The Myth of “18 Summers,” Speaking Life, Routines + Comparison (Back-to-School Special)
The Intentional Parents Podcast
Intentional
4.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 27 August 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As the school year begins, we’re diving into the hopes, pressures, and rhythms of this season. We start with the myth of “you only get 18 summers,” a phrase that can put unnecessary pressure on parents. Instead of viewing time with our kids through a lens of scarcity, Scripture reminds us that God’s kingdom is one of abundance (2 Corinthians 9:8).
We also explore the power of words in shaping our children’s sense of identity. Casual comments like “I can’t wait for my kids to go back to school” may seem harmless, but they can unintentionally communicate feelings of shame, insecurity, or being unwanted. Proverbs 12:18 reminds us that words carry weight — they can wound or they can heal. Instead of viewing the school year as an escape from our kids, we can reframe it as a hopeful new season and an opportunity to speak life over them.
From there, we turn to routines — how to set clear expectations, build in patience, and ease our families back into structure. Jesus Himself modeled rhythms that were not rigid but rooted, often withdrawing to pray in lonely places (Luke 5:16). As parents, we can create steady but flexible rhythms with tools like chore charts, gentle reminders, and spiritual practices at the center.
Finally, we talk about the trap of comparison. Looking at how others parent or how other kids are doing can rob us of joy and presence, yet Galatians 6:4 calls us to focus on our own race with gratitude and faithfulness. This episode is an invitation to step into the school year without fear, but with hope — speaking life, embracing rooted rhythms, and staying present to the abundance God has placed right in front of us.
Scripture Mentioned: 2 Corinthians 9:8, Proverbs 12:18, Luke 5:16 + Galatians 6:4
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey friends, mark your calendars. The Intentional Motherhood Retreat is coming up October 23rd through 25th in Portland, Oregon. |
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| 0:43.5 | You're listening to the intentional parents podcast brought to you by intentional. |
| 0:48.7 | Intentional is all about spiritual formation in the family. |
| 0:52.6 | We desire to bring biblical hope and practical help. Enjoy this |
| 0:56.5 | week's conversation. Welcome back to the intentional parents podcast. We're talking today |
| 1:07.2 | about the myth of 18 summers, speaking life, talking about routine, looking |
| 1:11.8 | inwards, not outwards, talking about comparison. And we want to have like a proper back to school |
| 1:17.0 | episode. Now, I know this is coming out a little bit late, later August. And majority of you |
| 1:21.7 | have either stepped right into school this week or just maybe last week or are going to be |
| 1:26.8 | stepping into school in the next few |
| 1:28.7 | weeks. And so we thought as family, as parents who are in this with you so often, we thought |
| 1:35.1 | it would be great to have a conversation about what back to school routines and or ideas, things |
| 1:41.2 | that end up helping us, things that we've done that have been really hard and not helpful and things that we are trying to do, excuse me, to be helpful. So that's |
| 1:49.9 | what we're going today. I want to let everyone know we so appreciate if you've rated and |
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| 2:02.3 | It's huge. It is so helpful. And then YouTube, we have a whole growing YouTube audience. You can go watch the whole episode. A lot of people actually listen to the podcast on YouTube. You can watch it, but a lot of people, if you, I guess, have an account, you can just listen to it. So you can go over there. |
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