Famous at Home

Parents today have more resources, information, and support than ever before—yet anxiety, fragility, and emotional struggles among children continue to rise.
 
In this conversation, bestselling author and counselor David Thomas joins Josh to explore a difficult question: Have our good intentions as parents unintentionally gotten in the way of raising capable, resilient kids?
 
Together they discuss:Why confidence grows from competence—not constant praise
How over-helping can undermine a child's resilience
The surprising connection between failure and emotional health
Why happiness should never be the primary goal of parenting
The dangers of "rescuing" kids from every struggle
How healthy boundaries create security
What today's anxiety epidemic reveals about modern parenting
Why children need opportunities to struggle, fail, and recover
Practical ways to build capability at every age
David also shares one simple challenge every parent can implement this week to begin raising children who are resourceful, resilient, and prepared for life.
 
If you've ever wondered whether you're helping your child too much—or how to raise kids who can thrive in an increasingly fragile culture—this episode is for you.
 
*Thank you to Bernhardt Watches for sponsoring this episode! Click here and be sure to use the code FAMOUS at checkout for free shipping!
https://www.bernhardtwatch.com/
 
Time Stamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:15 David Thomas joins the show
4:00 The extreme swing parents took to rescue kids from hardship and rob them from being capable
9:50 Why youth mental health became the crisis of our day
13:50 The decrease in stress around the house when kids are capable
16:28 The problem with being committed to your child’s happiness
20:27 The two consequences of kids raised to be happy and the resultant relational fallout we’re unknowingly preparing them for
26:28 The most effective 19-word phrase to use with your kids
30:20 The strategy for helping your kids F.A.I.L.
34:45 How family estrangement and language inflation is impacting relationships
42:05 The most practical way to start building capability in your kids
 
Show Notes:
Get Capable: How to Teach Your Kids the Strengths, Skills, and Strategies to Build Resilience https://amzn.to/4vwTyDk

Men, sign up for the Living Legacy Cohort:
https://www.famousathome.com/menscoaching
 
Sign up for Raising Future Legends!
www.raisingfuturelegends.com
 
Reserve your seat for Tender & Fierce Fall Cohort beginning August 17, 2026: https://www.famousathome.com/offers/V75F6bY2
 
Get a copy of the Famous at Home book: https://amzn.to/4vZUQql
 
Looking for a marriage intensive with Famous at Home? Apply now.  https://www.famousathome.com/coaching
 
Follow Josh on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/joshua.straub
 
Follow Christi on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/christistraub
 
Sign up for our email list and Famous at Home Starter Bundle: https://www.famousathome.com/newsletter
 
Download NONAH's single Find My Way Home by clicking here: https://bellpartners.ffm.to/findmywayhome

Most men were never taught how to be emotionally present. They were taught how to provide, how to perform, and how to push through. And for a long time, that felt like enough. But if you've ever come home after leading hundreds of people at work and felt completely lost in your own living room, you're not alone. This is why famous at home exists in the first place.
 
In this episode, Josh discusses the tension men feel between the demands of their professional lives and the deeper call of their homes. Drawing on decades of research—including what one USC longitudinal study found is the single greatest factor for passing faith across generations—his own coaching work with high-capacity men, and two personal moments where he heard the quiet voice of God, Josh unpacks the three relationships every father must tend: with his wife, with his kids, and with Jesus.
 
Whether you lead hundreds at work and feel lost at home, or you're simply trying to figure out what a present, emotionally engaged husband and father looks like in practice — this one's for you.

*Thank you to Bernhardt Watches for sponsoring this episode! Click here and be sure to use the code FAMOUS at checkout for free shipping! 
https://www.bernhardtwatch.com/
 
Time Stamps:
0:00 Introduction
3:03 What it means to be famous at home
7:35 What research shows for men as dads and husbands
9:46 How to be emotionally safe for your wife
13:53 How to be emotionally safe for your kids
19:05 Hearing and obeying the voice of God as you lead your family
23:30 The Living Legacy Cohort
25:48 A special message to fathers

Show Notes:
Men, sign up for the Living Legacy Cohort:
https://www.famousathome.com/menscoaching
 
Sign up for Raising Future Legends!
www.raisingfuturelegends.com
 
Reserve your seat for Tender & Fierce Fall Cohort beginning August 17, 2026: https://www.famousathome.com/offers/V75F6bY2
 
Get a copy of the Famous at Home book: https://amzn.to/4vZUQql
 
Looking for a marriage intensive with Famous at Home? Apply now.  https://www.famousathome.com/coaching
 
Follow Josh on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/joshua.straub
 
Follow Christi on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/christistraub
 
Sign up for our email list and Famous at Home Starter Bundle: https://www.famousathome.com/newsletter
 
Download NONAH's single Find My Way Home by clicking here: https://bellpartners.ffm.to/findmywayhome

We've been asking our kids the wrong question since kindergarten. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" confuses identity with performance, and Josh argues we've been setting them up for anxiety and false selves ever since.

This episode reframes the whole parenting mission around the theme of Jesus's central message: the Kingdom of God. When kids understand their personal role in building for the kingdom of God, their identity stops depending on what they do, what they have, or what anyone thinks of them. It's a parenting paradigm shift that gives our kids a purpose bigger than anything the world has to offer.

We also announce the launch of a brand new parenting platform for raising emotionally healthy and spiritually mature kids called Raising Future Legends.

*Once again, thank you to Bernhardt Watches for sponsoring this episode. Click here and be sure to use the code FAMOUS at checkout for free shipping!
https://www.bernhardtwatch.com/

Time Stamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:03 Life updates 
4:03 Identity and purpose for our kids 
7:40 What did Jesus mean by the kingdom of God? 
13:28 Who our children become and what it means for building for the kingdom of God 
17:50 An exciting announcement about Raising Future Legends 
24:07 An invitation into a new way of living and parenting

Show Notes:
Sign up for Raising Future Legends!
www.raisingfuturelegends.com
 
Reserve your seat for Tender & Fierce Fall Cohort beginning August 17, 2026: https://www.famousathome.com/offers/V75F6bY2
 
Men, sign up for the Living Legacy Cohort:
https://www.famousathome.com/menscoaching
 
Looking for a marriage intensive with Famous at Home? Apply now.  https://www.famousathome.com/coaching
 
Follow Josh on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/joshua.straub
 
Follow Christi on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/christistraub
 
Sign up for our email list and Famous at Home Starter Bundle: https://www.famousathome.com/newsletter
 
Download NONAH's single Find My Way Home by clicking here: https://bellpartners.ffm.to/findmywayhome

Thanks to our sponsor: Bernhardt Watches! Use the code FAMOUS at checkout for free shipping! 
https://www.bernhardtwatch.com/

After a break with family and a slower pace of life, Josh returns with some existential questions, one in particular that's been sitting heavy: Am I conforming to what everyone else around me is doing, or am I "appointing" my time well with the people who need me most?
 
Drawing from Isaiah 43, Psalm 90, and Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Josh walks through what it looks like to grieve the past well, release the assignments of old, and step fully into the season God has for your family right now.
 
He further unpacks how sweetening retrospect—or nostalgically living in the past—can breed depression, how anxiety about the future keeps us from the present, and why the mundane drive-time moments are shaping the hearts of your children more than you realize. A practical, honest reset if you're catching yourself distracted or not as intentional as you wish you might be.  

** Thank you to Bernhardt Watches for sponsoring this episode! Click here and be sure to use the code FAMOUS at checkout for free shipping! 
https://www.bernhardtwatch.com/
 
Time Stamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:05 A podcast and Straub family update
4:00 What we learned being out of the country and the lessons it’s teaching me
8:45 Upcoming Famous at Home cohorts
10:20 The existential questions about what matters and why we make the decisions we do
15:03 How the nostalgia of the past keeps us from moving into a new season with our kids
21:20 Practicing the presence of the moment without your mind racing
23:40 “Appointing” versus conforming
30:42 How God builds our faith now to prepare us for what He’s preparing for us in the next, new season
34:12 Stepping into the “new season” for your marriage
37:15 Practical ways to “appoint our days” and be present in the moment with our kids
41:00 Number 1 regret of the dying

Show Notes:
Reserve your seat for Tender & Fierce Fall Cohort beginning August 17, 2026: https://www.famousathome.com/offers/V75F6bY2

Men, sign up for the Living Legacy Cohort:
https://www.famousathome.com/menscoaching

Sign up for the Your Family Purpose online video series to build emotional safety and set your family values
https://www.famousathome.com/your-family-purpose

Looking for a marriage intensive with Famous at Home? Apply now.  https://www.famousathome.com/coaching

Follow Josh on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/joshua.straub

Follow Christi on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/christistraub

Sign up for our email list and Famous at Home Starter Bundle: https://www.famousathome.com/newsletter

Download NONAH's single Find My Way Home by clicking here: https://bellpartners.ffm.to/findmywayhome

** Grab your Bernhardt Watch: http://bernhardtwatch.com/
Use code FAMOUS at checkout for FREE shipping

Have you ever had a conversation with a loved one go in a completely different direction than what you saw coming? Your intention was there, but the way your loved one received it was nothing in the way you intended it? 
 
Our good friend, Jason VanRuler, started to see this pattern in many of the people he had come into therapy. Conversations between people -- where everything was at stake -- and the intentions were there, but someone inevitably walked away feeling hurt, unseen, or even abandoning the relationship altogether. What one person meant isn’t what the other person heard.
 
So Jason asked himself, “Why does it sometimes land well, and other times not?”

The more research he did, the more he learned predictable patterns that led to 5 primary communication types: Peace, Advocate, Thinking, Harbor, and Spark. Each one with a strength and each one with an opportunity. Not only that, each person has their own primary and secondary type.

In this episode, Jason unveils each type, how we develop our own, and how we can better understand how our spouse, kids, and loved ones communicate with us. We get into marital dynamics and why we usually marry someone with similar secondary type, but the trouble that can arise when we realize we don’t have the same primary one. We also talk about how knowing the types can help us communicate at a deeper level with our kids. 

Time Stamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:18 Jason VanRuler joins the show!
4:34 Why these communication types matters
6:00 Jason introduces the 5 PATHS of communication
11:16 Where our personal communication style comes from
14:05 Strengths and weaknesses of each communication type
20:20 The communication types in our children and how we give what we didn’t get
25:05 How different communication types serve us in marriage
 
Show Notes:
Get Jason’s new book Discovering Your Communication Type: The 5 Paths to Deeper Connections and Stronger Relationships: https://amzn.to/4sZzbwc

Check out Jason’s website: www.jasonvr.com

Reserve your seat for Tender & Fierce Fall Cohort beginning August 17, 2026: https://www.famousathome.com/offers/V75F6bY2

Looking for a marriage intensive with Famous at Home? Apply now.  https://www.famousathome.com/coaching
 
Men, sign up for the Living Legacy Cohort:
https://www.famousathome.com/menscoaching
 
Sign up for our email list and Famous at Home Starter Bundle: https://www.famousathome.com/newsletter
 
Download NONAH's single Find My Way Home by clicking here: https://bellpartners.ffm.to/findmywayhome