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Pastor Marvin King - Fatherhood · Look Who's Talking

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You are listening to Look Who's Talking.
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I am Cameron Minter.
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I am your co-host and our host, the marvelous, the wonderful.
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Oh, you call me marvelous today.
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Marvelous and wonderful.
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Let me give you two adjectives.
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Jessica Coffie is our host.
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How you doing today, Jessica?
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Hey, y'all.
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What's going on?
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Good morning, afternoon, and evening, depending on when you're listening to us.
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Whenever it is, that's what time it is.
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Hey, how's the traffic out there?
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I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't.
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The graduation traffic got us all.
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Y'all, so I've been in traffic.
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That's my day because I've had to come to the studio and back and forth to the office.
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So like, this is my favorite day because school is out.
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That means UK is out and like the public schools are out.
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That means I get to get to work in 10 minutes.
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However, when it's in, it takes 30 and you're sitting in traffic.
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And today I'm just sitting looking.
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Congratulations.
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Graduations are going on.
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Walking with their caps and gowns.
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But this is-
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You're slow too.
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I know.
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Yeah, I see it.
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So I'm gonna go there.
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When I give you the right to cross my car, you better put some pep in your step.
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Okay.
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You know what I'm saying?
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Please, like-
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That's rude.
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That's just rude.
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These slowest people walk in front of your car when you're trying to get somewhere.
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That's right.
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And they look back at you like-
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And I hear you are trying to be nice.
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Nice.
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Oh, let me let this person pass.
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You did not have to.
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Let me let them pass.
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They crossing on your green.
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And now I'm trying to scoot the car up.
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I know, right?
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The tap.
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I just want to tap them.
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I know.
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I don't want to-
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Sometimes, you know, I had to pray about this, but sometimes I wish I had like a bulldozer
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and you know, with that nose on it.
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So when people try me, I do, boom!
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Yeah, we can't do that.
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We can't do that.
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Yeah, I was in my car frustrated.
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How slow people were going.
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I know.
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And I know.
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I believe I know.
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That also reminds me, like, have you ever been in the mall and you walk and everybody
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walk in the same direction and then there's someone in front of you.
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They walk the speed of a tortoise.
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Not a turtle, a tortoise.
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Well, what about driving?
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Is that-
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Well, it's the same thing.
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Yeah.
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Are you a fast driver?
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Break the law on a continual basis.
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You know, the law is for the law breaker.
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The law is for the law breaker.
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Anyway, so yeah, that fast lane.
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My foot may have a little bit of lead in it.
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I just, you know, I don't mind you not going as fast as I am, but if you're in the fast
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lane, when you see me come up on you, I come up on you for a purpose.
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You be riding the tail.
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Yeah, you know, I'm trying to make sure you understand that, you know.
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Yeah.
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When I do that, get on over.
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Then you can get back over.
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You know what?
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Just take a deep breath.
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That's what we need to do when we're in our car.
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That's right.
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We're in a rush to go nowhere.
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I don't know, depending.
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Because sometimes I have places to go.
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Yeah, but when you get there, it's like, oh, I didn't have to rush for this.
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Yes, I did.
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No, you did.
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You are totally disappointed when you get there.
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You be like, oh, really?
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Right.
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Yeah.
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So what else has been up?
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What's going on?
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It's about to be summertime.
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It's about to be summertime.
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And I'm not sure if it was this show or if it's a sharing show, but we were talking about
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swimming and...
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It wasn't this one.
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Well, I think it might have been because then you told this lie about you being a lifeguard.
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I'd never say I...
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Now, I know I never said I was a lifeguard.
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I will pull the...
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Don't you make me pull the shoulders.
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I said I taught swim lessons to the little children who were scared to dip their head
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under the water.
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But you can't swim.
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I can swim.
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Stop.
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We're not doing this again.
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We're not doing this again.
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I ain't saving nobody else's.
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We ain't doing this again.
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We're not doing this again.
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But anyway, I want to do some swim lessons.
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Okay.
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I'm going to get my grandbaby in the water.
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My grandbaby loves the water.
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Oh, you do the swim lessons or swim lessons for your grandchild?
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Both.
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Okay.
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Both.
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Yeah.
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And I'm going to talk about the 10 and the 10-month-old.
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The 10-year-old and the 10-month-old.
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Because the 10-year-old loves water, but can't put her face in the water.
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What?
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What?
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But you know what?
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She might have a claustrophobic type thing.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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It's time to get over that.
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Because I can swim.
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However, I'm not swimming with my face in the water.
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Stop it.
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Stop it.
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Oh my God.
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What is the definition of swimming?
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What is your definition of swimming?
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Floating and not drowning.
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Oh my God.
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That is not swimming.
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Floating.
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Floating.
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Okay.
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Going from A to B without drowning.
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You don't have to put your-
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I love that you said drowning.
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Sorry.
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My Paducah accent came out.
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I know.
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Let's have a Coffie break.
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Okay, guys.
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So for today's Coffie break, what I want to tell you is your passion is your greatest
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asset.
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Use it to fuel your hustle.
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So, you know, make that money, don't make- put that money back you, Kev.
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However, think about the thing that you are passionate about.
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And if you're really activating and using it in your life or to promote your agency
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or wherever you are, we know my passion is food.
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And because I had a supervisor that would allow me to be creative and innovative, that's
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how we got healthy meals on a budget for our families and our program.
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So think about those things that you are passionate about and how can you incorporate those things
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in your life and within, you know, whatever it is you do.
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You know, that's so funny because when I first graduated from college, you know, I think
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it's very irresponsible that we put so much pressure on kids to make life changing decisions
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from high school.
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So I go to college.
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What do you want to major in?
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I want a job.
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I'm going to do business management and I'm going to make thousands of dollars.
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Okay, you're going to do that, but you're going to be target third shift and you know,
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you go ahead and do that.
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And I found myself in a place where I was like, I am not feeling this.
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You know, I know I got a degree, but I'm not feeling this.
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And my passion broke out in graphic design.
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Oh, wow.
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All of a sudden I'm supposed to like, I was an admin assistant at this place and I'm supposed
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to be working and putting up files and stuff and I'm designing stuff, running around the
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office asking people, hey, what do you think about this?
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What do you think about that?
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That's great.
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It'd be great if you do the filing.
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But then I realized that my passion was not anything that I went to school for.
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And God blessed that I was able to tap into my passion and look where it's brought me.
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Okay, because we have a whole studio.
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Whole studio.
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A whole studio.
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Whole studio.
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And you know, it's a blessing.
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So yeah, finding that passion.
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You'll never work a day in your life if you find your passion.
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Okay.
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That's what's up.
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We have a fantastic show today.
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Tell us who's on the show today.
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So today.
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What are we talking about first?
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We're talking about fatherhood.
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Yeah.
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What are we talking about?
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Yeah, we're talking about Father's Day is coming up and I want the record to show it
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is the greatest holiday that is undermined.
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Okay?
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Father's Day is coming.
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Go get that stuff for Father's Day.
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Go get that tie and socks.
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Go take care of Dad.
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Okay.
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I'm sorry.
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I had to get that off my chest.
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Okay.
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Clearly you feel some type of way.
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Okay, so we're talking about fatherhood, father engagement, you know.
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Yeah, just being a father.
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And I have, I know this is your past, but this is my friend from way back in the day.
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And he was his first child.
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I was in there watching and recording and trying to get some memories for this guy with
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his first son.
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And I love how he was a father, how he did things.
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So go ahead and introduce our guest.
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So our guest today, he has become one of our recent Head Start heroes by helping and volunteering
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his time to participate with our father groups that are here at South Lexington.
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I call him Uncle Pastor.
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Uh oh.
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Because he's family for anything else.
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But we have Marvin King here with us.
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Hey.
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Welcome Marvin.
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Yeah, he don't know how to take me because, you know, he hasn't seen me too much in my
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professional role.
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He know the other side.
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So we'll see how this goes.
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Yeah, we'll see.
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We're playing, right?
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So you know, my, you know, I guess, not memory, but our first, I guess, interaction was me
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seeing you as a father.
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He has two sons, Trey and Mason, who are whole grown adults now.
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However, when I met y'all, they were little kids.
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And my dad is in my life.
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But it's different seeing the dad with their boys than their daughters.
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So yeah, that's my first, you know, memory of, oh, how we first got introduced.
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But tell us about like fatherhood and growing, like how have you, how has your childhood
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influenced the type of father you are?
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Yeah.
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So one, I say fatherhood is one of the greatest privileges I've ever had in my life.
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It's a privilege.
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And my childhood shaped me in the sense that, man, I'm without an excuse.
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Like, I mean, my parents were divorced just in full disclosure.
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And my dad, very good man, but was not always there.
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Right.
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He worked a lot.
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Right.
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And so growing up, you know, you have two decisions.
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Either you become what you've seen or you become what you've seen.
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And what I mean by that is you can become what you visibly see.
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My daddy worked a lot.
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He wasn't at home a lot.
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He worked because he was providing.
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Or I could have become what I mentally saw in what I thought good fatherhood was.
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And for me, I mean, I know, I know I'm a pastor, right?
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So the church shaped me.
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I was born and raised in church.
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So I was able to see good men in a church environment.
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Right.
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So I was able to take a little piece of this man, a little piece of brother so and so,
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a little piece of brother so and so.
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And then I had a good, I had a good basketball coach.
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I had good coaches, whether it was t-ball, baseball, basketball, football.
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I had good coaches who invested in me.
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So I took a little piece of everybody that I thought was real good.
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And I put it together to say, hey, man, that's what I want to be.
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Right.
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And too often, we're making the man that we want to be, you know, and no father has the
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manual that says this is how it's supposed to be done and this is what you're supposed
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to do.
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It's a learning experience for us all.
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But we all are taking things from our past and saying that some of the trauma or some
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of the things that we missed out on, we're not going to put that on our kids.
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And that shapes us and how we parent.
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Yeah, it does, man.
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And you know, me talking to a lot of guys, man, because manhood is my passion, right?
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I hear a lot of guys saying, man, well, I'm not going to be this way and I'm not going
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to be that way.
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But they turn out to be just like what they don't want.
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And part of it is because, man, we have unresolved stuff, man.
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We don't really embrace the fact, okay, yes, this happened.
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Or yes, I experienced this.
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But you know, I'm not going to be this because I consciously work on who I want to be.
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Like, I think a lot of, for me as a father, I had to have a vision of fatherhood.
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Like there was one thing that I always said, man, there would never be no other dude who
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was going to be the primary voice in my boy's life.
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Period.
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Like, period.
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Like, whatever I had to endure, whatever I had to go through, no other dude is going
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to be the primary voice in my boy's life.
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Because the statistics and studies have shown, man, the image of manhood that a little boy
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sees by the age of seven is what he's going to spend the rest of his life trying to become.
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Wow.
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So, man, we have to be careful what image of manhood we put in front of our little boys.
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Because whatever image of manhood they see by the time they're seven, that's what they're
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going to be trying to become for the rest of their life.
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That's deep.
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I was just blessed, man, to be able to have good men in my life.
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Right?
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Yeah.
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That's important and it's something that we can't take too lightly because we're always
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teaching.
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Yeah.
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Regardless if it's a classroom, regardless if it's intentional, regardless, you are teaching
15:04
and someone is learning.
15:07
Hey, we're going to take a quick break.
15:09
You are listening to Look Who's Talking.
15:11
We're talking with Pasta Martin.
15:25
Community Action Council's Head Start programs are now enrolling for the 24-25 school year
15:30
in 15 counties, including Lexington.
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Head Start offers high quality early childhood education for qualifying families with children
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between the ages of six weeks and five years old.
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Spaces are limited and filling up quickly.
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So to help ensure your child receives the Head Start advantage this year, start your
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application today by calling 859-233-4600 or go online at comaction.org.
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That's comaction.org.
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This past year has highlighted the strength of Community Action Council.
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Every day our staff works together to help families recover from this crisis.
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We're educating children at home and in person, helping parents who lost their jobs, and helping
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Our work at Community Action Council has never been more important than it is right now.
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Visit us by online at comaction.org.
16:49
Welcome back you are listening to Look Who's Talking.
16:54
Our special guest today is Pastor Marvin King.
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We've been talking about fatherhood and what it means to us and how things in our life
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has shaped how he raises his children.
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And just having that male influence in your life.
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Absolutely.
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Now, one thing that you said was it wasn't just your dad, because your dad wasn't always
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there.
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It was other men that were in your life that helped shaped you.
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And that's that male figure that, I mean, again, we're still learning.
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So tell us about the first time you seen your boy.
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Oh man, here you go.
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The first time.
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Here we go.
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Let's go.
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What happened there?
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Man, Cam was very fortunate.
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You know, we've been friends a long time and Cam been doing this video thing for a long
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time.
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And he videotaped, you know, my oldest son being born, Trey.
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And man, the first time I saw him come out, man, it was like, wow, man, it was like a
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whole weight of responsibility hit me.
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Say that.
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You know what I'm saying?
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I thought you was going to say it was going to be a gruesome alien-ish experience.
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No, man.
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When you see him come out, man, the alien experience, that was already over, man.
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You know, when the doctor hold him up and spank him, man, and make sure he alive, man,
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count his toes and fingers, you know.
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But it was the responsibility of saying, okay, whatever I don't know, I need to learn.
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Wow.
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Whatever.
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Right now.
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Right now.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Like, man, you ain't got no time.
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Right now.
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Like, but what I've learned is, man, like, man, your children will give you grace as
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long as they know you strive.
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That's right.
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That's right.
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You know what I'm saying?
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Like, so many times, man, you know, brothers hold themselves hostage to this image of perfection,
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man.
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Man, my sons ain't never asked me to be perfect.
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They just asked me to be present.
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Right, right.
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Wow.
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Right.
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You know what I'm saying?
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Like, they okay with your imperfection, but what they not okay with is you not being present.
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Right, right.
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So, man, you know, whatever I have to do, man, I'm present.
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It's not a day, not one day that go by that I'm not talking and engaging with my sons.
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And they grown.
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Right.
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Now, the relationship has changed.
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Right.
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Right.
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I'm not daddying them like that.
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Right.
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But now, man, it's now passing on wisdom.
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Right.
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You know what I'm saying?
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And then letting them know that in your life, then I'm going to be your safe place.
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You know what I'm saying?
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If you can't go to nobody else, you can come to your daddy.
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Right.
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Like, you don't need another daddy.
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You don't need nobody to give you nothing.
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You don't need nobody to do nothing.
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No, you got a daddy.
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Yeah.
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You know what I'm saying?
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And I say that because, you know, my oldest son, you know, it's a lot of people coming
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at him trying to give him something.
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No, no, you got a daddy, bro.
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Exactly.
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And your daddy work hard to give you what you need.
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Right, right, right.
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You don't have to go look for identity nowhere else.
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That's right.
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I'm going to be whatever you need.
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You know, I made it a conscious effort when my granddaughter was born to pour into her.
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Yeah.
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And I immediately from day one started calling her beautiful because I didn't want her relying
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on some other guy to relate beauty to her.
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You are beautiful right now to me forever.
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Yeah.
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You know?
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And so I kind of made, you know, it kind of got a little rough because I was like, who's
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beautiful?
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I am!
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And I was like, OK.
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Listen, because, honey, let me tell you what my daddy did.
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He's the reason why I got nobody now.
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OK.
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Because I'll be like, is this what you're offering?
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Well, my daddy said, I ain't got a settle for this.
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That's what my daddy said.
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But, but no.
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Yeah, just born in.
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You know, now you have also to enter the hood of grandparenthood.
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Yeah, man.
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To a little girl.
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Yeah, man.
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So how, how is it different?
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Yeah, how's that different?
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Man, it's different.
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You know, because one, you know, I've had, I've had boys.
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Yeah.
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Oh, you know, for 20, 24 years, I had boys and that is little girl and came up in here,
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you know, and I didn't realize now.
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I've always said this.
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If I had a little girl, man, I'd be thrown off.
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Right.
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Because the boys had me wrapped around their finger.
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This little girl right here.
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Oh, man, I'm out, man, I'm all through.
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I'm all through.
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I'm all the way gone.
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Listen, listen, this how throwed off he is.
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She'll be saying something in church and he'll be like preaching and looking like he can
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spot her.
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I know her voice in the crowd of a million.
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You know what I'm saying?
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That's awesome.
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Yeah.
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That's awesome.
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But, but again, it's, it's, it's even as grandparent being able to pour in, I think you're pouring
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in a little differently because you don't have all that.
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When you had Trey, immediately you said, I got to get this in.
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You know what I'm saying?
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And once they grow up, you're, you're, you're at a point of saying, suggesting.
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Yeah.
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So, so for me as a father, I, I went, I mentioned vision earlier.
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Like you have to have, like you poured into your granddaughter telling her she's beautiful.
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Right.
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There were affirmations that I gave to my sons, right.
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That I'm cultivating, right.
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Helping them understand me.
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You don't, nobody else defines you.
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You don't have to, you don't have to bow down to nobody.
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You know what I'm saying?
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You're strong.
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You're smart.
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You're intelligent.
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Right.
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All those affirmations.
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I think as you move to a grandparent hood, you want to make sure that what you've poured
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into your children gets down to your grandchildren.
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That's right.
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One of the things I told my son is you will never do less for her than what I've done
23:00
for you.
23:01
Absolutely.
23:02
See, you ain't got no excuse.
23:04
See, see this is how we raise a standard in our families in the black community.
23:08
Yeah.
23:09
You know, or in any community for that matter.
23:11
You know, we, we, we lift the standard for our children.
23:14
That's right.
23:15
Where there is no standard, man, we just accept anything.
23:18
Anything.
23:19
Anything.
23:20
You know, so I'm, I'm very clear with my son.
23:22
So the affirmations have changed.
23:24
Like, hey, bro, don't, you know, I know you're doing your thing.
23:27
Right.
23:28
But you will do no less for her.
23:30
Right.
23:31
Than what I've done for you.
23:32
Right.
23:33
And I have to remind him of that.
23:35
Absolutely.
23:36
Because the same way you never had to go to nobody else for what you need.
23:39
She ain't got to go to nobody else either.
23:41
That's the truth.
23:42
You know what I'm saying?
23:43
What I like is, you know, talk about affirmations.
23:45
Affirmations are something, you know, you hear more now.
23:48
Yeah.
23:49
But I've only heard, you know, women talk about affirmations.
23:53
Talk about, you know, the importance of affirmations and also letting our, our viewers know, okay,
23:59
what are affirmations and, you know.
24:02
Yeah.
24:03
So, so I think affirmations are important.
24:05
You're right.
24:06
You know, mostly we hear women talk about affirmations.
24:09
Right.
24:10
Especially all the things that women, you know, deal with in their survival in our culture.
24:15
But men make affirmations too.
24:18
Right.
24:19
And an affirmation is a statement of why you exist and what you're seeking to accomplish
24:25
on a daily basis.
24:26
Right.
24:27
Right.
24:28
So if I say to myself, you know, I will not be defined by anybody else's opinions, then
24:35
what I'm doing is I'm affirming the fact that I am creating my own identity of who I want
24:40
to be and not the identity of what somebody wants me to be.
24:43
Right.
24:44
They're important because affirmations, your words are power.
24:48
Your words literally create images in your mind that are so real that you begin to start
24:53
becoming what you talk about.
24:56
Right.
24:57
And it was very important for, you know, for my boys because again, in the era of George
25:04
Floyd, you know, in the era of, you know, all the other, you know, the Ferguson shooting,
25:14
you know, all that, you find young men, right, who are at risk.
25:20
And I'm like, man, no, you're not going to be a statistic like that.
25:24
Right.
25:25
Right.
25:26
So they could start seeing in their minds what they're going to be becoming and what
25:29
direction they need to be going.
25:30
Yeah.
25:31
Yeah.
25:32
Yeah.
25:33
I think one of the biggest differences in men and women is how our roles as parents.
25:41
Typically the mother is the nurturer and the father is the disciplinarian.
25:45
Typically.
25:46
Yeah.
25:47
Yeah.
25:48
Just to get life across.
25:50
So where mom wants to protect, you know, father wants to protect too, but in a different way
25:56
and saying, hey, this is something you've got to learn and you've got to learn this
26:00
even if you have to hit your head a couple of times to learn it.
26:04
Yeah.
26:05
That's something that, you know, I posted on Facebook, I stole it from Lawrence, your
26:13
minister of music.
26:14
He posted, he said, a dad can be in the worst position and the only words you will hear
26:19
from him are I'll take care of it and he will find a way.
26:24
He might get a little grumpy, but he will take care of it to all the men out there.
26:30
Your hard work does not go unnoticed.
26:33
And one of the things in our group is how do you take, what was it, recognition, appreciation,
26:43
appreciation.
26:46
And although I started the show talking about ties and socks, we don't care.
26:52
Most men, we're going to take care of, if we need something, if we want something, we're
26:55
going to get it.
26:57
So it's not about the gift.
27:00
It really is not.
27:01
It's about the appreciation of what he's providing, what he's doing.
27:06
Most men just want peace on Father's Day.
27:08
Let's be real.
27:09
That's right.
27:10
Just leave me alone, man.
27:11
Don't bother me.
27:12
Can this just be one day where you don't ask me for nothing?
27:14
Why I ain't got nothing to do?
27:16
That's really what it brought down to.
27:18
But in terms of recognition, man, I think we as men have to understand the principle
27:24
of delayed gratification.
27:26
And we have to understand what recognition really looks like in our lives.
27:30
The biggest thank you for me is not a Father's Day gift.
27:35
The biggest thank you to me is taking the lessons of life that I taught you and you
27:40
getting further down the road than I ever could give.
27:43
That's the biggest thank you you can give me.
27:46
Your success is my thank you.
27:48
Your hard work is my thank you.
27:50
Your discipline is my thank you.
27:52
The way you treat people and treat people with value and respect, that's my thank you.
27:57
That's the biggest thank you I could ever get other than anything else.
28:02
Absolutely.
28:03
Absolutely.
28:04
That's good.
28:05
That's powerful.
28:06
That's powerful.
28:07
It's just so important that we cultivate these relationships with our men.
28:14
And I think it's important too that you had touched on trauma.
28:18
We got to deal with some trauma.
28:20
We got to deal with some things that we don't want to talk about or expose or even relive.
28:29
But there's some traumas in our life that also dictate how we go forward.
28:35
It dictates how we teach our children.
28:38
It dictates, you know what I'm saying?
28:40
So we really need to address some things.
28:43
And it's okay to talk to a therapist.
28:46
It's okay to get some help.
28:48
It's okay.
28:49
Yeah, and go ahead.
28:50
And it's just okay to acknowledge that you feel some kind of way.
28:53
Yep.
28:54
You know what I'm saying?
28:55
Like we got so many people who are living in denial.
28:57
Right.
28:58
Right.
28:59
And one of the things that I think I have learned is when we deny the trauma of childhood,
29:04
right?
29:05
You're not just denying the pain.
29:08
You're also denying the love and the healing that you need to move forward.
29:11
That's right.
29:12
Because the brain and the soul does not selectively numb its pain.
29:16
Well, if you numb pain, you also numb in joy and love.
29:19
So the very thing you need to heal is the very thing you're denying because you're trying
29:23
to inoculate pain.
29:24
Right.
29:25
And hurt people hurt other people.
29:26
That's it.
29:27
You know what I'm saying?
29:28
So even though you're mad about what your daddy did, listen, you still got an opportunity
29:34
right?
29:35
You still worried about what you didn't get, but you can give even though you didn't get.
29:40
That's right.
29:41
Become the change that you want to see.
29:42
And you don't even have to have children.
29:44
Right.
29:45
You can give into other kids' lives.
29:47
You know what?
29:48
He said two words that stuck out to me and that's presence and opportunity.
29:52
So within our program, we have, we continuously do assessments because I want to have the
30:01
best program in the country.
30:03
So we are always looking at areas of improvement.
30:06
One thing that we noticed is dads want to be involved.
30:10
They want to be present, but sometimes they don't have the opportunity.
30:15
So we have been presenting opportunities for them to be involved.
30:20
We had the orchard where we talk about this all the time.
30:24
We were planning on 50.
30:26
We had 350 show up.
30:29
There was a movie event that I hosted and we were thinking, oh, we might fill up, hopefully
30:35
fill up one.
30:36
We filled up two theaters and the amount of the number of fathers that came in to be with
30:45
their children, to be present was astounding to where I'm saying, oh, hey, there's something
30:52
that we're not tapping into and it's our male involvement.
30:56
And whether it's fatherhood or whether you're not a grandfather or uncle or whatever, men
31:02
want to be involved.
31:04
That's what we're trying to do here for our agency.
31:08
Yeah.
31:09
I really appreciate you saying that because one of the mischaracterizations of our culture
31:14
is absentee fatherism.
31:17
But when you really look at the data and let the data drive our decisions and assumptions,
31:24
men do want to be there with their fathers, but they do lack opportunity.
31:28
Number two, going back to what Cameron said, man, men do not want to be in places that
31:35
they are not respected or welcomed.
31:37
You know what I'm saying?
31:40
So when the whole space feels like it's not welcoming to me as a father, then we just
31:45
defer.
31:47
So it doesn't surprise me that when you can provide opportunity for men to be involved
31:51
and connect with their children, absolutely they want to be connected.
31:55
Absolutely.
31:56
Yeah.
31:57
And so that's a segue into volunteer.
32:00
Oh yeah.
32:02
Come and volunteer, read to the kids.
32:05
When men, I don't have none against women.
32:08
Let me be clear.
32:09
I don't have anything against the women.
32:11
But when men walk into a room, it sets a different tone.
32:15
So Ann, you have to know our environment to understand that because when it comes to childcare,
32:22
when it comes to the education system, it's 98% women.
32:29
So it is important for us to get our fathers involved or our male figures involved because
32:35
we know the benefits of that male in that child's life.
32:41
That's right.
32:42
Whether it's a female or whether it's a son or a daughter, it is important.
32:48
And that's one thing this program year that we are definitely trying to push.
32:53
I'm trying to push that for the program because again, my utmost, my goal is to present our
33:02
families with opportunities.
33:05
And I tell the staff that all the time, I'm not going to be sitting in Malone's and not
33:11
provide an opportunity for my parents to be at Malone's.
33:15
That's why we had a family engagement at Malone's because if I have the best, I want to provide
33:23
the opportunity for you to have the best too.
33:26
And that means creating an environment, creating a space.
33:30
Y'all are doing great things here, Cam, at South.
33:33
You want to talk a little bit about that, about providing that space for men to come
33:38
and have conversations.
33:40
We have a men's group that meets once a month and it's really great.
33:47
It's new, it's growing, and the atmosphere has been very conducive for us to speak freely,
33:55
to have conversations, to get wisdom from each other.
34:00
You know what I'm saying?
34:01
It's not just the moderators up there giving out information.
34:06
We're learning from each other.
34:07
You know what I'm saying?
34:09
And it's been really good and it's something that I look forward to.
34:13
I was a little hesitant at first because I'm like, I don't know what y'all trying to get
34:18
me into.
34:19
We should be trying to get Cam to do all kinds of stuff.
34:22
All the time, all the time.
34:24
But this is something that I really now look forward to.
34:27
And we encourage and Pastor Marvin came out and was one of our guests.
34:34
And I hope you come back again.
34:36
Oh, I will.
34:37
It reminds me of Real Talk.
34:39
There was a little session that Pastor did.
34:46
You know it's so weird for me to call you Pastor.
34:49
Uncle did where it was like we were some college students or fresh out of college.
34:55
We were in our 20s trying to figure out how much could I do wrong and still be right?
35:01
That's right.
35:02
That's right.
35:03
And he created an environment that made, we were all vulnerable and all just sharing all
35:10
kinds of stuff.
35:11
And I'm like, ooh, hold up.
35:12
Right, right, right.
35:13
We up here telling our deepest, darkest secrets.
35:15
Right, right.
35:16
But it's because the environment was set.
35:19
That's right.
35:20
You know?
35:21
And even whether you're in an office area or in the classroom, we want the environment
35:27
to be set to where we're propelling people to greatness.
35:31
That's right.
35:32
And that's what we're doing.
35:35
This has been a very, very good show.
35:37
You're going to come back.
35:38
I'm coming back if you would have me.
35:40
Yes.
35:41
Yes.
35:42
It's coming back.
35:43
Because I feel like we still have a lot more that we could discuss.
35:44
We have a whole lot that we could discuss.
35:46
Yeah.
35:47
Especially on this topic.
35:48
Absolutely.
35:49
And you know, I'm glad you came.
35:52
I love you.
35:53
You know I love you and the fam and-
35:55
Appreciate the opportunity.
35:56
Wish you well, man.
35:58
The word of the day is-
36:00
Yes.
36:01
Manhood.
36:02
That's what we heard here.
36:03
Manhood.
36:04
Manhood.
36:05
Manhood for being a man.
36:06
Head start, highlight word of the day is manhood.
36:09
You know what to do with it.
36:12
Thank you for listening.
36:15
Thank you, Marvin.
36:18
Listen to the show.
36:19
Listen to the show.
36:20
And again, if you want to get involved, then just reach out to us.
36:25
Yeah.
36:26
You can reach us at 859-233-4600.
36:29
You can ask for the Head Start Director, Jessica Carlson.
36:30
And we'll make sure to get you connected.
36:35
859-233-4600.
36:36
You have been listening to Look Who's Talking.