Bonus: Momming During Coronavirus

[Music]

Shanna Micko: Hi. Welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. This is a very special bonus episode that we are doing about parenting in the age of the coronavirus. Laura, why don’t you explain a little bit about why and when we are doing this bonus episode?

Laura Birek: Okay. Yeah, everyone knows that the world is in a panic and in containment mode about this coronavirus that creates the illness known as COVID-19 and we are all confused about what to do. We had a hard time trying to figure out how to talk about it on the podcast because we try to keep the news out of the podcast. First of all, we record and release on a bit of a delay as people probably notice when we talk about Christmas and they’re like, why are you talking about Christmas? It’s the first week of February.

Shanna Micko: Exactly.

Laura Birek: That’s because we like to have the buffer in because we both have kids and we need the time to produce the show and we do it because when we were pregnant, we wanted to make sure there was time in case something went wrong or there was some health issue that we would know how to handle it.

Shanna Micko: Or if we were just too fucking tired and fatigued and nauseous to record that week.

Laura Birek: Totally.

Shanna Micko: We get a break.

Laura Birek: So we have this buffer, but it’s caused problems because this is just a huge news thing. It can’t be ignored.

Shanna Micko: It’s changing so quickly. What we record five weeks ago is not relevant anymore. We should mention today is Friday, March 13th.

Laura Birek: Friday the 13th. Of course.

Shanna Micko: Oh my God, I didn’t even realize that.

Laura Birek: We’re going to try to release this as soon as possible, but maybe by the time you listen to this, everything has changed. But we’re going to talk about what’s going on today and how we’re handling it and try to bring a little bit of lightness to all this just insanity that’s going on. I should mention three weeks ago we recorded an OMG I’m Freaking Out segment and my OMG I’m Freaking out was Coronavirus and you were sort of like, “Well, hopefully, it’ll get better,” and then you were like, “We can’t release that. It’s not going to work.”

Shanna Micko: It’s irrelevant anymore because now I’m freaked out.

Laura Birek: Yeah, so this is our replacement. This is basically a full episode of OMG I’m Freaking Out, so we can all freak out together and feel better together. Shanna, we’re going to have this sort of mini episode. We’re going to do some check-ins and then we’re going to have our BFPs at the end and they’re just going to be BFPs because we want to hear good stuff.

Shanna Micko: We don’t need BFNs.

Laura Birek: No, the BFN is obvious. So first I just wanted to check in with Shanna and I want to see what you’re doing. How is this affecting you and what are you guys doing in response to this new virus and this new situation?

Shanna Micko: Yes, good question. I think all of our listeners know, but just in case, Laura and I both live in the Los Angeles area and things ramped up very quickly. It was on my mind. I was kind of keeping track of what was going on and within the last couple days, everything has just been closing, canceling of events. My work yesterday, the CEO of the company, my husband works there too, emailed me and him and everybody and the entire company and was like, “We encourage working from home effective immediately.” So my husband packed up and came home.

Laura Birek: That was midday.

Shanna Micko: That was midday. It was like two o’clock. Elle, my four-year-old, goes to preschool on the work campus. 

So he picked her up, brought her home, and we are planning to stay home with her, with both of us working from home and with CeCe for the unforeseeable future and it is crazy. Everything is turned upside down. My head is spinning. This is the first day I’ve had two little kids home while working and having Steve home too, but he’s working too.

Laura Birek: Wow.

Laura Birek: Do you think it’s harder or is it easier now that Steve…

Shanna Micko: Yes.

Laura Birek: Okay.

Shanna Micko: No, no, no. It’s much harder because Elle is way more interactive than the toddler and she’s used to preschool all day where she gets interaction and friends and she’s very social. She wants us to play with her constantly and usually, when we have our family days, I’m kind of relaxed with our schedule and I went into full preschool teacher mode this morning. I wrote up a schedule. I was like, here’s what we’re doing, “8 o’clock is breakfast, 9 o’clock is playtime, 10 o’clock is snack.”

Laura Birek: Wow.

Shanna Micko: I have a whole schedule. 

I’ve been following it and I laid down the law with the discipline because sometimes we’re a little lax with discipline and we have a new system in place because it can be really hard when she and CeCe are together. It can get wild and I just can’t have that all day. So I don’t know. I feel like in panicky situations I do get stressed, but I also have this thing about me that I’m like, no bullshit. Let’s get it together. Let’s do this thing.

Laura Birek: Get it done.

Shanna Micko: Yeah, I’m like, first things first, this, this, this, this, this. I hope that it keeps up well. Of course, I hope we don’t get sick. I’m also like worried about that. I’m worried about my community and worried about the economy. Oh my God.

Laura Birek: There’s a lot of just general free floating stress out there definitely about…

Shanna Micko: I went to Trader Joe’s this morning because I’ve been slowly stocking up on extra items, but today I was like, I think it’s going to get really, really, really crazy now. So I need to get some stuff just before everyone else. I went in the morning and if you don’t know, Trader Joe’s is a grocery store that’s in Los Angeles and some other places around the country.

Laura Birek: I think I’ve read recently it’s in 40 states or something. So it’s really spread, which is good for the world. It’s a fantastic grocery store.

Shanna Micko: It is. It’s my favorite grocery store. I love it. I have some favorite items. 

I was like, I want to get some before everything closes.

Laura Birek: Did you know the very first one is my neighborhood Trader Joe’s right around the corner?

Shanna Micko: Yeah, I didn’t know that. I think you mentioned it on a previous podcast.

Laura Birek: Very proud.

Shanna Micko: I was like, what? That makes me want to give you a blue ribbon. I’m proud of you for being close to it.

Laura Birek: Like star sighting.

Shanna Micko: What?

Laura Birek: It’s like a star sighting.

Shanna Micko: Exactly. Celebrity sighting. So I went in today around 10:00 a.m. and I noticed no shopping carts were in the shopping cart zone out in the parking lot. Parking lot was bananas and so I grabbed a cart from a guy who was about to put his away. It was the last one. I was like, “I’ll take that,” and he’s like, “The line to check out is 50 minutes. I just timed it.”

Laura Birek: Woo.

Shanna Micko: I was like, “Oh, okay. Thank you.” I’m like, shit, well. I got to do this. So I went in, I grabbed tons of stuff, like $300 worth of stuff and got in a line that was from the cash register down the entire nut and dried fruit aisle all the way back to the wine section.

Laura Birek: Wow.

Shanna Micko: It was so long. I was in line for one hour.

Laura Birek: That’s a long time. Their checkout is not always super-efficient.

Shanna Micko: No.

Laura Birek: But that’s a long time even for Trader Joe’s.

Shanna Micko: It was really crazy and I was in an internet dead zone, so I had no internet access while I was standing there. So all I was doing was just grabbing more stuff off of the shelves around me in line and just kept putting it in my cart.

Laura Birek: So what’d you get?

Shanna Micko: That’s a really good question. I had already previously stocked up on pasta and stuff like that, which is good because the entire shelf of pasta and pasta sauce was gone by like 10:30 a.m. Completely gone. So I got some extra meat that I could freeze. I got some extra salmon, chicken breasts, some ground beef, some vegetables, some lunch meat, some frozen stuff like frozen rice, frozen fruit, some extra eggs, extra milk, some immediate staples and some things that I think we can eat next week or the week after if we need to. By the time I left the store, there was a line to get into Trader Joe’s.

Laura Birek: Oh my gosh.

Shanna Micko: People were lining up and it’s raining today. It’s a crazy rainy day.

Laura Birek: It’s been pouring the last two days and it’s apparently supposed to last for like a week or more. I know.

Shanna Micko: So we’re trapped at home with our kids without being able to go outside. Oh my God. It’s just so crazy. So I feel better that I got food because I was feeling bad because you told me that you had been doing some stocking up. Tell me about what you’ve been doing and how you’re feeling about all this.

Laura Birek: This has been on my mind I think a little longer than you.

Shanna Micko: Definitely.

Laura Birek: I do remember even before we did the OMG I’m Freaking Out like two weeks before that or something, I was like, “Let’s do an OMG I’m Freaking Out about Coronavirus,” and you’re like, “No.” I think you said it was too topical. I was like, “Okay.” But I had read some pretty alarming articles. There was an article in I think at the Atlantic on February 24th, so that’s three weeks ago about.

Shanna Micko: Yeah.

Laura Birek: It was basically like, “This thing is coming. It’s coming for the US. There’s nothing you can do to avoid it. You need to start preparing now.” I read it at like 3:00 a.m. when the baby was up from like teething, which sucked.

Shanna Micko: Oh my God.

Laura Birek: I got super-duper paranoid and so the next day it was my nanny day and so I went to Costco that day. This was before I think the majority of people had really started preparing, so I easily got another flat of toilet paper. I wasn’t hoarding, but I got like a case of water, a flat of toilet paper. I got a bunch of canned meats like canned tuna, some canned chicken that you can make chicken salad out of that sort of stuff and canned beans.

Shanna Micko: Oh, yeah. I got that.

Laura Birek: The stuff I got that day I realized was more sort of long-term if all the public services were out: sort of almost like an earthquake preparedness kit. That was what I was thinking of. So I got that. I also got some children’s Tylenol. By the way, children’s Tylenol and infants Tylenol is the exact same thing. Just FYI.

Shanna Micko: I know. Maybe the Tylenol is, but yeah, ibuprofen is more concentrated in the infants so you need to give them less.

Laura Birek: Yes, ibuprofen, you really need to pay attention. It’s very different. But children’s Tylenol, it’s the same dose. It’s all the same. So I got children’s Tylenol because it was half the price. I got stocked up on that. I got some DayQuil, NyQuil, extra Advil for us. That sort of thing.

Shanna Micko: Good. You’re so smart. I can’t believe you did this so long ago. That’s the problem is no one else was doing that and they’re all doing it today and the scores are just exploding.

Laura Birek: I got some hydrogen peroxide and some alcohol and I already had a bunch of hand sanitizer left over from when the baby was a newborn because we didn’t actually use it that much. But I had bought a tub.

Shanna Micko: You gave me a big one that you’re like, “We’re not going to use this.”

Laura Birek: It turns out I had another one of those in the closet I didn’t even realize. 

So we’re all set on that. I feel good about that. Dare I say smug about it. But I feel bad because I definitely saw people starting to hoard. People were getting way more than they needed.

Shanna Micko: Yes.

Laura Birek: Now I see people, like my friend Marilyn, she’s been trying to just buy toilet paper and she can’t find it. So I’m like, “Come over. I’ll give you one of the six packs from Costco,” and she’s like, “But you need it.” I’m like, “Hopefully, in a couple weeks the panic will have died down and we’re going to be able to find more toilet paper.” But also I have more toilet paper. I have enough for a while. You buy one of those Costco flats and they last a long time. So I can share with you.”

Shanna Micko: I know. I saw someone posting a meme, like, “All you young people who are hoarding stuff, think about the people who really need help.” It was like a photo of an older woman alone in front of an empty shelf and that kind of like really hit me. I was like, oh, yeah. The people who aren’t as fast and able bodied and whatever are really the people that are going to suffer from all of this hoarding.

Laura Birek: It sucks. I think that the hoarding is really bad. It’s so interesting to me because I’ve walked down grocery store aisles in the past and just been like, how are we ever going to eat all this food? It’s too much. Then now they’re all wiped out. So it’s just kind of interesting to me. I did that and then earlier this week Monday or Tuesday Trump gave some speech about how he was shutting down all travel to Europe.

Shanna Micko: Oh, I think that was Wednesday because the next everything went haywire.

Laura Birek: I started hearing him say that and Corey had come home from work a little early and I was like, “I’m going to go to Trader Joe’s.”

Shanna Micko: Good for you.

Laura Birek: We could survive on the food I got, but it would be boring. I needed food that was edible. Just the stuff that we actually want to eat because I heard that even in Wuhan, the water and the power never went out.

Shanna Micko: Thank God.

Laura Birek: That’s not the concern. It’s just that you’re going to be stuck baby inside self-quarantining and you just want food that you’re actually going to want to eat. There’s a difference between survival and enjoying yourself.

Shanna Micko: Yes.

Laura Birek: I went and I did the same thing you did. I got meats I could freeze. I love their pre-marinated meats that they have in there.

Shanna Micko: Those are great.

Laura Birek: So I got a bunch of those and again, trying not to take more than my share and it was okay. I only had one person in front of me in the checkout.

Shanna Micko: Oh, that’s amazing.

Laura Birek: I just acted thankfully just in time. Maybe I’m curious to hear if our listeners are experiencing this or if this is just a major metropolitan area problem.

Shanna Micko: I want to know too and in general, I really want to know how our listeners are feeling and how it’s affecting your lives, listeners, and what’s going on. So if you have any stories you want to share with us, please let us know. I will say that one thing I may be slightly hoarded was wine. I bought two bottles of wine and I did buy a bottle of Bulleit Bourbon because I was just like, that sounds really nice after a long day of working and caring for two kids. So that was kind of my fun little purchase and a couple bags of their Sea Salt Caramels.

Laura Birek: Delicious.

Shanna Micko: Those were my fun little treats for Shanna during this time.

Laura Birek: Because you want to enjoy your quarantine.

Shanna Micko: Yes, as much as I can for as long as I can. Okay. What is your family situation? What’s going on at home? Is Corey home or what?

Laura Birek: Yeah, so it’s sort of evolving. As you know, we have the nanny two days a week and I’m going to check in with her and see if she has concerns about coming over, but I don’t think she does. But I’ll make sure that she knows that if she feels like she doesn’t want to come or that we’ll figure something out with her. But other than that we kind of are in the perfect setup for self-quarantining in that I don’t work right now or I work from home in the capacity that I work and Corey, his job is so hard to explain. He has a deal at a studio, which means that he has an office with his writing partner and they have an assistant in on the ABC Disney lot, but they’re not currently staffed on a show. So like going into work for him is just going in to see two other people and he can really stay in his office. So far he’s been mostly staying in his office, but I think he’s going to start working from home because he’s about to start a new writer’s room for a show. Actually, it’s been interesting because it was going to be on the Fox lot, which is like an hour drive from where we live and now they’ve just announced they’re going to do it by Zoom.

Shanna Micko: That’s good.

Laura Birek: So he’s just trying to figure out whether he should do the Zoom from his office on the Disney lot or whether he should do it from our new back unit, which is literally just done this week. We just passed time in inspection.

Shanna Micko: Oh, yay!

Laura Birek: Spoiler for future episodes, which is supposed to be my office, but now it might be his. So he might do a combination. The truth is though that even if he goes into the office, there’s no one there. It’s empty. So it’s not risky. He’s not seeing anyone.

Shanna Micko: That’s good.

Laura Birek: He told his assistant to work from home. They forwarded the form, so now we’re just trying to figure out what to do. I had this conversation with him today, which is that our babies, my baby’s 14 months old now and yours is 15, are the perfectly wrong age for this because they’re old enough to run around and be crazy and need energy and social interaction, but they’re not old enough to understand why we’re not going all our places. Like my toddler me class is suspended. We’re not going to go to swim class anymore. We’re not going to story time. They’re all suspended. So we’re kind of stuck and it’s been rainy. I just today ordered rain boots and a rain jacket for him because I need to get outside with him.

Shanna Micko: That’s so cute and such a good idea.

Laura Birek: He’ll probably use it twice before he grows out of them, but such is life. We need to get outside. Once those arrive, rain or shine we’re going to go to the parks and stomp around the puddles and try to get out because two days of being stuck inside, he’s losing his mind already. He really is. He’s like, what is happening because he’s such a social kid? Then I should say I made a rule for myself. 

It’s now not that big of a deal because it’s being imposed by everyone else, like everything’s shutting down. But before everything shut down, I decided my rule was going to be one-on-one play dates are fine at our house or someone else’s house. Or going outside to a park is fine.

Shanna Micko: Okay.

Laura Birek: But no group activities.

Shanna Micko: What about a playground where many people have come throughout the day and touched those surfaces?

Laura Birek: I’m still saying that’s okay. Maybe see if you can bring wipes for the swings or something. I don’t know yet to be honest, but I think sunlight and fresh air does a lot to disinfect. So that’s what I’m going off of.

Shanna Micko: I was thinking hikes and walks outside because we’re up by the hills up north here. But of course that plan is a little bit messed up with the rain. But I might have to do a rain or shine outdoor stuff too, especially with a four- year-old who’s very active.

Laura Birek: Yes.

Shanna Micko: CeCe is, I hate to say this, but she’s a little more used to just being bored and doing stuff around the house.

Laura Birek: She’s like, work from home. That’s fine. That’s what we do anyway.

Shanna Micko: I kind of felt that way when our entire company went to work from home because people are like, “Make sure you have everything set up and you know what you’re doing,” and people are having problems and issues connecting and I’m just like old hat. Been doing it for almost a year.

Laura Birek: I was thinking, Shanna, we should do another bonus episode where you give tips on how to work from home with a baby and toddler because you’re an expert.

Shanna Micko: Great idea.

Laura Birek: Everyone suddenly needs to know how to do it.

Shanna Micko: That is so true. Okay. I could do that.

Laura Birek: But anyway, we’re hanging in there and yeah, we’re just sort of taking it day by day like everyone else. My biggest sort of takeaway from this is it’s so nice to know that according to all the statistics, the illness doesn’t really affect children all that badly. They get very mild illness and there have been no deaths I think in any kids or babies. That’s as of today of course. But that’s very reassuring and so for me, when I’m thinking about the illness, it’s not so much like, I’m afraid to get COVID-19. It’s just that we want to flatten the curve. 

We want to make sure that fewer people get infected at once so our medical system isn’t overwhelmed and so that’s why we’re staying inside. It’s really not so we don’t get sick as much as we don’t want everyone else and also our grandparents.

Shanna Micko: Yes.

Laura Birek: My mom has lung problems. My stepfather is 87 years old. My parents are just getting older. So we definitely want to keep them healthy and we want to be able to see them again. I’m not talking about them die. I want to be able to get out of quarantine and see them. That’s the reason for this season as far as I’m concerned.

Shanna Micko: I have to say that we are both very fortunate and privileged to be able to just be like, we’re going to do social distant scene because of our jobs.

Laura Birek: Absolutely.

Shanna Micko: I’m a writer. My husband’s a writer. Your husband’s. We’re all writers and that is something that we can do from home and that is so lucky. I really feel for people who work in retail, the service industry.

Laura Birek: Healthcare.

Shanna Micko: So if you’re in a position like that, my heart goes out to you and if you have any stories you want to share with us about how you’re coping and what it’s doing to your life, we would love to hear from you. Definitely reach out.

Laura Birek: You can find us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook at BFP Podcast. Or you can send us an email to [email protected]. You can also send us a voice memo to [email protected].

Shanna Micko: Laura, should we take a break and come back and try to uplift ourselves and our listeners with some BFPs?

Laura Birek: I think we should.

Shanna Micko: Okay.

[Music]

Shanna Micko: We are back and we are going to end things with a BFP section. Just BFPs this week because we all need a little uplifting in our lives right now.

Laura Birek: We’re going to start with a little personal BFP in our life right now and then move on to some other things we found that you guys might find helpful too. Laura, what is your personal BFP this week?

Laura Birek: So my personal BFP is MasterClass. Do you know about this?

Shanna Micko: Yes, I have a gift certificate to it that I’ve had three years and never used for Shonda Rhimes.

Laura Birek: Oh my gosh. You should. Now is the perfect time.

Shanna Micko: I know. That’s a great idea.

Laura Birek: That’s the thing. At Christmas time, they had a two for one special, which was if you bought it for a friend or family you got a pass too. So I bought it for my brother and then I have the MasterClass pass and what it is, is it’s online learning videos, but they’re taught by all these people who are ridiculously huge in their fields, like Margaret Atwood teaches writing, Shonda Rhimes teaches writing, David Sedaris. They have like Daniel Negreanu who teaches poker if you’re a poker person.

Shanna Micko: Oh, cool.

Laura Birek: They have Serena Williams teaching tennis. It’s bonkers, but why it’s specifically my BFP for this is because I haven’t really had time to dive into MasterClass and I’m taking this sort of self-quarantine even though it doesn’t really change that much about my day to day other than not going to activities. I’ve decided I’m going to start watching my MasterClass classes and learn something new. I just saw that they added a new to do classes. 

One was mixology, which I would love to learn how to make fancy cocktails because that’s something I’m actually not great at. I like cooking and I like baking, but I’m not great at making fancy cocktails. That’s exciting. The other was Mexican cooking.

Shanna Micko: Oh my God. Yuuuuum.

Laura Birek: So I’m going to try to take those classes and just sort of use this time to learn something that otherwise I feel like I wouldn’t have time for or would just keep putting off.

Shanna Micko: Awesome. I love that.

Laura Birek: That’s my personal BFP. What’s your personal BFP?

Shanna Micko: My BFP in all of this is getting to spend more time with my family. You know I send Elle off to school five days a week. Steve goes off to work five days a week and with their commute time they are and back. A lot of time I don’t get to see them. So I’m actually looking forward to trying to bond more with Elle, even though it’s going to be a crazy, crazy busy schedule and days. Another thing is that the more time we’re spending together, I’m excited to work on some discipline stuff that I haven’t had a chance to do with her because she’s always off at school. This is all based on one day so far of having a work day with my older kid home now. But I think this is going to be a good opportunity for me to work on some different discipline techniques with her that I’ve been hesitant to instill because she’s at school all week and then the weekends are kind of like crazy and free for all and I’ve always thought that at home time, if I could just give her some more structure and some more rules and boundaries that we all might be a little bit happier. She’s not a terrible kid or anything, but she is extremely energetic. She’s pretty willful. She’s extremely verbal and communicative and just sometimes with any kid it can be a bit of a struggle and so I specifically have been reading a new book lately called Raising Lions.

Laura Birek: Ooh.

Shanna Micko: Yes, I love it because it is very different than the Janet Lansbury RIE approach, which is more focused towards little babies. Once Elle turned about two and a half, three, I started thinking, ooh, I’m going to need something different. Obviously, I respect her and I talk to her in nice ways and stuff. But I feel like the way I’m dealing with boundaries and stuff isn’t working anymore and so this book, Raising Lions, seems perfect for her. It’s more about very willful kids, energetic kids and how to really give them the boundaries that they are desperate for. So far, it’s making me feel better about just like asserting my own self. For example, today we were having a snack and she’s like, “Mama, can I have more milk?” Usually, I just kind of jump up and get her milk. But today I was in the middle of working and instead of setting my computer aside and getting it, I said, “Yes, you can have more milk, but in at least two minutes because I’m busy right now.” So she needs to become aware that I am a person with needs and desires too. I’ve gotten very into like, just give the kids whatever. Just stop crying and screaming.

Laura Birek: Sure.

Shanna Micko: These are some of my new techniques and I’m using this book and I’m excited to kind of get a grasp on this area of our life that I’ve never even tackled before really. So here we go.

Laura Birek: Cool. We’ll put a link to that on our website, of course.

Shanna Micko: The book 1-2-3 Magic is the other one I read a while back and I’ve been wanting to instill it forever. Real quick, it’s about giving them a little countdown if you are noticing a behavior you want them to stop and then giving them a little, I guess, consequence for it. Feels weird to do consequences after being a Janet Lansbury person for so long. But here we are.

Laura Birek: We’ll have to check back and see how that’s going for you.

Shanna Micko: We’ll see. So what else is on the BFP list this week, Laura? What have you come across that is kind of a fun thing in this time?

Laura Birek: I’ve been very grateful for Facebook moms groups because people are posting all kinds of resources for people suddenly stuck at home with their kids. One thing I found was this Travel and leisure article that’s titled Stuck at Home? These 12 Famous Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take From Your Couch.

Shanna Micko: What?

Laura Birek: It’s just a list of different museums that have virtual tours. Like you can walk through the British Museum in London or the Guggenheim in New York.

Shanna Micko: Wow.

Laura Birek: Or the Musée d’Orsay in France. I can’t pronounce anything in French, so apologies to anyone who can speak French.

Shanna Micko: I know.

Laura Birek: The Getty too. You can go on your computer and just tour all these museums from the comfort of your home.

Shanna Micko: That’s really cool.

Laura Birek: I thought that was very cool.

Shanna Micko: Awesome. I love it. Where do people go to get that?

Laura Birek: We will post the link to this article that rounds them up onto bigfatpositivepodcast.com, but also you can just search travel and leisure museum tours. It’ll probably come up.

Shanna Micko: Okay. Perfect. Then there’s links to the different museum websites or something?

Laura Birek: Yeah.

Shanna Micko: I see.

Laura Birek: They all have different URLs. Some are through Google and some are through the actual museum’s website.

Shanna Micko: Got you. Cool.

Laura Birek: The other thing I found on these Facebook groups is this local music class called Sweet Potato Music, they’re offering not free, but they’re offering online music classes now. So you can connect on Zoom and if you have your own little like tambourine at home, you can play along and that’s for kids zero to five. I think a lot of places are starting to do that. So I know that the Family Room, which is where I go to my music classes and stuff, they’re trying to figure out a way to do online classes as well. I would look in your area to see if any of the music classes that you’ve been meaning to check out if they’ve now moved to an online version.

Shanna Micko: Yes, I love that idea. Very cool how people are so innovative when push comes to shove. I love it. Keeping the community together and activities. That’s great. Love it.

Laura Birek: Shanna, what is your BFP you found out in the world?

Shanna Micko: In one of my mom’s group, someone linked to this site called Raddish. It’s actually R-A-D-D-I-S-H. They provide cooking kits that they deliver to your door and they are offering 25,000 free kits for people because of the coronavirus and quarantine. So you can get something at your front door that you can use in the kitchen with your kid and it’s an educational thing too, like learning measuring and whatever and cooking and stuff like that. They also have some free online activities and stuff like that. So if you have a kid that’s probably not as young as ours, but maybe more like Elle, a three or four year old or older, this might be something really fun that you can get for free and an activity that you can do in the kitchen and then eat what you have at the end. That’s a really neat thing. They’re offering 25,000 free kits.

Laura Birek: That’s pretty cool.

Shanna Micko: The website for that one is raddishkids.com. I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t gotten the kit. I don’t know how good the kit is. I don’t think it’s like just a box of Pop-Tarts and stuff. I think it’s real food that you can make.

Laura Birek: I just love that everyone’s sort of stepping up and I think it’s important too to support small businesses, especially in these times because they’re getting hit really hard.

Shanna Micko: I know.

Laura Birek: We all are. Let’s not even talk about this diamond kit.

Shanna Micko: No.

Laura Birek: Let’s support as many small businesses as we can and it’s great if there are some special deals. We just wanted to release this. We wanted to talk to our listeners because we know we didn’t want to wait five weeks to address this.

Shanna Micko: It’s also immediate and happening now and it’s all…

Laura Birek: But we will be back on Monday with our regularly scheduled program where we’ll be talking about all the worries we had five weeks ago that seem so silly now.

Shanna Micko: So irrelevant and silly now. Just kidding. It’s not irrelevant. It’s our lives.

Laura Birek: It’s our lives. We want to hear from you listeners, please.

Shanna Micko: Please, again, if you have anything you want to share with us, we want to hear from you. Laura, where can they reach us?

Laura Birek: We are on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at BFP Podcast. We also have a Facebook community group. You should definitely join. Just search Big Fat Positive community, request to join. It’s a closed group, so I have to add you. 

But once you get in, you can see all the great stuff that’s going on in there, including a cute baby thread that was started by a listener today that is just so uplifting and adorable.

Shanna Micko: Awesome.

Laura Birek: You can also send us an email and or a voice memo to [email protected] or visit our website: bigfatpositivepodcast.com.

Shanna Micko: Big Fat Positive is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko and Steve Yager. Thanks for listening, everyone.

Laura Birek: See you later. See you on Monday.

Shanna Micko: Bye.

Laura Birek: Bye.

[Music]