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Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the

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Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers.

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Speaker 2: Now, fostering a love of reading will help to foster

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Speaker 2: a love of learning.

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Speaker 1: And now here's the stars of our show, my mum

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Speaker 1: and dad.

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Speaker 2: Hello, this is doctor Justin Colson, the author of six

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Speaker 2: books soon to be seven.

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Speaker 3: You're such a tease.

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Speaker 2: About about raising happy families. I'm very excited I'm writing here.

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Speaker 4: Yes, you are, because you usually get to have a

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Speaker 4: sabbatical when you write a book.

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Speaker 3: You leave me with the kids.

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Speaker 2: You make it sound like I'm working hard when I

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Speaker 2: write these books.

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Speaker 5: You don't know. You don't know how much pain I

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Speaker 5: go through to write a book.

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Speaker 2: You do not know how much pain I go through

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Speaker 2: when you write a book. Yes, the person opposite me

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Speaker 2: complaining about having the children that we've had were the

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Speaker 2: parents of six daughters. By the way, is my wife.

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Speaker 2: And for today, maybe not ever again. My podcast partner

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Speaker 2: Kylie missus Happy Families, as we affectionately know you on

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Speaker 2: the podcast and on our Facebook. Hey, we've got a

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Speaker 2: brand new segment today. We've been thinking about ways that

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Speaker 2: we can communicate really great science that's coming out to

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Speaker 2: help families to.

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Speaker 5: Be happier, and we've come up with this idea. We've

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Speaker 5: decided to call it.

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Speaker 4: I think you've come up with this idea. I think

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Speaker 4: this is a geek out hour, just letting you all

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Speaker 4: know on my.

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Speaker 3: Team, this is geek out Hour with doctor Justin.

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Speaker 5: What you're saying is you think I'm trying to flex,

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Speaker 5: don't you.

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Speaker 3: Let's be serious for a second.

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Speaker 4: You are actually really really good at teasing out the

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Speaker 4: information that's needed for the average mum and dad from

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Speaker 4: all of those big words that you like to use

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Speaker 4: in academia that just hurt my head.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so the segment is called from the Doctor's Desk,

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Speaker 2: And essentially what we're doing is academics don't do a

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Speaker 2: great job. We're getting better at it, but academics don't

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Speaker 2: do a great job of taking the science discoveries that

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Speaker 2: we make in our fancy universities and bringing that into

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Speaker 2: the mainstream so that people can really get access to

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Speaker 2: the very best information improve their lives. And so much

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Speaker 2: research exists that can be tremendously helpful, but it takes

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Speaker 2: years for it to be understood properly and then to

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Speaker 2: make its way into textbooks and then to make its

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Speaker 2: way into university courses and then for people to understand

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Speaker 2: and the idea of from the doctor's desk, this little

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Speaker 2: segment that we're going to do every couple of weeks.

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Speaker 2: As research papers make their way across my desk that

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Speaker 2: I think are relevant to you as a happy Famili's listener,

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Speaker 2: we're going to talk about them.

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Speaker 4: So we've got three bits of research to talk about today.

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Speaker 4: The first two come from the University of South Australia

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Speaker 4: and they're talking about the relationship that exists between mental

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Speaker 4: health and sleep in our teenagers. And the second one

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Speaker 4: is one for parents with boys. This is really good news.

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Speaker 4: The research is actually suggesting that our boys might actually

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Speaker 4: enjoy reading more than we think. And the third one

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Speaker 4: was part of a national survey that was published in

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Speaker 4: the Medical Journal of Australia that talks about how the

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Speaker 4: pandemic has actually affected Australian children. So what is the

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Speaker 4: research actually telling us.

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Speaker 2: The first thing is that sleep is not a luxury item,

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Speaker 2: and teenagers treat it like it is. And when I

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Speaker 2: say a luxury item, it's not that they're out there thinking, oh,

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Speaker 2: I need to spend lots of money on my sleep.

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Speaker 2: It's like it's a luxury item. Is one of those

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Speaker 2: things that you can live without. You know, you buy

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Speaker 2: your luxuries when you've got the capacity for them. And

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Speaker 2: the research is saying really clearly, no, sleep is not

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Speaker 2: a luxury item. This comes from, as you mentioned, the

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Speaker 2: University of South Australia doctor alex alec Agustini and Stephanie

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Speaker 2: sent Fanti have said, and I quote, research shows that

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Speaker 2: teenagers need at least eight hours of sleep each night.

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Speaker 2: Without this, they're less able to deal with stresses such

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Speaker 2: as bullying or social pressures, and they run the risk

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Speaker 2: of developing behavioral problems as well as anxiety and depression.

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Speaker 2: And then they make this point and again this is

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Speaker 2: a direct quote. If sleep drops to less than six

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Speaker 2: hours a night, research shows that teens are twice as

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Speaker 2: likely to engage in risky behaviors such as dangerous driving, marijuana,

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Speaker 2: alcohol or tobacco use, risky sexual behavior, and other aggressive

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Speaker 2: or harmful activities. In some ways, this is not brand

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Speaker 2: new research, but it's a really important reminder and what

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Speaker 2: the data does seem to be telling this is that

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Speaker 2: sleep is being displaced at the moment in our teenagers

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Speaker 2: and it's probably no surprise what it's mainly being displaced by.

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Speaker 3: I have to believe that screens play a huge part.

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Speaker 2: In this, and parents of tweens and teens are consistently

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Speaker 2: emailing me and writing in and saying, how do we

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Speaker 2: get our kids off the screen so that they'll go

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Speaker 2: to sleep. It's not necessarily that the screens are bad

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Speaker 2: as screens, they're not necessarily bad for kids. It's what

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Speaker 2: they take our children away from and for teenagers. When

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Speaker 2: I'm in and out of schools talking about all the

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Speaker 2: different stuff that I talk about. When I visit schools,

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Speaker 2: something that I'll often ask is you know how many

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Speaker 2: hours of sleep you're getting?

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Speaker 5: And I'll just get them to put up.

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Speaker 2: Their hand and leave it up, and I'll start at nine,

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Speaker 2: and then eight and seven and six, and there's often

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Speaker 2: forty fifty percent of kids are saying that they're getting

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Speaker 2: six hours or less per night. I mean, I can't

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Speaker 2: survive on that.

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Speaker 5: I can't function the zombie.

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Speaker 2: And the research again shows that when you don't get

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Speaker 2: enough sleep, your willpower is reduced, your morality is reduced,

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Speaker 2: your capacity to say no to things you need to

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Speaker 2: say no to is reduced.

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Speaker 3: I just turned into Tyronosaurus rex.

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Speaker 5: I think, yeah, yeah, because you're not a teenager.

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Speaker 2: But when you're a teenager, it turns into this hyper

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Speaker 2: risky behavior. Like I said, teens are at twice the

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Speaker 2: risk of engaging in those dangerous and delinquent behaviors when

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Speaker 2: they're getting less than six.

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Speaker 5: Hours sleep a night. It's a really big risk factor.

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Speaker 4: So before we go into number two, is there one

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Speaker 4: take home that we can give to parents in relation

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Speaker 4: to this research?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, really important question.

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Speaker 2: I think the one take home is if your kids

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Speaker 2: are not getting enough sleep, you need to go through

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Speaker 2: my three.

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Speaker 5: Ease of Effective Discipline.

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Speaker 2: That is, you need to explore what's going on with them,

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Speaker 2: explain what your expectations are and why, and empower them

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Speaker 2: to work with you to come up with really good

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Speaker 2: solutions that are going to help everybody.

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Speaker 5: Be healthier and happier. I talk about it a lot

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Speaker 5: more online. You can get the articles for free. Look

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Speaker 5: up the three.

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Speaker 2: Ease of Effective Discipline, or grab my book like Misconnection.

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Speaker 2: While your teenage daughter hates who expects the world needs

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Speaker 2: to talk. I talk to you very very clearly about

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Speaker 2: how we can get that discipline right. But please don't

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Speaker 2: try to have that conversation at ten thirty at night

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Speaker 2: when everybody's tired.

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Speaker 5: It's a recipe for disaster.

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Speaker 4: So piece number two, this is for parents of boys.

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Speaker 3: This is exciting.

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Speaker 4: We've actually finding out that our boys might actually like reading.

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Speaker 2: So I've been saying this for years, not necessarily with

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Speaker 2: the research to back it, but a lot of parents

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Speaker 2: will say, my boys they just hate reading.

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Speaker 5: I can't get them into books.

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Speaker 2: And my response has always been you just have to

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Speaker 2: find the right book. And what this research has showed

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Speaker 2: is that that's pretty much.

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Speaker 5: Yet.

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Speaker 2: First of all, the research has found that and this

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Speaker 2: again was University of South Astralia research is as you said,

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Speaker 2: and they published it in the British Educational Research Journal.

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Speaker 2: They found not only do boys love to read, but

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Speaker 2: they actually love to read fiction. And that runs counter

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Speaker 2: to the common assumption in education, especially the boys prefer nonfiction.

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Speaker 5: A lot of people think the boys want.

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Speaker 2: To read books about cars or dinosaurs or you know,

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Speaker 2: about real stuff, and girls like all the fiction. But

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Speaker 2: if you can get the right fiction book, boys love

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Speaker 2: to read.

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Speaker 4: It kind of reminds me of The Princess Bride. You

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Speaker 4: know that Ape Nooton scene where Grandpa comes in business.

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Speaker 3: What's his name?

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Speaker 5: What's the little boy's name, Fred Savage?

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Speaker 2: I can't remember his name is Fred Savage in the movie,

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Speaker 2: but he was the guy in the Wonder Years, and

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Speaker 2: now he's in The Princess Bride. I can't remember what

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Speaker 2: his name is in the in The Princess Bride, the

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Speaker 2: best movie ever.

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Speaker 5: I love The Princess Bride.

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Speaker 3: Well, Grandpa comes over with the book because he's sick. Yes,

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Speaker 3: that's right, he's looking at and it's called The Princess Bride.

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Speaker 4: Like he was like, oh, please, don't tell me there's

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Speaker 4: going to be kissing in it and all of that

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Speaker 4: kind of stuff. But Grandpa says, all right, well, we'll

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Speaker 4: just give it a go. So he starts reading the book,

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Speaker 4: and the grandson, I wish I knew his name. He

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Speaker 4: keeps stopping him and going, oh, Grandpa, do I have

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Speaker 4: to listen to this? I mean seriously, he's really really

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Speaker 4: just taken back by all of this, But sooner or

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Speaker 4: later he gets completely hooked, and Grandpa goes, you know what,

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Speaker 4: you know, I think you've had enough.

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Speaker 3: We're not going to read anymore. And he's like, no, no, no,

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Speaker 3: it's okay. I'm all right. And he just has to

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Speaker 3: hear the whole story.

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Speaker 4: And I think that whole thing that we're talking about

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Speaker 4: is just engaging our kids and things that they really

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Speaker 4: can enjoy and become immersed in.

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Speaker 2: So I've just done a quick google while you were

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Speaker 2: sharing that, and the character that Fred Savage plays in

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Speaker 2: The Princess Bride is grandson Grandson. He actually doesn't have

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Speaker 2: a name.

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Speaker 5: Really, that's right.

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Speaker 3: Well, that doesn't make it very easy to tell a story,

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Speaker 3: does it.

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Speaker 5: No, No, no, not if you're reaching for the name.

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Speaker 5: So that's the second piece of research.

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Speaker 2: So the take home message is number one, you've just

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Speaker 2: got to find the right book, and number two, read

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Speaker 2: with your boys and your girls. Reading is so strongly

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Speaker 2: associated with academic outcomes, as reading is so strongly associated

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Speaker 2: with the ability that we have to connect as parents

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Speaker 2: with our kids. It's just such a wonderful way to

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Speaker 2: spend our evenings with our children. Fostering a love of

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Speaker 2: reading will help to foster a love of learning. And

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Speaker 2: so this research is I think a great comfort to

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Speaker 2: parents who have boys who maybe thought, oh, there's no

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Speaker 2: hope they don't like reading.

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Speaker 5: Just get them involved. They'll find something and it'll work.

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Speaker 4: I think that one of the biggest challenges we have

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Speaker 4: is that we often think that our children have to

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Speaker 4: do the reading themselves to learn to love it. But

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Speaker 4: what we've experienced in our home is that reading with

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Speaker 4: them is the greatest way to involve them and engage them.

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Speaker 2: Up next, we're going to talk about how the pandemic

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Speaker 2: has affected Australian children.

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Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families Podcast.

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Speaker 4: For a happier family, try a Happy Families membership, because

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Speaker 4: a happy family doesn't just happen. Details at happy families

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Speaker 4: dot com dot Au. It's the Happy Families Podcast, the

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Speaker 4: podcast for the time poor parent who just wants answers now.

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Speaker 4: And today we are letting doctor Justin Colson geek out

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Speaker 4: a little bit with the research.

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Speaker 5: Yep, it's from the doctor's desk.

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Speaker 2: And the third bit of research that I want to

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Speaker 2: highlight has come from the Medical Journal of Australia.

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Speaker 5: This is data that has surveyed.

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Speaker 2: The nation and had to look at how our children

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Speaker 2: have fared during the pandemic. And in a nutshell, what

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Speaker 2: the data is showing is that we have a growing

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Speaker 2: need on what is already a fairly substantial problem, and

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Speaker 2: that is that the mental health of our young people

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Speaker 2: is declining and the argument is that COVID has made

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Speaker 2: it worse.

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Speaker 4: Do you really think that COVID has made it worse?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think that certain areas of the nation

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Speaker 5: are going to be affected worse.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: I haven't been able to look carefully at the breakdown,

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Speaker 2: but this data is reflected not just in the Medical

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Speaker 2: Journal of Australia, but I had to look at a

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Speaker 2: brand new paper that was published recently looking at twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty data from Headspace, who do lots and lots of

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Speaker 2: work with young people, and what it demonstrated. What it showed,

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Speaker 2: I should say, was that about one in two of

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Speaker 2: our young people now between twelve and twenty four, one

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Speaker 2: in two of them are indicating that they're experiencing higher

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Speaker 2: than normal levels elevated levels of mental distress. And if

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Speaker 2: you're in Melbourne particularly, the data seems to be pointing

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Speaker 2: to you know, the most of the lockdown and the

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Speaker 2: more constrained people have been, the more likely it is

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Speaker 2: that this is going to affect them.

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Speaker 4: So what were the numbers before the pandemic, before this research?

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Speaker 4: Because my understanding, based on lots of conversations we've had

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Speaker 4: over the time is that there has been a significant

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Speaker 4: decline in our children's well being and mental health for

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Speaker 4: some time now.

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Speaker 2: We've been watching this become a bigger and bigger problem

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Speaker 2: over the last couple of decades, certainly over the last

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Speaker 2: ten to fifteen years. Gene Twengey from San Diego University

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Speaker 2: consistently points to I generation. You know, since since the

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Speaker 2: iPhone became ubiquitous from about twenty twelve, that's where we've

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Speaker 2: really seen the precipitous drops and the major challenges. I

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Speaker 2: don't think it's a fair or appropriate to blame it

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Speaker 2: entirely on screens. I think that we have a society

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Speaker 2: that is increasingly unkind to children and to.

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Speaker 5: Families for a variety of reasons.

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Speaker 2: We now almost require parents to be both in the workforce,

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Speaker 2: children to be in higher levels of you know, have

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Speaker 2: longer hours in care than ever before. There's more academic

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Speaker 2: pressure on children at a younger age. There's also, because

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Speaker 2: of the way society works, more isolation for children than

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Speaker 2: there's ever been before. They don't just get on their

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Speaker 2: bikes and ride down to the park and hang out

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Speaker 2: with their friends after school. And we're also sending more

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Speaker 2: kids to private schools, which means that the neighborhood doesn't

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Speaker 2: exist like it used to. You know, everyone used to

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Speaker 2: go to the neighborhood school. That doesn't happen anymore. And

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Speaker 2: the list keeps on going and going. So I don't

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Speaker 2: think we can just put it onto the iPhone and

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Speaker 2: say that it's because of technology, although it's probably contributing.

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Speaker 5: I think that that's reasonable to hold that position.

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Speaker 2: And I know, by the way that what I've just

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Speaker 2: said is kind of provocative and a lot of people

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Speaker 2: are sort of going, well, what else am I supposed

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Speaker 2: to do? I don't survive unless I go to work,

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Speaker 2: And yes, that does mean my kids have to be

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Speaker 2: an outside of school, ours care and so on. I'm

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Speaker 2: not pointing anything that is. What I'm saying is society

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Speaker 2: is horrible, and COVID has only exacerbated that by requiring

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Speaker 2: families to be stuck at home and by removing this

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Speaker 2: social outlets that they may previously have had. So the

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Speaker 2: data is in, and more children than ever before are

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Speaker 2: struggling from a mental health perspective, And while the data

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Speaker 2: doesn't highlight answers, I think that there's probably a couple

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Speaker 2: that I could share that might be useful if that's

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Speaker 2: your family.

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Speaker 4: You've suggested that there's four things that you might share

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Speaker 4: with us that would help.

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Speaker 5: Yeah. The first one is just build relationships. Back up.

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Speaker 2: The quality of our children's connections and the joy that

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Speaker 2: they experience from regular face to face contact with trusted

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Speaker 2: friends that they connect with is going to do more

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Speaker 2: than thousands of dollars worth of therapy. You know, it's

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Speaker 2: just it's so important, or if therapy is needed because

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Speaker 2: things are really serious, those social connections and those relationships

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Speaker 2: will restore well being much faster. Second, get them physically active.

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Speaker 2: Movement is incredible in terms of the scientifically demonstrated positive

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Speaker 2: impact that it has on well being, even if it's

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Speaker 2: if we can make that move happen with people that way,

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Speaker 2: we get to build connection and physical well being, So

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Speaker 2: that's doubly good.

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Speaker 5: Third thing I reckon, get your kids involved in a

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Speaker 5: passion project.

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Speaker 2: If there's something that they're right into, whether it's art

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Speaker 2: or music, or they want to create something, or it

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Speaker 2: might be something religious, or it could be sporty, whatever

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Speaker 2: it is, get them involved in some kind of a project,

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Speaker 2: ideally with other people, but even if it's solo. As

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Speaker 2: so long as they've got your support, that's going to

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Speaker 2: be good for them. It gives them purpose, it gives

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Speaker 2: them meaning, and lastly, help them to find a way

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Speaker 2: to make a difference in someone's life when they realize

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Speaker 2: that the best way to be happy is sometimes just

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Speaker 2: to stop worrying about yourself and your stuff and go

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Speaker 2: and make a difference for somebody else. Find a cause.

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Speaker 2: It might be the environment, it could be poverty, it

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Speaker 2: could be homelessness, it might be a quality, whatever it is,

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Speaker 2: and get involved. They're my four big ideas.

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Speaker 3: There's some really great ideas.

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Speaker 4: Can we do quick review on our take home messages

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Speaker 4: for today because there's been a few.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, from the doctor's desk.

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Speaker 2: Number one, when it comes to teens in sleep, they

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Speaker 2: need to get enough sleep, and it's up to you

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Speaker 2: as a parent to have a gentle conversation when they're

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Speaker 2: not tied about how you can make sure that everybody

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Speaker 2: is healthy, safe and happy because the risks of not.

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Speaker 5: Sleeping enough are significant.

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Speaker 3: Number two.

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Speaker 2: Secondly, we talked about boys in reading, and it's really

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Speaker 2: simple read read with your kids, whether they're boys or girls.

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Speaker 2: And if they say I don't like reading, say okay,

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Speaker 2: well let's fine, let's see if we can find a

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Speaker 2: book that you would be interested in and read to them.

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Speaker 2: Spend that time building the connection. They will fall in

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Speaker 2: love with reading if you spend the time.

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Speaker 5: The research is there that shows it.

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Speaker 2: And finally number three from the doctor's desk, well being

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Speaker 2: has taken a hit for a lot of people because

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Speaker 2: of the pandemic. Well being was already taking a hit

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Speaker 2: before it, and the data is now in as especially

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Speaker 2: impactful for some of our young people. So if they're struggling,

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Speaker 2: make sure that they get connected with other people, make

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Speaker 2: sure they're physically active, help them to find a passion

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Speaker 2: project or find some meaning or purpose, something to get

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Speaker 2: curious about or invest in their lives. And lastly, see

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Speaker 2: if there's something that they can give back to other

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Speaker 2: people and forget themselves.

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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 4: If you've enjoyed the podcast, be sure to leave a

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Speaker 4: review at Apple Podcasts to hear from you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, those ratings and reviews help other people to find

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Speaker 2: out about podcast and make their family happier. And you

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Speaker 2: can also email us directly podcasts That's Podcasts with aness

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Speaker 2: at happy families dot com dot you. The Happy Families

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Speaker 2: podcast is produced by Justin Rulon from Bridge Media and

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Speaker 2: our executive producer is Craig Bruce. We really appreciate the

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Speaker 2: hard work that they put in to make sure that

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Speaker 2: the podcast sounds way better once it's been edited and

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Speaker 2: it sounded when we recorded it. And if you'd like

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Speaker 2: more information about how you can make your family way better,

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Speaker 2: jump onto Happy.

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Speaker 5: Families dot com dot you. We've got this amazing membership where.

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Speaker 2: You get ongoing week to week, month to month support

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Speaker 2: from me and from Kylie so that your family can

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Speaker 2: thrive and flourish. All the details for becoming a Happy

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Speaker 2: Family's member at Happy families dot com dot Au