own unique way.  To learn more from the wonderful Maria Eckersley, check out this episode of How She Moms:  And you can find fun ideas, printables, and her scripture...

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Top 5 Tech Tools, with Sami Bedell-Mulhern show art Top 5 Tech Tools, with Sami Bedell-Mulhern

The Family Lab

How do you run your family calendar? Manage projects around the house? Keep track of kids' money? Whitney and guest Sami Bedell-Mulhern talk about the top 5 tech tools they use to help their homes run smoothly.  Weekly Open Lab: Wednesdays at 10 am MT (through April 30 2025, then resuming in September)  Join Whitney in her virtual studio to share ideas, solve problems, craft experiments, chat about past and future episodes, discuss this quarter's book, or just drop in to say hi! 

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The Family Lab Philosophy show art The Family Lab Philosophy

The Family Lab

This week I boil down the Family Lab philosophy into ten different ideas--mostly things I've learned the hard way through lots of first-hand experimentation.  Here are some links for things I mention in the episode:  --Please join in!  

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Book Club: The Art of Gathering Part 2 (Chapters 2-4) show art Book Club: The Art of Gathering Part 2 (Chapters 2-4)

The Family Lab

When you're hosting an event are you Inclusive or exclusive? Chill or bossy? These are a few of the controversies we'll cover in today's discussion about the Art of Gathering by Priya Parker, with Whitney Archibald, Angela Halliday, and Emily Bean. Watch Part 1: Other episodes about gathering:

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Christina Acosta shares practical tips for building friendships, from analyzing and repairing past friendships to going deep and getting beyond surface relationships. Christina is the founder of Growing Up Gorgeous, a community for black women of faith.