Creating a Value-Centered Home

Kim John Payne’s work focuses on the feeling of overwhelm that a lot of us walk around with today. As an educator, school consultant, and family counselor, Payne helps people simplify their lives (which he writes about in Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids). People often misunderstand what it means to have a balanced life, says Payne. They’ll tell him that they’d like more time to be creative and to connect with others, and that they’d love to stop overscheduling their kids—but that’s not the world we live in and thus it’s unrealistic and unproductive. In Payne’s mind, this is a major misjudgment. We prepare our kids and ourselves for a world that is far more structured than it is today and than it will be tomorrow. In this chat, Payne makes a case against child-centered homes and shows us how to create the value-centered homes that he believes could change the culture for all of us. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)