Managing Last-Minute School Projects – Ep. 415

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Shanna

Hi, welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. On this week's episode, we have our weekly check-ins. We have our special segment, gripe water, where we talk about some clothing and campaign conundrums, and we wrap it up with our weekly BFPs and BFNs. Let's get started.

Well, hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 415. Laura, welcome to our show. Thank you so much. It's nice to be here. Yay! So we always start off with our check-ins, as you know. So why don't you kick us off and tell us what has been going on in your world this week?

Laura

Well, actually, I just wanted to give a little update on one of those like non milestone milestones that happen in your parenting life. Like it's not actually like a kid walking or learning to ride a bike or any of that. But it's something that is notable. And I thought I should talk about it on the show because I realized I haven't brought it up yet. Oh, I'm curious to hear what it is. And part of the reason I hadn't brought it up yet is I wanted to make sure it's stuck, you know, that there was permanence or relative permanence to this new status that we're in. And it seems like it is because basically what I'm here to report on is that without making a conscious decision, we stumbled into finally being baby monitor free.

Shanna

after seven and a half years. Yeah. And you guys were even using the video baby monitor, right?

Laura

Well, yeah, just because that's what we had. You know, we were basically using it as an audio monitor. It's not like the video was on all night or anything. But up until recently, we had a baby monitor in the boys room. And it's mostly because they would still call for us at night. They were conditioned basically to never leave their room at night. And I think it's because we had used one of those toddler handles on the doors for so long that until relatively recently, both Augie and Sebastian, I think they just didn't realize they could leave their room at night.

Shanna

Yeah, that makes sense. The only thing they know, they're a little fish in the water, right? Exactly. And we weren't about to disillusion them about this, right?

Laura

We weren't about to tell them, oh, no, it's perfectly fine to leave your room at night because we wanted to do what we could to maintain them, you know, staying in their room all night long so they could sleep all night long. Right.

Shanna

And were you having problems with them coming out or were you just nervous about them like accessing the stairs and the house at night? I can't remember why you made that decision.

Laura

Yeah. I mean, originally when we moved in, it was that it was like a safety thing, right? Like to not tumble down the stairs at night, because we didn't have a gate at the top of the stairs. We did have one at the bottom when Sebastian was really little. And, you know, when we moved in, Augie was not even two and a half. And those stairs, it's a lot of stairs up to our second floor. And so, yeah, we definitely didn't want him wandering around the house without us at night, right? Just from a safety point of view. And then when they joined room, Sebastian was still kind of little. And then just with inertia, we actually still left it on. Like, we forgot to take it off. And it's somewhat aggy figured it out, right? And he was like, you just put your fingers in and turn. And we were like, fine with that. But we left it on just in case, just to add an extra layer. of security, essentially.

And that, of course, meant we should have the baby monitor, right? Because even though they're not that far away, it was kind of hard to hear. If they scream really loud for us, we can hear them. But they're thick old doors, like real wood doors, right? So it's hard to hear them at night. And especially if you're bone tired, you just don't hear them. So we just have the monitor on audio all night. And, you know, it came in handy too. There was a period of time where Augie really needed Corey to sleep next to him, like on the nugget every night. You know, I've talked about that, right? So anyway, we've just had a monitor, even though we've been like, this is a little silly that our five and seven year olds have a monitor, right? But there was no reason to take it away, right?

Like, and it was kind of nice to have every once in a while when they like be having a play date and they'd have like Five kids up there and they were being crazy and we'd like turn on the monitor to like check in on them You know be like yeah beating each other up or like what's happening here, right? Mm-hmm So we left it in there, but we decided to take it with us when we went to Mexico for spring break. Oh Because we weren't sure what the room setup was going to be. And if my mom's room was going to be right next to ours, we could have the baby monitor in the room and go over to my mom's and be awake while they are still asleep, that sort of thing. We of course never set it up because that did not come to pass.

historically had brought it on vacation for that reason. And then when we came back from Mexico, we were so tired after that really long day of traveling that we didn't bother setting up the monitor when we got home. You know, I was like, I don't know what bag it's in. I don't care. We're all going to sleep. Like, it'll be fine, right? Yeah. And by this point, both boys had broken the seal, if you will, of coming out of their room at night. Like they had definitely started to realize, like, oh, we can just run into mommy and daddy's room and climb into bed with them. Like, this is kind of nice, right? Yeah. So we're just like, fine, we won't put it up. And then like a week went by and I still hadn't put it back in the room and then like two weeks had gone by.

And then finally I got around to like digging it out of the bottom of whatever suitcase it was still in that's had like who knows what in there, you know, all the extra stuff that I didn't have to wash, like the life vests and whatever, like the swim goggles. And there's the monitor and I hold it up to Corey and I'm like, do you think we need this anymore? He's like, I don't think so. Like they're obviously they've been okay the last couple of weeks. And I was like, all right. So we didn't install the monitor and now we are baby monitor free.

Shanna

Wow. Almost five and a half years. Well, I mean, even longer if you consider how long you've had one with Augie. Yeah, totally. Yeah.

Laura

I mean, essentially seven and a half years almost. Yeah. Yep. But, you know, it doesn't matter when you hit the milestones just as long as you hit them eventually, right? Right? Yes, exactly.

Shanna

As long as you hit them before they go to college, you know, that's the rule to them. Does it feel freeing knowing that you will never hear or see another ghost on a baby monitor?

Laura

Well, yes and no. I mean, the baby monitor ghost thing was definitely creepy. But we do have nest cams around the house, you know, like security cameras around the house. So there's still an opportunity to see a ghost in there. So I'm not entirely free. Sweet.

Shanna

All right, good. I'm glad. I'm reassured that there is no potential for ghost sightings. No, that's good. How did the boys feel about it? Did they miss it or did they just not even notice?

Laura

They didn't even notice. When the boys would be mad at us, they would like turn the camera, you know, even though it was like a 360 degree capable camera. So like I just turn it back. But I think they had started getting conscious of it. And we would tell them, we don't have it on all the time. It's just there to keep you safe. We had told them even, if you don't want it, we can take it out. But they were like, no, no, no, we want it. We want it. But yeah, they didn't notice. I didn't bring it up and be like, you don't have it. have a monitor anymore. So, you know, I was just like, let's just let this slide, right? Because I didn't want to like highlight it because I think they would probably get scared and be like, no, no, we need it. Because I'd spent all this time telling them it was for their safety. Oh, true. Yes.

But I mean, I feel sheepish about how long it took to get rid of it because I've been clocking like Facebook conversations and my mom's groups where people are like, what is the right time to get rid of the baby monitor? My kid's still three and I kind of feel silly about it. And I'm like, oh my God, my five and seven year old still have one.

Shanna

I can see how it just stays up, though, because of the habit or whatever. I think it's a thing that a lot of parents probably keep around longer than they really need.

Laura

Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's the sort of thing. I don't know. I feel like it's the thing Gia talks about with upskilling. It's like you realize that your kid has like progressed beyond like what you think they're capable of, right? And obviously, intellectually, I knew they didn't actually need a baby monitor, but We still had it because I hadn't I hadn't upgraded my parenting. So yeah, you needed to upskill your parenting. I did. And I did. And now I will say the one nice thing is that, you know, if it was low on battery and we hadn't plugged it in properly, it would beep in the middle of the night or, you know, we'd hear like the white noise or just hearing them like. Oh, he's always waking up at the middle of the night getting his loud ass metal water bottle, you know, clanging against the wall because taking a sip and then clanging it back into place.

He like nestles it into the corner of his bunk bed. And you know, it's nice to not be woken up.

I guess.

Shanna

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. That sounds like it would make for a more peaceful night's sleep.

Laura

Do you remember when you got rid of the baby monitor or like I don't remember you talking about that?

Shanna

No, I think it just kind of got phased out. I feel like we transitioned to a sound monitor just for a while because like if we were watching TV in the other side of the house when the kids went to bed or CECE went to bed, you know, I wanted to be able to hear her.

Laura

Yeah.

Shanna

But I don't know. I think it was probably a similar thing. Like, we just either took it somewhere or used it for another purpose and then forgot to put it back. But I think she was pretty young, maybe two or three. I don't know. I could be wrong. Maybe a listener remembers me talking about it because I don't have a clue.

Laura

Well, that anecdote didn't make me feel better.

Shanna

Oh, sorry. They still have one in their rooms at this moment. Does that make you feel better?

Laura

Sure, sure. No, no, it's fine. But yeah, that's my big report. And I'm checking in about it because I don't want other parents to feel bad if they also have monitors in their kids' rooms and their kids are reading and writing.

Shanna

Yes, yes. No, no, need to feel bad about it. It's totally fine. Thank you for absolving me. Okay. You're welcome.

Laura

Well, that was my check-in. That's what I was going to talk about this week. So now it's your turn. What happened to you this week, Shanna? Tell us all about it.

Shanna

This week was a scramble of projects that our family put off to the last minute, as we do, let's say.

These are school things and they just, I try, I try really hard to be like, okay, we got to work on this a little bit at a time and just always kind of at the last minute. It's like, The roly-poly diorama is due tomorrow. Here we go. So that's the first thing I'm going to talk about in this segment is Cece had a project where she had to make like a diorama of an animal living in some kind of like grassland type area habitat and it was so funny she came home she's like all right I picked my animal I was like what is it she's like a roly-poly and I was like the bug she's like yep I'm like I don't think that's an animal honey and and I was like did your teacher approve it she's like yeah and I was like okay Let's learn about the roly-poly, right? Because there's multiple parts to this project, so we sit down to do our research first. And we start learning about it.

Lo and behold, the fucking roly-poly is an animal. It is not a bug. Oh, God, of course, Laura knows this. Laura, it's a freaking bug. Well, wait, but bugs are animals, right? Insects are animals. Insects, yeah. No. I didn't think they were supposed to be doing insects, I guess is what I'm saying. Okay, yeah, it's part of the animal kingdom, I guess. Of course, it's not a plant. Yeah, no, no, no. I just I thought it was an insect and it's not. They're terrestrial crustaceans. It's a crustacean, the only crustacean that lives on land, apparently.

Laura

Oh, so it's not just your, you know, anti-insect bias. It's that they really aren't insects. OK, this is what I did not know this. Well, I mean, actually, now that you mentioned it, it's like ringing a very faint trivia in the back of my mind bell that I would not have been able to pull that out. a terrestrial crustacean. Fascinating. A land lobster.

Shanna

A land lobster is what it's known as. And, you know, they go by a lot of different names. I always called it the roly-polybug, and that's what my kids call it. They're the little creatures that roll up into balls when you pick them up. Very fascinating for the kids I know.

Laura

I don't know about your boys. Do they like Roly Polys? They do like Roly Polys, but I feel like CeCe has been very consistent in her love of Roly Polys. Like, didn't she have a Roly Poly collection at one point in your living room?

Shanna

We did make a Roly Poly habitat one time now that you mention it. I remember that. Yeah. We didn't keep it moist enough.

Laura

Your track record of keeping small critters alive does not work it out.

Shanna

Yes, that's why we're not ever going to go down the hamster train. So anyways, so she picked Roly Poly. And so we learned about it kind of lives in prairies. And, you know, they like to hide under rocks and to stay away from predators. We learned a lot of interesting things about the Roly Poly. And then she had to build the diorama. And I had been talking to a friend of ours about my complicated feelings about big projects for young kids because it's tricky sometimes to keep them on track, to have them really focus and do quality work and all this stuff. And our friend said, oh, I understand. I have that same issue. And here's how I handle it. I go to Michael's and I buy a lot of things that are things already and have them put them together into the scene. Like for example, I'll buy mini trees, you know, and he can just plop them onto the scene and like arrange them.

Laura

So you don't have to build a tree from scratch. You don't have to like get cardboard and fake moss and all that stuff to like make a tree. The tree is made. Exactly. It's a prefab. OK, I like it.

Shanna

Yes, prefab in a way. Because I was picturing she's going to have to make grass. She's going to have to craft rocks and the sky and like all these things. I was like, oh, my gosh, this is going to be. stressful. So I went with our friend suggestion. I went to Michael's and found some items that she could use. I found a square piece of artificial turf grass. I was like bingo. Some like fake leaf things, some little fake flowers, lots of cute stuff that she could put together. And then I got some construction paper. I'm like, she can glue on a sky and like cut out a sun. And, you know, she can kind of craft that. And then she can make the rollie-pollies. This was her idea out of clay. So that's the thing she really needed to craft, right? So Sunday, Sunday morning, we got all this stuff out. And it was just

the best way to approach this project, especially last minute, because she had a lot of fun putting it together. She had so much fun making the bugs. She came up with an idea of like hiding 10 little roly-pollies around her scene, like under little rocks and stuff, rocks which we got from the yard, and then like offering a prize to her classmate if they found all 10. And I don't know, we found a way to make it enjoyable for both of us, for all of us. And it was really probably the best way. I have approached a school project maybe ever in my life, so feeling good.

Laura

I am keeping this information in my back pocket for when my kids get big school projects like that. We didn't end up with any this year, I'm just realizing. I'm wondering if the school doesn't do take home projects like that until a certain grade, you know? Which good on them, if that's true, because like you said, I mean, what I'm traumatized by is the memory of my brother waiting until the last minute to do all of his school projects. Oh, really? Yeah. And my mom just like having to stay up late with him, doing everything. And you know, it became family lore in a way that may not be fair to Jeff, you know, but like.

Shanna

Yeah. Yeah, and sometimes I don't keep up with all the different apps and emails and messaging that comes in. And then I'll find a crumpled assignment page in their backpack and be like, what? This didn't happen at the last minute that I discovered it. We just kind of didn't have time because there's other stuff going on. But yeah, that stress is real. It is real. It stuck with you your whole life.

Laura

OK, so how did this assemblage turn out?

Shanna

I think it turned out great. It was really cute, and she was so proud of it. And she gave a presentation in class on it, and they sent me a video, and it was adorable. She read all the facts she learned about Roly Polys and, you know, showed her display and wore a little headset microphone so everyone in class could hear her. It was so cute.

Laura

Well, I've learned something from this, which is that they are land crustaceans. So she's continuing to spread her knowledge about Roly Polys.

Shanna

Yeah, her other favorite fact about Roly Polys is they don't urinate. Oh, what do they do? Well, I don't know.

Laura

But wait, our research didn't go too deep. You're like, that was her job. That was CeCe's job. My job was to go to Michael's and get some stuff.

Shanna

Yes, exactly. But we pulled it off and I'm very glad. And I'll talk a little more about our other scramble in the next segment.

Laura

OK. Does that mean it's time to move on to our next segment? It does.

We are back and our special segment this week is gripe water where Shanna and I give each other permission to complain about things that are bugging us in our parenting lives. Shanna, you're up first. Can you tell me, do you have a gripe water for us?

Shanna

I can tell you, let me give you just a touch of backstory first. The other thing we've had swirling around in our life recently is L's application to run for student council. Yeah, so she wanted to run for student council president for next year and the elections coming up and the application process included filling out a bunch of questions and an application. She had to make a video and she had to make a mock-up of PowerPoint or a Google Slides presentation of what she might make as president like an agenda for a meeting or information about an event that's coming up to educate her student council.

Laura

I've never heard of a school doing this at the end of the year for the following year. Is this common nowadays? Beats me. That's what we do at our school.

Shanna

It always catches me by surprise. Um, you know, I don't know. I don't remember when I used to run for student council. I guess it's good because the kids get a chance to know each other by the end of the year before they vote. I'm not sure. But she came home and told us of her intention to do this and we made note of all of the deadlines and everything. And we did a great job completing those three tasks as part of the application. even ahead of time. I was really proud of her. She was so focused. She made a great video. She made a great presentation. She's so good at like the visual design and all that stuff. And I helped her a bit. She did most of the work. But what I really did as the parent was check and double check and triple check the instructions of what they needed to do for their bid for student council, what they needed to do for their campaign. We got the dates of when,

The voting would be in all this stuff. Those three things were the only requirements I saw anywhere. I was like, okay, I guess that's what they need to do and maybe they'll show the video to everyone and then they'll vote and everything like that.

Laura

Okay, so a video, an application. But when I ran for class president in eighth grade, I remember making posters and flyers and all kinds of stuff. Is that still part of it or is everything just too high tech?

Shanna

I figured it was too high-tech. I figured everything was just this high-tech thing. Last time she ran for student council, part of the instructions were like, make a poster, make posters, you know? And so I didn't see that this time. So I was like, I don't know. I guess maybe it's different. I don't know. I just didn't really think twice about it. I thought she had done what she needed to do and they were going to vote like very soon. So that's why I was very upset. when I saw what she came home with a few days later. And this is my gripe water for this episode. I found in her backpack a half a sheet of paper, fully color printed, totally professionally laid out, campaign flyer for another nine or 10 year old running for president. And I was like, what? What? There were so many thoughts in my mind. I was like, that wasn't part of the instruction.

I didn't know we were supposed to make campaign materials. Second of all, who made this? She didn't make this. This looks professionally done. Third, these promises she's making on this flyer, that's not anything she did within her realm of control as president. I read the paperwork. The president runs student council meetings. You know, they don't ensure excellent lunches and whatever they promise. So I'm gonna share this flyer with you, okay?

Laura

All right, it says vote so-and-so. I'm obviously not gonna use this little girl's real name because despite her maybe using some shady campaign techniques, She is still a little girl for president. Your voice, our school, our future. And then she has a list of why it would be a great president. And it's a bunch of stuff. I mean the stuff, I will listen to others. I will treat everyone with kindness and respect. There's a bunch of other ones that are kind of like that. I mean, you should be doing that. Anyway, but sure. And then she said, my goals for our school are more green spaces at school, a school library, better cafeteria options, and more school clubs. Honey. I love the ambition of this girl, if this is true. But yeah, I think that might be outside of the purview of student body president. Yes. Oh my gosh, but you're right about this design.

Like this is actually really well designed. Is it at least a canva template? Like because otherwise her parent must be like a graphic designer or something.

Shanna

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I figured one or the other when I could finally think straight about it because at first I was so livid not at this girl or her Parents really but for like the lack of direction from whoever teachers running the student council right like why not just suggest to everybody hey part of a good campaign is making flyers and passing them out and making posters you can hang up L doesn't know that you know. I don't know, I ran for a student council years ago when I was in high school, not nine, okay? I don't know what nine-year-olds really do for this kind of thing. And I certainly didn't think it was this. And so the other reason it made me live it is because I feel like I've failed now as a mom because I have not guided my child to do something awesome like this. So of course what I did was whip into gear. It's like, we got to make you some campaign materials.

And that was our other whirlwind project for the weekend.

Laura

So I took it upon myself to go to Canva and search their templates. And there are indeed many templates for voting for student council. And I can't find the exact one that this girl used. But the one I'm looking at is really, really similar. So I'm going to say that at least most of it was Canva enabled. It is so funny because I remember having a big piece of butcher paper and drawing with tempera paint on it, being like, vote Laura. Now these kids have to have full on curated campaigns. It's wild.

Shanna

I think that's what makes me the most mad. Right? Like it used to be a kind of a child spirited thing even in high school. I made handmade posters and like handmade things and gave them out to people. And I just, I don't know, I don't like this direction of like making a nine year old feel like they need to have like this polished campaign and materials, you know, to try to win this election. Says the lady who then tried to go and do it because I didn't know.

Because I didn't want Elle to be at a disadvantage. Well, of course.

Laura

Yeah. Because like once the bar gets raised, you have to kind of meet it.

Shanna

Yeah. And you know, to be honest with you, Elle didn't have any feelings about this. She didn't come home and be like, I need this or look at this. I was just like, what is this? And she's like, oh, I love her. She's so great. She really would make a great president.

I was like, I love you, Elle. I just love her spirit. But then, of course, I was like, well, do you want to make posters and stuff? Maybe, I don't know, stickers or, you know. So the next thing I know, I open Canva, of course, and find some templates and I'll have to zhuzh them because nothing is good enough as is. And we make some two varieties of posters, two variety of stickers. I run to Michaels and get a sticker paper and print them up and cut them on the Cricut. And she's helping quite a bit with all of it and giving me some ideas for what she wants to do. But, you know, I did take on a bulk of it and just, you know, trying to fit all that in on a Sunday evening.

Laura

Is this the same Sunday evening as you trying to do the diorama with the Roly Polys? Thank goodness, no.

Shanna

These were spread out by a week, but it really just dominated the whole week, the whirlwindness of it all.

Laura

Well, I got to see the one you came up with.

Shanna

Okay, let me show you her materials.

Laura

All right, let's see. It says vote L for student council president. She is wearing her school shirt. I assume that's what she's wearing. She looks very much repping her school and her goals are snacks after school, more recess equipment, more cafeteria options and lots of school spirit. Seems like a good platform. I like that this is simple. Like I feel like the no shade to the other girl who seems very sweet, but like there's a lot going on on her template, you know? And also I got the impression she didn't write all of those, especially after looking at Canva and every single one of them says your voice, our school or together we can make our school a better place. They all have the same language on it. So I'm like, wow.

Shanna

Very true. And I really wanted Elle to express her personality and who she is in this stuff. And she did too, right? So I think we really tried to capture that in her materials.

Laura

I think you did a good job. And also, I'm looking at this alternate one you sent, and you said, it's not a rough decision. RUFF, vote L for Prez. And it's just a very cute photo of her. Looking at Radley, who's looking back at her. And Radley's little thought bubble says, I voted. Do I get extra treats? Very cute.

Shanna

Very cute. So she used Radley in her campaign video. So the kids had already seen the dogs. So this was a callback to that. And she likes to bring humor and cuteness and stuff to the stuff she does. And you can see in the two little stickers that she made that we printed up that I think her personality carried through in those two. Yeah, I think that's a really good lesson.

Laura

So wait, when is the election?

Shanna

The election is this week, this coming week, like I guess the classes are just going to vote when they can and then tally them up. So I guess we'll know by next week.

Laura

Okay. I'm looking forward to it. I feel like The last election you talked about, it was like they had the election and they were like, we're not going to tell you till Monday or something, right? Oh, yeah.

Shanna

Yeah, that's right. It still feels like that kind of like ambiguous. You're not going to know for a while. But when I find out, I will check back and let you know. OK. Well, I think that's a legitimate gripe. Thank you. Thank you. But what about you? Do you have a gripe water for us?

Laura

Yes, I do. OK. So my gripe appeared to me while walking through JCPenney. the other day in the Glendale Galleria. Wow, those still exist, huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, the JC Penney's is still going strong at the Glendale Galleria. And it's my favorite way to like get into the Galleria and cut across to the Americana. I'm giving away all my secrets. But if you park by the JC Penney, it's like a straight shot into either Dinh Thai Fung or the Americana. These are Glendale problems you're having, but like it's just like the place I'm always walking through to get to somewhere else, right? You know how it is in a mall, right? Like you have your favorite entrances to a mall and that happens to be mine. So I'm always walking through JCPenney, but usually I don't shop in JCPenney not because I have a bias against it. It's just not my go-to, right? Like I just don't think about it as a store.

I think about it as like a thoroughfare, basically. Yeah. Yeah. And so the other day I went to the mall because I needed a few things, but one thing on the list was that the boys needed some long sleeve shirts, specifically Augie. Sebastian has like all of Augie's hand-me-downs plus like a bunch of friends keep giving us their hand-me-downs like basically all of Augie's friends who don't have younger siblings or come to me and are like, oh, do you want these because we don't have a younger sibling to give it to. And so I have like triple hand me downs for Sebastian. But of course, Augie just keeps getting bigger. And it's actually been kind of chilly this spring in LA. Like there have been some cold days. Even though definitely, yeah, which is unusual for us. But it made me realize Augie doesn't have like any long sleeve shirts anymore.

Like he either has winter jackets or short sleeve and there's no in between. So it's like, I'm going to run into them all and get him some shirts, right? Just some long sleeve shirts. Well, Shadow, this leads me to my gripe, which is it is nearly impossible to find boys' shirts without some bullshit on them.

Oh no. I just wanted like a plain shirt with maybe a stripe across the chest or the whole thing could be striped, right? Like I just wanted like a long sleeve t-shirt. And I started hitting up all the littler stores, you know, like Gap Kids, Abercrombie Kids, Cotton On, like all these stores that you would think you could just find a shirt that was simple. Right? No. Everywhere I go, it's like some big logo or it's like crazy expensive. Like I think Abercrombie had some kind of shirt, but it was like 50 bucks. I was like, I am not buying my seven-year-old a $50 t-shirt. I'm sorry. I'm not buying myself a $50 t-shirt. Like this isn't happening. So I'm going from store to store to store, and I finally backtrack to my point of origin. I'm like, JC Penney's. They must have something, right? Yeah.

They go in there, and they have this huge table of shirts for boys, and they all have some bullshit on them. Five Nights at Freddy's, Mario, like every character you could ever imagine on it. Or like a football or a monster truck or dinosaurs. And I'm just like, at Augie's obviously, like he's past the age. He wants any of that on his clothes, right? Yeah, that feels very toddler-esque. And he would have accepted a Five Nights at Freddy's shirt. But I'm like, I'm not there yet. And also, I just want him to look nice. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like all those character shirts, first of all, they get dated really quickly because like in six months when he's like, oh no, five nights at Freddy's is stupid. I don't like that. Then I don't have anything to do with the shirt, right? Like I'm like, oh, shit. Now I'm stuck with a shirt.

Just like the Saja Boyz shirt I made him that he was so excited about. And like now, if I bring it out of the drawer, he flips. I don't wear that.

Shanna

I don't like them anymore. I'm like, oh my God. Oh my gosh, same with my girls and the Huntrix ones that you made. Really? Oh my god, they loved them, obviously, and wore them a lot at the beginning. And then, I don't know, Tide turned with a sentiment towards that movie as oversaturated, I don't know, or something. And they just decided they didn't even like the movie, they don't like the songs, and they definitely don't like the shirt anymore. And I was like, what?

Laura

It's so interesting. That's exactly what my boys are saying, too. They're like, ooh, I don't like gold. And I was like, what are you doing? Talking about it's like a good song and I get it was everywhere for a while. But it's almost like that thing where it's like too many people liked it so they had to pivot. I don't know. Truly interesting. But so I was just like scouring these stores and I finally found some like nice just Henley's basically that I could get him at JC Penney. So JC Penney did save the day in the end. All right. But I'm just like, truly, what is going on with boys' clothing? It shouldn't be this complicated, and yet it is.

Shanna

Yeah, that's so odd. I wouldn't think that even like the Gap kids would have something like that. What kind of stuff was on their shirts? I don't imagine they're selling branded characters, are they?

Laura

Well, Gap does sell branded characters. Gap was kind of a bust because the story went to didn't have larger sizes. Like it went up to four. That was why that was a bust. But I went to, oh, I went to Zara Kids and that was a place like every shirt had like summer beach vibes on it or like just all these like graphic teas and like word teas. I don't know what the word for that is. I'm just going to look at Old Navy, even though I didn't go into Old Navy this time, but let's look at Old Navy. I'm looking at the website. They've got Mickey Mouse. They've got something that says, this is the way. Those must be for the Mandalorian movie that's coming out. They've got Spider-Man and New York. They've got a soccer one that just says goals with the soccer ball. I'm just like none of this stuff Augie would wear at all because he doesn't identify with any of these things, right?

You know what I mean? Or like this baseball tee that's cute. Like I would wear this space like I would wear this baseball tee. It's like a is that a Henley where it's like blue or it's like raglan sleeves.

Shanna

Mm-hmm. but on the front it has to say home run in like a cursive script you know that's so cheesy this is the stuff that always ends up in the clearance rack i think yeah yeah but i mean they must have done some market research and kids must like it or parents buy it. I don't know. But it's interesting because the commercialization of characters and all that stuff is, ugh, that's such an annoying thing, right? Ugh, that's such a gripe. And then the generic home run goal, it's just so cheesy. There's just so much packed in to this issue that it just gives me the ick.

Laura

Yeah. When they were really little, I liked putting them in stuff like that because it was kind of cutesy, but Augie will reject anything cutesy. And yeah, as discussed, the characters are very hit or miss. So yeah, that is my gripe. I would love to hear. I feel like there's a lot of options online too. Like that's the thing I wanted to make sure I mentioned is that like when we were recording right now, I was like, oh, let me look up online. And like, yeah, Old Navy has like a million playing options online, but you go into the store and it seems less available. Right.

Shanna

Well, the other option, Laura, is you can fire up your sewing machine and make them yourself.

Laura

Yeah. I mean, that is basically what I think of every time I can't find clothes for myself. I'll be like, this doesn't fit right. And I'm like, I will just make it myself. It's like it took me a whole freaking day to make that shirt. Remember, do you remember when I talked about that? It was like, I need to step back, like step away from my. friendly, delusional dreams of sewing stuff and just like find a better source. Yes, yes. But yes, that is my gripe. Thank you for letting me complain about it. Oh, you bet. You bet. I am here for you. But I think that's it for this segment. Shall we move on to our BFPs and BFNs? Let's do it.

Shanna

We are back and we wrap up every episode with our Big Fat positives or Big Fat negatives of the week. Laura, you're up first. What you got for us? I have a BFP. All right. What is it?

Laura

My BFP is that my co-author, Gia Gamar Blunt, and I had a booth at the Great Big Family Play Day at the Autry Museum this weekend. Awesome. And you got to come join us for a little bit on Sunday morning. But the BFP is basically that we had this big event. There were like thousands of people there. It was huge. It was so packed. And we were, you know, trying to get the word out about our book Good to Go. And it was just really, really fun. It was a lot of work to get ready for G and I spent all this time like, making new materials and making new signs and trying to get everything just right for the event. We didn't know what to expect, but we ended up having a really, really great time. That's why it's my BFP.

Shanna

Awesome. It was such a great event. I really liked being out there Sunday morning for a few hours and seeing all the people with their little babies and toddlers. Oh, it's so cool. It was so cool to be there. Did your boys end up coming out to visit you there?

Laura

They did. They missed you because they came the previous day. They came on Saturday with Corey. And they definitely had a conflict, right? Because they wanted to go do all the fun stuff. Like there were these huge bounce houses and like slides, like inflatable slides.

Shanna

Yes, wasn't one of them of the Titanic sinking? Yeah, one of them.

Laura

One of them was shaped like the Titanic sinking, which scandalized Jia. She was just like, are you kidding? She's like, it was a tragedy. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. And then there were like these, you know, the like trampolines. hooked up to like harnesses so that you could jump, you know, like jump extra high. I don't know what you call those things. Oh, those are fun. Yeah. The boys did those. But the boys were definitely conflicted because they wanted to go do all that fun stuff. But they also wanted to be with mommy. And like, I think they felt very proud that I was there. Like, you could see that they were just like, my mommy has a booth. Like they were telling everyone, like, my mommy's booth. Like when we went and had lunch, G said, oh, you go have lunch with them and, you know, I'll hold down the fort.

And we went to like the picnic tables and Augie was like, my mommy has a booth. My mommy's working here. That's very sweet.

And so Corey was like, you know, kind of hovering by the booth when they wanted to be with me. And he was trying to help me do my work, right? Which was talking to people. And we had a steady stream of people coming by asking us questions about potty training and stuff. And so he was like, guys, let's go do stuff. Let's go have fun. Let's go see this. And they're like, no, you just want to be with mommy. They're like sitting on my lap. And at some point, they decided to get in on the action. And Sebastian in particular decided to start trying to sell my book. So. Nice. I have a clip I can play of him starting his sales pitch. I'm going to play the audio of this one, and I'm going to send it to you, Shanna. OK. That's a very enthusiastic announcement. I love it. Yeah. And then if you look at the next one, you can see him in action.

Shanna

Now he's out in front of the booth and he just gave a postcard to a stranger. Oh, I love this.

Laura

He gave one of our podcast postcards to a stranger too. Good job, bud. And then Augie made some signage for the table.

Shanna

Oh, here it is. Good to go. Potty training, a little drawing on lined paper. all taped down with some promotional stickers of yours. Oh, that's real cute.

Laura

Yeah. So it was a fun event. It was a lot of work, but it was one of those very sort of satisfying things to do. And I also just really like doing demonstrable work in front of my kids because I feel like so often I'm telling them like, oh, mommy has to work, mommy has to work. And then I just go sit at my desk and stare at a screen and they have no idea what I'm doing or if I'm You know, like it doesn't mean anything to them. So having them see me like do a thing, I feel like kind of made it more real that I actually work as opposed to just staring at the screen.

Shanna

Yeah, I get that. I totally get that. And it makes me want to do some demonstrable work too. So I got to figure something out.

Laura

Just print out all your work and do it by hand. Then they'll see. Yes, perfect. But yeah, that was my BFP and I think it's your turn. BFP or BFN? I have a BFP.

Shanna

Okay. Yay. A few episodes ago, I mentioned that I was gearing up to do some parent training classes online for like an eight week series. PCIT, it's called Parent Child Interaction Therapy. And this is like a group session that meets to teach us like the strategies and everything about it so we can start using them at home on our kids, right? Well, this week I had my first PCIT group meeting.

Laura

Oh, cool. How was that?

Shanna

It was really, really nice. I liked it a lot. There were only about maybe five other parents in there, plus the teacher who was leading the class. And this week we focused on a couple core principles of PCIT. And the first one of those is what they call special play time, which is five minutes. It could be more, but they encourage us to do five minutes a day where you tell your child, Hey, it's special play time now. And it's one-on-one playing with you and your child. You can do it, you know, with one parent and then do it with another parent. And there's like no interruptions. So you kind of try to set it up in an area where you can, you know, have some privacy and some quiet. And it's completely child led. And you say, what do you want to do? And you play things with them that are more creative, like nothing with prescribed rules, like games, puzzles or anything like that.

So stuff like magnetiles, Legos, Play-Doh, drawing, creative type things. And they encourage us to do this to, A, not only start to work on improving or building the bond and relationship with your child by, you know, setting aside the time and really focusing on them and letting them lead the way and stuff. But also it's going to be time for us to practice the skills that they're going to be teaching us over the weeks. So we haven't learned those first few skills yet. This week it was just all about what special playtime is and our homework was to do it like four to five times in the week and like make notes on what we did and what we played with and stuff. And at first I was like, oh man, I don't know. It feels weird to be like, okay, special playtime starts, special playtime's over. Is she gonna like that? I don't know. Well, I tried it with CeCe and she got so excited.

She was like, what? I'm like, yes, just special playtime. Me and you will go in here in my office and you get to pick what to do. And, you know, we'll just play together. And she loved it. Of course, she didn't want it to end, but they encourage you to end it. And then you can be like, OK, special playtime is over. We can continue playing blah, blah, blah or something else. But try to make it limited because you will be using it as like skill practice later on. And you don't want it to go too long because it can be a lot, but it was really nice, you know? And it made me realize like how often I multitask things, you know? It's like, yeah, I play or I'm, you know, I'll play games with her and stuff like that, but really sitting down and playing and letting her lead. And I kind of follow and super focused. It really did kind of feel rare now that she's older and she loved it.

And I loved it too. And it was a really nice thing to add into our routine.

Laura

That's really sweet. Of course, all I can think about is what was Elle doing? Because if I tried this with either of my kids, I feel like the other kid would just burst in and be like, what you doing?

Shanna

Yes, Elle was busy watching TV or reading or something like that. So that's really helpful. And yeah, definitely if another parent is there to maybe do a special playtime with the other kid at the same time and then you guys could swap or something, I could see that being an issue for sure if you don't like strategize ahead of time.

Laura

Yeah, I mean, that's the only downside I can imagine. But I agree. I had this revelation recently where I was like, I'm just like always drawn to like check a message or get something off my to-do list, you know, while they're playing. And I'm so rarely just completely fully present with them. And that's definitely a skill I want to develop, right? Like I want to get better at because I feel like it was better when they were really little, right? And now it's kind of just you get into the habit of multitasking.

Shanna

Yep. That's so true. And you're busy and you got a lot and you're working and all these other things, it happened. And sometimes it felt hard to even find five minutes, honestly, is like, you know, pick them up from school and then go straight to swim class. And then, you know, shower after swim and then eat and then as bedtime. And it's like, oh, whoopsie, we didn't do it today. But trying to keep it top of mind and make that a priority, it's been nice. So I'm excited to see how it continues and what skills I learned to bring into the special playtime.

Laura

Very cool. Well, thank you for updating us on that.

Shanna

Yeah, but that's it for me and I think that's it for our show. I think you're right. Listeners, if you want to hear our episodes, add free and get access to some bonus content that we share from every episode. Head on over to Patreon and become a member today. You can do that at patreon.com.

And if you have any gripe waters you want to share with us, please let us know. We can all vent together, so please reach out. Laura, where can everyone find us?

Laura

We're on all the social medias at BFP Podcast. We have a website, bigfappositivepodcast.com. And if you want to send us an email, you can send it to contact at bigfappositivepodcast.com. And finally, if you want to join a very cool group of people, just search Facebook for BFP Community. It's a private group, so you have to request to join and make sure you answer those two membership questions so we know you're not a robot. Once you do that, you'll be sent straight through to all the amazing conversations we're having in there.

Shanna

Our show is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko, and Steve Yager. Thanks for listening, everyone. Have a big, fat, positive week. Bye. Bye.

Managing Last-Minute School Projects – Ep. 415

June 15, 2026

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Episode Transcript

Managing Last-Minute School Projects – Ep. 415

June 15, 2026

Listen Now:

This episode's sponsors:

Whisker Litter-Robot

Once Upon a Dance

Episode Transcript