These parents with 10 kids have taken on yet another addition – the Messy Family Project. While it might not be changing more diapers, Michael and Alicia Hernon started a podcast in 2015 that has quickly grown to 10,000-20,000 listeners a month.
While they insist they are not experts nor psychologists, they share their best practices to strengthen Catholic marriages, transform parents and develop the culture within the family.
ALICIA HERNON
Messy Family Project
“I'm the second of 10 children and a lot of them had a lot of questions about how do you do things with your children? And asking about our experiences and what we have learned. So when we started the podcast, we were really speaking as an older brother and sister, and really, we continue that today.”
They seek to help others make Christ the center of their family. This stems from encouraging parents to step into their authority as parents, teaching children respect and most importantly, love between the parents.
MICHAEL HERNON
Messy Family Project
“We knew that there was a greater need in the world to support and strengthen families and we knew that our message was resonating and we wanted to serve more. So we launched this from just a hobby into a full-time ministry called 'The Messy Family Project.'”
The ministry allows them to be completely transparent and share what works and does not work for them. They say there is no secret formula or a one-size-fits-all for every family.
Discipline, parenting as a team, dealing with loss or infertility and so much more are all themes they share, offering various resources for families and free downloads on their page.
ALICIA HERNON
Messy Family Project
“We try to make them go with the podcast, maybe a worksheet that parents can work through and they can use as a discussion starter.”
MICHAEL HERNON
Messy Family Project
“One of the top things we found families were looking for was addressing some key issues. One of them being discipline. So we created a four-part series that comes out via email, as well as an e-book.”
This year, they are full of speaking events, including a trip to Australia to talk, and they are enjoying every minute of it. Their dream is to one day also hold weekend conferences to help families and provide all the resources they need to be successful, Catholic families, raising their children in the faith.
