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Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast.

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Speaker 2: It's the podcast for the time poor parent who just

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Speaker 2: wants answers.

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Speaker 1: Mew good. It's doctor Justin Colson on the last day

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Speaker 1: of the holidays. I'm here with Kylie, my wife, m um,

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Speaker 1: to our six kids, and this is a Happy Families podcast. Oh.

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Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I'm kind of I

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Speaker 1: mean this really in between feeling I'm really excited for

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Speaker 1: the holidays to be over and at the same time

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Speaker 1: I'm really devastated the holidays are about to be over.

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Speaker 2: It always surprises me every time this has because when

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Speaker 2: we're interurn, we just crave relaxation, We want to break

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Speaker 2: from the routine. We just want no structure and we

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Speaker 2: want to do what we want to do. But we

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Speaker 2: get to a certain point where we're in that no structure,

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Speaker 2: where we just grave structure and routine, and the kids

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Speaker 2: feel it too. You watch them. They get to a

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Speaker 2: certain point where you can just see they just need

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Speaker 2: that predictability back into their day and their routine.

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Speaker 1: And it's even harder for parents who are still at

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Speaker 1: work trying to manage because the kids have got no

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Speaker 1: routine in structure, but the parents are trying to force

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Speaker 1: it on them, because like, we've got to get out

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Speaker 1: the door, We've got to do this, got to do that.

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Speaker 1: It's a kind of a tough time for parents of

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Speaker 1: younger children. You'll know what we mean soon soon enough. Hey,

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Speaker 1: I want to talk about something that I think is

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Speaker 1: really important. A school goes back. Returning to school can

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Speaker 1: be really frightening for some kids. I mean, a lot

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Speaker 1: of kids are actually pretty enthusiastic. They're like, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: get to see my friends, but some kids not so much.

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Speaker 2: I had a really cute little conversation with miss Emily

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Speaker 2: the other day. She looked at me really really seriously,

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Speaker 2: and she said, mum Am, I going into grade two.

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Speaker 1: Real because holidays are over. It's back to school. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: She was really nervous about it. And I said, you are,

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Speaker 2: I said, but not straight away. I said, we're going

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Speaker 2: to go back to school. And I said, and you're

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Speaker 2: going to have ten whole weeks at school, and then

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Speaker 2: we're going to have another big holiday, and then you're

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Speaker 2: going to have another ten weeks and then it's going

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Speaker 2: to be Christmas time. And I said, and after the

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Speaker 2: big Christmas holidays, then you'll go into grade two. But

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Speaker 2: you've still got lots of life. It's the time with

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Speaker 2: your year one friends and your year one teacher.

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Speaker 1: Was feeling okay about then oh once.

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Speaker 2: I said that, you could just visibly see her relax again.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, she was.

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Speaker 2: She's starting to, you know, freak out a little bit.

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Speaker 2: It's anxious.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting you say that, because, well, that's a nice,

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Speaker 1: easy one to resolve. A lot of kids are just nervous.

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Speaker 1: They've either been bullied, or they've got no friends, or

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Speaker 1: they don't feel like they be long at school or

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Speaker 1: speaking of which we're going to have a great conversation

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Speaker 1: on the podcast in a couple of weeks with doctor

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Speaker 1: Kelly and Allen about how to help kids feel like

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Speaker 1: they belong at school. But I wanted to talk as

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Speaker 1: this final holiday podcast before our regular podcasts return about

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Speaker 1: building hope in our kids because research tells us that

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Speaker 1: being hopeful and optimistic about the future, and they are

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Speaker 1: slightly different things, but being hopeful about the future is

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Speaker 1: one of the best ways to help kids overcome anxiety

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Speaker 1: and depression. And it sounds like it sounds like you

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Speaker 1: did a good job with Emily, but a lot of

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Speaker 1: parents can't resolve those issues quite so, simply. Yeah, So

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Speaker 1: there's three steps to building hope. Step one, find out

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Speaker 1: what the kids actually want, like, work towards a goal.

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Speaker 1: What are you looking forward to is basically the question.

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Speaker 1: Step two help them to have pathways to that goal. So,

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Speaker 1: if that's what you're looking forward to, how can we

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Speaker 1: make that happen? And step three give them that sense

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Speaker 1: of agency that is, empower them, how do you think

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Speaker 1: you can do it? And those three things goals, pathways,

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Speaker 1: and agency or something that they're working towards, a way

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Speaker 1: to get there, and a belief that they can seems

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Speaker 1: to build the hope that they need to not be

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Speaker 1: so anxious and worried about going back to school on

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Speaker 1: Monday or Tuesday or whatever date ends up being, depending

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Speaker 1: on student free days and wherever you are.

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Speaker 2: So I think there's a challenge in there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, last challenge of the holidays, what is it?

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Speaker 2: Find something that your children are struggling with, talk about it,

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Speaker 2: empower them, help them find pathways, work through those three

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Speaker 2: steps and give them some hope.

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Speaker 1: I love that a parent's job is to be a

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Speaker 1: hope builder.

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Speaker 2: I love those words hope builder.

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Speaker 1: Well, we really hope that you've enjoyed the school holidays

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Speaker 1: with your kids. If they're continuing because you're in a

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Speaker 1: different state, because dates different to Queensland holidays, continue to

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Speaker 1: enjoy them. Please our regular podcast schedule return again on Monday.

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Speaker 1: We can't wait to dive back into some big topics

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Speaker 1: and spend a bit more time being neaty around them.

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Speaker 1: But we hope that you've enjoyed the last two weeks

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Speaker 1: of short, sweet ideas to make your family happier. The

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Speaker 1: Happy Family's podcast is produced by Justin Ruland from Bridge

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Speaker 1: Media and Craig Bruce is our executive producer. Hey, if

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Speaker 1: you want more info about making your family happier, you

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Speaker 1: can find it at happyfamilies dot com dot a