Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #322 Can You Count to 1 Million (Part 1)

Transcript

#322 Can You Count to 1 Million (Part 1) · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

0:03
Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the
0:07
Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers Now.
0:10
Speaker 2: Good miss Doctor Justin Colson, the author of six books
0:13
Speaker 2: about raising happy families and dad to six happy daughters.
0:16
Speaker 2: I think most of the time, usually Kylie, my wife
0:19
Speaker 2: mum to those same girls. How good are the Olympic Games?
0:24
Speaker 2: Are you loving the Olympics?
0:26
Speaker 3: Well, let's be honest. Everybody who knows me knows that
0:29
Speaker 3: sport's not high on my list. So I'm really loving
0:32
Speaker 3: the quiet that comes over the house when you go
0:35
Speaker 3: downstairs with the girls to watch a little bit of it.
0:38
Speaker 2: Cannot drag you down, even to watch the swimming, Like
0:40
Speaker 2: holy smokes, didn't come near me. When the Olympic road
0:43
Speaker 2: race was on for the cycling, let me alone for
0:46
Speaker 2: six hours.
0:47
Speaker 4: I get the violins out for you, honey.
0:49
Speaker 2: It was actually kind of nice to watch six hours
0:50
Speaker 2: of cycling without anyone interrupting me.
0:52
Speaker 5: Where were we? Oh, so Olympics. Isn't it Well?
0:54
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, isn't it great? But you're not
0:56
Speaker 2: seeing it. Records are tumbling, people are getting personal bests.
1:00
Speaker 2: I love it, and we've had one ourselves recently.
1:03
Speaker 4: This is pretty exciting even for me.
1:05
Speaker 2: Okay, so a couple of weeks ago, I don't remember
1:07
Speaker 2: the exact date, but the Happy Families podcast has just
1:11
Speaker 2: hit one million download for the year for the year,
1:17
Speaker 2: a million downloads this year and counting.
1:19
Speaker 4: And we just have you ever had a million downloads before?
1:22
Speaker 5: I've never had a million anything before. Wow, it's really
1:26
Speaker 5: exciting and I think, how did you do that?
1:27
Speaker 2: I think it probably has a bit to do with you,
1:29
Speaker 2: missus Happy Families.
1:31
Speaker 5: Goodness me.
1:31
Speaker 2: So, we're so grateful to you for listening to the
1:34
Speaker 2: Happy Families Podcast, for making us part of your life,
1:36
Speaker 2: part of your family. We've had some breathtaking, the positive,
1:40
Speaker 2: kind generous feedback as well. We've been seeking feedback so
1:43
Speaker 2: that we can make the podcast better, and every now
1:46
Speaker 2: and again somebody gets cranky at it's because we share
1:47
Speaker 2: feedback that we get. People leave reviews, and we've been
1:49
Speaker 2: sharing the reviews. We're not skiding. We're just so grateful,
1:53
Speaker 2: and so for the person who wants to complain about
1:56
Speaker 2: us sharing reviews, we're not trying to say that we're awesome.
1:58
Speaker 2: We're just trying to say how great we are. And
2:00
Speaker 2: I want to share this one, this one came through
2:02
Speaker 2: from Sarah and she just said, congratulations on the one
2:07
Speaker 2: million downloads. Thank you for creating this podcast. It's a
2:10
Speaker 2: winner in my years. I love hearing it all from
2:13
Speaker 2: Justin blowing leaves off the roof. That was the day
2:16
Speaker 2: when I slid off the roof for two stories and
2:18
Speaker 2: landed without any injury to Kylie.
2:20
Speaker 5: Reversing into a parked car. And let's not talk about Benson. Seriously,
2:24
Speaker 5: you two are an absolute joid to listen to.
2:26
Speaker 2: I can't share any wins about my little ones because
2:27
Speaker 2: I don't have any little ones yet, not yet anyway,
2:29
Speaker 2: So Sarah doesn't even have kids and she likes the podcast, which, wow,
2:32
Speaker 2: I've been fantastic. Thanks for listening, Sarah, who knew I
2:35
Speaker 2: thought we were literally only talking.
2:37
Speaker 5: To parents, But thank you.
2:38
Speaker 2: But then Sarah says this in saying that I'm not
2:41
Speaker 2: sure why I originally downloaded your podcast, but what I
2:43
Speaker 2: do know is that when I'm a mum, I hope
2:45
Speaker 2: I can be half the mother that Kylie is.
2:47
Speaker 5: Wow, what a mum you are.
2:49
Speaker 2: Having your daughters leave you for mum's eyes only notes
2:52
Speaker 2: and having open discussions where no topics are off limit
2:54
Speaker 2: is just so amazing. The way your girls can articulate
2:56
Speaker 2: their feelings is beautiful. When your youngest can describe that
2:58
Speaker 2: she's not feeling spoilt, grateful is something so special. You're inspiration, Kylie,
3:03
Speaker 2: and this is why I continue to listen to the
3:04
Speaker 2: Happy Families podcast and thank you. Note I didn't get
3:08
Speaker 2: a mention there, so Sarah doesn't have kids, but she's
3:11
Speaker 2: clearly taking those because she is there.
3:14
Speaker 3: I'm only just remembering some of those things that she shared.
3:18
Speaker 2: We wanted to share some of the highlights, some of
3:21
Speaker 2: the best bits from our conversations and from our podcasts
3:24
Speaker 2: throughout this year that have led to one million downloads.
3:28
Speaker 2: And Kylie, why don't you intro one of our first
3:31
Speaker 2: moments that really captured people and gave us a lot
3:34
Speaker 2: of feedback.
3:35
Speaker 3: When we're talking about highlights, we can't go past our
3:39
Speaker 3: episode one ninety four, Kylie quits. This created quite astir
3:44
Speaker 3: I was so grateful for how many people reached out
3:47
Speaker 3: to me because I were really feeling the heart of it.
3:49
Speaker 3: And what I loved was just the opportunity people had
3:52
Speaker 3: to rethink their own situations and work out what was
3:56
Speaker 3: most important, you know, tapping in with those.
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Speaker 5: Values here's what happened.
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Speaker 3: I really started to unravel I as I thought about,
4:04
Speaker 3: you know, this wonderful opportunity that was placed before me,
4:07
Speaker 3: and in the realization that logistically I just couldn't make
4:11
Speaker 3: it work. I guess I kind of went into that
4:14
Speaker 3: big black hole that I think mums all around the
4:17
Speaker 3: world go through at some point, is you know, when
4:19
Speaker 3: is it going to be my turn? Why do I
4:21
Speaker 3: have to always give up the things that I want?
4:25
Speaker 3: And I'm going to get emotional because it's a really,
4:27
Speaker 3: really difficult space to find yourself in when you recognize
4:34
Speaker 3: that you've given so much for so long, and you
4:37
Speaker 3: want something and you want it bad, and then you
4:41
Speaker 3: realize that it's actually just not going to work.
4:43
Speaker 2: Couples need to be able to come together on these topics,
4:46
Speaker 2: and for us, we decided that, well, you decided that
4:49
Speaker 2: you're going to wait another couple of years.
4:51
Speaker 3: It took me a while to get to that realization.
4:54
Speaker 3: But as I kind of wrestled with all of those
4:56
Speaker 3: feelings of I guess, sacrifice and feeling hard done by
5:00
Speaker 3: and not from anything you had said. I mean, you
5:03
Speaker 3: have been amazing and amazing support as I've kind of
5:06
Speaker 3: worked through it, and you were happy for us to
5:08
Speaker 3: organize to have a nanny come along to make this
5:11
Speaker 3: a realization.
5:12
Speaker 2: Well, I said, I was happy about it, but now
5:13
Speaker 2: that we're talking about it and the decision has made,
5:16
Speaker 2: I wasn't that thrilled about it.
5:17
Speaker 5: But I would have to support you.
5:18
Speaker 4: You would have and I know that.
5:21
Speaker 3: But then I started to kind of, I guess, take
5:24
Speaker 3: it through my values filter and start to really think
5:29
Speaker 3: about what are the things that mean the most to me,
5:33
Speaker 3: what are my priorities, and what are the things that
5:35
Speaker 3: I stand for. And as I started to think about
5:40
Speaker 3: those things and really kind of live into those values,
5:45
Speaker 3: I realized that again privileged decision that I'm able to make,
5:49
Speaker 3: this was a want and not a need. And right
5:52
Speaker 3: now my family needs.
5:54
Speaker 5: Me, and I need you and you need me. Actually boo.
5:58
Speaker 3: And that was still hard even coming to that realization
6:01
Speaker 3: for myself. That was hard to sit with for a
6:04
Speaker 3: few days. What I found is that the longer I
6:08
Speaker 3: sat there this suffocating feeling that I had been experiencing
6:15
Speaker 3: as I was trying to work out how I could
6:17
Speaker 3: do it all, you know, how I could be the
6:20
Speaker 3: mum that I want to be and the wife that
6:22
Speaker 3: I want to be and be where I need to be,
6:27
Speaker 3: but do something I want to do. I couldn't physically
6:32
Speaker 3: do it all, and so I had to make a
6:34
Speaker 3: decision about what was most important to me, and at
6:36
Speaker 3: the end of the day, my want it's at the
6:38
Speaker 3: bottom of the list.
6:40
Speaker 2: What I love about that one as well, with the
6:41
Speaker 2: feedback we've got, is that so many people saw the
6:43
Speaker 2: title of the podcast, Kylie Quits, and they thought that
6:46
Speaker 2: you were quitting the podcast.
6:48
Speaker 3: Well it would have been Kylie's Got sacked, but anyway.
6:51
Speaker 5: No, no, no, Based on the feedback, You're staying.
6:54
Speaker 2: One of our more popular episodes as well, earlier in
6:56
Speaker 2: the year was when we interviewed Jessica Rowe.
7:00
Speaker 5: What a delight, Oh she's a screen and what a
7:02
Speaker 5: crap house was?
7:04
Speaker 6: We do what works for us, and I have embraced
7:08
Speaker 6: being a crap housewife.
7:09
Speaker 7: Finley.
7:10
Speaker 6: I have piles of washing, I've got dirty dishes in
7:14
Speaker 6: the sink. I'm not a great cook. I used to
7:18
Speaker 6: put far too much pressure on myself to think I
7:20
Speaker 6: had to have all of that together, and the only
7:23
Speaker 6: person I was letting down was myself. I'd get myself
7:25
Speaker 6: in such a ladder. And so now I go, you
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Speaker 6: know what, I'm enough. It doesn't matter that I'm not
7:30
Speaker 6: good at this stuff, because I can be good at
7:33
Speaker 6: other things. But I think the key is you do
7:36
Speaker 6: what works for you and your family.
7:38
Speaker 5: I just love it.
7:39
Speaker 3: This week, it seems that you have made national headlines
7:43
Speaker 3: for exactly that we Well, actually.
7:45
Speaker 5: It wasn't just making national headlines. Let's be clear here.
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Speaker 5: This was This is Jess's.
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Speaker 2: Daughter's lunchbox from twenty twenty that made national headlines.
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Speaker 3: Can you tell us all why was your daughter's lunchbox
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Speaker 3: making national headlines this week?
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Speaker 6: Well, first of all, how hilarious that the lunchbox made
8:02
Speaker 6: fashional headlines? Essentially what happened? We're getting ready for back
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Speaker 6: to school. I mean I'm doing star jumps this morning
8:09
Speaker 6: because both my girls are back at school now. But
8:12
Speaker 6: we were getting ready just the other day and I thought, okay,
8:15
Speaker 6: time to get the school bag ready, get the lunchboxes ready.
8:20
Speaker 6: Low and behold, in my youngest daughter's lunchbox was the
8:25
Speaker 6: lunch that we hadn't unpacked from last December. And you
8:30
Speaker 6: think we would have smelled it, but no, because it
8:32
Speaker 6: was in this cupboard under the stairs with a whole
8:34
Speaker 6: lot of other junk, so that was obviously sealing the
8:37
Speaker 6: smell in there. But I unzipped it, and oh my goodness,
8:42
Speaker 6: the smell. The stench in one tuple wear was just
8:45
Speaker 6: this green liquid and I'm not sure what it was.
8:48
Speaker 6: I think potentially it might have been some cucumbers that liquefied.
8:53
Speaker 6: And then in the other container, which is my daughter's
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Speaker 6: favorite because it has seals on the front, I undid
9:00
Speaker 6: it and there were these I think they might have
9:03
Speaker 6: been might have been once grapes, and they were black
9:07
Speaker 6: and furry and just foul. So I just had to
9:11
Speaker 6: laugh because I just thought, I cannot believe this, and
9:15
Speaker 6: I posted it to my Instagram, and lo and behold.
9:18
Speaker 6: What I loved is that hundreds of other mums and
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Speaker 6: dads responded with their foul lunch box stories, with similar
9:28
Speaker 6: things happening to them, feeling reassured that, oh my goodness,
9:32
Speaker 6: were not the only ones. Others sharing stories about how
9:36
Speaker 6: they'd had cheese and bacon rolls in their kids lunchboxes
9:40
Speaker 6: and they opened them and suddenly they thought they were
9:42
Speaker 6: tennis falling. We've all been there. I mean, I'm sure
9:48
Speaker 6: for you guys too, perhaps when you were younger, like
9:51
Speaker 6: I remember putting my hand in my school bag when
9:54
Speaker 6: I was probably about Giselle's age, which is eleven, and
9:58
Speaker 6: there was this powdery substance in the bottom and it
10:00
Speaker 6: was an orange. It was a whole orange that basically
10:04
Speaker 6: over the time had just powdered into this foul thing.
10:08
Speaker 4: So yeah, I do definitely remember the orange d.
10:13
Speaker 6: All kind of booh. And I think the thing is
10:15
Speaker 6: what I love about instant because we hear negative things
10:19
Speaker 6: about social media, but what I love was hearing all
10:22
Speaker 6: these other people's stories. We can laugh at ourselves, we
10:25
Speaker 6: can think we are doing our best, and if you
10:28
Speaker 6: have that stenchy lunch box every now and then.
10:32
Speaker 2: That's okay. So Jess is just an absolute delight. We're
10:36
Speaker 2: going to completely change pace here though. One of the
10:39
Speaker 2: funniest things that we've talked about all year long, and
10:43
Speaker 2: I think this is really why we've got a million downloads.
10:46
Speaker 5: What's the time when you went running with a wedgie?
10:48
Speaker 4: I learned very quickly why you don't wear lycra unlikra.
10:51
Speaker 2: Our health journey continued on Saturday when the gym put
10:54
Speaker 2: on a kind of a family fun run. Yeah sure,
10:57
Speaker 2: down to the park the kids didn't want to get
10:59
Speaker 2: up because it was cold, So you and I headed
11:02
Speaker 2: down to the park so that we could run. What
11:03
Speaker 2: was it like, a six k run through the Daisy
11:05
Speaker 2: Hill State Forest in the southern suburbs of Brisbane.
11:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, so this is not a flat run. This was
11:11
Speaker 3: up and down hills on mountain bike terrain. Yeah.
11:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, like there's there're fire trails and walking tracks and
11:19
Speaker 2: that sort of thing.
11:20
Speaker 4: And I haven't done a run for a very very
11:22
Speaker 4: long time.
11:23
Speaker 3: But to complicate things, they decided to theme it, and
11:26
Speaker 3: so they asked us to come dressed in eighties style,
11:30
Speaker 3: to go eighties.
11:30
Speaker 2: We don't have anything eighties, but you put on a
11:33
Speaker 2: pair of your my swimmers where you put your swimmers
11:36
Speaker 2: on over the top, and then you had your leggings
11:38
Speaker 2: on and they were they like Dalmatians, right light with
11:41
Speaker 2: black spots.
11:43
Speaker 3: And then I didn't have any legwarmers, so I just
11:45
Speaker 3: used some big bulky boot socks right to kind of
11:48
Speaker 3: bunch up around my ankles.
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Speaker 5: And it actually did look kind of eighties.
11:51
Speaker 4: Well it kind of did.
11:53
Speaker 5: You had the head band on.
11:54
Speaker 3: But you know, I learned a really really valuable lesson
11:56
Speaker 3: and it seems like everybody else knew this lesson except me.
12:00
Speaker 4: You don't wear lycra on licra.
12:02
Speaker 5: I wear likra when I ride my bike all the time.
12:05
Speaker 4: No, you just don't.
12:07
Speaker 5: What do you mean?
12:08
Speaker 3: I ended up with a front weggie and a backwedgie
12:11
Speaker 3: and it was not pretty. And the whole time I
12:14
Speaker 3: was running, all I could think about was I don't
12:15
Speaker 3: know what's worse watching someone run with the weggie that's
12:19
Speaker 3: not supposed to be there or watching someone pick out
12:22
Speaker 3: the weggie that shouldn't be there.
12:24
Speaker 5: It was horrible.
12:26
Speaker 2: So I, oh, gosh, that's I thought that you were
12:29
Speaker 2: sore because of the running, but you saw from the wedgies.
12:35
Speaker 4: I think we're just giving them way too much information.
12:38
Speaker 4: I'm so embarrassed.
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Speaker 3: I can't believe we even published that.
12:41
Speaker 4: Craig. That's all on you.
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Speaker 2: So Craig is our executive producer, and he's the one
12:45
Speaker 2: that decides what stays in the podcast or what doesn't.
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Speaker 2: You said it, Kylie, You you shared the story, such
12:50
Speaker 2: a good story. After the break, we're going to talk
12:52
Speaker 2: about one of the funnest interviews that we did all
12:55
Speaker 2: year with Cusi O'Brien, the author of a book about
12:58
Speaker 2: parenting that was just delight fully fun.
13:00
Speaker 5: And I think we're going to talk.
13:02
Speaker 2: About perhaps the biggest disaster that our family has experienced
13:06
Speaker 2: this year. That's coming up as we revisit the highlights
13:09
Speaker 2: of one million downloads and counting this year so far.
13:12
Speaker 5: It's the Happy Families Podcast.
13:15
Speaker 3: For a happier family, Try a Happy Families membership, because
13:19
Speaker 3: a happy family doesn't just happen.
13:21
Speaker 5: Details at happy families dot com dot au.
13:25
Speaker 3: It's the Happy Families Podcast, the podcast for the time
13:27
Speaker 3: poor parent, and today we are celebrating one million downloads.
13:32
Speaker 3: For an amateur like me, I am reveling in the
13:35
Speaker 3: excitement of this.
13:36
Speaker 2: I noticed when you said that this is the podcast
13:38
Speaker 2: for the time poor parent, you didn't add who just
13:40
Speaker 2: wants answers now? Because no answers, no answer today, just
13:43
Speaker 2: embarrassing moments for us really, and meaningful ones as well. Hey,
13:47
Speaker 2: a great conversation that we had with Susi O'Brien, author
13:50
Speaker 2: of a book about parenting. Let's find out what she
13:53
Speaker 2: had to say.
13:54
Speaker 7: Parents today say they find it hard to find time
13:58
Speaker 7: to do everything half the time, don't even have time
14:00
Speaker 7: to have a bubble bath once a week, and so
14:03
Speaker 7: these days often in families. We've got mum and dad
14:05
Speaker 7: both working full time or working a lot. We put
14:09
Speaker 7: our hands up to be very hands on it the
14:11
Speaker 7: kinder and the school and the footy club. We think
14:13
Speaker 7: we have to do everything asked of us, and we
14:17
Speaker 7: find that when the intensification of parenting means that we
14:22
Speaker 7: are expected to be managing their friendships very hands on.
14:27
Speaker 7: At the school, we're taking them to activities and playdates
14:31
Speaker 7: all weekend. Like, parenting has never been more intense, and
14:35
Speaker 7: parents are kind of cracking up. We don't have time
14:38
Speaker 7: to do it all. And so what we're doing is
14:40
Speaker 7: we're certainly the first thing that goes into our social lives,
14:44
Speaker 7: and it's certainly anything that doesn't do with the family socializing.
14:48
Speaker 7: So mum's book club, mum's bubble bath, mum's wine with
14:51
Speaker 7: the friends. And people are also doing less work, you know,
14:55
Speaker 7: sometimes we're cutting back on work hours so that we
14:58
Speaker 7: can be there for the kids. Doing less parenting hadn't
15:01
Speaker 7: occurred to anyone, like cutting out some of that hands on, intensive,
15:06
Speaker 7: time consuming parenting that isn't really making any of us happy,
15:11
Speaker 7: but which we think we have to do to be
15:13
Speaker 7: a good parent these days.
15:15
Speaker 3: I'm really curious, Susie, what were your parents like growing
15:18
Speaker 3: up out.
15:19
Speaker 7: Of the seventies? Soir Kylie, So oh god. Actually, my
15:24
Speaker 7: mother was listening in on one interview we did, and
15:27
Speaker 7: she was texting me the whole time with tales of
15:30
Speaker 7: her lax parenting. Like was saying that she had to
15:34
Speaker 7: organize her own eighth birthday because mum and dad had
15:38
Speaker 7: been out the night before and just showed no signs
15:40
Speaker 7: of getting out of bed. So she cleaned the house,
15:44
Speaker 7: she made the party food or you know, put it
15:46
Speaker 7: out on the table, and made her own birthday cake
15:49
Speaker 7: aged eight. And look, it wasn't like that. Most of
15:52
Speaker 7: the time.
15:52
Speaker 5: They were very very dutiful, very good parents.
15:55
Speaker 7: But the thought of them leaving work early to take
15:59
Speaker 7: my sister to activities, the thought of them arranging their
16:02
Speaker 7: weekends around what we wanted to do instead of stuff
16:06
Speaker 7: that they wanted to do around the house, mostly kind
16:08
Speaker 7: of cementing things into the ground. You know, what parents
16:11
Speaker 7: did back in the seventies wouldn't have ever occurred to them,
16:15
Speaker 7: Like they ran their own lives and we fitted in
16:17
Speaker 7: with them.
16:18
Speaker 3: What a great conversation that was with Susie. But I
16:21
Speaker 3: think if you're talking about meaningful things. One of the
16:24
Speaker 3: most meaningful experiences and most memorable would have to be
16:29
Speaker 3: our Mother's Day episode.
16:32
Speaker 5: What makes you proud of mum?
16:33
Speaker 1: Helping to build her six daughters into who they are,
16:37
Speaker 1: and obviously just continuing to be a mum like it
16:40
Speaker 1: doesn't stop.
16:41
Speaker 3: She's not afraid of being herself. She's really happy to
16:43
Speaker 3: be herself.
16:44
Speaker 5: She's not afraid to express how she's feeling.
16:46
Speaker 3: Reliable, I can always come to her whenever I'm feeling
16:49
Speaker 3: down or having problems. I don't ever have to worry
16:52
Speaker 3: about her judging me, and she'll just always be patient
16:55
Speaker 3: and kind.
16:56
Speaker 1: Because she believes me. She stands up for us, and
17:00
Speaker 1: no matter what, she never gives up.
17:03
Speaker 3: I'm the first one to admit my childhood wasn't all roses.
17:06
Speaker 3: At times, my mum was a complete and utter failure.
17:09
Speaker 3: She got it wrong so many times I've lost count.
17:12
Speaker 3: There were times I downright hated her and I couldn't
17:14
Speaker 3: wait to grow up and walk out that door, never
17:16
Speaker 3: to return again. I mean, clearly I knew better than her,
17:20
Speaker 3: and I was definitely not going to make the same
17:22
Speaker 3: misake she did, or so I thought. Time has a
17:25
Speaker 3: way of showing us things we never saw in the moment,
17:28
Speaker 3: and then the firsthand experience that's.
17:31
Speaker 4: Hard to ignore. The first five days.
17:33
Speaker 3: Of my mothering journey were a dream. My brand new
17:36
Speaker 3: baby just fed and slept. I can remember lying in
17:39
Speaker 3: my hospital bed next to her crib, willing her to
17:42
Speaker 3: wake so I could have my next encounter, my next snuggle.
17:46
Speaker 3: I was in awe of this little human being I
17:48
Speaker 3: had helped create. The day we left the hospital and
17:51
Speaker 3: wheeled her crib all the way down the hallway out
17:53
Speaker 3: the entrance of the hospital and placed her in her
17:55
Speaker 3: very own car seat for the first time was a
17:57
Speaker 3: little surreal. I couldn't believe how lucky we were. We
18:00
Speaker 3: drove out the driveway on our way to our own
18:03
Speaker 3: little happily ever after. But within moments of us leaving
18:06
Speaker 3: the safety of the hospital and help at the push
18:08
Speaker 3: of a button, she started crying uncontrollably, and she was loud.
18:13
Speaker 3: Nothing I did calmed her, and I thought my heart
18:16
Speaker 3: would break in two. I went from feeling like I
18:18
Speaker 3: had it all together to being a total loss within seconds.
18:23
Speaker 3: The years that followed amplified that feeling over and over again.
18:27
Speaker 3: Just when you feel like you have it all together,
18:29
Speaker 3: another spanner in the works, another moment in time you
18:32
Speaker 3: never thought you'd have to face. This mothering gig is hard,
18:35
Speaker 3: so hard that I have spent many sleepless nights pacing
18:38
Speaker 3: the floor or drenching my pillow and tears. How could
18:43
Speaker 3: I get things so wrong? Why didn't I foresee that danger?
18:47
Speaker 3: How do I reach my child? And in an instant
18:51
Speaker 3: there is clarity. I am doing the very best I can,
18:55
Speaker 3: And for all my good intentions, my know how and education,
18:58
Speaker 3: there are still days I am at and out of failure,
19:02
Speaker 3: just like my mum. And that's when the light bold
19:07
Speaker 3: moment hits. So is she. For all her effort, for
19:11
Speaker 3: all her good intentions, know how in education, she too
19:14
Speaker 3: found herself pacing the floor and drenching her pillow, wondering
19:17
Speaker 3: how she could ever make good. Sometimes it's easy to
19:22
Speaker 3: see the faults of others and want to blame them
19:23
Speaker 3: for how hard our life is. Let's be real, some
19:26
Speaker 3: mistakes hurt a lot. My mum wasn't perfect, She's the
19:30
Speaker 3: first one to admit that, but she taught me a
19:32
Speaker 3: lifelong lesson. She taught me that no matter how hard
19:35
Speaker 3: it gets, no matter how many times you fall, or
19:38
Speaker 3: how often you just have to find the strength to
19:41
Speaker 3: get up one more time and try again. I imagine
19:44
Speaker 3: a Mother's Day in the far or future, my children
19:47
Speaker 3: surrounding me, and I wonder will they see me for
19:49
Speaker 3: the utter failure I was? Or will they offer me
19:52
Speaker 3: their grace? Will they experience the realization that while I
19:56
Speaker 3: was not perfect, I did my very best.
19:58
Speaker 4: I hope.
19:59
Speaker 3: So this Mother's Day, I want to pay tribute to
20:02
Speaker 3: my mum, imperfect as she is, for the countless time
20:04
Speaker 3: she chose to get up one more time. It is
20:07
Speaker 3: her example that helps me find the courage to keep trying.
20:10
Speaker 3: What I feel like I am a complete and utter failure.
20:14
Speaker 2: Well, we've had some wonderful moments throughout the year as
20:16
Speaker 2: we've shared our lives with you on the podcast, and
20:19
Speaker 2: hopefully you've been learning and growing as much as we
20:21
Speaker 2: have as we reflect on what it is to be
20:23
Speaker 2: great parents, what it is to be intentional about being
20:26
Speaker 2: a parent, and what it is to raise kids in really,
20:31
Speaker 2: really busy and sometimes complicated world. Tomorrow, we're going to
20:36
Speaker 2: do one more of these episodes. We decided that we'd
20:38
Speaker 2: share our top ten so tomorrow another five memories so
20:42
Speaker 2: far from this year, as we celebrate one million downloads
20:45
Speaker 2: of the Happy Families podcast from January one through to
20:48
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago.
20:49
Speaker 3: The Happy Families podcast is produced by.
20:52
Speaker 5: Juice Now not ju Justin Justin Rulan.
20:57
Speaker 3: Justin Rulan at Bridge Media.
20:59
Speaker 5: That's it.
21:00
Speaker 3: And our executive producer is Craig Bruce.
21:03
Speaker 4: I remember his name this time.
21:05
Speaker 2: I've still got our training wheels on for this. If
21:07
Speaker 2: you enjoy the podcast, we are so grateful for your
21:10
Speaker 2: listening and for your reviews. Please jump on our Apple
21:12
Speaker 2: podcasts and leave those five star ratings and reviews so
21:15
Speaker 2: that we can help other people to find out about
21:17
Speaker 2: what we do and make their families happier. And if
21:20
Speaker 2: you like more info about building a happier family, check
21:23
Speaker 2: out Happy Families memberships. All the info is a Happy
21:26
Speaker 2: Families dot com dot au