Latest / Parent's Talk with Francine Juhlin / EPISODE 23: Parents Can't Stop Talking About Milo's Superpower—Here's Why

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EPISODE 23: Parents Can't Stop Talking About Milo's Superpower—Here's Why · Parent's Talk with Francine Juhlin

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  Speaker 1: I am here today with children's book authors. Art is
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  a member of Children's Authors Unite. We have an exciting
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  event coming up December sixth and seventh. Let's get into
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  the fun stuff. We want to hear all about Milo
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  and the story. So first I'm going to ask Mark,
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  you were the first one to get inspired to write
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  this book, So tell us what inspired you and why
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  this book was a passion project for you.
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  Speaker 2: So around the time of the pandemic, I had to
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  deal with cancer, retired and moved across the country and
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  had to start life the new. Luckily that involved being
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  and spending time with.
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  Speaker 3: My two grandsons and.
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  Speaker 2: It was just a wonderful experience being with them and
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  learning from them. And one day I noticed where there
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  was a conflict between the two and the younger one
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  went off to the side, sat down and sulked and
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  was just rather dejected. And he looked up to me
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  and was telling me how he felt. And I told him, Rocky,
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  you have a superpower, and your superpower is your smile
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  and your ability to make people laugh, and don't ever
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  forget that, and that's going to get you the things
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  you want. Some people will fight and yell and scream,
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  but your smile is going to get you more than
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  screaming will.
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  Speaker 3: And one of the things.
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  Speaker 2: He did that day earlier that just had me laughing
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  was he came to visit and he walked in carrying
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  his rumba vacuum, and I'm like, why do you have that?
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  And he says, well, I don't want to leave her
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  at home, she'll be lonely, so.
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  Speaker 3: I brought her over to your house.
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  Speaker 2: He was spending the day with us, and he goes
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  to the bedroom, puts the thing down on the floor
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  and that's where our rumba vacuum was docked, and he
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  turned them both on, got on top of them, and
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  he called me and I came in the room and
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  he's riding around on the top of one of them
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  and the other ones going and he says, Grandpa, they're dancing,
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  and he keeps us laughing. So that was the inspiration
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  that I was struck that if more people knew to
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  use smiles and laughter to deal with conflict, we'd be
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  in a better place.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, laughter is the best medicine, and being able
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  to make somebody laugh to diffuse a situation as absolutely brilliant.
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  So Mark, we have Justine here with us. How did
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  you get her involved in this whole process?
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  Speaker 2: Well, actually, the first book I wrote was thirty five
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  forty years ago, was a book for my fertility patients
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  called Miracle Babies. And actually some of those couples that
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  I helped are now grandparents and looking to buy books
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  for their own their own children.
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  Speaker 3: But I realized that I would have to write a
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  book both.
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  Speaker 2: For the parents and for the kids. And I knew nothing.
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  I mean, as a grandpa, you do carpool and you'll
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  play games and be silly read a book, but I.
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  Speaker 3: Really don't understand the audience.
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  Speaker 2: So I realized that Justine loved the boys and had
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  been out to visit and they interacted so well, and
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  being a teacher, I figured.
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  Speaker 3: This is what we have to do.
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  Speaker 2: We have to involve Justine to figure out what is
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  the real story, what is the important thing to communicate
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  in this book?
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  Speaker 1: And I think you hit on it perfectly with the humor,
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  the using humor. So, Justine, when you were asked to
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  come into this project, what did you think? What part
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  it was your favorite?
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  Speaker 4: Well, so, first starting off, I did my research and
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  I actually read this story the first first draft, so
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  it was only just a word document, no pictures, nothing,
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  We even had different character names. It's very very the
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  first and I read it to my students and they
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  loved it and I was so happy and they loved
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  it without even illustrations or anything, so that I knew,
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  I'm like, we have a story. If my seven and
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  eight year old students can love a story without even
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  seeing the pictures, like we know, we have a hit.
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  And I also just really resonated with a message that
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  such a small thing like a smile has such a
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  big impact, and that a superpower doesn't have to be
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  really fast or really strong, like it could be something
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  within your personality. And that's something that I think is
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  really important to teach kids. And just those types of
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  like interpersonal skills, problem solving, I think that's really important
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  to teach kids. So I was definitely on board with
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  the story the moment I heard it.
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  Speaker 1: And then there was also some conflict between the siblings,
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  and as a teacher, I'm sure you see conflicts in
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  the classroom. How does this book address that to help
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  you teach the kids how to deal with the conflict.
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  Speaker 4: So definitely in the classroom, a big thing that we
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  teach the kids is like, wait, different ways to solve conflicts.
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  So you could talk it out, you could take deep breaths,
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  you can like count to five, you can use your words.
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  And we actually haven't talked about how you can just smile,
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  but I think that's definitely one that I want to
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  add because it's really important, you know, just take a
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  deep breath and maybe like give a compliment. We do
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  a lot of like compliments in my classroom. Sometimes we'll
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  do like compliment circle and then I ask the kids
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  how they feel after each of them has received a compliment,
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  and it's usually always something positive. And so I found
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  that that just the little act of yeah, a smile
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  or compliment is an easy way to kind of make
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  amends and become friends with somebody.
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  Speaker 1: I love that. In one of my Toastmasters clubs, every
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  year Christmas time, we have a Christmas party and it's
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  an online club. So how do you entertain the crowd
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  with an online club. Well, in Toastmasters, we have a
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  lot of listeners. We listen for US and Alms, we
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  listen for Grammar. Well, in this one meeting, in particular,
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  every Christmas party, we have somebody whose job is to
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  compliment everybody who shows up, and I try to get
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  that one if nobody beats me to selecting that role,
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  because I think a compliment can just change somebody's whole attitude.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely, absolutely, it's.
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  Speaker 3: Interesting when you talked about that role.
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  Speaker 2: Shortly after we communicated to Rocky that he had this superpower,
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  we were at the park playing and he comes running
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  over Grandpa, Grandma that boy, he doesn't have a superpower.
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  Speaker 3: He doesn't have it, and boy it was It lit
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  up the idea for.
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  Speaker 2: Book number two, and that was to let Rocky know that.
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  You know, there are a lot of people Superman had
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  an amazing superpower, but he was Clark Kent and that's
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  how everybody knew him. So not everybody shares their superpower
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  with the world. The other thing is he may not
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  know how special he is, and you can help him
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  discover his own superpower. Maybe it's a smile, maybe it's
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  being helpful, maybe it's sharing. Whatever it is, he can
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  help that person discover what's special about them and share that.
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  Speaker 3: So it's interesting.
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  Speaker 2: It's like a person at the event or the event
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  who shares compliments, and.
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  Speaker 1: That just that brings up and let your Sparkleshine, which
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  is my second book, Let Your Sparkleshine. Eugenia and Tillie
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  the Turtle helped the kids figure out that the one
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  thing that they're shy about, the one thing they try
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  to stay hidden because they don't want to stand out,
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  that's really what their superpower is. So I love that
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  our books are so similar in that we're telling kids
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  to find what it is that's special about them and
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  share it with the world.
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  Speaker 2: So I think that there's a lot out there in media,
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  in school and other places where we are told that
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  we had to confine ourselves to a given role and
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  we're told to be and then at the same time,
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  the kids are getting the message to.
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  Speaker 3: Be yourself and discover yourself.
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  Speaker 2: So they're dealing with this internal conflict of who am I?
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  And am I this person who has to go out
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  in the world and sell myself or do I need
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  to just be quiet and get along?
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  Speaker 1: Be quiet and get along. I've never been good at that. Okay,
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  I have a question for Justine. How can parents and
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  educators use my little superpower as a teaching tool?
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  Speaker 4: So as an educator myself, I teach second grade. I've
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  loved having this book in my classroom, and I think
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  an important message to educators and parents alike is that
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  all kids have a superpower, no matter what it is,
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  there's something that makes them special that they can use
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  to help others. So I've talked to my students and
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  told them, you know, it's not being fast or being strong.
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  Your superpower can be within your personality, could be being
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  a good friend, being hopeful, a smile. And also that
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  if you can't think of a superpower, everybody has the
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  superpower of a smile. You just have to use it.
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  And you'll find that using it will light up other
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  people and it'll also make you feel good too, so
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  it's a win win.
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  Speaker 1: I love that. And then another thing, you said, you
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  teach second graders. Now, I don't have kids, so I'm
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  not good with ages. So the books for ages three
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  to seven, So I'm assuming seven is the second graders.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, seven is second grade, although honestly, I think it
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  would work in like third or fourth grade.
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  Speaker 1: Two So how primarily for little kids? How does that
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  work then for like the three year olds?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think the the interesting thing was when Justine
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  was out here last we did a reading at one
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  of the local bookstores. And the seven year old was
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  insistent on grabbing the book, opening it up, and he
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  wanted to.
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  Speaker 3: Sit in front of everybody and read the book.
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  Speaker 2: So I think for the younger ones, you're going to
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  read the story to them, and they're going to be more.
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  Speaker 3: Focused on.
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  Speaker 2: Just the whole thing of the superpower and picturing Superman
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  and flying around and all that, and so we're explaining
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  the superpower concept. The older ones, it's really getting involved
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  in reading and sharing the story.
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  Speaker 4: And I also think the little ones will definitely really
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  enjoy the illustrations. The illustrations are so vibrant and fill
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  up the whole page. Our illustrator, which is actually the
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  art teacher at my school, she really like, did amazing
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  the colors. Everything is beautiful. So I think something that
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  will engage the little ones is definitely the illustrations.
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  Speaker 2: It's also interesting when you read this to like a
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  nursery school group towards the younger three year old four
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  year olds. The teacher asked me, so, how long is
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  this going to take? And I'd say, well, you know,
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  we'll probably read the book.
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  Speaker 3: In ten minutes. Forty five minutes later.
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  Speaker 2: I got to the end of the book because it
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  wasn't where you sat up there and just read from
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  beginning to the end. Throughout the book, each child would
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  have something they wanted to contribute, so the story was
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  not just what was on the.
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  Speaker 3: Page, but it was also what all the children were sharing.
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  Speaker 2: With each other, whether they had a brother or a
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  sister who had a power, what their power was, or
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  how their parents reacted. You know, all those things come
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  into play that I think can make so much more
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  than just a book.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. Love that because I found it really challenging to
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  read to the two and three year olds because and
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  one of the mothers, I thought they were like all
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  over the place, getting all crazy. And one of the
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  mothers said, you have captured their attention like nobody else
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  ever has. And then I'm like, okay, so I keep reading.
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  Next thing I know, this little girl comes up and
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  just sits next to me on the chair and kind
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  of cuddles up with me. So that was a special feeling.
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  Have you ever experienced something where a kid just really
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  connected like that.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I can't pick out just one, but we've
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  had a number of them. It's hard sometimes to get
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  back to reading this story because they're so excited about
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  all the events and they identify with the characters in
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  the book. That's one nice thing about having them different
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  ages that a lot of them will have a older
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  or younger brother, and if they're older, how do they
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  treat their younger sib And in terms of parents, how
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  to do this? On our website, we have a resource
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  section where we have discussion questions and that's those are
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  good tools to bring to bring to the reading where
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  a parent can stop and ask a child a particular
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  question that it suggested there, and then Justine put together
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  a list of classroom activities that can go along with
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  it for teachers who are trying to share the concepts
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  that the book talks about.
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  Speaker 1: That was going to be a question later on, but
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  now that you brought it up, tell everybody how to
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  find your website.
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  Speaker 2: We are at www. Milo's Superpower dot com and there's
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  an S on the end of Milo's and an S
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  on the beginning of Superpower, so it's Milo's Superpower with
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  two s's in the middle, and there's a blog, there's resources.
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  I'm soon going to post a number of coloring pages
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  that we put together for kids that they can participate
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  in the story and get involved We're also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.
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  Speaker 1: TikTok, and TikTok, and we'll put some links down in
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  the and the comments section so you can hook up
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  and check out their content. And then another thing I
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  want to bring up, it's a public service announcement for
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  all authors. We love reviews, so please, if you enjoyed
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  one of our books, please leave a review, and for me,
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  if there's something in it you didn't like, please let
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  me know because there's gonna be more books in my
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  book series and I want to know how to make
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  them better. So it's about time to wrap this up.
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  But what I'd like to hit on one more time
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  is kindness. In our children's group, children's author's group, we
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  have Rosemary. It was probably the kindest person I've ever
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  met in my whole life, and I'm trying to get
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  Rosemary on this podcast. But kindness is so underrated. So
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  can you both tell us what your take is on
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  how this book is helping bring more kindness in the world.
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  Speaker 4: I could go first. I mean just again iterating the
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  power of a smile and that just one act of
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  kindness has a ripple effect and can affect all those
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  around you, and it could be so small as just
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  a smile or even giving a friend a pencil to borrow.
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  Something little like really just makes a difference and kids
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  remember it for years to come. So it definitely has
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  an impacting or sorry, a lasting impact.
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  Speaker 1: And you know what, in my fifties, I remembered something
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  that happened in the third grade and it wasn't an
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  act of kindness. So remember that when children aren't being kind,
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  that's going to have a lasting effect on the other child.
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  Speaker 4: Yep.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think that's also something for adults. And in
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  doing this, I was at a time of really reinventing
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  myself when this came up. So I think this story
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  and watching the two siblings together and watching how the
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  story was out there in the community.
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  Speaker 3: I learned and.
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  Speaker 2: I had to explore how as I being kind and
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  when could I be kinder? And it changed. It got
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  me looking at my pet therapy work, which I took
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  on and expanded, going out to senior homes and other
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  places to meet people and working with guys with cancer.
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  Speaker 3: I think when you're writing a book like.
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  Speaker 2: This, it forces you to think about your own behavior.
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  It's not just that we're sitting here trying to open
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  up their heads and pour in a certain message. The
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  message is important for adults just as well.
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  Speaker 1: That is so funny you said that, because coming from
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  the military, my little sailor comes out sometimes which isn't
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  very pleasant or kind, and I don't want to be
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  out in the world and have someone see Princess Francie
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  not being kind. So yes, you're right. We authors need
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  to be at a higher standard and set the example
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  for other adults too. Absolutely, So is there anything else
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  you want to say before we wrap it up?
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  Speaker 2: All the authors in our group are going to be
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  listed there and many of thank you. Many of them
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  have more than one book to share, and I think
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  that you don't have to just go to a big
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  box store to find a book in a story that's
• 20:52
  worth hearing.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, we are supporting indie authors and traditional authors because
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  we're not all self published. Some of us do have
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  a publisher, but we're still considered indie authors because it's
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  not one of your regular ones that you're going to
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  find in the big box stores. So come support us.
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  There's about twelve to fourteen authors with a bunch of books,
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  and they all have an amazing message, and with that,
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  it's time to say goodbye again, and I hope you
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  enjoyed this episode of Parents Talk, and I hope you
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  got some tips to help your kids become more confident
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  and find their own superpower. Bye.