Latest / Play Therapy Parenting: Real Parenting Questions Answered by a Child Therapist / S2E26 - Empowering Your Child with Wholesome Stories: Interview with Britfield Author C.R. Stewart

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S2E26 - Empowering Your Child with Wholesome Stories: Interview with Britfield Author C.R. Stewart · Play Therapy Parenting: Real Parenting Questions Answered by a Child Therapist

• 0:02
  You're listening to the
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  Play Therapy Parenting Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks.
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  Hi, I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks,
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  The Kid Counselor and this is the Play Therapy Parenting Podcast.
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  We have a special episode today.
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  You know that I do not do guests and interviews very often,
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  but this was one that I could not pass up.
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  I'm so excited to introduce Chad Stewart to you.
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  I've had the pleasure of speaking with him a little bit before we got
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  started and I think this is going to be so impactful for you all.
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  I know how much you care about your kids.
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  I know how much you care about their well being and their health and their happiness.
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  And he has written a book series actually in
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  the process of completing a longer book series,
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  but three have been out, four is coming soon
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  and it's going to be an incredible opportunity for you
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  all to be made aware of something that you can be
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  content and peaceful and happy introducing your kids to because it's worthwhile
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  and it's wholesome and it's good for your kids to read these.
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  So,
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  Chad, thank you so much for being here.
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  I'd love for you to just share a little bit about yourself.
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  So, the audience can get to know you a little bit.
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  Yeah, just like kind of a quick overview.
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  I'm originally from Newport Beach, California.
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  I was back east in Wellesley Massachusetts for about 16 years.
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  Did my undergraduate in British literature and European history,
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  which will explain a little bit about the book series.
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  Then went on to postgraduate and graduate school
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  and then was actually an investment banker.
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  I was into investment banking for years and
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  I worked for three fortune 100 companies,
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  but it wasn't really a fit for me.
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  So I don't think it is for most.
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  And I was just dying to do something creative and we all are born creative.
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  So whether you feel that you're creative or not, you are born creative.
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  It's just having that opportunity
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  to foster that creativity in you. We all have talents.
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  And so there I was at this boring insurance seminar in Providence Rhode Island.
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  I was trying desperately to pay attention and I
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  started to drift and I started to doodle.
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  I doodled a simple circle, three lines,
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  a basket, a boy and a girl. And I wrote the boy in the balloon.
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  And you could see that behind me.
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  And uh I just really resonated with that idea.
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  I thought, gosh, that would be a really fun
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  book to write.
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  And so I went home that weekend,
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  literally on one piece of paper just started to outline,
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  it takes place in England present day right now.
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  Starts up in Yorkshire,
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  northern England at this horrible orphanage called Weatherly Orphanage.
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  And it's about tom 12 year old orphan.
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  He's been at weatherly for six years.
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  He's been an orphan his whole life and this is the year he's going to escape.
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  And I, I state that within the first couple of pages.
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  So, you know, it's not a book about an orphanage,
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  it's about getting out of the orphanage,
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  but he's not going anywhere without his best friend, Sarah.
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  And somewhere along the lines that commandeer hot
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  air balloons start flying all over England.
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  But they're relentlessly chased by the illustrious detective Gowers Stone
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  who is renowned for capturing lost children and runaway orphans.
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  So I sat down, took me four years 2500 hours to write the 384 page
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  fast paced adventure novel.
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  And then from concept
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  to launching August 2019,
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  it took over 10 years,
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  10 years of building my team, business plan, marketing plan,
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  raising capital and a lot of
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  pulse starts if you will set back disappointments and finally got to launch it.
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  And it was always our plan or my plan at least is to do a school, school tours.
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  And so I literally launched an um a massive national school tour. I drove 9000 miles,
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  visited 23 states presented over 200 schools in front
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  of more than 50 to 40 to 50,000 students.
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  And it was everything from private to public, to Christian, to Catholic homes,
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  school charter, you name it,
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  you know, 50
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  student classrooms to 400 student auditoriums four through eight.
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  And it was very dynamic and very powerful and credible and I learned a lot and, um,
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  it was very successful
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  and I think what's made this series so successful is number one,
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  it's based in reality, it's based in current time.
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  We don't use any of the heightened fiction
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  that pretty much is saturating the market,
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  which we'll talk about later
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  such as, you know, witchcraft, demigods, superheroes.
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  Um Vampires, all this stuff does three things disconnects kids from reality.
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  Number two, it makes them feel less than they are right? If I just had magical powers
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  and number three, it's,
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  it's quite unnerving and even demonic in many ways and not
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  the most healthiest type of material for kids to be reading.
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  And so we sort of saw Brit Feld as, as replacing
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  this and even elevating literature.
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  Uh Are you um what's great is as children are reading and adults are reading it.
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  Not only about geography, art, architecture, history, and culture,
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  it's based on family, friendship, loyalty, courage,
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  hope, and faith.
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  And we hit the four C's in every book, critical thinking, communication,
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  collaboration, and creativity.
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  And so our youngest readers, seven oldest readers,
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  93 and 55% of our reading audience are adults.
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  And so it's a seven book series
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  uh in July of 2020 when we launched Book Two Brit Feld and the Rise of the Lion.
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  Now, Tom and Sarah are 13 years old. So they grow one age in every book
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  and that takes place in France. It's 474 pages.
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  We launched Book Three Brit Field and the return of the Prince,
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  which takes place in Italy.
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  We launched that in September of 2022 575 pages and we're getting ready to launch,
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  which is right behind me.
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  Let's see. I'll go that way.
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  Uh Brit Field and the Eastern Empire.
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  And it's book uh number four takes starts in
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  Vienna ends in Moscow Russia in book four,
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  we actually include 11 countries
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  and Thomas now 15 years old book five will be in Asia.
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  Book six will be in South America. Book seven
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  will be in the United States and then concluding it now Thomas
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  will be 18 years old. And so it's seven book series travels the world
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  and as children are reading,
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  let's call it stealth education because they're
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  learning about all these different places,
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  real history, real architecture, culture, art, literature.
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  And we're also including a lot of current events
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  because it just goes along with the narrative.
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  And so they're fast paced action adventures.
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  Um We're now moving from development to pre-production
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  the first of seven major motion pictures.
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  So it will be a live action Brit Field movie.
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  It's always been about the movie from day one,
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  that's a finished uh third draft Polish script.
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  And um following up with my producer today, hopefully we'll be filming in
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  England next spring or summer and we're looking
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  at a major launch date of November 2026.
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  And then we also transitioned.
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  Uh Brit Feld lost Crown book one into a 90 minute theatrical play specifically
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  for elementary and middle schools and even high schools.
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  And we can talk a little bit more about that. So that's kind of a quick overview.
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  Um It's actually the books are designed to be taught in the classroom.
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  And so we're already in thousands of schools across the nation,
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  which is incredible.
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  And uh we have an 83 page study guide based on academic standards.
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  Wow.
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  Gosh, I don't even know where to begin. That's so exciting.
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  So, one of the questions I get asked all the time is, do I sleep?
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  And I feel I need to ask you that question too a little bit. But,
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  you know,
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  I think truly this is something that I tell my
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  audience and my coaching participants and what all the time
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  when you find something that you love and you're passionate about it
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  and you know that it's making a difference and you know,
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  that it's impacting the community and the world,
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  there is something that just fuels you and it just ignites
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  something inside of you and you don't feel like you're drained,
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  you don't feel like you're burned out.
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  You don't feel like you're overworked because
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  you just see things unfolding and you know, how meaningful it is.
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  So I, I can sense that in you. I can hear how
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  you are about it and how passionate you are about it.
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  And I think that that is what we're meant to do when we find that and then we can
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  impact people.
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  That's, you know,
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  that's such a special thing to be able to
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  have that interaction with not only our local community,
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  but then globally as well.
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  Interesting too because you mentioned um
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  about talking about, you know, my background and,
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  and writing this series and it's like, I never, I never wanted to be an author,
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  which is interesting.
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  I, I was actually um
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  writing nonfiction books kind of in the business world.
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  Um But I never, I never thought, you know,
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  I want to write The Great American novel or I wanna, I wanna write children's novels.
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  Are you kidding me?
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  Um I did get my background
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  in writing when I was 18 years old for like 20 years uh in writing movie scripts,
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  which is quite interesting.
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  So that was kind of my writing outlet and my,
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  you know, my, my focus
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  and I think that's what's made
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  the books so engaging, so interesting.
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  I mean, so much of the feedback we get from our reading reading audience,
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  which is global.
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  I mean, everything from Britain to Germany, to Canada, to Australia to New Zealand,
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  to South Africa, if you can imagine to Brazil
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  is that um they feel like they're in it.
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  And number two, they, it, it feels like a movie.
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  And then, and I did that wasn't my intention when I sat down to start writing book one,
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  but I had all that training.
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  And so subconsciously,
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  it was like the three act structure you start on the action, you end on the action,
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  economy of words, keep the story moving.
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  Uh If it doesn't need to be there, don't include it, tight, tight descriptions,
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  tight dialogue
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  and um and plot points. And so that's kind of what has really,
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  that's always been the foundation of this book series.
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  Oh, that's so incredible. And
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  I often look back over the course of my life and
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  there's a phrase that someone told me a long time ago that
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  often what we're doing at any given moment is God's
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  perfect preparation for a future that we can't see.
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  And I think about that so often that all of
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  these things that I did that seemed kind of disconnected or
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  it didn't really flow with where I was going in
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  my profession or whatever I look back and I say,
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  but I learned that or I needed that or I went
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  through that experience because it influenced what I'm doing now.
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  And it sounds like your background in
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  the movie, script writing industry now
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  has influenced your writing of books. So that's such a cool story.
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  I've often reflect real quick, I've often reflected on that myself and, and,
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  you know, I've had a lot of false starts and things that didn't work out.
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  But you look back at it in a positive way and see that as prep,
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  you know, it's like I started this company or business, but now I have that business,
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  you know, background.
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  I, I was writing scripts, which is perfect for the transition of the novels.
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  And then obviously, when we did the, the, the first script, the first movie script,
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  that was easy, you know, and even my transition, I mean,
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  that was tough in the sense of taking 384 pages
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  and getting it into a 90 minute to act play
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  specifically for middle schools.
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  But my training, I, I did it myself, it took a long time.
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  Um but I did it myself and, and who better to do it if they, if you have the ability.
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  And um and so it really made me cut down on what are the most important scenes,
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  what dialogue has to be in there.
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  And that was actually the foundation for the movie script
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  because with the movie script, now you have the luxury of adding 50 or 60 pages.
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  So let's bring back what else we want to. So
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  sure.
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  Oh, that's so exciting.
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  All right.
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  So we heard a little bit about the books and all of the
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  other things you have going on and I just for my audience,
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  I want you all to know because I know you, trust me.
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  My son has read the first three novels. He actually knew I was getting on this call.
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  So, Chad, you haven't heard this story yet, but I'm,
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  I'm out on the dock with him this morning. We're feeding the birds and the turtles.
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  And he says,
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  so when you get on your call, can you tell him to send me a signed copy of the new book?
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  So I'm just letting you know that was a request that my son gave.
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  But honestly, it, it has been such an incredible
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  thing for me to see.
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  He reads and reads and reads.
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  He consumes, he'll,
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  he'll leave the library with a stack of 25 books because that's the cap
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  and
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  that's
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  the
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  cap.
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  Sorry,
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  I mean, like you cannot take more than 25
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  and he, he brings them in the stack at home and he reads
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  graciously and then I, I look the content and the storyline and things like that up.
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  I use common sense media as one of the platforms and,
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  and so then I'm reading what's in them and I'm like, ok, sorry,
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  you're not reading that book.
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  OK, sorry, you're not reading that book. OK. That
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  and, and I'm constantly filtering
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  and even really, really popular authors that I think started with like Rick
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  Riordan, for example, Rick Riordan, for example,
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  he loved the Percy Jackson series and he consumed that.
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  But now there have been some partnerships with new
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  authors and so it's Rick Riordan with someone else
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  and there's been just a huge change in the content of the books.
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  And so he loves that author, but I won't let him read a lot of those newer books.
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  Constantly. I'm, I'm constantly fearful or, or concerned or cautious
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  about what he's digesting and what he's consuming in the way of reading books.
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  And so when I found your series, I bought the, I bought all three in one pack.
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  It was a Christmas present for him. He had never heard of the series.
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  And I said I read about this. You will love it.
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  I think this is gonna be your new favorite series.
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  And he finished the, the first three and said
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  it is definitely one of the best book series that I've ever read.
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  And that's coming from my then 12 year old. He's 14 now.
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  And so I just want to give my own testimony of how much that series has meant to him.
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  And I feel such peace knowing that everything he's
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  reading is wholesome and it's good for him.
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  And it's encouraging traits that I want.
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  And you spoke earlier about some of the things that are
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  in a lot of the fiction books for youth and,
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  and kids right now
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  and that the fantasy and, and the magic and all of that, it makes kids feel less than
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  from a therapeutic perspective.
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  One of the things that I see a lot is there's actual self versus ideal self.
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  And I've talked to my audience about this a lot because when you
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  have an ideal self that gets so far away from your actual self
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  and bridge the gap, you have an identity crisis
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  and then you start to struggle with anxiety and with power
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  and control needs and a lack of an emotional vocabulary.
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  Because if your ideal is, I want to be strong like a superhero,
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  I want to have powers like a wizard.
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  I want to whatever and those are unattainable.
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  So if your ideal becomes something that you will never be,
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  it forces you to say there's something wrong with me and I'm not good enough.
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  And so I think that the crisis that we're seeing
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  in so many kids and the mental health needs of so
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  many kids is wrapped up in the fact that a
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  they're on way too many screens for way too long.
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  We'll talk about that
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  later, but then also what they're consuming
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  and what they are digesting in the way of content
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  is consistently communicating
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  that they are not enough and that they need to question everything about their life.
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  And there is absolute truth,
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  there is unequivocally, absolute truth and values don't change.
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  So when we teach those kinds of things to kids,
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  I think that it sets them up to be their happiest,
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  healthiest selves and that's why I love this series so
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  much because it's cultivating those characteristics in the readers.
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  Yeah. And, and you asked me before about the themes which I mentioned earlier and
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  uh if someone asked me what's the main theme?
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  And I'm like, these are books traveling all over the world.
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  It's kind of, there was one comment that said, um CS Lewis,
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  it's a combination of CS Lewis and Dan Brown.
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  Uh We've been compared to, you know, a lot of the other great books out there.
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  I had a 14 year old that just got done with book
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  three. This is last year. She goes, I love your series. It's my favorite.
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  She goes, you're now up there with Lord of the Rings,
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  but we have nothing to do with sort of that, that Lord of the Rings, sort of fantasy.
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  But the number one theme is family and that's,
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  that's what runs through my entire book series.
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  It's that sense of family,
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  the desire for family.
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  And again, as I mentioned before, it's not by,
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  it's not necessarily always by blood or birth,
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  but by the people that become part of your family.
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  And um
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  and, and you'll do anything for them, even in book one with the orphanage, you know,
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  you have all these orphans that don't have any parents,
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  but they are one big family,
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  you know, from 7 to 16 I think,
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  and all of them will help out each other even if they
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  get caught to make sure the other one gets away or,
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  or, or, you know, uh doesn't get in trouble or whatever it is.
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  And like,
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  that's such a strong bond and such a reality and that's what we're conveying.
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  And then again,
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  the importance of friendship and family and then loyalty, courage, hope.
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  Um I think a lot of people that get back to me say that one, you know,
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  one of the main themes I get from the book series
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  is, is uh courage. The fact of going on, I mean, being defeated
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  but getting up and trying again and again and again,
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  and, you know, these books are, I mean, although I have a little bit of fun, you know,
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  um,
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  the, they're as authentic and real as possible.
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  You know, they figure out how to, how to get out of situations.
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  Sometimes they have the wrong ideas and they get caught or, um, they fail
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  and that is a very good theme. I mean,
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  I think it's the hardest type of fiction to
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  write because if I'm writing some fantasy world,
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  guess what?
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  I get to make that fantasy world up
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  and I never really walk right myself into
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  a corner because if I'm writing Harry Potter,
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  it's just like,
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  oh my gosh, I got stuck here in this ditch. Well, what was that magical spell? Boom.
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  Translate you out of there. And it's like, again, it's all this
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  non nonsense and,
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  and what we're trying to do by elevating fiction with
• 16:22
  the Brit Feld series is set a new bar.
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  And so when kids are reading Brit Field, like your son,
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  and they suddenly go back to something like Harry Potter,
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  it becomes a little bit silly,
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  you know, because it's, it's such a disconnect from reality. It's like,
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  well, you know,
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  Tom didn't have a magic wand and Sarah didn't have a magical cloak
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  and they got out of it and they thought it out for themselves.
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  And,
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  and so that's kind of what we're doing in a sense, it's like um stealth undermining,
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  you know,
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  all the other nonsense out there,
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  which is very dark and very demonic and that's all by design.
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  You know, none of this is by accident or because
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  that's what the audience wants or that's what the public wants.
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  It isn't what they want.
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  But when you own 96% of all media, six companies, you know,
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  what do you think you're gonna get so
• 17:03
  a monopoly of whatever they want to push as an agenda?
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  And so let me,
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  let me pause on that thought and we'll kind of go in a direction after that.
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  So
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  I said I was a little bit concerned about what is coming out in the way of books.
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  And my audience knows I've written a book called Device Detox
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  and the dangers of what's going on with kids and screen use
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  and the addictive nature of video games and the
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  amount of time they're spending on devices each day.
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  And my book goes into the whole first section is the science behind what's going on.
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  And I've shared my personal story. I know you're not familiar with it, but,
• 17:40
  you know, I, I often talk to people and I say,
• 17:42
  I wonder what made you decide to whatever they do.
• 17:45
  And the question I get asked a lot is why did you write device detox?
• 17:48
  And it was because at six years old,
• 17:50
  my son who had never been exposed to screens except for, you know,
• 17:53
  a cartoon show here and there
• 17:56
  we moved
• 17:57
  and we were letting him play educational apps on the phone while we were unpacking.
• 18:02
  And so a child that had never really spent much time on devices at all,
• 18:05
  all of a sudden was spending an hour or two hours
• 18:08
  because we were busy unpacking and setting up the house.
• 18:10
  And I saw a complete change in his personality
• 18:14
  and
• 18:15
  kind obedient, loving,
• 18:18
  lovely child.
• 18:19
  All of a sudden was slamming his fist down on the
• 18:22
  couch when I told him to turn the the device off.
• 18:25
  And I was so taken aback
• 18:27
  that one night,
• 18:28
  I literally in the middle of the night I woke up and it was like God said,
• 18:31
  you need to see what's going on with this.
• 18:34
  So I went to my computer and I searched, I forget exactly what my terms were.
• 18:37
  But I think I searched kids screens, tantrums or something.
• 18:42
  And I found this absolute
• 18:45
  trove of all kinds of scientific research that
• 18:50
  has been stuck only in scientific journals.
• 18:52
  So it hadn't made its way to the general public yet.
• 18:54
  But I'm looking at study after study after study in medical journals and
• 18:58
  pediatric journals and scientific journals saying whoa
• 19:01
  look at how dangerous this is,
• 19:03
  look at what this is doing to kids' brains,
• 19:05
  look at how it's neuro biologically changing the chemistry of what's happening.
• 19:09
  And I was like, oh my gosh, people need to know about this.
• 19:13
  So in that very moment, I said, I'm writing a book for parents
• 19:17
  and that was the impetus for me because I watched it happen with our own child. And so
• 19:23
  I think that when we understand
• 19:25
  how much things that I think sometimes we're not aware of are influencing our kids.
• 19:31
  We were shocked and were horrified and sometimes I feel a lot of parents get angry
• 19:35
  because like you just said, you know,
• 19:37
  90 whatever percent of the of the media is owned by six companies, ok?
• 19:41
  So we know that it's being pushed and we know there's
• 19:44
  an agenda and we know that in the device world,
• 19:48
  all of the major owners and founders of tech
• 19:51
  companies have never let their children have ipads,
• 19:54
  they've never let their children have phones.
• 19:56
  They've been very, very careful and protective of their own children.
• 20:00
  But then you know,
• 20:01
  it's just carte blanche for everyone
• 20:02
  else's kids and they're hiring neuropsychologists and
• 20:05
  psychiatrists and addiction specialists and they're intentionally
• 20:09
  programming games to make them addictive.
• 20:12
  And you can look at the brain scans of kids who have been on devices too much
• 20:17
  and you look at opiate addicts and the brain scans look identical.
• 20:21
  And so we're seeing all of this stuff that is like you mentioned, it's underhanded
• 20:26
  and it's intentional, but to the general population, it doesn't seem to be. So
• 20:31
  look at what's going into kids books,
• 20:33
  we look at what's happening with devices and with video games and with screen use.
• 20:37
  And I think that that gives us a moment where we say,
• 20:41
  OK,
• 20:41
  at what point are we drawing our line in the sand and at
• 20:44
  what point are we putting our feet down and saying no more,
• 20:47
  I'm going to be fully present, fully invested,
• 20:50
  fully engaged and I'm absolutely going to protect my
• 20:53
  kids from the stuff that's going on around us.
• 20:55
  And I think that
• 20:56
  giving kids books like yours
• 20:58
  and preventing kids from being on devices and not letting them play video games.
• 21:02
  Look,
• 21:02
  is it gonna be awful to take a tablet out
• 21:05
  of your kid's hand when they've been playing it?
• 21:07
  Ad nauseam. Yes, it is. But in the long term, is it so much better for them? Yes.
• 21:12
  And when we look at what content our kids are reading before they read it.
• 21:16
  And we say, I'm sorry, I know all your friends are reading that book,
• 21:19
  but the content is not appropriate for you.
• 21:21
  It's not safe.
• 21:22
  I think that's our charge and our task as adults that love children.
• 21:27
  And so when I find a like minded person
• 21:29
  that's saying I want wholesome content for kids and I
• 21:32
  want them to be inspired and I want them
• 21:33
  to be challenged and I want them to develop characteristics
• 21:36
  that are gonna serve them the rest of their lives.
• 21:38
  That's one of the things that child-centered play therapy provides
• 21:41
  is everything that they learn
• 21:42
  and develop in the therapeutic process.
• 21:45
  It goes with them for the rest of their lives.
• 21:47
  When they build self esteem that carries with them,
• 21:50
  when they build an emotional vocabulary,
• 21:52
  it carries with them when they build the
• 21:53
  ability to self control that carries with them.
• 21:56
  So these characteristics that are highlighted in your books,
• 21:59
  it's the exact same principle.
• 22:00
  These are things that kids take with them
• 22:03
  and they aspire to these things. I think that's so powerful.
• 22:07
  Oh, no, absolutely.
• 22:08
  I mean, the kids are so in influenceable, especially, you know, 45 and then 6 to 7,
• 22:13
  I mean, 12.
• 22:14
  Is that real critical age if you will? And then you get into the teens or the 1314.
• 22:18
  And that's why our beachhead from day one has been elementary
• 22:21
  and middle schools that sort of fourth through sixth graders.
• 22:24
  I mean,
• 22:25
  absolute beachhead and then from there, we can branch out a little bit
• 22:28
  because we're trying to catch them and inspire
• 22:30
  them and instill some of these characteristics and provide
• 22:33
  them so we could sit here and complain all day about how bad all the books are,
• 22:36
  which on one sense is important, we need to point it out.
• 22:39
  But on the other side, what are you going to do about it? And so that's what I did.
• 22:42
  You know, I'm spending the next quarter of a century
• 22:44
  building a worldwide, you know,
• 22:46
  media empire to try to counter this movement.
• 22:50
  And it's just me, you know what I mean?
• 22:51
  And my team and, and I'm hoping to inspire other great writers and
• 22:55
  other great um musicians and, and, and film people and, you know what I mean?
• 22:59
  So it's just like, you know, you don't need anyone's permission to go out and do it.
• 23:02
  It's hard,
• 23:03
  anything of quality is going to take a great deal of time.
• 23:06
  They say every overnight success takes between 1 to 2 decades. That's accurate.
• 23:09
  That's real
• 23:10
  difference between a hobby and a profession is 8 to 10,000 dedicated hours.
• 23:14
  That's factional, that's real.
• 23:15
  And we live in this sort of flash over substance and look how successful he is.
• 23:18
  No, they're not.
• 23:19
  Most of, most of them are quote unquote actors.
• 23:21
  All these billionaires aren't billionaires, they're actors,
• 23:24
  they didn't invent any of this stuff.
• 23:26
  They're, they're facades, you know what I mean? And, and so,
• 23:29
  you know, it's just hard work like I said, I mean book one
• 23:32
  uh four years, 2500 hours,
• 23:34
  you know, that was a lot of time. And then by the third draft,
• 23:37
  I took it out to middle schools, um private and public and approached like, you know,
• 23:41
  the um principal or dean of the school and said, you know,
• 23:43
  I just wanted to see if any kids would be interested.
• 23:45
  And I remember at one public high uh one public elementary, sorry middle school,
• 23:50
  we had 30 manuscripts and we had something like 100 and 50 volunteers.
• 23:54
  Kids that were willing to read a 400 page
• 23:56
  book in three weeks because they were so hungry
• 23:59
  to do something cool, exciting, extracurricular
• 24:03
  and creative.
• 24:04
  And so they had the three weeks to read it
• 24:06
  and then they filled out a 2.5 page survey,
• 24:08
  real simple general questions getting into the more specifics.
• 24:11
  And then I went into the library
• 24:12
  and I would sit there all day.
• 24:13
  It's like different classes would come in and I'd be talking
• 24:15
  to 44 or five at a time around a round table.
• 24:18
  I was no longer the teacher or the author. I was the pupil
• 24:21
  and I was sitting there listening to 1112 years
• 24:22
  old giving them value because they have great value
• 24:25
  treating them
• 24:27
  like equals. What do you think of it? What didn't you like about it?
• 24:29
  If you could change anything, what would it be?
• 24:31
  And I was just sitting there taking notes and notes and notes and notes.
• 24:33
  So I just wanted to kind of go into a little bit of the background of like
• 24:36
  the research that's gone into this, the hard work that's gone into this.
• 24:39
  But the connection with the, with the kids in my audience, you know, so
• 24:43
  and to be honest with you,
• 24:45
  I think that one of the things that we miss as adults more often than not
• 24:49
  is that kids are humans,
• 24:51
  but there are not many adults.
• 24:54
  So there's this really fine line between giving
• 24:57
  them the respect and the inherent value and
• 25:00
  the inherent worth and they have thoughts and feelings and opinions just like we do,
• 25:04
  but they're not many adults. And so we can't expect them to operate like adults.
• 25:09
  They don't even have abstract reasoning until 13.
• 25:12
  So we have this balancing act that we're doing where we're
• 25:16
  trying to make sure that they feel that we can come to their level
• 25:19
  and truly care. And one of the concepts that I talk about a lot with parents is
• 25:24
  our goal is to convey the be with attitudes to kids.
• 25:27
  And those are five principles that we kind of live by in the child-centered world,
• 25:31
  which are I'm here.
• 25:33
  I hear you. I understand I care and I delight in you.
• 25:38
  And so when we talk through these things,
• 25:39
  I'm always saying if we can express those things to kids,
• 25:43
  it gives them a sense of belonging and mattering
• 25:48
  and having influence and that people care about what they think about things.
• 25:53
  So to
• 25:53
  see that story that that was so meaningful to me because I think that sometimes
• 25:58
  we're easy to dismiss or brush off or just kind of cast aside and say, ok, well,
• 26:03
  you're six,
• 26:05
  but the reality is a six year old has everything that we do.
• 26:08
  They just sometimes don't know how to articulate it
• 26:11
  and, and it's really honoring the fact that age appropriate, develop,
• 26:15
  developmentally appropriate interaction is meaningful.
• 26:19
  And then when you take that and you use it to influence what you're creating,
• 26:23
  you know, you know,
• 26:24
  that you have your finger on the pulse of
• 26:26
  the kids that are going to be reading your books
• 26:28
  and you don't get that without sitting there and hearing from them.
• 26:32
  Yeah, absolutely. It was a great quote. I was going to share it real quick.
• 26:35
  Uh, it says treat people as if they were
• 26:38
  what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of becoming.
• 26:43
  That's good to famous German German philosopher. But I just love that.
• 26:46
  You know, if I treat you as I see you're capable of becoming, I help you become it
• 26:51
  instead of treating them like, oh, you're just a 12 year old.
• 26:53
  What do you know, you know, I never treat them like that or you just a 10 year old.
• 26:56
  What do you know,
• 26:56
  kids are amazing? So creative? And they're so candid and,
• 27:00
  and that's what I found and I remember, like, you know,
• 27:02
  I was doing these presentations and I mean,
• 27:04
  40 minutes into my presentation in an auditorium of fourth through eighth graders
• 27:08
  of 400
• 27:10
  you could hear a pin drop because I wasn't there trying to peddle something
• 27:13
  and kids, kids
• 27:14
  have that detection. If you will,
• 27:16
  they're trying to sell something. Right.
• 27:17
  You're full of crap or you're trying to sell something or you're, or you're lying,
• 27:22
  they detect it and it's just like there was no wrestling, there was no talking.
• 27:25
  And I had a very fun dynamic, you know, powerpoint presentation.
• 27:28
  We'd watch a trailer from Star Wars.
• 27:30
  We'd watch,
• 27:30
  we'd had some clips from Toy Story because we're talking about creativity.
• 27:33
  We're talking about writing, we're talking about storytelling.
• 27:35
  Uh But then I get into the Q and A section, you know,
• 27:38
  and it's just like all these hands are going up
• 27:39
  and I'm just going around the room and I'm like,
• 27:41
  hey, that's a fantastic question.
• 27:42
  You know,
• 27:43
  I even thought of that,
• 27:44
  you know, really just encourage him
• 27:46
  and, and often, you know,
• 27:46
  at the beginning when there's no hands because there's always that first hand,
• 27:50
  I say, you know,
• 27:51
  those that are smart are the ones
• 27:53
  that ask questions.
• 27:53
  And I'm like, you know,
• 27:54
  I'm 45 years old or 50 years old and I'm
• 27:56
  asking questions all the time because I want to learn
• 27:59
  and um it's just really cool and some of my best questions came from fourth graders.
• 28:04
  You know what I mean? Like, just really, like, there was one that
• 28:07
  she said, um does the antagonist have to be human
• 28:10
  in a, in a story? And I thought,
• 28:12
  oh, that's freaking brilliant.
• 28:13
  That is, wow.
• 28:15
  And, and, and, and, and, and the answer is no, because it, it could be,
• 28:18
  uh you could be a rock climber trying to get up to this,
• 28:20
  this mountain during the winter and guess what the weather is now the antagonist.
• 28:25
  It's the storm. It's the, the cold, the ice.
• 28:27
  But I mean, just a great question from 1/4 grader. And, and,
• 28:30
  and so like, when you're telling me, like your son read the book like that has value,
• 28:34
  you know, you'd sit there and said, I read the series really liked it and I'd say, oh,
• 28:36
  that's great.
• 28:36
  I'm glad,
• 28:37
  you know, knowing that half of our audience are adults and we get feedback from,
• 28:41
  I got, you know, feedback from
• 28:42
  84 year old woman in Canada.
• 28:44
  And she goes,
• 28:45
  I just love this series as a 50 year old woman in
• 28:47
  the Netherlands that's willing to spend $40 for us to ship one book
• 28:52
  to the Netherlands
• 28:53
  because she's like, I just have never read anything like it. So, that's great.
• 28:55
  But when, when an 11 or 12 year old, a 13 year old is reading my books and go, oh,
• 28:59
  I love these books.
• 29:00
  That's my audience and I'm like, that's who I want to hear from.
• 29:02
  And what do you think of it? You know, what do you like? And so
• 29:06
  treating them with respect? That's exactly it.
• 29:08
  And kids are smarter, way smarter than for which they're given credit.
• 29:14
  And they have so much more insight,
• 29:16
  so much more perspective and they're usually brutally honest
• 29:20
  and I really value
• 29:22
  hearing from them because I think that we learn a lot when,
• 29:26
  when we recognize that and your quote that you shared,
• 29:29
  I've actually shared that quote in some of my coaching programs before because
• 29:33
  there's this idea in the therapy world of self actualization,
• 29:37
  which essentially says every human is working
• 29:40
  to become a better version of themselves.
• 29:42
  And the child-centered play therapy process is predicated
• 29:45
  on the idea that kids know their struggles,
• 29:48
  they know their issues.
• 29:49
  And if you give them the environment and the relationship,
• 29:53
  they will work to become the best version of themselves that they can be.
• 29:57
  And so the quote that says, treat someone one as you know,
• 30:00
  that they're capable of becoming and they will become it.
• 30:02
  I mean, we can, we can talk about self fulfilling prophecy,
• 30:05
  we can talk about pygmalion effect, right?
• 30:07
  But really what's happening is is self
• 30:10
  actualization because I know that you are capable
• 30:13
  of becoming better
• 30:15
  and we naturally strive to do that. That's just an innate wiring that we have.
• 30:21
  I don't want to stay stuck. I don't want to stay in maladaptive coping.
• 30:25
  I don't want to stay in this regulated states.
• 30:27
  No one. I mean, we get stuck there and we don't know how to get out sometimes,
• 30:30
  but we never choose to remain in those.
• 30:33
  And so
• 30:34
  I love the idea of saying, you know,
• 30:37
  what you're valuable and what you have to offer matters.
• 30:40
  And that only elevates a person's sense of capacity
• 30:44
  and capability and competence. I mean, all of those things emerge out of that.
• 30:48
  And I just think that that's such a special thing that adults can provide for kids.
• 30:53
  Here's another one of my
• 30:54
  favorite quotes, if you don't mind, it's from Emerson.
• 30:56
  This is probably one of my favorite.
• 30:57
  He says in everyone, there is something wherein I may learn
• 31:01
  and in that I am his pupil.
• 31:03
  And I just love that meaning it doesn't matter who they are, could be
• 31:06
  60 year old person, 50 year old person, plumber, you know,
• 31:09
  doctor 11 year old kid and everyone
• 31:12
  there is something to learn.
• 31:13
  And in that I'm, I am their pupil and it's a very humbling thing and it's, it's um
• 31:18
  so because there's always something to learn from somebody.
• 31:20
  So anyway, but uh that was very well
• 31:22
  said and articulated and it is interesting things
• 31:24
  that struck me from what you're saying is
• 31:26
  I'm not, most of the science out there is bunk as you probably well know.
• 31:29
  And most of these journals are all bought and paid for and it's all crap.
• 31:32
  I mean, every child is born creative, every
• 31:34
  child was born with amazing talent.
• 31:37
  Um, there's a great,
• 31:38
  um, statistics.
• 31:40
  If you got a minute I could go into it. But,
• 31:42
  um the only two things that are mostly
• 31:44
  missing from children is opportunity and environment,
• 31:48
  that's the only, that's the only different factor, this whole sort of genetics.
• 31:52
  Most of that's bunk science, you know,
• 31:54
  and it's a very small percentage.
• 31:56
  So if I came from a parents that were
• 31:57
  like huge mathematicians and very analytical and stuff,
• 32:01
  I might have a slight bend towards that area.
• 32:04
  But if it's not tapped by seven or eight or nine years old,
• 32:07
  then it becomes irrelevant.
• 32:08
  So there's like, and they want to use all this stuff to make you feel less than you are.
• 32:12
  And it's like, well, your genetics aren't good. That's all bunk.
• 32:14
  The sat, I mean, sorry. Was it? No, the um
• 32:18
  what is it called real quick? The, oh, yeah,
• 32:20
  the IQ test
• 32:21
  uh that was performed uh that was invented by Alfred Berne.
• 32:24
  Cr created the IQ test, intended the test to serve precisely the opposite function
• 32:30
  designed to identify children with special needs
• 32:32
  so they could get appropriate help.
• 32:34
  Never intended to identify degrees of intelligence or mental worth to
• 32:38
  bunk
• 32:40
  B.
• 32:41
  But um here's some sta statistics just to back up what I was saying.
• 32:44
  And it's really good. But um gentlemen, and you probably heard this and read it.
• 32:47
  But it's a gentleman by the name of George Land.
• 32:49
  He was a researcher and writers hired by the government
• 32:52
  to create this creativity test because they had abilities and
• 32:55
  tests for like analytics and all that other stuff.
• 32:57
  He needed
• 32:58
  to be able to test
• 32:59
  people's creativity, ability, brainstorming, thinking outside the box.
• 33:03
  It was such a successful test that he implemented into the
• 33:05
  school system because he was curious to see where children were.
• 33:08
  So he tested five year olds, thousands of five year olds and,
• 33:11
  and 98 out of 105 year olds were testing off the charts.
• 33:15
  Geniuses. He tested that same group of five year olds at 10
• 33:19
  and it went from 98% to 30%
• 33:22
  and they tested them again at 15 and it dropped down to 12%.
• 33:25
  And so in, in one decade, in 10 years from 98 to 12%.
• 33:30
  And most of this was education,
• 33:31
  he found that schools were teaching creativity out of kids, which is just horrific.
• 33:36
  But anyway, I didn't want to go on. But,
• 33:38
  well,
• 33:39
  so I'm actually glad that you are talking about creativity because that's
• 33:42
  something that I think is really important for us to dive into.
• 33:45
  And
• 33:46
  I find it very interesting that you use that study because
• 33:49
  when I taught courses at the University of South Florida,
• 33:52
  I was teaching undergraduate students. It was a communication course.
• 33:56
  So it was a Capstone course for many majors.
• 33:59
  So I had biology majors and psychology majors and it was kind of across the board,
• 34:03
  just Capstone course to graduate.
• 34:06
  And I ran kind of my own little pseudo study in the classroom.
• 34:10
  So I would say how many of you all can draw.
• 34:13
  And I would have two students raise their hand in a classroom full.
• 34:17
  And then I'd say how many of you can dance
• 34:19
  And I'd have like one like goofily raise their hand like, oh,
• 34:23
  I can do sprinkler or whatever, you know,
• 34:25
  and, but then one like legit dancer and then I would say how many of you can sing
• 34:28
  and I would get one or two hands raised.
• 34:31
  And then they kind of looked at me like, what are you asking us these questions for?
• 34:34
  And I said,
• 34:35
  if I was talking to a room of kindergartners,
• 34:38
  how many of them would say they could dance, sing or draw?
• 34:42
  And it would have been universal every hand raised
• 34:45
  in the room because at five years old,
• 34:48
  I can do all of those things.
• 34:49
  It's not a measure of quality, it's a ma measure of capacity, right?
• 34:53
  And so I think that your study actually illustrates the same point.
• 34:57
  So often, what happens is we start to discount our abilities.
• 35:01
  We start to let the ability become less
• 35:04
  significant because something else replaces it or we
• 35:07
  feel that we're inadequate or ill equipped or
• 35:09
  we don't feel as capable as someone else.
• 35:11
  And so then there's comparison
• 35:13
  and then there's shame and like, oh,
• 35:15
  I'm never gonna do that again because so and so is better than me.
• 35:18
  And
• 35:19
  I think to speak to that, you know,
• 35:21
  we have to be the antidote to that and we have
• 35:23
  to have resources as parents and adults that love kids.
• 35:27
  We have to be able to provide opportunities to really rewire that in kids.
• 35:33
  because at 15, at 50 at 100
• 35:36
  you can draw sing and, and, and dance and you know,
• 35:41
  so we look at measures of creativity and you're saying
• 35:44
  that schools are potentially like conditioning that out of kids.
• 35:48
  I think that a lot of things are conditioning a lot of things away from kids.
• 35:51
  So I think that the fact that they are on screens all the time,
• 35:55
  I think they have no free play.
• 35:57
  I think they're taking away all unsupervised, just free to be a kid opportunities.
• 36:03
  We have overscheduling, we have overstimulated, we have overt tested,
• 36:08
  we have overs schooled, we have, we've exposed them to too many things.
• 36:13
  I mean, you look at the,
• 36:14
  the rushing of the pace of childhood that's going on right now.
• 36:18
  It's, it's horrifying if you actually break it down.
• 36:21
  And so let's let's dive in a little bit.
• 36:23
  Tell me how the creativity piece of this has worked into your books and your series.
• 36:28
  But also why is that so important? What is it? About creativity.
• 36:32
  I know one of your topics that you like to talk
• 36:34
  about is creativity is the most required skill in the world.
• 36:38
  So, let's kind of process that. And I just like to hear your
• 36:40
  thoughts on why creativity is such a bent in your series.
• 36:44
  Yeah.
• 36:44
  And it's funny too because you, uh,
• 36:45
  there's a great TED talk out there by
• 36:47
  Sir Ken Robinson's 2006 Art Schools killing Creativity.
• 36:51
  18 minutes. It's brilliant
• 36:53
  and it's the most popular TED talk in the history of the TED talk from someone
• 36:57
  you probably have never heard of and he just knocks it out of the park.
• 37:00
  But, um, he did a follow up TED talk.
• 37:02
  It was so funny because we talk about a little bit of what you're saying, like with,
• 37:04
  with this push of kids and trying to get him
• 37:06
  into these private schools and the best of the best.
• 37:09
  And it's like, you know, like,
• 37:10
  you know, here's the, here's the board looking at the, the kid and he was like,
• 37:13
  he's five years old and he was like, this is it,
• 37:15
  it's all he's got, you know, it's like you're five years old.
• 37:18
  This is all he's done at five.
• 37:20
  He's been alive 1700 days, but it's not good enough,
• 37:24
  is it,
• 37:25
  you know, like, you know, but like, what do you expect out of a five year old?
• 37:28
  So, but, um,
• 37:29
  but no, yeah, creativity has always been, um,
• 37:32
  our
• 37:32
  goal is with the
• 37:33
  Briel series and, and really our,
• 37:34
  our whole launch into the educational system nationally
• 37:37
  and globally is to bring creativity back to
• 37:39
  the classroom because it is the number one most important skill set in the world.
• 37:42
  It's not just me saying it, it's
• 37:44
  all the research is out there.
• 37:46
  Um
• 37:48
  all backed up by, you know, major journals and major research.
• 37:51
  Uh It's actually creativity,
• 37:52
  communication and storytelling are the three most important skills.
• 37:55
  And then is that interesting storytelling? And I did my own research.
• 37:58
  I'm, I'm actually getting my doctorate degree too. So,
• 38:01
  um, in advanced studies and things like that.
• 38:03
  So I've had to do my own reports, actually even wrote a, um,
• 38:06
  a, um, and got it published a, um, a case study, business case study.
• 38:10
  Uh But anyway, so,
• 38:12
  so, um,
• 38:14
  yeah, so that's, it's the most important skill set in the world.
• 38:16
  So, so what we're doing is we're bringing it into these books because you can,
• 38:19
  because we're, we're creating real circumstances like Book one,
• 38:22
  Griffy and Lost Crown in England and book two.
• 38:24
  And they're always faced with these different issues or problems
• 38:27
  that and, and I love book four because it's like there's so much collaboration.
• 38:30
  I've got this third character Hunter. I don't want to give anything away.
• 38:32
  I introduced him in book three,
• 38:34
  but, um,
• 38:35
  he's just so amazing and it's like the dynamics between all
• 38:37
  three of them as just sort of plotting or planning,
• 38:39
  like I said, right behind me.
• 38:40
  That's the cover for book four Brit, Eastern Empire.
• 38:44
  And they're actually, that's, that's the Hermitage outside the window.
• 38:47
  And, um,
• 38:48
  and there's plans on the desk and they're actually
• 38:50
  trying to figure out a way to break in
• 38:51
  because they're trying to steal back a brit field artifact that belongs to Tom,
• 38:56
  uh, that was taken by the, uh Romanov family, you know,
• 38:59
  you know, decades ago, But it's this whole thing of going back and like,
• 39:02
  will that work and, well, that, that won't work.
• 39:04
  We tried that and this and that, but it's just, it's, it's, it's, um,
• 39:07
  it's teaching kids like debate, it's teaching them to question and,
• 39:11
  and collaborate and to communicate
• 39:13
  and I'm doing all four things in these books that's just
• 39:15
  kind of running through as a theme and it's very sublime.
• 39:18
  These aren't like workbooks
• 39:20
  but it's just, it's, it's there and it's giving them examples of,
• 39:23
  of how to approach things and how to discuss it and
• 39:25
  how to brainstorm and how to talk it out and,
• 39:27
  you know, what, guess if, if it doesn't work, try something else and, you know,
• 39:30
  like Tom all the time, like, well, that was a dumb idea, you know,
• 39:33
  or I won't do that again.
• 39:34
  Or, boy, that didn't work, you know.
• 39:36
  So what are we going to do now? And then, and then they start talking about it.
• 39:39
  Well, what if we were to do this?
• 39:40
  And so again, it's, it's just teaching this, these ideas,
• 39:43
  these creative ideas on how to move forward.
• 39:46
  And so those are just some seeds
• 39:48
  that are planted throughout the book and um and giving them examples and,
• 39:51
  and we know we're having our impact because I received letters,
• 39:54
  hundreds if not thousands from kids across, really across the world,
• 39:58
  emails and letters.
• 39:59
  Um I got a 2.5 page letter from a 13 year old homeschool
• 40:04
  girl a couple of months ago just loves the series. It's her favorite.
• 40:07
  She's already gone with her friend Eva and has created her own Brit Field book club.
• 40:11
  And I love that when things spring from it.
• 40:14
  Um, I have feedback from parents that said, um, you know, like, oh,
• 40:17
  absolutely love your book series.
• 40:19
  We read it as a family, you know, every night and I remember, like,
• 40:22
  I think it was when Book three was coming out,
• 40:24
  one of the women that pre-ordered, it said, oh, she goes, I finally got it,
• 40:27
  but she goes darn it.
• 40:28
  I've got to wait two days because my husband's traveling
• 40:30
  and we read it as a family. And I love that.
• 40:33
  And then I got some feedback from another family said,
• 40:35
  uh, we've created the Brit Field board game and I thought how cool is that?
• 40:38
  I'm like, I don't know what that looks like, but isn't that cool?
• 40:42
  And so it's just fun to see because it's such a real book? I mean, what are you gonna do?
• 40:45
  Like with, with Harry Potter? You're gonna, you're gonna create a, a, you know,
• 40:49
  room of, of witchcraft or, I mean, you know what I mean?
• 40:51
  It's just like, what are you gonna do from it? What can you
• 40:54
  pull from it?
• 40:55
  And I know there's those that are out there saying, well,
• 40:57
  it's good versus evil and stuff.
• 40:58
  Now, the whole thing is, is, is, um, you know, framed within
• 41:03
  occultism,
• 41:05
  witchcraft and really darkness. And that's the design.
• 41:09
  That's a multibillion dollar marketing campaign.
• 41:11
  Witchcraft is the fastest growing religion in the world. Go figure.
• 41:15
  Harry Potter series is a, is a $34 billion franchise
• 41:20
  and counting, go figure,
• 41:22
  you know,
• 41:23
  and so we're trying to counter that
• 41:25
  crap,
• 41:26
  right? As we need to.
• 41:28
  And so as you were talking, I was thinking about it, you know,
• 41:30
  you mentioned the fact that the books inspire creativity,
• 41:33
  but what I'm actually hearing in that and it's not to serve as the, the, you know,
• 41:38
  argument against it.
• 41:39
  But I actually hear critical thinking
• 41:41
  and, and, and, you know, one of the reasons why I did not become a professor,
• 41:46
  even though my phd was in counsel education.
• 41:49
  So I was primed to be a professor.
• 41:51
  But as I taught in the university setting
• 41:54
  for several semesters in a variety of capacities,
• 41:57
  I remembered thinking,
• 41:59
  I know education
• 42:01
  to be inspiring people to think for themselves.
• 42:05
  And I do not see that in traditional education systems anymore.
• 42:10
  It's, I'm teaching you to think what I'm telling you to think.
• 42:14
  And I have a real, I had a really huge kind of just existential crisis over that.
• 42:18
  And I said, you know what? I, I can't, I, I can't be in that
• 42:23
  capacity because it's just not the way that I'm wired.
• 42:25
  I think that if we can teach kids to think critically,
• 42:28
  if we can teach kids to be creative to problem solve, we watch kids play out issues in,
• 42:35
  in play sessions, in play therapy, right?
• 42:37
  And what we see over and over and over again
• 42:39
  is if they are working on self esteem,
• 42:41
  there are four different ways that they're going to play those self esteem work out.
• 42:45
  So it's either going to be perseverance.
• 42:48
  So they will show that they are willing to keep trying,
• 42:51
  it will be incompetence. So they're proving that they're capable,
• 42:55
  it will be in problem solving,
• 42:57
  which they will actively work to find a solution to whatever it is or
• 43:02
  it is in self challenging where they are now at a point where they
• 43:05
  believe in themselves enough and they trust
• 43:07
  in their abilities enough that they're going
• 43:09
  to intentionally make something harder just to see if they can do it.
• 43:12
  And so we watch them progress through these stages in their
• 43:15
  play and it's all under the umbrella of self esteem.
• 43:18
  But notice that all of those require creativity,
• 43:21
  all of those require critical thinking.
• 43:23
  And I think that that is why
• 43:25
  we see
• 43:27
  societally
• 43:28
  the way that kids are responding to situations, they're defeated,
• 43:32
  they're deflated.
• 43:33
  They're, they have learned helplessness.
• 43:35
  They have no concept of working towards something, figuring something out.
• 43:39
  And that's not the kind of
• 43:42
  country that we want. That's not the kind of society that we want.
• 43:45
  I mean,
• 43:46
  we are the US is predicated on being innovative and creative and inventive and
• 43:53
  gritty, tough humans, independent people.
• 43:56
  And now we have a culture all of a sudden where kids are like, oh, I can't do that.
• 44:01
  I, I mean, I'm sorry,
• 44:02
  there's something to be said for you are fully capable of doing that.
• 44:05
  One of our tenets as a child center play therapist is never due for a child that,
• 44:09
  which they can do for themselves.
• 44:11
  And so I love the idea in these books that kids are going
• 44:15
  well. That didn't work. What am I going to do instead?
• 44:19
  Because those are the messages that our kids need to hear.
• 44:22
  Not that you are not capable, you are fully capable. Just try something else.
• 44:27
  Yeah.
• 44:28
  Absolutely. Yeah.
• 44:29
  That is a major theme throughout the stories and, and a push into it. So, oh,
• 44:33
  that's so exciting.
• 44:35
  Yeah.
• 44:35
  And we are, we're in this sort of victimized society and,
• 44:38
  and of nonsense and everyone's a victim or everyone has a problem or, um, and, uh,
• 44:42
  and it's divide and conquer and, and so,
• 44:45
  but the counter to that and we have time but it's the homeschool movement, you know,
• 44:49
  it's the most purest form of,
• 44:51
  of education I've, I've ever seen and I have no stock in it myself.
• 44:55
  It wasn't homeschooled
• 44:57
  was, I had a lot of private tutors,
• 44:58
  went to all the private schools and all that kind of stuff.
• 45:00
  But, I mean, I just, I meet them and it's like, you know, it's like when someone says,
• 45:03
  oh, yeah, we homeschool our,
• 45:05
  our child. I'm really interested, like, oh, I can't wait to talk to them.
• 45:08
  You know, because they're, they're well read, they're grounded.
• 45:11
  Um, they're not nervous. They listen, they, they ask good questions.
• 45:14
  They're usually 1 to 2 grades ahead of it
• 45:16
  because the entire educational system is just literally
• 45:20
  a joke.
• 45:21
  I mean,
• 45:21
  you're graduating from high school at 18 years
• 45:24
  old and you're basically qualified to do nothing.
• 45:27
  And now you got to go on to a, to a 3 to $400,000
• 45:31
  college
• 45:32
  to get a certificate in a relevance.
• 45:35
  And I'm not trying to
• 45:36
  kick it all, but this is how bad it's, it's, it has progressed
• 45:41
  and again, all by design,
• 45:43
  you know, it's like, like back in England, like in the Victorian age, I mean,
• 45:47
  you had 13 year olds that were being apprenticed to the law.
• 45:49
  And by 19 we're, we're, we're, we're in private practice,
• 45:53
  uh, even in the medicine field and you could say, well, medicines changed
• 45:57
  medicine really hasn't changed.
• 45:58
  The complexities are,
• 46:00
  are all the diseases they've caused and
• 46:01
  all the medication they're trying to peddle.
• 46:03
  That's it.
• 46:04
  The human body is not changed except from all
• 46:06
  the poisons that we've been getting into our system.
• 46:08
  Human body hasn't changed in thousands of years.
• 46:11
  It's the same thing as certain blood types.
• 46:13
  It's not that complex and most of,
• 46:15
  most of these things that the body heals themselves anyway.
• 46:18
  And doctors know that, but it doesn't matter. It's a whole another issue. So,
• 46:21
  but it's relevant though because it's all related
• 46:25
  and you know, let food be thy medicine, let you know we could talk about that.
• 46:29
  You know, there, there's so many things that go along with that,
• 46:31
  but you keep mentioning, you know,
• 46:32
  everything is by design and we are a homeschooling family.
• 46:35
  I've talked about that on the podcast.
• 46:37
  Our son was Montessori educated through second grade.
• 46:40
  I was actually Montessori educated when I was young
• 46:43
  and, and I was a public school kid from, you know, five on.
• 46:46
  So it was Montessori in my early years and then public school.
• 46:50
  So I don't necessarily have anything against public school.
• 46:52
  In theory, I have an issue with public school and the agenda that has taken over. So
• 46:58
  at sixth grade, well, from second to sixth grade,
• 47:00
  our son was at a charter school and it was a very classic education model.
• 47:07
  We absolutely loved that school
• 47:09
  and it was a tech free school, we were very supportive of that.
• 47:12
  Obviously, I wrote a book about it. So we were really on board with that.
• 47:15
  And then sixth grade hit, middle school hit
• 47:18
  and he was having to do all kinds of homework on the computer.
• 47:21
  He was having to do all kinds of stuff on screens.
• 47:24
  And I was like, I need you to give me paper copies of this assignment.
• 47:28
  I don't want him staring at a screen at night. I need you to give me a paper
• 47:32
  alternative
• 47:32
  and they refused quote because all of the diagnostics are in the computer
• 47:37
  program and we need to be able to test how kids are faring
• 47:41
  in their education.
• 47:42
  And I was like, you test how kids are faring in their education
• 47:46
  by checking to see what their comprehension levels are and
• 47:49
  by administering quizzes or tests or conversations in the classroom,
• 47:53
  this doesn't have to be diagnostically done with a computer
• 47:56
  and we just never the Twain shall meet.
• 47:59
  And so he was getting up early in the morning,
• 48:02
  going to school all day and spending four
• 48:04
  hours a night on the computer doing homework.
• 48:06
  I
• 48:07
  was 12 years old.
• 48:08
  And so I looked at him one night and I said,
• 48:10
  hey, buddy,
• 48:12
  I'm so sorry for you. I feel like your life is miserable and he goes, it kind of is.
• 48:17
  And I was just like no more. We're, we're never ever putting him through this again.
• 48:21
  So that night my husband and I looked at each other and we were like,
• 48:24
  can we homeschool and it was like this crazy thing.
• 48:27
  And we were like, can we do this? Are we crazy? Are we equipped?
• 48:30
  Do we know what we're doing? No to all of the above.
• 48:32
  But we met with lots of homeschooling families in our church
• 48:35
  and we were given some tips and strategies and like,
• 48:38
  hey, you can do this really.
• 48:39
  They just encouraged us like, yes, you can do this, just dive in.
• 48:43
  So he finished that semester and halfway through sixth grade, we pulled him out.
• 48:46
  And we've been a homeschooling family ever since. It
• 48:48
  is absolutely the best decision we've ever made.
• 48:51
  Our son agrees. We agree. As a family,
• 48:54
  our neighbor down the street started homeschooling with him.
• 48:57
  So, I mean, it has just been absolutely amazing journey for us and
• 49:01
  I agree with you, homeschooling children
• 49:04
  are a different level of kids.
• 49:06
  They, they are all the things that you described,
• 49:09
  you can sense their, their peace, their lack of stress, their, their calm,
• 49:15
  their regulation, their critical thinking.
• 49:18
  They, they are more well read, they are more articulate.
• 49:21
  They,
• 49:21
  there's just something about it when you
• 49:24
  can structure and make sure that the curriculum
• 49:27
  is what you want it to be and not what's being fed
• 49:30
  and you can have flexibility. You know, we live in Florida.
• 49:33
  Busch Gardens is an amusement park pretty close to us
• 49:36
  and they have animal encounters that you can sign up for.
• 49:39
  So for a long stretch of time, every Friday,
• 49:42
  we went and did an animal encounter with the animals at Busch Gardens.
• 49:46
  And so we fed elephants and we held sloths and
• 49:49
  we interacted with the Australian Kookaburra bird and whatever.
• 49:52
  But you know what that was learning and that was,
• 49:55
  that was education and he was exposed to things in such cool ways.
• 49:59
  And I just remember feeling like such a sense of contentment
• 50:03
  that we not only can govern what is being fed to him in
• 50:07
  his mind and we can make sure that it's good for him.
• 50:10
  But then we get to go, I mean, we, we're a huge baseball family.
• 50:13
  We travel following the Tampa Bay Rays to all the stadiums in the country.
• 50:17
  So we're about halfway done.
• 50:18
  I think we're at 13 or 14 stadiums at this point where we've watched the Rays play
• 50:22
  and every time we take a trip, we find something to do locally and we're like,
• 50:27
  this was educational, this was informative.
• 50:30
  This was part of schooling, you know,
• 50:32
  and I think we have to rework this concept that
• 50:34
  you go to school eight hours a day, you come home and do three hours of school a night
• 50:38
  and then you get all the way through to 12th grade.
• 50:41
  I agree with you. You, you aren't qualified to do anything.
• 50:44
  I mean, what happened to apprenticeships?
• 50:46
  What happened to going to trade schools and learning from
• 50:49
  someone that can teach you a craft or a skill.
• 50:51
  I mean, we just watched a documentary not too long ago
• 50:54
  that
• 50:55
  in the next 10 to 15 years,
• 50:57
  70 or so percent of our tradesmen in the country are retiring
• 51:02
  and we have no one to replace them.
• 51:04
  So who's going to put roads in, who's going to build bridges?
• 51:07
  Who's going to do plumbing and electrical and air conditioning and,
• 51:11
  and all of these trades welders.
• 51:12
  I mean,
• 51:13
  we have all of this need in our
• 51:14
  country for creativity and problem solving and critical thinking
• 51:18
  and ingenuity and all this stuff and no one's learning how to do any of it.
• 51:22
  And so we have these kids graduating high school,
• 51:25
  they're programmed to go then to college and you're absolutely right.
• 51:28
  Six figures of student loans they walk away with
• 51:31
  and if you would have become an entrepreneur at 18,
• 51:35
  found something you're passionate about, found something that you love
• 51:38
  and you make a business out of it,
• 51:41
  support yourself right out of high school.
• 51:43
  Then if you decide you want to pursue something that requires a degree, ok.
• 51:48
  Right now, you have the money to fund your schooling.
• 51:50
  If you don't, if you can be a trades worker, if you can be someone that has a skill,
• 51:55
  if you can apprentice under someone and take
• 51:57
  up something and then form your own business,
• 52:00
  you're starting off your career without six figures of debt and you already
• 52:04
  have more skill than someone that went to college for four years.
• 52:07
  Absolutely.
• 52:08
  So, we have all of this backwards way that we're like,
• 52:11
  kind of gearing kids to go down this path
• 52:14
  and we talk to our son all the time.
• 52:16
  Eric and I, both my husband and I both run our own businesses.
• 52:19
  And so we say my dad did too. My dad was a business owner my whole life.
• 52:23
  And so I'm constantly saying to him,
• 52:25
  hey, buddy,
• 52:26
  what kind of job would you wanna have? What kind of career do you want?
• 52:29
  What kind of trade or skill do you wanna learn,
• 52:32
  start your own business?
• 52:34
  You don't have to go to college if you're gonna be a doctor,
• 52:35
  a lawyer or something like that, of course, schools required.
• 52:38
  So I'm not saying that college is, you know, unnecessary,
• 52:41
  but it's unnecessary for a lot of people.
• 52:45
  And, you know, you'll never meet a broke plumber,
• 52:47
  you'll never meet a broke air conditioning
• 52:49
  person because everyone needs their toilets to work
• 52:51
  and everyone needs to be cool and hot when they need to be cool and
• 52:53
  security,
• 52:54
  right? I mean, there's no way you're not going to need those people. So
• 52:58
  there's this sense of what do kids need to develop in childhood
• 53:03
  that prepare them and equip them to
• 53:05
  pursuing these really ambitious goals and dreams.
• 53:09
  And I think it's all of the things that you're trying to create in your book series.
• 53:13
  Oh, thank you.
• 53:14
  And I'm just trying to think too, like, I mean, the thing about the homeschooling is,
• 53:17
  is, again, they're,
• 53:19
  they're, they're usually a couple of years ahead of it
• 53:21
  and I know I know many of them and it's like they're already taking college
• 53:24
  prep courses and so often by the time they're 18 they already have their,
• 53:28
  is it the, uh,
• 53:29
  222 year degree? And in California we've got some great state schools.
• 53:34
  Um, and so they could go to, they could go to UCL A,
• 53:37
  um, you know, pay, pay in state, although still expensive
• 53:41
  and, and then be done with their, their college degree
• 53:44
  in two years.
• 53:45
  And then if they want to go into law school and it's like they, I mean, they,
• 53:48
  they got half the debt, they're two years ahead of everybody else.
• 53:51
  And I'm not saying what's the hurry?
• 53:52
  I'm just saying that that's the difference of it.
• 53:54
  So if you do want to go on that route, it's like this whole system,
• 53:58
  you know,
• 53:58
  you go to this and this and this and then 18 and then
• 54:00
  finally from 18 and then another four years and then a master's degree,
• 54:03
  another two years and then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 54:05
  And it's like even doctors,
• 54:06
  it's like 28 or 30 years old when they're finally coming out into practice,
• 54:10
  which again is all by design.
• 54:11
  How much is there possibly to learn? There isn't.
• 54:14
  And um, and they're, and they're, and they,
• 54:16
  they themselves are $500,000 in debt and, um,
• 54:19
  and have huge premiums on their insurance and have to see 40 people a day.
• 54:23
  I mean, again, that's a whole another thing and that
• 54:26
  is a system that sp
• 54:27
  that. But anyway,
• 54:28
  but right, all of that is relevant though.
• 54:30
  And so, well, we know all of this and, and, you know, from my audience,
• 54:33
  maybe some of you are absolutely
• 54:35
  flabbergasted right now by what the things that we're talking about.
• 54:37
  So if this is all new to you and this is
• 54:39
  shocking and it's alarming and you're feeling the weight of this.
• 54:42
  I think what Chad and I are both kind of alluding to in these conversations is
• 54:46
  so we know
• 54:47
  what is happening now, we're aware of it.
• 54:50
  So what do we need to do as parents and people who care about kids?
• 54:54
  So that, that's really what this series is about.
• 54:57
  This is what child-centered Play therapy is about.
• 54:59
  This is why you listen to this podcast
• 55:01
  because you are actively working to be the most equipped parent that you can be.
• 55:05
  And these are things that you can use as resources.
• 55:08
  And I think that that's really powerful because
• 55:10
  sometimes we don't know what we don't know.
• 55:12
  So once we're made aware of something, then we say, OK, now I'm going to take action
• 55:17
  and I think that governing what our kids are exposed to governing their education,
• 55:21
  governing what they're reading, governing their video game, use all of that,
• 55:25
  that all of that is relevant to the future of this generation of kids.
• 55:29
  And, and I think that's something we have to be so intentional about.
• 55:33
  And really what uh this is one of the things that I share with my parents.
• 55:37
  A lot, a lot of my people at my center,
• 55:39
  I say
• 55:41
  when your child is 25
• 55:43
  and someone asks them,
• 55:45
  hey,
• 55:45
  what was your childhood? Like, what do you remember about when you were little?
• 55:50
  What do you remember? Your mom and dad said to you did with you?
• 55:54
  Like just share stories from when you were little.
• 55:57
  What do you want them to say?
• 55:59
  That's,
• 55:59
  that's something that I think should govern
• 56:01
  every minute of our interaction with kids.
• 56:04
  Do we want them to say,
• 56:05
  man, they didn't let me do certain things, but it was always to keep me safe
• 56:10
  or man, I, you know, I wasn't allowed to have the freedom that a lot of my friends did.
• 56:14
  But I'm so thankful for that because it shielded me and protected me from so much
• 56:18
  and I'm so much better off because my parents were
• 56:21
  so invested and so bought in and so engaged.
• 56:24
  I,
• 56:24
  I think that we sometimes are worried to be
• 56:29
  careful with our kids like,
• 56:30
  well, I mean, you know,
• 56:31
  all of his friends have cell phones so I just need to get my kid a cell phone.
• 56:35
  No, you don't.
• 56:36
  You just don't.
• 56:37
  And just because all your kids' friends are reading such and such a book,
• 56:41
  your kid doesn't need to read it.
• 56:43
  And,
• 56:43
  and I think it's about really being intentional
• 56:45
  and purposeful with the way that we safeguard
• 56:48
  the most important thing that's been entrusted to us. And that's kids.
• 56:52
  You know, we, we don't have a future country without solid, strong, steady,
• 56:56
  capable children.
• 56:58
  And my mission statement is a world full of happy kids that become happy adults.
• 57:03
  So
• 57:04
  that is something that I care deeply about.
• 57:06
  And that's why I was so excited about you and your books and everything that
• 57:10
  you're doing in the world because we need happy kids who become happy adults.
• 57:14
  And that means that as much as we can because there are
• 57:17
  things over which we have no control and I get that.
• 57:20
  But as much as we can,
• 57:21
  we have to be intentional about the thing that we do have control over
• 57:25
  and, and that's things like making sure they're reading wholesome things.
• 57:29
  So speaking of your books, I know that you have three
• 57:33
  themes or kind of parts of each book.
• 57:35
  So I wanted to share those with the audience and then
• 57:38
  I'd like you to dive into those a little bit.
• 57:39
  So we have by faith and love, by wisdom and courage and by skill and valor.
• 57:45
  So let's talk about those for a second and,
• 57:48
  and really kind of
• 57:50
  why are these so important in your books and
• 57:53
  why are these so important societally as a whole?
• 57:56
  Yeah, I know. I love that. I love that quote. I gotta pull up there.
• 57:59
  It is, it's got it, it's actually in the,
• 58:02
  in the cover of the book as you well know,
• 58:04
  and uh we have the Latin quotes but um
• 58:08
  yeah, I just,
• 58:09
  uh they're kind of like this is the Brit Field Crest
• 58:12
  and these are the Latin terms if you will or,
• 58:14
  or the themes of brit field
• 58:17
  and by skill and valor.
• 58:18
  And um again, that, that sense of bravery or valor by skill by learning something,
• 58:24
  being, being proficient, being excellent at it.
• 58:26
  Wisdom and courage. Again, these are the themes that are in the books,
• 58:30
  learning along the way, what I was saying, you know, in everyone,
• 58:33
  there's something to learn
• 58:34
  uh courage and then by faith and love and faith is a theme in it and love is a theme in it.
• 58:39
  So,
• 58:40
  yeah, I mean, these are all
• 58:41
  four or six great words that really encompass Brit Field,
• 58:46
  encompass the series and encompass the themes that run through the book series
• 58:50
  and encompass my life. You know, so,
• 58:54
  and let's briefly talk through
• 58:57
  uh and I in an email exchange with you, I shared that I feel like there's,
• 59:01
  there's a little bit of a renaissance or a turning toward
• 59:04
  values and principles that really were.
• 59:08
  I think foundational in the development of this country.
• 59:11
  But I think in recent decades have been less present, less visible, less taught,
• 59:15
  less stressed, whatever.
• 59:17
  So when I hear these words and when I think about them, faith, love, wisdom, courage,
• 59:21
  skill, valor.
• 59:23
  What does that mean for us as a country? What does that mean for us as this
• 59:29
  moment in time? Wh
• 59:31
  why are those skills that are themes in the
• 59:34
  books so necessary and needed right now for us?
• 59:38
  Yeah, I think um uh
• 59:41
  wisdom uh number one doing your own research learning.
• 59:45
  Um So from talking to adults, it's like, you know,
• 59:47
  please do not listen or watch anything on
• 59:49
  the mainstream media that is literally propaganda central USA
• 59:53
  all bought and paid for all crap, all nonsense, all false statistics,
• 59:57
  wisdom do your own research, you know, read
• 1:00:00
  um investigate, don't take anyone's word for it. Dig deep, think, critically,
• 1:00:05
  think, yeah, think critically and, and that is absolutely your responsibility,
• 1:00:09
  especially as an adult or as a parent.
• 1:00:10
  So that idea of wisdom and wisdom is something that you continually grow with.
• 1:00:14
  I'm always learning. I'm always growing, I'm always asking questions.
• 1:00:18
  I'm always, I love to learn. I love to find someone that
• 1:00:20
  knows more than I do or is an expert in a certain field.
• 1:00:22
  And I just feel them with questions.
• 1:00:24
  I just, I love that I'm always learning, I'll never be done learning.
• 1:00:27
  So that, that sense of wisdom and that drive towards wisdom and knowledge.
• 1:00:30
  That's what they're trying to kill or take out of
• 1:00:32
  the kids in the school systems,
• 1:00:34
  um, get them to not think critically. You know, everything is towards the test.
• 1:00:38
  The whole test, the sat test is bunk. It was designed by a gentleman
• 1:00:41
  for the military and after five years he shelved it because it failed. Guess what?
• 1:00:45
  They picked it up as their watermark. It tests nothing.
• 1:00:48
  It's irrelevant. It's an i
• 1:00:49
  it's, it's, they call it a shadow curriculum.
• 1:00:52
  And the only ones that are profiting from it are
• 1:00:53
  the corporations that make billions of dollars from these tests.
• 1:00:56
  In fact, do your own research.
• 1:00:58
  So, yeah. So wisdom. Courage. It's great.
• 1:01:01
  I mean, tell me that's not needed right now and, and where we are as a nation
• 1:01:04
  and, and also smaller levels of courage, courage to face your children,
• 1:01:08
  courage to take their phone away, courage to tell them you can't read that book.
• 1:01:12
  Courage like you and your husband did Eric. Right?
• 1:01:16
  And I love that, that, that's a great story. That defining moment.
• 1:01:19
  II, I was listening and I felt so
• 1:01:21
  my heart felt so heavy for that little 12 year old
• 1:01:24
  that's going for 40 hours a week and then just sitting here in this, I mean,
• 1:01:27
  just nonsense,
• 1:01:28
  you know. So now it's 50 to 60 hours a week at 12 years old. Are you kidding me?
• 1:01:33
  Learning? Probably real estate. Nothing.
• 1:01:35
  And, um, this is a side story a
• 1:01:38
  couple of years ago, I was at this fundraiser, I was talking to this woman at our table
• 1:01:42
  and she, um, her son was sick and, um, anyway, you know,
• 1:01:45
  average student and she had to pull him out of school for the year
• 1:01:49
  and they go, just give me all the homework,
• 1:01:51
  everything that he's got for the whole year.
• 1:01:52
  And she goes, he sat down in 4 to 6 weeks. He was done with everything.
• 1:01:56
  And this wasn't, just, wasn't a kid that was like,
• 1:01:58
  and this is a nice area. It's an affluent area, a decent school. And I'm just,
• 1:02:02
  I just, I always remember that example because that's kind of what it is.
• 1:02:05
  It's like, you know,
• 1:02:06
  they're stretching out very little that you're learning.
• 1:02:09
  And, and as a side note too when I was on my tour
• 1:02:11
  and in 2000, March, 2020 when all this nonsense had happened
• 1:02:15
  and all the schools started closing.
• 1:02:18
  Uh I was driving back, I was in Memphis, Tennessee just did four schools.
• 1:02:21
  And I'm like, oh, it's over.
• 1:02:22
  Gotta go back, you know,
• 1:02:23
  like I just saw the writing on the wall and as I was driving back,
• 1:02:26
  I was saying three things to myself and I'll come back to your question.
• 1:02:29
  But I was saying
• 1:02:30
  it would be very interesting to see how many uh parents send
• 1:02:32
  their kids back to traditional schools when this whole thing is over.
• 1:02:36
  And I was telling my friends and I said, I'm basing it on three factors.
• 1:02:38
  This is from all my research. I said, number one,
• 1:02:41
  parents are gonna be horrified by what their
• 1:02:44
  children are being exposed to and learning in class as young as 4 to 5 years old.
• 1:02:49
  Number two, how far behind
• 1:02:52
  they are in certain subjects?
• 1:02:53
  You're not reading at that level, you're still struggling with that type of math.
• 1:02:56
  They haven't taught you that in science yet.
• 1:02:58
  And number three, if they sat down
• 1:03:00
  and could just concentrate on that day's worth of homework,
• 1:03:04
  3 to 4 hours or 2 to 3 hours later
• 1:03:06
  done.
• 1:03:07
  And I don't know, at 12 years old, what, what do they do? Go out and play?
• 1:03:10
  Have some fun growing up and being a kid.
• 1:03:13
  Lord
• 1:03:13
  willing and the creek.
• 1:03:16
  Yeah.
• 1:03:17
  Yeah. So anyway,
• 1:03:18
  um
• 1:03:19
  yeah. But um
• 1:03:20
  and, and then, so I started seeing statistics that, you know,
• 1:03:22
  12 months later that 20 to 30% of parents in the
• 1:03:26
  United States weren't sending their kids back to traditional schools.
• 1:03:29
  And we're seeing that
• 1:03:30
  um as I said,
• 1:03:31
  the homeschool movement has gone from 5 million to almost 15 million huge.
• 1:03:35
  And it's a hybrid model. So anyone that's watching and saying I can't stay home,
• 1:03:38
  there's all types of opportunities instead of dropping them off at a,
• 1:03:41
  a socialistic institution
• 1:03:43
  that's built on 1/19 century industrial factory model that has never changed.
• 1:03:47
  You could drop them off to a homeschool group
• 1:03:49
  or a charter school that has a hybrid model
• 1:03:51
  or you could stay home on one day a week
• 1:03:53
  and you teach a subject to five or six other like minded
• 1:03:56
  kids and then that parent does it and that parent does it
• 1:03:59
  wonderful.
• 1:03:59
  But anyway, so, yeah, back to these things, I mean,
• 1:04:01
  courage that's needed right now in so many different levels,
• 1:04:05
  uh wisdom of faith, having faith,
• 1:04:08
  love and then the other ones
• 1:04:13
  that skill, I mean, and again too, and
• 1:04:14
  I was thinking about that this morning too. I was walking before our interview and,
• 1:04:18
  and thinking too, it's just, um,
• 1:04:19
  it's so important to and we're all born with talents.
• 1:04:22
  We're all born with creativity.
• 1:04:23
  And the one thing about that, that test from George Land, you know, he,
• 1:04:27
  he went on to test um, 32 year olds
• 1:04:30
  and they were at 2% creativity.
• 1:04:32
  But the one thing about that is you can get your creativity back to 98%.
• 1:04:36
  You could be 40 or 50
• 1:04:38
  or 60 years old.
• 1:04:39
  You can get it all back, you can get all,
• 1:04:40
  it's not like you lose it and it's like I can never paint again.
• 1:04:43
  I can never think again creatively. You can.
• 1:04:45
  But like anything, it's like a muscle, you gotta use it. If I'm gonna run a marathon,
• 1:04:49
  you know,
• 1:04:49
  I'm gonna start to walk and then stretch and then I'm gonna do a mile and then next
• 1:04:52
  week I'm gonna do a mile and a half and two miles and you work at it,
• 1:04:55
  you start playing, you start doing things that you want to do that are creative,
• 1:04:57
  you can get it all back.
• 1:04:59
  Um So that idea of developing a skill that you're really good at
• 1:05:02
  and stop trying to be jack of all trades and master of none.
• 1:05:05
  And that, that was the term that was in my mind this morning,
• 1:05:07
  be really good at at least one good thing, you know, proficient and, and excellent.
• 1:05:12
  And uh, and that takes time. Anything of value takes
• 1:05:16
  time. I've done research for 30 years. I've read biographies galore. You name it.
• 1:05:21
  I've read their biography, I've read the business,
• 1:05:23
  you know, on the businesses and stuff.
• 1:05:25
  There are no overnight successes, there is none of it.
• 1:05:28
  And it's like so many of these things have teetered on bankruptcy and failure.
• 1:05:31
  And I find that fascinating,
• 1:05:33
  you know what I mean? Because it's real
• 1:05:35
  and that's, you know, life. So
• 1:05:37
  it's real. And what it proves is that
• 1:05:40
  if you have tenacity and you have perseverance
• 1:05:43
  and you have problem solving and you have a growth mindset and you
• 1:05:47
  have creativity and you have all the things that we've talked about,
• 1:05:50
  it's not a defeating setback. It's something that you say, ok, that didn't work.
• 1:05:55
  I can learn from it and I'm going to keep going
• 1:05:58
  and,
• 1:05:58
  and those are the kinds of characteristics and
• 1:06:00
  traits that we want our kids to develop.
• 1:06:02
  And so
• 1:06:02
  that's one of the things that I'm just so excited about for this book.
• 1:06:05
  Thank you so much for your time. This is such an incredible conversation.
• 1:06:09
  I just, I feel very encouraged and inspired and excited about all of this. And
• 1:06:14
  so please let my listeners know where they can find you.
• 1:06:18
  What's the good way to get in touch with you
• 1:06:19
  and find all the things that you have going on.
• 1:06:22
  Sure. Um The brit.com website is our best place to go to.
• 1:06:26
  Uh it's an award winning website and it's fun. We have over 400 pictures of Britain.
• 1:06:31
  And so the, the website was actually designed to
• 1:06:34
  highlight the books.
• 1:06:36
  If you're teaching the book in a classroom or a homeschool group.
• 1:06:38
  It's great because you can go to the website and
• 1:06:40
  I can describe Yorkshire
• 1:06:42
  or Hyde Park, but you can go to the website and all of a sudden it's like,
• 1:06:44
  boom there it is.
• 1:06:45
  We have interactive maps over 100 pages of information.
• 1:06:48
  A lot of the other um interviews we've done.
• 1:06:50
  Obviously, you can buy the books there if you buy
• 1:06:52
  any of the Brit Feld books on the website, I still sign them.
• 1:06:55
  I'm getting very, very busy. I'm not going to be doing that much longer,
• 1:06:58
  but that's a great way to um to get a signed book. I mean, I love signed books
• 1:07:02
  and I think what's great about the midfield series is, is,
• 1:07:04
  it's, it's,
• 1:07:05
  it's fun for any age and so don't just think it's middle school or young adult.
• 1:07:09
  Um, it's great for adults. It's great, you know, great for grandkids, you know,
• 1:07:14
  your kids students, you name it.
• 1:07:16
  It's just, it's designed that way to be a very fun, exciting store.
• 1:07:19
  I was doing an interview yesterday and
• 1:07:21
  talking about the Wonder Minute Childhood and that's kind of what
• 1:07:24
  I'm trying to bring back to the Brit Feld series.
• 1:07:25
  Not this heaviness
• 1:07:27
  of this dark force of evil and, and magic, you know, out there dear.
• 1:07:30
  Like I remember sitting across one of those round tables when I was
• 1:07:34
  doing a review of one of my books and they were telling me,
• 1:07:36
  I, I didn't even know about it.
• 1:07:37
  They were telling me about that Hunger games
• 1:07:38
  and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm like, that's, that's actually on the market,
• 1:07:42
  kids killing kids for food.
• 1:07:44
  This is, this is what someone wrote. This is what's out there.
• 1:07:47
  That's just awful, you know.
• 1:07:49
  And so I'm just trying to bring back
• 1:07:50
  that fun and splendor and wonderment of childhood.
• 1:07:54
  And i it's not couched in, in,
• 1:07:56
  you know,
• 1:07:56
  um touchy feely uh cotton candy.
• 1:07:59
  It's intense, you know, book two, you know, ask your son about book two Butfield,
• 1:08:03
  The Rise of Lion.
• 1:08:04
  It's pretty intense in book three.
• 1:08:06
  Um It's real but it's,
• 1:08:08
  it's fun and it's exciting and I take those beats of learning and walking into a
• 1:08:12
  museum and seeing a gorgeous work of art
• 1:08:14
  or a beautiful architecture or the Eiffel Tower having
• 1:08:17
  lunch at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. I mean, just cool stuff, just fun stuff.
• 1:08:22
  And um and it's neat too because I've had a lot
• 1:08:24
  of parents that have gotten back to me and said,
• 1:08:26
  you know, thanks to your book series.
• 1:08:27
  It's like we just got back from England and spent
• 1:08:29
  10 days or just got back from France or Italy.
• 1:08:33
  And we visited some of the sites that are in your
• 1:08:34
  book and I'm not saying every parent has that ability,
• 1:08:37
  not at all.
• 1:08:37
  And in so many ways, what I'm doing with these books is I'm just taking you on trips
• 1:08:41
  and, you know, to these countries and letting you experience at least, you know, um
• 1:08:45
  one way or the other. So anyway,
• 1:08:47
  and isn't that, I mean, le let's,
• 1:08:49
  let's close on this because I think this is kind of just the,
• 1:08:51
  the nice bow for this whole conversation.
• 1:08:54
  Isn't that the beauty of literature
• 1:08:56
  that
• 1:08:57
  when you in any
• 1:08:59
  moment of your life at any age with any financial status,
• 1:09:05
  with any opportunity in front of you,
• 1:09:07
  you can read something and it transports you to
• 1:09:11
  a different place and a different time and a storyline
• 1:09:14
  that just transforms your reality for that moment
• 1:09:18
  and you don't even necessarily ever have to go to that place,
• 1:09:22
  but you're
• 1:09:22
  able to go on a journey because of what you read.
• 1:09:25
  And I think that's the beauty of well written stories.
• 1:09:28
  I think that is why we love to read
• 1:09:31
  because you get to go to places that you might not be able to go in real life.
• 1:09:36
  And there's something special about
• 1:09:39
  what that creates.
• 1:09:40
  II, I kind of have a rule that if I've read the book, I will not watch the movie.
• 1:09:45
  And I,
• 1:09:45
  I do that because the book is always so much better because my imagination and where
• 1:09:52
  I go with that story is always better than what someone conceived for the movie.
• 1:09:58
  And so like, if I watch the movie first, I might read the book,
• 1:10:01
  but I will never do it in reverse order because I feel
• 1:10:04
  like I have this idea in my head of what happened.
• 1:10:08
  And then when it's on the screen, I'm like, no,
• 1:10:10
  that's not how I thought it was supposed to be.
• 1:10:14
  And it kind of like there,
• 1:10:15
  it does a little bit of a deflation
• 1:10:16
  for me because our imagination and our creativity soars
• 1:10:21
  when we're immersed in this story and we're envisioning things and
• 1:10:25
  we're closing our eyes and we're picturing moments and we're,
• 1:10:27
  you know, reading descriptions and kind of seeing what that would look like.
• 1:10:31
  That is to
• 1:10:32
  me the most amazing piece of reading and why literature is so important. So,
• 1:10:37
  wow, thank you so much for this interview. Thanks for your time.
• 1:10:40
  Thank you for what you're creating. I, I hope that you feel so satisfied and proud
• 1:10:45
  of your vision and your goal and to see it happening,
• 1:10:48
  you are doing what kids need. You're providing resources for families.
• 1:10:53
  And I just, I hope that that's so fulfilling
• 1:10:55
  you.
• 1:10:56
  And I hope, you know, the impact that you're having across the globe because it's,
• 1:10:59
  it's been so meaningful for our son and our family.
• 1:11:02
  And I know that based on the testimonies, everyone just thinks that this is such a
• 1:11:06
  powerful tool that you're putting into the world. So, thank you so much for that.
• 1:11:10
  Oh, you're welcome. And thank you. It's just, it's, it's, it's been gratifying.
• 1:11:13
  It was interesting too that we just met a couple of weeks ago.
• 1:11:16
  But to hear that your son had already read the Redfield series
• 1:11:20
  and really liked it and really enjoyed it.
• 1:11:21
  And so, you know, it, it's fun when I do get that feedback because um it, it,
• 1:11:26
  it means a lot.
• 1:11:27
  Yeah.
• 1:11:28
  Well, gosh, what an,
• 1:11:29
  what an incredible platform you've been given and I can't wait for book four.
• 1:11:33
  I know my son is anxiously awaiting it and the movies
• 1:11:35
  and all the rest of the stuff that's coming out.
• 1:11:36
  So Brit field.com,
• 1:11:38
  for those of you that are interested in finding out more information
• 1:11:41
  Christmas is coming up,
• 1:11:42
  order your kids the four books that have been released by next month.
• 1:11:46
  The fourth book is available. So
• 1:11:47
  please get your kids books and let them start on this journey
• 1:11:51
  and, you know, think about what we've talked about today.
• 1:11:53
  If some of these things challenged you,
• 1:11:55
  if some of these confused you take time to dive in and do your research, you know,
• 1:11:59
  critically think
• 1:12:00
  about what we've talked about today.
• 1:12:01
  That's what our country needs and that's what this podcast is all about.
• 1:12:04
  It's about equipping you to make the best decisions
• 1:12:07
  for yourselves and your family and your kids.
• 1:12:09
  So,
• 1:12:10
  Chad, thanks again.
• 1:12:11
  It was great to have you and for my audience, we'll talk again soon. Bye.
• 1:12:14
  Thank you.
• 1:12:15
  Thank you for listening
• 1:12:17
  to the Play Therapy Parenting Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks
• 1:12:21
  for more episodes and just subscribe to our newsletter.
• 1:12:24
  Please go to www dot play therapy parenting.com.