Are Kids More Creative Than Adults? – Ep. 238

Laura

Welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. This week we have our weekly check-ins, we have our special segment, Internet Insanity, where we talk about creative kids and grandmas with grudges, and we close with our BFPs and BFNs for the week. Let's get started!

Shanna

Literally, no one's ever described my voice as soothing, so I'll take that thing.

Laura

What are you talking about? Okay, listeners, please write in and reassure Shanna that she has a very soothing, wonderful voice. Maybe I'll start a meditation podcast. Yeah, or an ASMR.

Shanna

Oh, yeah, yeah, my new side hobby.

Laura

Oh, the one with the strict dress code.

Shanna

Yes, where the boys had to wear Christmas bow ties.

Laura

Yes, everyone in their Christmas bow ties, they just reached in their drawer and got them.

Shanna

Yeah. So we got official tickets to the performance. They were very fancy. And we got there early and got a terrible seat. We were way in the back. We could barely see the stage. I was so pissed. But it was so adorable. It was equally adorable and chaotic. I mean, it was packed. There were probably over 200 parents, grandparents, siblings, I mean, tons of babies all in this ballroom area. And there was a little stage set up and every little class paraded in and they're matching Christmas attire. It was so cute. The little two-year-olds, I don't think they actually sang a word. They just kind of stood there staring like deer eyes out at the audience while the music played. Oh my God, it was so cute. So for Cece's outfit, right, she had to wear like a white dress and a red headpiece and all this jazz. So I sourced it from my local Buy Nothing group. I borrowed a dress from someone here.

Laura

Okay, let me see. Oh my goodness. She looks so chic. She's got like this. I mean, I think it could double as like a communion dress on.

Shanna

That's what it was. It was the neighbor's daughter's communion dress. Yes.

Laura

I mean, that why else would anyone in the right mind own a white dress for a toddler? Like truly.

Shanna

I know, right? It's not in our repertoire. A terrible idea.

Laura

White. I will barely buy shirts that have like little bits of white on them. Right? And she also has like a faux fur. stole kind of over her shoulders. Oh yes, her little shrug, because it was a cold day. Or shrug, that's the word I'm looking for. Oh my goodness. And of course, you got the headband. She looks so put together and she looks really sweet. Did she like wearing the dress?

Shanna

Yeah, she did actually. I was really nervous because I have very casual kids, very casual kids. But she was pretty jazzed about wearing that outfit and getting dressed up and everything. Um, so she looked very fancy on stage with her friends and, you know, she's in like the three and four year old class. They're a little bit older and I could tell they practiced a lot, uh, cause they were all actually singing along. Some of them more enthusiastically than others.

Laura

I want to see my kid I mean why else are you there like truly what so you can be in the back and not see your own kid when they're performing And you have to sit through a bunch of two-year-old staring into the void

Shanna

So I got a little bit of footage. I'll send you a little video so you can get the vibe of what was happening. Oh yeah, I want the vibe. All right, sending it your way. Okay, let's see.

Laura

Oh my God, they're so cute. See, she's on it. She's playing with her bow on her waist a little bit, her little belt, but she's still singing. Yeah. Yeah. The little boys in their bow ties are extremely cute, I have to say. I get why they required that. It's adorable.

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

Oh my gosh, and they're singing Jingle Bells. Adorable.

Shanna

Yeah. So, so much cuteness. And I was really proud of her. I didn't know how she would be performing in front of everybody, you know, because I just don't know her style yet. Like with Elle, I'm like, oh yeah, Elle goes all out on stage, right? And I'm like, how is Cece going to be? But yeah, she was definitely participating, singing along, a little nervous, I could tell, because she was like fiddling with her outfit and stuff. She powered through the nervousness and did really well. And I was so happy.

Laura

Awesome. I'm so glad that worked out.

Shanna

Yeah. And then a couple of days later was Christmas Eve. And I just like want to say that last year I had not a lot of Christmas spirit. I remember talking about this on the show. Like I'd had a tough run with like Chili dying and Elbin in the hospital. And I was just drained, right? And I didn't come into Christmas with a lot of joy and enthusiasm, but This year I came in hard with it. I was like, super excited to celebrate and my mother-in-law was in town and we made cookies and we made these little lanterns. My mother-in-law put together this craft for us and we had a wonderful Christmas Eve. Let me just send you a couple pictures of some of our activities.

Laura

Okay, I see the whole Yager clan hanging out. Oh, is that a lantern or a drink in your hand? We made little lanterns out of mugs. I see, like glass mugs. Oh, very cool. Very festive. The girls are having fun. It looks like Sissy's holding up some kind of gingerbread man shape. Is that a cookie or a crab? Yeah, very adorable. Oh, Elle is about to chomp down. on a Christmas cookie shaped like a Christmas tree. Well, this looks festive AF, Shanna.

Shanna

Yeah, it was. So we've been having wonderful holiday vibes all around. And yeah, that's pretty much my check-in. Awesome. How about you, if your kids started the holiday break, or what are you up to this week?

Laura

Yes, yes. So Augie has started his holiday break. His school takes two and a half weeks off. And Sebastian actually, his school only takes two days off throughout the holiday. I know. I mean, it's amazing.

Shanna

A parent's dream.

Laura

It is. So the only days they take off are would be next week, the day after Christmas, and then the following week, the day after New Year's. And it's the day after because this year they're both Sundays, right? However, he did not make it the whole week this week, Shanna.

Shanna

No. Yeah. Sick again.

Laura

Ugh. He got a stomach bug and it's not a good one, Shanna. This poor baby, he's still really sick. I think he's gonna be sick through Christmas. He's been kind of been up and down, right? So on Wednesday night after dinner, he was like chewing on his finger. I think his back molars might be coming in, right? And so he was chewing on his finger and he kept sticking his finger on the back of his throat, right? And gagging. Oh boy, that's fun. Yeah, and we were like, stop it, stop it. But he thought it was funny, right? You know, anytime you say stop it to him, he thinks you're joking. Like he's such a fucking joker, this baby. Like all he wants to do is make jokes and like tease you and taunt you. So I was like, no, no, no, that's bad gagging you. You're going to throw up. Stop it. And he was like, what this, you know, and he was like doing it more.

Shanna

Oh, okay.

Laura

He was just like falling asleep everywhere.

Shanna

Oh, this picture is so sad. He's asleep in your arms and he looks sick. He does like dark circles under his eyes. Oh, baby. I know the poor thing.

Laura

you look sad to i'm not gonna lie i was really sad for him i was it's so hard to see your children sick you know like all you want to do is protect them and stomach bugs especially are really hard because like i don't know there's a lot of You can't really give them medicine because they throw it up. And it's just really hard to comfort them, except for just to literally hold them. I'm going to send one more picture that I just found.

Shanna

Aw, the brothers together. Augie looks happy, but Sebastian looks miserable.

Laura

Oh, his little pout. And we were trying to keep Augie away from Sebastian a little bit to hopefully have him knock at the stomach bug. Yeah, but it's impossible with a almost two-year-old and almost four-year-old like it just it There's no keeping them apart and all they fucking do is steal each other's water bottles. It's just like endless So anyway, I'm just holding my breath for Augie to get sick too, but Poor Sebastian as of right now he's kind of on an update but it's been up and down like I'm not holding my breath I will say one thing we did find which really helped was something called fever all have you ever used fever all no they are acetaminophen or Tylenol. suppositories for kids under the age of three. Oh, smart. And, you know, no pun that totally saved our ass. Because, you know, he did have a fever.

Shanna

Oh my gosh, he is decked out head to toe. He looks like he belongs in Minnesota. This big puffy jacket with this big hood and thick mittens.

Laura

Oh, he's ready for the snow. He's ready. So Cory and I on Thursday are looking at each other with this like sick baby who like will not even wake up in my arms. I mean, he wasn't that, but like he wasn't on death's doorstep. But you know what I mean? Like he's so tired. He's so sick. And I'm like, I can't take this baby to the snow. And Cory's like, are you going to tell Augie? What are we going to do? And that's when I was like, you guys need to go. I know I want to be there for Augie's first real snow, but I can't tell him you're not going. I'm like, you and Augie go together tomorrow. You have a daddy Sunday, and I'll just stay home with sick baby. And so that's what they did. Despite me not being there, it looked like they had a wonderful day. They went up to Mountain High, which is a ski area near us. I've never been to.

Shanna

Oh boy.

Laura

OK, I just sent you a video of him going down this inner tube run.

Shanna

All right, let's see. Oh, my gosh. First of all, that looks fun as hell. I want to be in that position. Second, I'm impressed that he's alone in there, like doing that by himself without Corey. Very, very impressive.

Laura

Yeah. I mean, he's a thrill seeker, so it doesn't surprise me. I saw the video and I was like, um, is this a safe choice? So yeah, I mean, I'm bummed that I missed it, but they had so much fun. And I'm sure Augie really enjoyed having that one-on-one time with his dad. So there's silver linings there. And I'm just hoping Sebastian is feeling better by Christmas. Me too, sending him all the healthy healing vibes. Thanks, thanks. But anyway, I think it might be time to move on to our special segment. What do you think? Oh, yes, indeed.

Shanna

We're back, and this week's special segment is Internet Insanity, where we report on the interesting, fascinating, hilarious things we've found online recently regarding parenting. Laura, you are up first, and I'm so curious to know what your first Internet Insanity is.

Laura

Okay, so my first one is something I found on TikTok, surprise, surprise.

Shanna

I have to say TikTok has done wonders for our internet and sanity segment.

Laura

Truly. Right? Where would we be? Where would this segment be without the glory of TikTok? We'd have to be talking about Facebook?

Shanna

I mean, ew.

Laura

Come on. I'm actually joking. I love our Facebook group. But yes, no, TikTok is great. So I'm going to send you this video so you can see it, and then we'll talk about it.

Shanna

All right. Well, this is interesting. OK, Laura, tell our listeners about this, and then let's discuss.

Laura

So this TikTok was from a creator, passionland.co. And it was about a study that was conducted in the late 60s by George Land and Beth Jarman about creative genius and age. So like, whether young children are more creative than older children, basically. So the study used supposedly the same test that was given to like NASA engineers to determine their level of creative genius. And they found that out of five year olds, 98% of them tested as creative geniuses.

Shanna

Oh my gosh. This is why I'm afraid of kindergartners. They're brilliant.

Laura

And then they say by age 10, it goes down to 30%. And they repeated it and found that by the time we're adults, only 2% of us qualify as quote unquote creative geniuses. Oh my gosh. But Shanna, this is an internet insanity segment. This is not a today I learned segment. True. True. So in that light, I'm here to tell you it's all lies. Wait, what? This this TikTok, this what are you talking about? All of it, Shanna. This study apparently never happened. OK. So I saw this and I was like, this seems like too good, right? Like this seems too clear and also like 1968's a long time ago to be doing these kind of tests like I don't know my spiny sense of like this is bullshit was I guess you'd call it like my bullshit meter was it was tingling right. You've got a good bullshit. Well you know what I'm starting to like.

Shanna

It's so good. Yeah.

Laura

And like that's all they do basically is they're like, This is all bullshit, right? I had just been listening to that podcast and I was like, this smacks of, you know, something you read in an airport book and you think like, oh, amazing. And then it turns out there's nothing behind it, right? So I started digging. Yes. And yeah, it's repeated all over the place, including a TEDx talk, right? And I think people have really latched onto it because it sounds like such a cool idea, right? Like you hear it and you're like, oh, that kind of makes sense, right? Like my kids are so creative and so interesting. And as adults, you feel like you've lost it, right? Like you've lost something. And so that reinforces it. But this author, Emile Kierkegaard, did this deep dive into it because his bullshit spidey sense was also tingling.

Shanna

Interesting.

Laura

Yeah, steady upward trend through grades one through 12. And he said the meta analysis of adults found that creativity generally tops in early mid adulthood, which is expected based on like what we know about brain development. Okay. So not only could he not find any source for this supposed NASA study that they did, But he also found conflicting information that actually is in line with like what we know about the brain. And so his conclusion is, children are not creativity geniuses. The available evidence shows that creative thinking tests show the usual age pattern seen with other cognitive tests. George Land's claim is totally contrary to other research and there is no evidence it exists. It is likely that George Land made it up.

Shanna

Why? Why? Why do people spread misinformation and about something so benign, like creativity and kids? What is the motivation there?

Laura

I mean, he probably just needed like a paragraph for his book, you know? Yeah. Cause that's one thing he did find was like a mention of George Land in some book. And it's like, he probably just needed some kind of quote. And with the confidence of a mediocre white guy was just like, sure. Yeah, 98% of five year olds are creative geniuses. You know, like, oh, I can just say that no one will care. It's 1968. No one will have any way to verify this.

Shanna

Right. Right. But now we've got the internet and now we have ways of much more easily checking things.

Laura

But that TikTok I sent you has 301,000 views, Shanna.

Shanna

Of course it does. Did you come in hot in the comment section being like, nah, this is not right?

Laura

Ugh, I really wanted to, like, I'm such that person, right? I want to be like, but actually, which is such a, it's a bad impulse of mine, but like, someone should be like, hey, this is a lie. But it's so much harder to find the this is a lie information than to find like a hundred sources also citing this total bullshit. So yeah, I'm sure she's not the only person making a video about this. No, because we just trust. You saw it in a TED Talk. You think that it's fact-checked. It's not. The other thing I learned about from that This Book Will Kill You series is that nonfiction books don't get fact-checked. It's wild. So I write articles occasionally. And sometimes they're for like bigger magazines. Like the biggest one I've written for is probably O Magazine or Parents, right? Parents Magazine.

Shanna

And yeah, we're just fed these little tidbits on TikTok or wherever, you know, we watch them Instagram reels or whatever. And it's like, oh, that's fascinating. Double tap the heart and then move on. And then that little nugget lives in my brain as reality. And then I look at my kids and I'm like, oh, my God, they're so genius. And then I think about myself and I'm like, I'm a loser with no creativity. And then it just kind of like, it's insidious. It gets into my life and my head and it's messed up.

Laura

Turns out, you're more creative than your kids. Suck it, kids.

Speaker 1

Ha ha ha ha.

Laura

Or maybe you were ten years ago, I don't know. I know, it's all downhill from here. I tried to figure out what early, mid adulthood meant, and I couldn't quite figure that out. Yeah, probably not my age. Probably like 27. I feel pretty creative at 27. Yeah, me too. Anyway, that was my first Internet Insanity. Whoo, that was a good one. Shanna, I want to hear your first Internet Insanity. What have you seen on those webs, the interwebs, the series of tubes?

Shanna

I have discovered grandma showers.

Laura

What? I know, that sounds so... I'm inferring what it means now. At first I'm imagining grandma's taking a shower, okay. Do your kids take a shower with grandma like I can be okay and I mean some families whatever like whatever happened but that doesn't seem like what I'm like oh is this like a baby shower but for the grandma's.

Shanna

Yes, Laura, this is a new phenomenon happening. Oh my goodness. Wow, okay. Grandma showers are on the rise. I first came across this in an article from an online site called intheknow.com. And they were summarizing some Reddit drama, you know. Reddit's also good for the internet insanity. I love it. So this person who's pregnant goes to Reddit to complain that her mother-in-law had a baby shower for herself, for the grandmother. The mom of the actual child didn't know, wasn't invited, and found out about it when the grandma posted pictures of the shower online. She's like, there was a full buffet. There was a banner that read, it's a boy. Let's celebrate grandma pictures of the pregnant mom were like up at the shower.

Laura

Oh my God. Yeah, there's the line that's really been crying. I mean, yeah. Oh wow, okay.

Shanna

Yeah, so she wasn't invited, but she was there, I guess, in spirit or in photo form. So this got me thinking. I'm like, is this a one-off, like just a odd, like, you know, mother-in-law quirk thing she just decided to do for herself.

Laura

Wait, can I ask a question first? Like, so was she getting presents that she was then going to pass on? And she was receiving presents.

Shanna

I needed to know what is the deal with grandma showers. I started going down the internet rabbit hole to figure this out. It is not a deep rabbit hole. I literally googled grandma showers. And tons of articles come up like how to host a grandma shower. So I go into some article about grandma showers and like tips for hosting one and everything. And yeah, the idea is that grandma's grandma to be are having these parties so that their friends can get them gifts for the baby that they can keep at their house so that the baby can use it when the kid comes over. And like some of the people in the article are quoted like, well, I just don't have anything. I have nothing for, you know, the grand baby for when they come over. So yes, there's definitely a gifts element involved as well as celebrating becoming a grandma. And of course this comes with great controversy, right?

Laura

I think at least, you know, giving the pregnant person a heads up this is happening is probably the first step to making it a sweet occasion and not like a weird one.

Shanna

Yeah, exactly. People are also seeing it as one-upping the pregnant mom, right? Like taking over the spotlight. Like, oh, this is all about me instead of the actual mom. So there's that. Some people are criticizing it as a gift grab. So, you know, some people think it's sweet. Some people think it's atrocious. I don't know. I think it all just depends on context personally.

Laura

Yeah, I could see it both ways. I mean, I think, like you said, it depends on how it's handled. Like, I absolutely would have been supportive of my mom or my mother-in-law having a grandma shower if it was like, A, you told me it was happening, and B, like, you know, it's for stuff so that you could help take care of the kids. Like, anything that helps me offload my children on the grandparents is just welcome. Yeah, truly let that grandma get a pack and play for her house. Sure. But I can see if you have somewhat of a more troubled relationship with your mom or your mother-in-law, this rubbing you the wrong way, for sure.

Shanna

For sure. If you do want to throw a grandma shower, there are plenty of resources online. There are lots of images of grandma ribbons. Apparently it's like a big thing. That's the number one thing that comes up when I search in the images, like a Like a best grandma ribbon. So I think maybe there's like some tradition blooming of like the grandma to be like gets past this like grandma ribbon and stuff. So if that's up your alley, there are tons of resources online for this new budding tradition.

Laura

You learn something new every day. Truly. Never heard about it until this very moment. Thank you, Shanna.

Shanna

You are welcome. All right, your turn again. What's your next internet insanity?

Laura

OK, so I did want to do two TikToks, but like what else am I doing with my time is the real question, right? So I am sending you another TikTok. I'd like you to watch. Yes. And I'm going to have you react to this. It's a little long, but I think you'll find it really funny. All right, here we go.

Speaker 1

All right, son.

Shanna

Uh-oh, oh no, she's sending this two-year-old inside to unlock the door. Uh-oh. This is going to go well.

Laura

Yeah, this kid is like, I don't know, two and a half maybe? Oh yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1

Okay, grab a chair.

Shanna

Grab a chair. Take it to the door. Oh my God. She wants him to take the chair to the door to unlock it. He just stands on the chair at the table.

Speaker 1

I need you to focus. Focus.

Shanna

Oh, he's moving the chair. Grab the chair, take it to the door. Oh, he's getting closer, distracted. Oh, he's a fuzz. Oh, a rock. In the chair and pushing. Oh my God. I love this. Come on, buddy. Save the day. Nope. Now he's sitting on the chair. You got a rock. OK. Well, I thank you. Oh my god, now he's distracted by a toy or a stick.

Laura

I think he's not listening. Fireplace tools.

Shanna

Oh, it could be. Oh yeah, he's playing with like a fireplace poker or something and totally not listening to his mother.

Laura

Oh my god, I can't believe she's trying to coach a two-year-old to do this. And like, she's outside in the snow. Like she is freezing her ass off.

Speaker 1

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I'm serious. I can't get inside the house.

Shanna

He's sticking his face in this fireplace tool holder.

Laura

Oh my God. I love two year olds. The way he looks at her too, you know, he's like he wants to help, you know, but his brain is just not letting him.

Shanna

He's getting the chair closer. Oh, the rug is in the way. Oh, he's moving the rug out of the way. That's smart. Yeah, I'm very impressed with this kid. Oh, he got the chair to the door. He's standing on the chair. Come on, buddy. Did you get it? Come on, buddy. You got this. You got this.

Laura

Oh, he's so cute. He's so cute. I mean, that's a pickle, right? You're outside in the snow. I could see you calling dad and be like, come back. You have our keys. But she's like, let's make it an adventure out of this. I'm just going to shut my two and a half year old. in through the window and hope for the past.

Shanna

Well, Laura, according to that study, kids, young kids are geniuses, so clearly he's smart enough to do that, right? Yeah, totally.

Laura

Just takes a little bit of distraction. I love the comments too. Someone, the top comment is, Bro had to complete some side quests before completing the mission.

Shanna

My favorite was when he took, like, the fireplace tool holder and just, like, put it up to his face and, like, was sticking his face to the bottom of it. And then he found a rock and had to show it to Mommy. And, oh, that's amazing.

Laura

Yeah. I mean, I love it. I'm so glad she had the forethought to record it. The cynical part of me is, like, could she not, like, was she doing this just for the views? Because, like, could she not squeeze through that window? But, I don't think so. I think she just legitimately couldn't get in and she knew to get it on camera. I mean, I just don't know what plan B was gonna be if he ran off, you know?

Shanna

Oh, true. Yeah, like what if he just disappeared upstairs or something?

Laura

Yeah, I guess you could break the window and run in. Yeah, she knew her son. She knew he'd get there eventually and he did. It was very cute. He did. He's so cute. We'll have to share the link in our show notes so everyone can see the adorableness. But this is from a user if you want to go find it in the meantime. Jessica, G-E-S-I-K, and then six A's after that. A-A-A-A-A. Ah, okay, great. Oh, righty. So yeah, that was my final Internet and Sanity, Shanna. Amazing. Do you have one more for us? I do, but why don't we wait until after the break? Okay.

Shanna

Believe it or not, Laura, this one is also grandma related. Wow, grandmas are having a moment on Big Fat Positive this week. Yeah. So I came across this in an article from Scary Mommy, which is always a delightful read, but it actually also references a TikTok. So there's that as well. I love this so much. This guy, he's probably in his 30s. He does a TikTok explaining how at his grandma's house, she has a ranking board hanging on her wall with magnets of the faces of all 10 of her grandkids and she ranks them from one to 10. Every day she mixes them up depending on a lot of different factors and she just keeps a running tally of how much she loves her grandkids.

Laura

Okay, this doesn't seem aligned with Rye parenting to me.

Shanna

Yeah, I think there's like a funniness to it. Like all her grandkids are adults, first of all.

Laura

Okay, well that makes a difference.

Shanna

That makes a huge difference.

Laura

They're all adults at this point. It'd be pretty rude to say like the three-year-olds in the 10th spot today.

Shanna

I know that would be so sad if they were kids. So the adults find it funny, right? So therefore I find it funny too.

Laura

Okay. Okay. That is a detail. That is a detail I needed to feel less weird about this. Okay.

Shanna

Go on. Yeah. Yeah. There's definitely like a humor about it. And like in this video, the guy's like, okay, so here's my grandma's grand kid ranking board. He's like, I am currently number four. He's like, that's like the highest I've ever been. I just got some new tattoos and he like pulls his sleeve up and he shows like some new ink. He's like, that is not gonna go over well with grandma and grandma comes in and she's like, what's that? And he's like, these are my new tattoos. And she like instantly pulls his face off number four and puts it down to number 10. He's like, damn it. So he went down to the bottom. But I wanted more info about this grandma and what this was all about. So I found some more articles and an interview with her. She's really cute. She's got 10 grandkids. And apparently the number one and two spots are consistently held by the top two grandkids.

Laura

That's really funny. I feel like it only works in bigger families because if you have three kids, and you're ranking them consistently, like, that's a recipe for having a real complex. But if there's 10 of them, it's like, okay, look, there's too much competition.

Shanna

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think they all feel proud when they have their moment in the spotlight, you know, and like, there's a big event and they get to rise up to number one for a moment, you know, before the granddaughter who lives across the street moves back in. A fun, funny little family thing.

Laura

That is really cute, actually. It started out as like, ew, toxic competition in families and moved on to, oh, this is adorable.

Shanna

Yeah, yeah, totally. Okay, the TikTok is from a user named Dan LaMorte, L-A-M-O-R-T-E. We'll link to it. And here, I'll send you the video so you can just watch it really quick and see what I'm talking about with this little ranking board.

Laura

Okay, let's see. I love that it says family and a cute script at the top. She has square headshots of each kid. Kid, they're all adults, like you said. Oh, grandma. Grandma hates the tattoos. She is so upset.

Laura

Except for I should have had kids younger because like I don't know if I'm going to be alive for my adult grandchildren to be around. Probably should have had kids earlier than 36 and 38. to do that, but we'll see.

Shanna

Well, you can be a hundred years old running your little ranking board, Laura.

Laura

Fair enough. Fair enough. All right. Well, that was a fun segment. It was. But I do think it's time to move on to our BFPs and BFNs. All right.

Shanna

I have a BFN. I think it's an N. Maybe it's like a BFH, like a BF, hmm.

Shanna

I'm not sure.

Laura

Yeah, I would say another factor might be the fact that we have a weekly podcast where we talk about parenting that takes up a lot of our time. Yeah, true. I mean, because I kind of feel similarly, I feel like, so I have this book called Parent Effectiveness Training, I think is what the title is. And I've read the intro and that's it. And like, I need to read it because it's come highly recommended. And it's the same thing. I just like, Every time I try to read it, I'm like, I just want to think about something other than parenting. You know, when I have time to sit and read a book, I want to think about something else. You know, I want to like go into a different world or learn something completely unrelated because so much of my time is absorbed by parenting that it's like, is it going to creep into this time too? You know?

Shanna

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I've definitely looked at my Kindle library and been like, ooh, I should read The Whole Brain Child. That would be really good for me. And then I'm like, ooh, but that other book looks a lot more interesting. And I just don't do it.

Laura

I just don't crack them open anymore. I do think there's also the thing which you're ahead of me on this, which is like once you've had a kid for sort of enough years, you don't feel like a rookie anymore. You know what I mean? And when you have a new baby, you're like so fucking out to see with it. You know, you're just like, they gave me this baby and I'm supposed to know what to do with it. But when they can talk back to you and tell you what's on their mind, it becomes less mysterious. That's not to say there's not more to learn, but it's not like staring at this baby that's just crying at you and you have no idea why and you need help. Common sense starts to take over in a little bit. I'm with you. I want to keep reading more because I feel like a lot of the Rai parenting stuff is really good for young kids, but both your kids and Augie are aging out of pure Rai. Yes.

Shanna

Yeah, yeah, because I definitely feel like there are some things I could learn and some new things. perspectives and techniques I could bring into my parenting, just not today.

Laura

I have a BFP, technically, but I think it's going to gross you out.

Shanna

Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Not my favorite topic, but I can see how that would be useful. Go on.

Laura

So I did not know these existed outside of the hospital, basically. until I saw a TikTok from Casey Davis, the struggle care slash domestic blisters creator who wrote the book How to Keep House While Drowning, and she's just awesome. Just randomly on her TikTok a few months ago, I saw that she says that she has created little bins that are like illness survival bins. I can't remember if that's exactly what she called it, but basically they're little like Tupperwares. That contain within them all the stuff you need for different types of illnesses so she had like a you know flew bin which has like Kleenex and Tylenol and the thermometer and all the stuff you need for that and then she had a stomach bug kit. And in the kit, it was, you know, Tylenol. And I, you know, if I was doing it, I'd probably put those suppositories in. And then she had these disposable emesis bags.

Shanna

They are super cheap if you buy them in bulk online and yeah smart day I definitely need to do that and get some of those because with me and my phobia whatever I can do to make it all like Cleaner and quicker the better so doing that today

Laura

Yes, and they're like blue. The ones I have are like blue and semi opaque. So it's not like you're even looking at it really. You just like twist it up and get rid of it. Beautiful. Yeah, just what you need. So yeah, I mean, technically mine was a BFP. It may not sound like it, but it was.

Shanna

Yes, yes, I can see where you're coming from with that for sure. But I do think that wraps up our episode. However, I have a five star review to read. Okay, let's hear it. This review is from low hops on Apple podcasts. The title of the review is a long overdue review five stars. I feel so blessed to have found this podcast in 2020 before I even started my TTC journey. Now I've listened to every single episode and have a nine month old daughter. Shanna and Laura feel like friends at this point. They provide laughs advice and stories of pregnancy and parenthood that have helped keep me grounded insane throughout the last few years. An absolute must listen for anyone who wants to add a little joy and levity in the midst of the chaos of parenting. I never want the show to end. Oh, thank you so much. Aw, that's such a great review. That was such a wonderful review.

Laura

We're on Instagram, Facebook, and our favorite TikTok at BFP Podcast. We have a website, bigpatpositivepodcast.com. If you want to send us an email, you can always throw a voice memo into that email. We love those. Just send it to contact at bigpatpositivepodcast.com. And if you want to join the coolest group of people on the internet, search Facebook for Big Fat Positive Community. It's a private group, so you need to request to join and answer the two membership questions so we know you're not a robot. And once we verify your humanity, you will be sent straight through to the amazing, wonderful, brilliant conversations we're having in there.

Shanna

Our show is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko, and Steve Yager. Thank you so much for listening, everyone. Have a Big Fat Positive Week. Bye. Bye.