Speaker 1: Hello, Hello, Hello, it's We Knows Parenting. I'm Beth Newel,
Speaker 1: I'm Peter McCarney. Your parents were here. We're catching up
Speaker 1: with each other with you, We're getting it all done.
Speaker 1: I can't believe what a good mood I'm in, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: because the rest of this day was miserable. I just
Speaker 1: turned a corner. Okay, I don't know what it was.
Speaker 1: I mean it's often drink a corner called whiskey. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the corner right, I turned onto Bourbon Street. Wow. Are
Speaker 1: this podcast is very like pro alcohol? Um, we're not anyway.
Speaker 1: I mean it's not. It's it's the thing about you
Speaker 1: want to mention the alcohol right in the first five
Speaker 1: seconds of the podcast. Every time is it gives it
Speaker 1: much more importance than it has in our lives. And
Speaker 1: we don't have a problem. And we're because because we don't.
Speaker 1: We don't go out drinking. We don't drink that much.
Speaker 1: This is as much as I'll drink it at night
Speaker 1: whenever we sit down. We've just relaxed at the end,
Speaker 1: and it's like the one time a week I'm thinking
Speaker 1: about the drink, the one time in the week. Um,
Speaker 1: I can finally give this drink the attention to deserve.
Speaker 1: So we had a week as a regular old fall week,
Speaker 1: getting cold, stocking up on hats um regular old fall
Speaker 1: week went hat harvest. You know how the weeks go
Speaker 1: and Halloween and thanks multiple holidays. Election day do you
Speaker 1: call it a holiday? It should be a holiday. This
Speaker 1: is at something I'm slightly angry about in in terms
Speaker 1: of a social justice thing. The fact that the election
Speaker 1: is not a holiday is already problematic because if people
Speaker 1: want to vote, they need to they should not have
Speaker 1: to work. But specifically because in many places like our town,
Speaker 1: for some reason, it is a holiday for children to
Speaker 1: not go to school. So they've made it extra hard
Speaker 1: for working parents to get to the polls. I mean,
Speaker 1: like we it was fine for us, but I just
Speaker 1: an issue. I think that idea are getting to the
Speaker 1: polls on election day, right, Like if it's for the
Speaker 1: teacher's sake, I mean, I'm not I don't want to
Speaker 1: discredit teachers who do really hard work and make a
Speaker 1: lot of prep, but they're they're going to be able
Speaker 1: to get there after three pm. They're fine, Like I mean,
Speaker 1: also in New York State, now, it was the first
Speaker 1: year of early voting and we could have just mosey
Speaker 1: down over to the towns. I don't think get specifically
Speaker 1: impacted us. I just think in theory, this is an
Speaker 1: issue that is problematic. Um Anyway, today was Veterans Day
Speaker 1: and I was home with the kids in no school.
Speaker 1: And so here's what's been going on with me. I
Speaker 1: don't know if I talked about this last week, but um,
Speaker 1: I lost my mind a few times this week. I've
Speaker 1: been doing hour upon hour of essentially data transferring into
Speaker 1: a new system blah blah blah data entry for twelve
Speaker 1: hours straight for like three days. And it's an exciting
Speaker 1: project that I built this thing, and so I'm really
Speaker 1: obsessive about it. But then I just realized at the
Speaker 1: end of the night, like I feel crazy. I can't
Speaker 1: go to sleep. And so here's what I've been doing.
Speaker 1: It's like eleven or twelve, you're asleep, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: now is the perfect time to finally start season one
Speaker 1: of The Walking Dead. Uh so this is a bad
Speaker 1: choice on top of a bad choice. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: I'm so frantic and like my brain is like, you
Speaker 1: have so many things to do, you have endless things
Speaker 1: to do. Now get obsessed with this zombie apocalypse that's
Speaker 1: truly terrifying and unsettling. And I had in two nights
Speaker 1: the two most genuinely terrifying nightmares of my entire adult life,
Speaker 1: and I still did it again for a third night. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm glad your choices are affecting you and not just
Speaker 1: the rest of us, because regardless of the walking dead thing,
Speaker 1: I think you need to take breaks when you're doing
Speaker 1: these things where you decide to obsessively stare at your
Speaker 1: computer screen for twelve hours a day. Because the way
Speaker 1: I feel like a choice where I'm like, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do today, go crazy, there's a very
Speaker 1: good reason I'm doing it. As an adult. It's your
Speaker 1: responsibility to try to self monitor and learn how to
Speaker 1: giving yourself slightly crazy to be around completely crazy. On Sunday,
Speaker 1: the thing that was so stressful, I then went and taught,
Speaker 1: and every conversation I had after it was over, I
Speaker 1: walked away and I went, that was so awkward. Right,
Speaker 1: this is what I'm saying. I like, I would actually
Speaker 1: like to be working as much as you are. Like
Speaker 1: I have that drive to want to be like working
Speaker 1: all weekend, but I can feel myself being crazy with
Speaker 1: the children. I can feel diminishing returns in my work output.
Speaker 1: I just you need to take a breath and be
Speaker 1: present with the kids to be sane. We got into
Speaker 1: big fights tonight because exactly what we're talking about, and
Speaker 1: I agree a thousand percent. And you didn't get them
Speaker 1: outside until just before dinner time when they're at their
Speaker 1: hungriest and angriest. It wasn't just before dinner. We started
Speaker 1: at like three getting dressed whenever. It took forever. We
Speaker 1: got outside and Brynes I was like, we're going to
Speaker 1: walk to to dinners. Okay, I just want to say,
Speaker 1: this is what you set me up for last weekend
Speaker 1: that I was pretty frustrated to come home to, which
Speaker 1: is kids in this state who were very frazzled. Well,
Speaker 1: I got it back. I got it, comes around, goes
Speaker 1: and comes in revolving door of karma. Okay, so you went.
Speaker 1: You took them out into the streets at their hungriest
Speaker 1: and tirest and stir craziest. And then Bran ran away
Speaker 1: from me, and I called Brant because he was running
Speaker 1: the wrong way. He thought were going to the car.
Speaker 1: We were walking and bread and then I screamed, Britt
Speaker 1: and he kept running and the rage. There was a
Speaker 1: time if you listen to the podcast where I went
Speaker 1: through some rage issues, we all went through some rage issues,
Speaker 1: and I got a bit of that tonight. It's been
Speaker 1: a while, and I think you know what it is
Speaker 1: now that I'm actually thinking about, Like the way that
Speaker 1: you're emotionally reacting this week because you're in such a
Speaker 1: key top state, is what brit is picking up on.
Speaker 1: And then because he's a constant mirror of everything, he's
Speaker 1: behaving in a similar way. And then he's also talking
Speaker 1: to me like he's like, you need to do this
Speaker 1: and lectures you the way I lecture. Yeah, exactly. He
Speaker 1: repeats like everything he say and he keeps all week long.
Speaker 1: He's like, well then you're not going to get to
Speaker 1: watch cheesy all weekend and I'm like okay, fine, and
Speaker 1: he's like, well, how do you feel about? Like can
Speaker 1: we talk about the most Britin thing that's ever happened?
Speaker 1: You bought are No rather his and Ali bought him
Speaker 1: very funny Christmas sweater that says, you know there's sequence
Speaker 1: where if you rub it one way, there's an image
Speaker 1: and if you rub it the other way. All the
Speaker 1: little discs flip and so he has that and if
Speaker 1: you push it one way it says nice, and you
Speaker 1: do it the other way it says naughty. But only
Speaker 1: Bryn would interpret it the way he did. Well, everyone
Speaker 1: who goes, oh, you're wearing a sweater, you're either nice
Speaker 1: or naughty while wearing it, and Britain goes, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no. When I flip it to naughty, it's about you,
Speaker 1: the person I'm talking to, because Daddy, if you're if
Speaker 1: you're mean, I'm gonna flip it and you're going to
Speaker 1: be naughty. Then he's like a perfect example of why
Speaker 1: the like penal system does not work. Like he doesn't
Speaker 1: like he's just always trying to escape the specific technicality.
Speaker 1: He's not testing the fence with every king. I was like,
Speaker 1: I remember we talked about this last year in retrospect,
Speaker 1: where it's just like the whole like threat of Santa
Speaker 1: not giving presents like doesn't really work and isn't like
Speaker 1: a great and so it came up like the other
Speaker 1: day again he was being like terrible, this is probably
Speaker 1: the day that you set them on fire and handed
Speaker 1: them to me. But he uh, I thought it was
Speaker 1: a good idea at the time, he was being horrible
Speaker 1: and then they were like getting ready for bed, and
Speaker 1: I was at one point trying to explain, like, you know,
Speaker 1: Christmas is coming up, so we gotta start behaving because
Speaker 1: of Santa. And he was like, um, no, we don't,
Speaker 1: and and I was like yes, And I was like,
Speaker 1: do you remember the song he sees you when you're sleeping?
Speaker 1: Because he was asking he was like, how does Santa. No,
Speaker 1: Santa can't know what I'm doing. And then I was like, well,
Speaker 1: he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're
Speaker 1: a week And then he was like, no, he only
Speaker 1: cares if you're naughty on Christmas Day. The other days
Speaker 1: don't matter. Um. He was like just trying to find
Speaker 1: the loophole. Boy, this is the year where he's really
Speaker 1: going to apply logic to Christmas. Yeah. So, and and
Speaker 1: well he did say he said I always get presents.
Speaker 1: He literally said that, And I was like, good point.
Speaker 1: Good point, data is in your favor. This is the
Speaker 1: logic of white men. They're like, but I keep getting rewarded,
Speaker 1: so I guess you're wrong. But I will say this
Speaker 1: story is not about how bad Britain was because it
Speaker 1: wasn't him. He and I finally I walked over him
Speaker 1: and it was more about that I was irrationally upset,
Speaker 1: but I went over and I kept it cool, and
Speaker 1: I was like, did you hear me say your name?
Speaker 1: Four times? When I scream your name? You just stopped
Speaker 1: and he goes, oh, sorry, and I was like, that
Speaker 1: went well. Actually, That's why I did have some good
Speaker 1: moments with him on Sunday, because he had a play
Speaker 1: date with his best friend who has he doesn't see
Speaker 1: very often, and at least in a couple of hours
Speaker 1: leading up to the play date, I had some really
Speaker 1: amazing leverage where he was like, I was like, if
Speaker 1: you keep doing that to your sister, maybe we won't
Speaker 1: have this play date. And he was like, um okay,
Speaker 1: just like the only time. He's so much better at that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And he was great over the plate ate it It's
Speaker 1: just like he's climbing the walls over here. And I
Speaker 1: do think he needs to be like let out and
Speaker 1: run like a dog, like he needs to get outside.
Speaker 1: The other on on election Day, we went for a
Speaker 1: really long walk and we went out the door and
Speaker 1: he literally started running and I just ran with him.
Speaker 1: That's when I did that with him on Saturday, and
Speaker 1: I luckily had just gone for my first jog in
Speaker 1: like two months, and I was like loosened up and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, we're sprinting. Cool, this is like
Speaker 1: a good workout. Yeah, it was great. I was hoping
Speaker 1: to do that tonight. And then Maven takes off ill Maven, Maven, Maven,
Speaker 1: and she ignores me, and I'm doubly enraged because I've
Speaker 1: just gone through this, and so she runs and I
Speaker 1: just stand there waiting for her to realize that no
Speaker 1: one's following with her, and she get up like scared
Speaker 1: and come back. Of course she doesn't, so I have
Speaker 1: to go around the corner and Brind sees that I'm mad,
Speaker 1: and he goes in. He can see that my rage
Speaker 1: is directed at Maven, and he goes full angel and
Speaker 1: he's just listening and he's great. And I go and
Speaker 1: Maven's at the end of the sidewalk by the street,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, shout, I just let this three
Speaker 1: year old run towards the buggest business street. So I
Speaker 1: go over there and I'm like, give her. You can't
Speaker 1: push too hard with her because she doesn't. She doesn't
Speaker 1: tolerate that. So I'm like, did you hear me? When
Speaker 1: I say your name? Stopped like okay, and she doesn't
Speaker 1: say anything. She just stares at you, and I say okay,
Speaker 1: and then bring goes may even just say okay. I
Speaker 1: keep doing this thing with them where I try to
Speaker 1: be really common, be like, hey, I can't have you
Speaker 1: going on the street because you could get hit by
Speaker 1: a car and you'd be very hurt. Do you understand?
Speaker 1: Like I just keep you like do you understand? And
Speaker 1: she's getting a little better. But then but then I
Speaker 1: was like, all right, we're fine, let's go this way.
Speaker 1: We started walking, and then she refused to walk, and
Speaker 1: I go, okay, if you don't walk, we're going to
Speaker 1: go back inside. We're not going to go to dinner.
Speaker 1: And then she gives me her squints her eyes at
Speaker 1: me a death stare, and I go, okay, let's go
Speaker 1: a we start walking. She won't go, and I go,
Speaker 1: this is your last chance, and Brin's like, no, we
Speaker 1: need to go to dinner. I'm like, it's up to
Speaker 1: maven one two, And I did all these ultimatums and
Speaker 1: I go one to three and she didn't move, so
Speaker 1: I was like, now I have to follow through on
Speaker 1: the threat. So I pick her up, and then she
Speaker 1: starts kicking me, and then I get really angry and
Speaker 1: I go and I go upstairs and I go, you're
Speaker 1: going in the room. You're staying here until dinner is ready.
Speaker 1: And then she Brin will stay in there if you
Speaker 1: say that to him. She comes running out and I
Speaker 1: have to pick her up and I put her in
Speaker 1: her bed and I go, you do not leave here
Speaker 1: until dinner is ready. And then I keep coming. She
Speaker 1: keeps coming back out, and I put her down and
Speaker 1: I go close the door, and then she starts kicking
Speaker 1: the door, and it took me back to this time
Speaker 1: that Brent would do that when I was three. And
Speaker 1: I go in and I go, if you keep kicking
Speaker 1: the door, I'm gonna have to hold you. And she's
Speaker 1: like you wouldn't dare In her eyes, she's like, I
Speaker 1: dare you? And I go back out, and she kicked
Speaker 1: the door so hard, and I go in the air
Speaker 1: and I sit on the bed and I just I
Speaker 1: just give like a real giant, gentle bear hug and
Speaker 1: she I've never done this to her, and she did
Speaker 1: not like it, and she started screaming, and I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, I'm letting you go. I'm letting you go.
Speaker 1: Don't open the door. Then she opened the door one
Speaker 1: more time and then I held her again and I
Speaker 1: took her back and then finally she got it and
Speaker 1: she was in there just going so mad at me,
Speaker 1: but she didn't come out. And then she started going, mommy, Mobby,
Speaker 1: she did this, and she they both had a huge tantrum.
Speaker 1: I guess last night last night when they were like
Speaker 1: they're both getting hungry at dinner time and I was
Speaker 1: picking Brenn up from a play to date and like
Speaker 1: they brand did a huge tantrum about a bunch of
Speaker 1: stuff and then and just like would not stop trying
Speaker 1: to be bad and Maven once he was like, would
Speaker 1: finally calm down. Mayven had just like picked up on
Speaker 1: all the energy of it, and she was like trying
Speaker 1: to be about Like she was like, it's my turn
Speaker 1: to be bad now. It was so sweet while this
Speaker 1: was happening, but like she that's the problem is, like
Speaker 1: we know the tricks at this point of like a
Speaker 1: three and a half year old, so she's kind of
Speaker 1: screwed and like she tantramed out in the kitchen for
Speaker 1: a minute, and then she just started crying and then
Speaker 1: needed to hug for me, like she like, because like
Speaker 1: we're just I'm just not, unfortunately for her, not as
Speaker 1: easily manipulated by a three and a half year old
Speaker 1: who can't get up on the counters by themselves, and
Speaker 1: I don't have to physically restrain her as well. The
Speaker 1: thing that I found always found hard with Brin that
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, yeah, I've nailed this, is it the
Speaker 1: end of these real intense things. The key is to
Speaker 1: have avoid trying to do the hey do we feel better? Hey?
Speaker 1: You know what this and then give him a big
Speaker 1: hug and in the end you've rewarded them for that
Speaker 1: whole process. So I don't stay stern or anything. But
Speaker 1: when it was time, I just went in there and
Speaker 1: I go, do you want to stay in here till dinner?
Speaker 1: Or do you want to help me set the table?
Speaker 1: If you want to set the table, And then we
Speaker 1: just moved on. And now she's had no fun doing that,
Speaker 1: and she maybe won't do it next time, But I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, she is like really learning how to
Speaker 1: be really vindictive and mean and you know how we're
Speaker 1: talking last week about how they watched Charlie Brown and
Speaker 1: they started saying you blockhead and I'm going to pound you. Um.
Speaker 1: They've like tried to increase the threats, but they only
Speaker 1: know so many words. But this week I heard Maybn
Speaker 1: talking to brand and they are arguing back and forth
Speaker 1: and she goes, I'm going to kill you. Your friend
Speaker 1: said he was going to like, don't do that. We've
Speaker 1: gone there now, this is where they're at. They've reached killing.
Speaker 1: I'm going to kill you and Tricker treat smell my feet,
Speaker 1: give me something sweet to eat. If you don't, I
Speaker 1: don't care, I'll pulled out your underwear. And I immediately
Speaker 1: I'm like, pulling down underwear is not funny. And then
Speaker 1: I heard myself say that and I'm like, are you
Speaker 1: kidding me? Well, you're really becoming the PC police. Afterwards,
Speaker 1: I was like, who fucking care? Why did I say that?
Speaker 1: You know it pulled down some underwearwear and actually, actually don't,
Speaker 1: you'll get kicked out of school. But thing so, we
Speaker 1: hadn't a fight because I told him when I was little,
Speaker 1: it was give me something good to eat, and he goes, no, daddy,
Speaker 1: it's give me something sweet to eat. And I was like,
Speaker 1: do I get into it? And this has been our
Speaker 1: WEE can review as an attack and now it's time
Speaker 1: for you knows what he said, what he's saying. This
Speaker 1: is where we talked to our children. So last week
Speaker 1: on election day, Brinn and I were home alone and
Speaker 1: for the first time he endured me interviewing him. Um.
Speaker 1: So this is a conversation with Brinn. He is on
Speaker 1: his own microphone but constantly getting up and moving all
Speaker 1: the furniture and running out of the room. So I
Speaker 1: apologize for the less than pristine recording quality. Did you
Speaker 1: edit it down at all? No, d you wanna listen
Speaker 1: to it? It's great. Here's a chat bridge. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: can you tell sit in that chair and tell me
Speaker 1: about it? No, Hi, Daddy, Hi Brinnie like to do today? Um?
Speaker 1: I want to hear that joke you just told me
Speaker 1: because I didn't hear it very well from the kitchen.
Speaker 1: Can you tell it again? I forgot something about ants
Speaker 1: and uncles. Do you want to eat dinosaurs? Um? Are
Speaker 1: you serving dinosaurs? I try some dinosaur if you have Okay,
Speaker 1: well I'm coming up one dinosaur coming right up. Okay,
Speaker 1: make sure you're crashed into everything while you're doing. Okay, now,
Speaker 1: before I eat this, sit down in the chair and
Speaker 1: tell me how you've prepared this torontosaurus rex. I'm good.
Speaker 1: How did you make it happens? Well, you're really crashing
Speaker 1: into a lot of stuff. Oh you turned into a
Speaker 1: t rex. A I thought I was supposed to eat
Speaker 1: the t rex. Not the t rex eat me. I
Speaker 1: know which everyone I sat up to you, I do
Speaker 1: that dinosaur. Oh wow, well, don't serve me anyven more
Speaker 1: more dinosaurs. We'll talk into the microphone and tell me.
Speaker 1: Chicken coming up. One live chicken coming up, and that's
Speaker 1: the live chicken. Stop picking me, chicken, stop picking me. Oh,
Speaker 1: I hate this restaurant. I'm getting attacked by everything. How
Speaker 1: about soup? Oh sure, I'll have some soup. I assume
Speaker 1: that it's normal slop. You're gonna serve me slop. That
Speaker 1: was a big left turn from soup. I mean, linquistically.
Speaker 1: You just poured slop all over me. I'm covered in slop.
Speaker 1: I would like to complain to Oh, you just slipped
Speaker 1: on the carpet. Serves you well for attacking me. All right,
Speaker 1: get back on the mic, because I have a question
Speaker 1: for you. Friend. Okay, today's election day? Did you know
Speaker 1: can you explain to people what election day is? They're
Speaker 1: going to be the mayor. I'm voting for you. I'm
Speaker 1: going to be the mayor. Did you vote for me today? No? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I really did vote? So what is voting like? How
Speaker 1: does voting work? How did you do it? I just voted? Oh?
Speaker 1: Where did you go to vote? I do not know. Oh?
Speaker 1: How did you when you got there? How did you vote?
Speaker 1: I just vote it. Did you write it on a
Speaker 1: piece of paper or did you say it to somebody?
Speaker 1: How did you vote? I just did it? Oh? Did
Speaker 1: you say I vote for daddy? Yes? I did. Did
Speaker 1: they say who's your daddy? I don't know. I just
Speaker 1: told them that your name? Okay, that's good. Peter, So
Speaker 1: you said I'm voting for Peter, my daddy for mayor.
Speaker 1: Do you think I'm gonna win? Brit yep? Do you
Speaker 1: think I will get the most votes? Um? Of course?
Speaker 1: Of course? Who else is going to vote for me?
Speaker 1: Do you think talking to the mic? Um? Sam raised? Okay, actually, mommy, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: that's four votes, Naven, it's five votes, even though two
Speaker 1: of you are too young to vote. But yeah, me,
Speaker 1: that was already counting you. Okay, great, that's five votes.
Speaker 1: Do you think no one else in the town is
Speaker 1: going to get more than five votes? Yep, more than
Speaker 1: five vote. No one will get more than five votes
Speaker 1: one vote except you. Everyone will get one vote. Everyone
Speaker 1: in the town's gonna get one vote, and I will
Speaker 1: get five votes. Yep, So you'll be the mayor. Wow,
Speaker 1: this is quite do um, Brian. If I'm the mayor,
Speaker 1: how do you think our lives will change? It will
Speaker 1: be different after no one to be the mayor? Oh so,
Speaker 1: no one's How does that work? Somebody has to be there.
Speaker 1: It's because everyone has one vote, because everyone ties, no
Speaker 1: one's winds. Yeah, well you think maybe if everyone ties,
Speaker 1: then everyone becomes the mayor. Everyone does and you do. Actually,
Speaker 1: you've come to my microphone. If I was the mayor, Brandon,
Speaker 1: what do you think would be different? How would our
Speaker 1: lives change? I don't know. Do you think I would
Speaker 1: have to go to them to work at at a
Speaker 1: city hall? Just work and do the story for his book?
Speaker 1: That dog? No one's going to be the mayor. They
Speaker 1: all got a tie, so I should keep my job
Speaker 1: as a story pirate. Do you know what my job is?
Speaker 1: What do you know? If somebody were to ask you, Britan,
Speaker 1: what does your daddy do for work? What would he saying?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know the answer of that question.
Speaker 1: Not at all at all. You know some things that
Speaker 1: I do right when I go to work? What do
Speaker 1: I do? You podcast? I do do the Story Parts
Speaker 1: podcast and we does. Yeah. Lee is also on the
Speaker 1: Story Parts podcast, but he's the mayor of the story
Speaker 1: Part of Yeah. Um cool, it's do you think I've
Speaker 1: got a cool job? Of course awesome? What does mommy do? Um? Work? Yeah?
Speaker 1: What's mommy's work? What kind of job does she have? Um?
Speaker 1: I don't know. You know she's a writer? Oh? Writing
Speaker 1: writing more? Yes, y writing work. When you grow up?
Speaker 1: What kind of job do you think you would want
Speaker 1: to have? I would want to be a police You
Speaker 1: want to be a police officer? Why do you want
Speaker 1: to be a police officer? So I can blue back
Speaker 1: guys in jail? So it's just to punish people. No, Um,
Speaker 1: if if bad guys were prisoning, I would I would
Speaker 1: I would I would keep them in jail forever. Um, Well,
Speaker 1: it's not exactly how it works. But it was just
Speaker 1: a regular prison prisoning, I would make it ninety years.
Speaker 1: Oh so you're doing sentencing. Interesting. Uh, you wouldn't want
Speaker 1: to be a police officer to help people? Yeah, you do?
Speaker 1: You want to help people? Well, how what are other
Speaker 1: ways do you think a police officer could help people
Speaker 1: besides putting people in jail, calling rather police calling for backup? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe you know what one time I called the police.
Speaker 1: I called the police one time when when you were little,
Speaker 1: because I brought Maven was a little baby, and I
Speaker 1: had her in the carrying in her car seat, and
Speaker 1: I carried her up the stairs with you, and you
Speaker 1: were just about two years old, and you both came
Speaker 1: into the apartment, and then I took off my jacket
Speaker 1: and then I ran downstairs to get the stroller. And
Speaker 1: while I was downstairs, you know what you did? You
Speaker 1: closed the door, And so I came upstairs and the
Speaker 1: door was locked, and I didn't have my keys because
Speaker 1: they were inside with you and Maven, and you were
Speaker 1: too little to open the door, and so I was
Speaker 1: trying to talk to you through the door. I said,
Speaker 1: can you open the door? Brand and you couldn't and
Speaker 1: you started crying, and then Daddy got real scared, going,
Speaker 1: how do I get in? I don't have any keys,
Speaker 1: And then you just I needed to go into into
Speaker 1: the neighbors were from the firescape, and then was getting
Speaker 1: a jet and then you saw me getting a jug
Speaker 1: of milk. Yeah, you never heard this story before. You're right. Well, First,
Speaker 1: the first thing I did, Britton is I called I
Speaker 1: called the police because I didn't know how to get
Speaker 1: in the apartment, so I needed help. So I called
Speaker 1: the police and I said, my little kids are trapped inside.
Speaker 1: Can you come help me unlock my door? And then
Speaker 1: before they arrived, then I called mommy, and Mommy said,
Speaker 1: go through the fire escape, you ninny, and I go, oh, yeah.
Speaker 1: So I went through the neighbor's apartment, climbed across the
Speaker 1: fire escape, and came inside. And yes, you're right there.
Speaker 1: You were sitting next to Maven, hugging a full gallon
Speaker 1: of milk. And you know what you said to me.
Speaker 1: You said, hi, Daddy, and did the jug of mink.
Speaker 1: I saw the jug of milk, and I said, oh,
Speaker 1: you're thirsty, and you said yeah. And then everything was okay,
Speaker 1: and I stopped being scared and then I broke the
Speaker 1: white the white part. Oh yeah, I did that with day.
Speaker 1: You broke the white part of what Really? I put
Speaker 1: it off of the milk, No, of that white part
Speaker 1: o the door knob. We used to have a child
Speaker 1: safety thing on the doorknob, but now you're a big kid,
Speaker 1: and we took it off. I feel I could open it.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you're a big kid? Brand? Yeah?
Speaker 1: What what makes what's the difference between a big kid
Speaker 1: and a little kid? Big kids are heavier to pick up,
Speaker 1: that is true. The little kids are easier to pick up.
Speaker 1: That's definitely true. But you can do things now that
Speaker 1: you're big that you couldn't when you were little. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: what do you know now that you didn't know when
Speaker 1: you were little? You eat turkey on Thanksgiving? You didn't
Speaker 1: know that before. Yeah, and on Christmas you get present. Okay,
Speaker 1: since we're talking about holidays today, you have no school,
Speaker 1: which is why we're having this conversation. And it's a
Speaker 1: holiday election day. Yep. Oh, let me drink the calendar
Speaker 1: for a second. Oh, okay, you're leaving the room, You're
Speaker 1: going into the kitchen. You're going to check the calendar.
Speaker 1: How's it going so far? All right, what does the
Speaker 1: calendar say? It says nothing. Yeah. Oh, so what Brent
Speaker 1: just said is I guess it's not election day, so
Speaker 1: he should go to school. I don't think anyone's at school. Well,
Speaker 1: I think the doors might be locked if you go
Speaker 1: to school by yourself. I want to hear about school.
Speaker 1: Can you jump on the mic? And I wanted to
Speaker 1: hear how school is going very bad and a little
Speaker 1: bit good, very bad, and a little bit good very bad. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's start with a little bit good part. What part
Speaker 1: of school is a little bit good? People will were
Speaker 1: giving me space? People gave you space? What does that mean?
Speaker 1: That means I have space? We're people being too close
Speaker 1: to you and you said give me some space please,
Speaker 1: um because their chairs were too close aloser and I
Speaker 1: was like, please scout your chairs for off plog and space.
Speaker 1: They really did? You said thank you? Yep. I was
Speaker 1: like m hm. As a what what kind of character
Speaker 1: is that? Bob? Bob, I'm bab No, not the bobbing
Speaker 1: in a story, just the bobbing. And like remember when
Speaker 1: he said truth the cat cat? Yeah, oh Bob from
Speaker 1: the dust Money's book. Yeah, that's a funny voice. Can
Speaker 1: you tell me what do you have for breakfast? In
Speaker 1: that voice? Um? Let me get that? Wait? Where are
Speaker 1: you going? Why? What is happening? Did you not have breakfast? Oh?
Speaker 1: I forgot to feed my child? Well, to be fair,
Speaker 1: Beth and I both did because oh well, well, this
Speaker 1: has been a conversation with Bran on a day with
Speaker 1: no school. This next segment is called listeners want to know.
Speaker 1: This is where we take questions and comments from you guys.
Speaker 1: Are listeners? H We certainly do so. Last week we
Speaker 1: talked very briefly about book recommendations. We had a whole
Speaker 1: long list of recommendations and we got through one email. Um,
Speaker 1: So I lined them all up and we're gonna do it.
Speaker 1: We two episodes ago, a listener asked about books that
Speaker 1: sort of flip gender norms on their heads, and they're
Speaker 1: asking for recommendations about girls who basically misbehaved boys who
Speaker 1: take on emotional labor. And we got a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of rex. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: try to fire through a bunch of these. Um, and
Speaker 1: I will say it's more about poorly behaved girls than
Speaker 1: sweet boys. I'll take it, honestly. I mean the sweet
Speaker 1: boys would be nice boy, but I guess. I guess
Speaker 1: culturally we're more accustomed to bad girls than we are sweetboys.
Speaker 1: It's also easier storytelling, so it's a more dangerous, exciting
Speaker 1: thing for people to act out right, to have a
Speaker 1: sweet boy unflawed protagonists exactly. So, Hi, guys, I enjoy
Speaker 1: listening to your show and recommend it to my friends.
Speaker 1: I say that listening to your podcast is like having
Speaker 1: a couple come over to hang out. I feel like
Speaker 1: you two are drinking tea splash soda at my kitchen
Speaker 1: table and telling me stories and bickering with each other
Speaker 1: like real people. It's not tea more soda, but we've
Speaker 1: been over. That makes me feel less bored and lonely
Speaker 1: while I wash my dishes and stay at home mom.
Speaker 1: So some days I don't really react with other grown people.
Speaker 1: It's nice to have you guys to hang out with,
Speaker 1: even though our relationship is one sided. I love listening
Speaker 1: to your stories, even though you guys never listened to
Speaker 1: my stories. We are right now, Sorry, we are right now.
Speaker 1: We're doing it. But here the recommendations The Worst Princess
Speaker 1: and the paper Bag Princess. Did you ever read The
Speaker 1: paper Bag Princess. We talked about that. I loved it.
Speaker 1: I can't remember what it's about, but it's like a
Speaker 1: princess who's like fed up with this. Her dress gets
Speaker 1: burned up by a dragon and she wears a paper bag,
Speaker 1: and she like goes and saves the night. I think
Speaker 1: in the end she's like, I don't need this night.
Speaker 1: She's real nasty and she yells at the dragon. It's
Speaker 1: great and the worst princess. I don't know. UM, love
Speaker 1: Stacy and her gorgeous family. That's a great way to
Speaker 1: sign it, loves Stacy and her gorgeous family, because like
Speaker 1: three years old, then three months old, I would start
Speaker 1: signing all my work emails of Beth and her gorgeous family.
Speaker 1: Why does your family on this work email? Because I
Speaker 1: have a family to feed and pay the invoice, UM,
Speaker 1: please follow the pay the following invoice. Oh my gorge
Speaker 1: I am see seeing my lawyer who would like to
Speaker 1: see my gorgeous family fed his average looking families doing
Speaker 1: just fine. Hi, Beth and Peter just got dozen done
Speaker 1: listening to your episode The Blaze, and Beth mentioned not
Speaker 1: knowing a good witch book or movie to introduce Naven
Speaker 1: to Witches. Room on the Room by Julia Donaldson is
Speaker 1: a great book about a friendly witch that was turned
Speaker 1: into a special for Halloween on Amazon Video. I definitely
Speaker 1: recommend checking it out. I love the podcast and cerely lindsay,
Speaker 1: you know, it's funny. We do have that um which
Speaker 1: counting book that it involves, which is fitting on a broom.
Speaker 1: But it's not that book. No, it's not that not
Speaker 1: as good as this book. I mean, this book sounds
Speaker 1: incredible and I gotta get it. Um So here's another one.
Speaker 1: I wanted to recommend some awesome books that I have
Speaker 1: at the preschool I work in. Okay, this is somebody
Speaker 1: who's in the thick of it. Okay, we're listening, Okay.
Speaker 1: I usually stay in the two year old rooms. Um So,
Speaker 1: maybe these will be a bit young for Britain and Maven,
Speaker 1: but I still think they are so cool and fun.
Speaker 1: I hate to pick on you, uh Sarah, but I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do a little brand in Maven spelling tutorial because
Speaker 1: it's understandable. Almost nobody gets them. No one has ever
Speaker 1: gotten them right. Bryn is b r y n only
Speaker 1: one end, and Maven is m A V e n
Speaker 1: She can't spell it either, so fine, she can sometimes
Speaker 1: she's nailed the first four letters pretty much. She thinks
Speaker 1: she's probably there now. Um one, if you want to
Speaker 1: charm a Llama, this book is pretty short, but it
Speaker 1: talks about making friends or expressing love without gifts or
Speaker 1: elaborate gestures like that, there is a monster in your book.
Speaker 1: Not the awesome Sesame Street one with Grover losing his ship.
Speaker 1: This one isn't isn't woke, but it's cute. We'll forgive
Speaker 1: it for that. Wait, are these in response to the
Speaker 1: gender role question? Um or is this a separate email?
Speaker 1: I think you're just book recommendations. That's fine, that's great,
Speaker 1: that's fine. Yeah, I just want to number three. These
Speaker 1: are she as she said, these are younger preschoolers, but
Speaker 1: we got listeners. Are all kinds three, dream, big, little one. Okay.
Speaker 1: So this is my So this is my favorite. It
Speaker 1: is all about women of color and the awesome stuff
Speaker 1: they have done and encouraging kids to reach for the stars.
Speaker 1: And finally, dragons love Tacos because it is a classic.
Speaker 1: Thanks for the podcast, Keep it up, Sarah. Dragons love Tacos.
Speaker 1: I've heard of that. I think I have read that.
Speaker 1: I don't remember. I feel like we bought it as
Speaker 1: a gift for someone and then very quickly did not
Speaker 1: have it in our possession anymore. Yeah, I think one
Speaker 1: of our nephew nieces has that. Great. All right, we
Speaker 1: gotta make a list and we gotta post it on
Speaker 1: a thing. If we don't do that, we apologize it's
Speaker 1: because we went to sleep at um just rewind rewind
Speaker 1: the podcast kind kind or or we could create some
Speaker 1: social content and make a list. We're going to do
Speaker 1: it someday. I mean, you're living in the future now, listeners,
Speaker 1: you'll know right now. You'll know if we succeeded, But
Speaker 1: us idiots in the past, we don't know. I think
Speaker 1: this episode goes out in like twelve hours. It's not
Speaker 1: like we have a lot of lead time. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: gotta records mad and then hug. That's how as soon
Speaker 1: as you hit the stop on the record, Beth and
Speaker 1: I just silently hug for they're a little ritual. I
Speaker 1: think it was okay, We're going to be fine. See
Speaker 1: you next week. Hey, Beth and Peter. As an elementary
Speaker 1: school teacher, I delight in hearing you talk about children's literature.
Speaker 1: I have a few recommendations based on the request for
Speaker 1: books for kids under five that show girls being jerks
Speaker 1: in the way boys often get to be show boys
Speaker 1: doing emotional labor. Um. There's nice section headings in this
Speaker 1: email from Eliana our friend. Um boys were books where
Speaker 1: girls are flawed and sometimes jerks. Fanny kay Stein by
Speaker 1: Jim Benton is great. It's a good read, allowed option
Speaker 1: for kids four through six, and a good independent book
Speaker 1: for kids six through eight. She's a mad scientist who
Speaker 1: has flaws and goals. Don't we all darling a mad
Speaker 1: scientist perfectly described by last flaws and goals. When Sophie
Speaker 1: gets angry by Molly Bang, she's angry, she's flawed, and
Speaker 1: she learns coping strategies that have nothing to do with
Speaker 1: her gender. I like that, also the author's name. Molly Bang.
Speaker 1: My Best Friend by E. B. Lewis is a tale
Speaker 1: of navigating friendship when girls are being jerked to other girls.
Speaker 1: There's also girl friendships featured here in a positive and
Speaker 1: satisfying way. Did you find girl friendships were complicated? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because it's uh friendships between very smart people. All right,
Speaker 1: let's say overly sensitive people. All my friendships were very simple.
Speaker 1: I know I have some dramatic ones. Okay, no, not
Speaker 1: directly related. I recommend books by Moll Williams, like Nuffle
Speaker 1: Bunny and the Elephant and Piggy series. They feature relatable
Speaker 1: flood characters who are also girls, Elephant and Piggy all
Speaker 1: over this house. Brn, just read an entire You're not
Speaker 1: making it clear when you're reading other people's words, and
Speaker 1: when you're speaking as you yourself a podcast, you're just rambling.
Speaker 1: Brent and I read an Elephant Piggy book tonight. He
Speaker 1: read it to my mom via FaceTime, and he read
Speaker 1: every single word and I was really impressed. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: Mayven starting to do that too. She's starting to memorize
Speaker 1: pages of books. Yeah, well you can actually read who's
Speaker 1: texting you like crazy. Over there, my friends, we have
Speaker 1: a lot of cool chats going on, like complicated girls friendship. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's complicated. You wouldn't understand. I don't get at all. Um.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Did I just make my dumb character southern
Speaker 1: for no reason? I apologize for that. That's about I
Speaker 1: just wanted to point out that's about. That's that's that's biased.
Speaker 1: I should have made my dumb character my Midwest turn,
Speaker 1: whilst they now making them fun of them in West.
Speaker 1: But I can do that. I'm one of them books
Speaker 1: in which boys do emotional labor. Hair Love by Matthew
Speaker 1: A Cherry, A black father learns how to put in
Speaker 1: the labor of styling his daughter's hair while mom is
Speaker 1: on a trip. It's very sweet and represents natural black
Speaker 1: hair in a positive, loving way. I feel like I've
Speaker 1: seen that. Um, great, do you speak Fish? By DJ
Speaker 1: courten courtin uh Corkin A Male Tree, A male tree does?
Speaker 1: I'm gonna read that A male tree does the emotional
Speaker 1: labor of teaching a boy that he must learn to
Speaker 1: speak other languages. A male tree? What it says? A
Speaker 1: male tree does the emotional labor of teaching a boy
Speaker 1: that he must learn to speak other languages. He learns
Speaker 1: he must stop expecting everyone else to speak boy and
Speaker 1: actually put in some labor. I'm so confused. I get it.
Speaker 1: I like this. He has to speak tree. Um, He's
Speaker 1: this little boy that insists that everything around him speaks boy,
Speaker 1: and so a tree teaches him to speak other languages
Speaker 1: like speak trees? How do you? How do you speak fish.
Speaker 1: It's so hard to judge this out of context without
Speaker 1: reading the book. The book that I've written in my
Speaker 1: head from this description is excellent. Pete the Cat less
Speaker 1: familiar with this series, but I get the sense that
Speaker 1: the um the people are grumpy around Pete, and Pete
Speaker 1: chills everyone out. It keeps it positive. Pete is really lazy,
Speaker 1: like typical dude. He like rolls in and he's like,
Speaker 1: we haven't done a sore party? Like He's sort of
Speaker 1: like it is a hard vibe the Cat books. Sometimes
Speaker 1: Pete the Cat is like, should I put on all
Speaker 1: my clothes? Like he doesn't. There's no like moral arc
Speaker 1: to Pete the Cat. He go have a ton of drive.
Speaker 1: He builds a robot to do all this stuff for him,
Speaker 1: and then it's he's like this sucks. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I learned anything. Yeah, Or he's like, I'm going
Speaker 1: to convince the elementary school principle to give me the
Speaker 1: budget for the school playground and tell him that I
Speaker 1: know how to build a playground even though I don't,
Speaker 1: and then I'm gonna throw a bunch of playground equipment together.
Speaker 1: He gets a crew together to do it. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: his playground design falls apart because he doesn't know what
Speaker 1: he's doing, because he's a child cat. I just don't
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, I don't know if Pete
Speaker 1: the Cat is a feminist role model we're looking for,
Speaker 1: is all I'm saying. Continue. He sidesteps a lot of
Speaker 1: toxic masculinity tropes. Oh does he some? He's not aggressive,
Speaker 1: he doesn't need to be the leader. He does need
Speaker 1: to be the leader. He took over the playground design projects,
Speaker 1: he suggested it. Oh my god, he really failed up?
Speaker 1: He did? He failed up? Mediocre black cats, um um
Speaker 1: great all right um. Stories with cool witches for small children, bes.
Speaker 1: I completely relate to the desire of cool witch stories
Speaker 1: for little one, Which is why, which is why I've
Speaker 1: gotten my daughter hooked on the following witchy movies slash books.
Speaker 1: Room on the Room, second, Room on the Room. I'm
Speaker 1: going to order a room on the both film on
Speaker 1: Netflix and book. It's not revolutionary other listeners at Amazon,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna have to figure out where to come on.
Speaker 1: Where do we find room in the broom? Cancel the
Speaker 1: someone else? Right? Where is the room? It's not revolutionary
Speaker 1: in terms of gender, but The Witch is cool and
Speaker 1: my daughter loves it. The animation is great and the
Speaker 1: cast is impressive. Okay, kikiS delivery service. I realized that
Speaker 1: the target audience for this might not be tiny ones,
Speaker 1: but my daughter has loved this movie since she was
Speaker 1: a year and a half. It's a sweet, studio ghibli
Speaker 1: movie about a thirteen year old which finding her way
Speaker 1: in the world. It's certainly not scary or inappropriate. It's
Speaker 1: visually lovely. If you're an NYC check out Books of Wonder.
Speaker 1: They really have created a top notch collection. The story
Speaker 1: only features books for kids and young adult a book
Speaker 1: culture also has a solid, well curated kids section. I
Speaker 1: will say I've been of a just Wondered many times,
Speaker 1: and I have performed in Books of Wonder many times,
Speaker 1: and I love that place. It is has a very
Speaker 1: good reputation for a bookstore, considering all bookstores have died
Speaker 1: out in the city of New York and the main
Speaker 1: contact there that I've met, his name is Peter, so
Speaker 1: it's got to be good. I mean, if they're hiding
Speaker 1: Peters over the lastly, check out Books for Littles ah,
Speaker 1: that's Books for Littles dot Com for resources and recommendation
Speaker 1: for children's books that addresses all manners of topics, particularly
Speaker 1: relating to folks with marginalized identities in thoughtful, positive ways.
Speaker 1: Thanks for your wonderful podcast, Elana, longtime listener, many time writer. UM,
Speaker 1: thank you for that very thorough list. Yeah, thank you,
Speaker 1: Thank you to everyone. We're not done. That's what we're
Speaker 1: gonna plot through. Hi, I recommend Judy B. Jones books,
Speaker 1: but says may, I recommend Judy B. Jones books by
Speaker 1: Barbara Park. You may more of a read aloud book
Speaker 1: for younger kids, not as many pictures. But she is
Speaker 1: a great character. Silly, sassy, grouchy, talks to about kids
Speaker 1: she doesn't like, gets in trouble at school, being loud,
Speaker 1: not following instructions all the time. A four year old
Speaker 1: boy loves them. The books are laugh out loud, funny
Speaker 1: at times, and it's a whole series. I wouldn't necessarily
Speaker 1: call her an asshole, as she is six, but she
Speaker 1: isn't always well behaved. Love the show, Marjorie. All right?
Speaker 1: Two more right? This Um, this comes from our our
Speaker 1: friend Megan. Check out The Humble Witch or a witchy
Speaker 1: book that's great for very little kids. Also which adjacent
Speaker 1: and certainly a woman active nasty. Check out the Swamp books,
Speaker 1: for example, Miss Nelson is missing. I'm guessing you already
Speaker 1: know about those absolute classics, Megan. I do know about those,
Speaker 1: and they are Did you ever read those that did? Not? Cough?
Speaker 1: Get it out? There's the last one. I'm not equipped
Speaker 1: for this climate. Go ahead, hit Peter and Beth. Pippy
Speaker 1: long Stocking is definitely the unconventional little girl that gets
Speaker 1: herself in trouble. And the neighbors, especially little Boy, if
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, are the more quiet, well mannered, responsible kids.
Speaker 1: All right, best leaving, but I'm gonna keep going to
Speaker 1: be fair. I didn't read the books, but as a
Speaker 1: child I was a big fan of the Swedish TV series,
Speaker 1: very popular in Italy in the nineties. You guys are
Speaker 1: right when you say that every little kid dreams of
Speaker 1: two things, no adult supervision and animal best friends. Peppy
Speaker 1: long Stocking has both no mother, no father, no mother
Speaker 1: father lost at sea, and a horse and a monkey
Speaker 1: as best friends. Check and check. Disclaimer. It's been twenty
Speaker 1: plus years since last time I watched Peppy mong Stocking.
Speaker 1: I don't really know if it aged well. Or not.
Speaker 1: I'm going to guess not somehow, but I don't really
Speaker 1: remember the plot of Fippilong Stocking at all. I just
Speaker 1: wanted listeners to know that our apartment has gotten very
Speaker 1: dry all of a sudden because we didn't realize that
Speaker 1: our heat. We kind of knew that our heat should
Speaker 1: have been turned on, but we thought it was like
Speaker 1: negligence on the part of our building and not the
Speaker 1: fact that all of our heaters needed to be bled.
Speaker 1: So now we finally got our heat on and it's
Speaker 1: very dry in here, and I'm coughing a lot. Are
Speaker 1: you happy about those humidifiers? Yeah, well, I'm really happy
Speaker 1: our heats on, but now we need to turn it
Speaker 1: down a little bit, the heat or the communifier the heat. Okay,
Speaker 1: that makes sense? All right, Well, guys, this was fun.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tell alreating me reading so many words in
Speaker 1: around us, were tolerating my coughing, And thank you for
Speaker 1: sending so many thoughtful recommendations. Yes, I appreciate that. I
Speaker 1: am definitely gonna check out room on a broom. We
Speaker 1: got a lot of great email, were hopefully gonna get
Speaker 1: to it in the next few weeks. So if you've
Speaker 1: written any we haven't reply or read your stuff. Just
Speaker 1: now we read it and we love you. This has
Speaker 1: been another episode of We Knows parenting. If you would
Speaker 1: like to send us an email, ask us a question
Speaker 1: that you know we haven't done a would you knows
Speaker 1: scenario in a while, you can send those two We
Speaker 1: Knows pod at gmail dot com, or you can call
Speaker 1: and leave us a voicemail on our voice mail phone
Speaker 1: number seven four seven three. Uh, what you guys tell
Speaker 1: us about social media? I can't remember which part we
Speaker 1: hadn't talked about the You can find us on Facebook, Instagram,
Speaker 1: Twitter at we knows Pod, Rate and review this podcast
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts and babies will see you
Speaker 1: next time. Sp