Montessori Dad with J.D. Murgolo
by J.D. Murgolo | Story House Studio · 83 episodes
KidsFamilyParenting
What would it look like to parent on purpose? Montessori Dad Podcast with J.D. Murgolo is a respectful parenting podcast for fathers navigating the beautiful chaos of raising kids. Each episode explores Montessori principles, emotional intelligence, and conscious fatherhood — so you can show up for your kids in a way that actually feels like you.
Latest episodes
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8 min
Prepared Environment, Prepared Self: What a Messy Morning Taught Me
The kitchen was clean the night before.That's where this episode starts, with the best version of yourself. The one who set the coffee maker and wiped the counter and thought: tomo…
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6 min
Dear Future Self | Season 3 Finale — A Letter on Fatherhood, Growth & Letting Go
In the Season 3 finale of the Montessori Dad podcast, host J.D. Murgolo sets down the letters to his children and instead writes directly to his future self — a mindful reflection…
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11 min
The Hands That Hold, and Let Go | Raising Independent Kids Through Montessori
There's a moment, and if you're a parent, you've felt it, when you realize your child no longer reaches for your hand the same way. They still reach. But differently. Steadier. Lik…
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11 min
The Slow Season: How Slowing Down as a Dad Creates Space for Real Connection
What does it look like to actually slow down as a dad — not just talk about it, but live it?In this entry, I reflect on a season of loud dinners and quiet realizations. Through a M…
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15 min
When Your Kid Says No (And What It's Really Telling You)
In this entry, I reflect on a moment of defiance, a sharp “no” that landed harder than expected, and what it revealed about boundaries, emotional regulation, and connection.Through…
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15 min
Freedom Within Limits
In this entry, I reflect on watching my children create stories entirely their own , worlds built from Legos, toy cars, and imagination, and what it asks of me as a parent.Through…
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14 min
The Exhaustion of the "Good Parent": Honesty, Emotional Labor, and the Prepared Adult
In this entry of Montessori Dad, I’m sitting with a specific kind of fatigue, the exhaustion that surfaces not from parenting itself, but from the labor of pretending we aren’t exh…
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13 min
What Happens When We Stop Rushing Our Children?
What happens to our children—and ourselves—when we stop rushing the clock and start trusting the process?In this entry, I reflect on the “threshold” of parenting: that difficult, q…
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13 min
The Game We Didn’t Finish
How do we help our children navigate disappointment without "fixing" it? We explore building resilience in children through the lens of a game that didn't finish.In this entry, I s…
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10 min
The Space Between Us
How do we explain the unexplainable to our children? In this entry, J.D. reflects on parenting through grief following the loss of his father. Watching his three and five-year-old…
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10 min
While We Are Still Their World
Right now, our children’s worlds are small, and we are at the center of them. Through a journal entry to his five-year-old son, J.D. examines the weight of intentional parenting an…
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29 sec
Season 3 — The Montessori Dad
A quieter season begins.The Montessori Dad returns this February with a new season of reflections on presence, patience, and parenting as an inner practice.Season 3 continues the j…
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19 min
Growing Through the Quiet Storm - Entry #64
Even the smallest storms—frustration, sadness, disappointment—can become opportunities for connection and growth. For the final entry of Season 2, I journal a tender moment of emot…
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17 min
Learning From Setbacks - Entry #63
Mistakes are opportunities waiting to be noticed. In this episode, I journal a moment when a block tower collapses, and we explore how calm presence and gentle guidance turn setbac…
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16 min
Leaning Into Discomfort - Entry #62
Growth often comes dressed as discomfort. This week, I journal about a moment when my child struggles to tie their shoes, and the subtle lesson that emerges when we allow children…
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14 min
Recognizing the Hidden Strengths - Entry #61
Sometimes the most remarkable growth happens quietly. In this week’s episode, I reflect on the subtle moments when children show resilience and independence—the patient stacking of…
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14 min
Nurturing the Roots of Connection - Entry #60
So much of family life is built on the small, ordinary rituals—morning routines, bedtime stories, the little rhythms that seem almost invisible. Yet within them is something powerf…
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11 min
The Courage to Begin Again - Entry #59
There are days when parenting doesn’t go the way we hope. We lose our patience, we rush, we miss the moment. And afterward, we carry the weight of regret.But what if mistakes aren’…
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8 min
Planting Seeds of Patience - Entry #58
This journal entry invites us to see our children's natural rhythms not as obstacles to efficiency, but as teachers showing us a more soulful way of being present.What You'll Disco…
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5 min
Journal Entry #57 - Listening to the Quiet Within
As the seasons begin to shift, so too do we. September invites us to pause, to turn inward, and to notice the quiet places we often rush past.In this episode, I share a journal ent…