Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #580 August Book Club: Working Class Book Club

Transcript

#580 August Book Club: Working Class Book Club · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

0:03
Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the
0:07
Speaker 1: time poor parent who just answers.
0:10
Speaker 2: Now.
0:10
Speaker 3: I think there's a couple of issues with the second one,
0:12
Speaker 3: Working class Man. First, the book lacks insight about Chisel,
0:17
Speaker 3: and it lacks inside about Barnesy, and it absolutely lacks
0:20
Speaker 3: insight about the songs.
0:22
Speaker 1: And now here's the stars of our show, my mum
0:25
Speaker 1: and dad.
0:26
Speaker 3: Well missus Happy Families. This is this has become your
0:29
Speaker 3: most favorite of all of the podcasts that we do,
0:32
Speaker 3: your most favorite one over the month, and it has
0:33
Speaker 3: got nothing to do with parenting. What does that say?
0:36
Speaker 3: What does that say about the Happy Family podcast? When
0:38
Speaker 3: the one we.
0:40
Speaker 2: Make it very clear it's not just my favorite one.
0:42
Speaker 2: You are pretty excited about it.
0:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you're turning it into a competition. You think
0:46
Speaker 3: that it's about who read the most books?
0:47
Speaker 1: No, why not?
0:50
Speaker 3: This is doctor Justin Colson. I'm here with Kylie, my
0:52
Speaker 3: wife and mum to our six kids. Once a month,
0:55
Speaker 3: we have decided on the podcast we're just going to
0:57
Speaker 3: share what we're reading with you. Sometimes it's a parenting book,
1:00
Speaker 3: sometimes it's not. But this month, Kylie, how many books
1:03
Speaker 3: have you read so that you can show off on
1:05
Speaker 3: the podcast.
1:06
Speaker 2: I'm not going to show off and I'm not even
1:08
Speaker 2: trying to compete with you. There is no way I
1:11
Speaker 2: could possibly compete with you. But I'm really proud of myself.
1:15
Speaker 2: I've read five books this month.
1:17
Speaker 3: Five books in a month. Huge. That explains why I've
1:20
Speaker 3: been doing the dishes so much.
1:21
Speaker 2: Oh, you're hilarious.
1:22
Speaker 3: You haven't been home to do the dishes that be
1:24
Speaker 3: like that I have so make me sound like I'm
1:27
Speaker 3: an absent father. Well, i've read four. Not that it's
1:29
Speaker 3: a competition really, So for those of you who are
1:32
Speaker 3: new to the podcast or who just haven't caught one
1:34
Speaker 3: of our book club episodes, once a month we have
1:37
Speaker 3: a chat about what we're reading. I'm an avid reader.
1:40
Speaker 3: I read usually, and I actually keep a spreadsheet of
1:43
Speaker 3: them so that I can remember what books I've read
1:44
Speaker 3: and how I felt about them, and see whether or
1:46
Speaker 3: not my opinions have changed, and what I'm using and
1:47
Speaker 3: so on. I read a round about I don't know,
1:49
Speaker 3: thirty forty sometimes fifty books a year. Kylie doesn't read
1:53
Speaker 3: that many, but recently has decided to turn our book
1:55
Speaker 3: reading into a competition because.
1:59
Speaker 2: I'm just choosing to use my time.
2:02
Speaker 3: Is that what I differently? Yeah, less time on the phone,
2:04
Speaker 3: more time with your head in a book.
2:05
Speaker 2: That's right?
2:06
Speaker 3: Yeah? Great. So since you've read five books, are you
2:09
Speaker 3: going to talk about all five of them?
2:10
Speaker 1: Mari?
2:10
Speaker 3: You're just gonna know? Okay, how many are you going
2:12
Speaker 3: to talk about?
2:13
Speaker 1: Four?
2:14
Speaker 3: Right? Which money you're not going to talk about? I
2:18
Speaker 3: read a church book? Okay, and you don't want to
2:20
Speaker 3: talk about that one? No, all right, no problem. Well,
2:22
Speaker 3: we've got four books each to talk about, which gives
2:25
Speaker 3: us about one and a half minutes per book, and
2:28
Speaker 3: two of my books are going to require a lot
2:29
Speaker 3: more time than that. So why don't you go first?
2:32
Speaker 3: What did you read? Tell us about how we can
2:35
Speaker 3: be inspired by the cold? And I should also say,
2:38
Speaker 3: even if we didn't like it, we're going to tell
2:40
Speaker 3: you about it. We're going to tell you why we
2:41
Speaker 3: didn't like it, Like this is a wartz in all
2:43
Speaker 3: dangerous book review, Kylie, What have you read?
2:46
Speaker 1: So?
2:46
Speaker 2: I've read two novels, I've read an autobiography, and then
2:49
Speaker 2: I've read I'm going to say it's an adults picture book.
2:52
Speaker 2: I don't know how what genre you would even put
2:54
Speaker 2: it into? Maybe self help?
2:57
Speaker 3: Where do you want to start, I'm going to.
2:59
Speaker 2: Leave my picture book till the end. The two novels
3:02
Speaker 2: that I read I read Minding Frankie by May Binchi.
3:05
Speaker 2: She's a big name in authorship, and it was actually
3:09
Speaker 2: it was actually a pretty cool book. It was a
3:11
Speaker 2: story about unconventional families and just the way life plays
3:14
Speaker 2: out in those unconventional families, and our own personal experiences
3:20
Speaker 2: can blind us from what is right in front of us.
3:24
Speaker 3: Give me an example. I'm kind of a little bit
3:27
Speaker 3: lost with that synopsis of the book. I don't really
3:29
Speaker 3: get it.
3:29
Speaker 2: It's a really unique situation. There's been a one night stand.
3:33
Speaker 2: Way back, mom finds out she's pregnant, and she also
3:38
Speaker 2: receives diagnosis that will mean that she actually will die
3:44
Speaker 2: giving birth to the child, which she chooses to do,
3:47
Speaker 2: and in the process notifies the dad, who has not
3:51
Speaker 2: been a part of her life in any way, shape
3:53
Speaker 2: or form up until that point, that he is actually
3:56
Speaker 2: the father and that she wants him to take care
3:58
Speaker 2: of the baby. Up until that point, he has been
4:00
Speaker 2: just lost and had no direction in his life. So
4:04
Speaker 2: the social worker comes on board, believing that he doesn't
4:08
Speaker 2: have a hope in hades of making this work. He's
4:10
Speaker 2: not a good influence on the child, and because of
4:14
Speaker 2: her personal experiences growing up in those kinds of environments,
4:19
Speaker 2: she has decided that it's not going to work, and
4:22
Speaker 2: so she's really really hard on him. And because she's
4:25
Speaker 2: really hard on him, she actually in some cases pushes
4:28
Speaker 2: him down the very road that he's trying to avoid
4:31
Speaker 2: because of her own prejudice, not because of what's in
4:35
Speaker 2: front of her. And so I loved I loved how
4:38
Speaker 2: it actually took her really what would be considered a
4:41
Speaker 2: very unique situation, but the principles and the values that
4:45
Speaker 2: it talks about, the actual challenges that we have, can
4:49
Speaker 2: be any situation. We just get so blinded by our
4:52
Speaker 2: own scenarios as opposed to actually looking at what's in
4:56
Speaker 2: front of us and seeing, in this particular case, a
4:58
Speaker 2: dad who is working his buttle to make this work.
5:01
Speaker 3: What do you give it? Out of five?
5:02
Speaker 2: I'd give it probably a three and a half.
5:05
Speaker 3: Okay, worth reading? Then was worth.
5:06
Speaker 2: Reading, May've Binchi Minding Frankie.
5:09
Speaker 3: Okay, Maye Binchi Minding Frankie three point five stars? What's
5:12
Speaker 3: the other novel that you read?
5:14
Speaker 2: So my second novel is When Grace Went Away by
5:16
Speaker 2: Meredith Appleyard. It's actually an Australian novel. It's set in
5:21
Speaker 2: the hinterland in Adelaide and it's just again another story
5:26
Speaker 2: about the challenges that family life goes through. Mum and
5:28
Speaker 2: dad actually split up. The kids are old enough to
5:31
Speaker 2: make their own assumptions about why things happened and take sides,
5:37
Speaker 2: you know, from mum and dad. And it's about a
5:41
Speaker 2: family kind of piecing themselves back together after years and
5:45
Speaker 2: years of separation. Again, just a really a book that
5:50
Speaker 2: kind of, I guess, addresses the challenges that families go
5:54
Speaker 2: through when there has been significant hurt and not the
5:58
Speaker 2: capacity to actually unpack that as it's happening.
6:03
Speaker 3: Meredith happy Yard, When Grace Went Away? What did you
6:05
Speaker 3: give it? Out of five?
6:07
Speaker 2: I'd probably give it a four. I really enjoyed this one.
6:09
Speaker 3: Okay, sounds great. What was the autobiography that you read?
6:13
Speaker 2: I don't even know how it ended up on my
6:14
Speaker 2: book pile. I think it might have been a throw
6:16
Speaker 2: out that your mom passed on somewhere down the track.
6:20
Speaker 2: But it's called Rex by Kathleen Lewis. If you actually
6:23
Speaker 2: google Rex, sixty minutes autistic child. You'll actually be able
6:29
Speaker 2: to view the interviews that took place with Rex a.
6:32
Speaker 2: Rex was really really high up on the spectrum as
6:36
Speaker 2: far as autism goes and specialists it pretty much put
6:41
Speaker 2: him in the too hard basket. This was not going
6:43
Speaker 2: to go anywhere. But very early on his mum was
6:48
Speaker 2: just this amazing champion of her son. And the book
6:53
Speaker 2: is really about a mother's love and how a mother's
6:56
Speaker 2: love can transcend any label or you know, challenge that
7:02
Speaker 2: is placed in your path, and she really just fought
7:06
Speaker 2: for Rex, and in the process they actually worked out
7:10
Speaker 2: that Rex was I can't remember the fancy name for it,
7:14
Speaker 2: but basically, there's only a handful of these people in
7:19
Speaker 2: the world.
7:19
Speaker 3: It's like a Beethoven, like a savant, yes that's the word.
7:24
Speaker 2: And he just was able to sit at a piano
7:29
Speaker 2: and play stuff that he'd only heard once or in
7:32
Speaker 2: the early days. It wasn't even that he'd heard music.
7:34
Speaker 2: It was actually that he sat down and his playing
7:37
Speaker 2: made sense. And so just reading that story was I
7:43
Speaker 2: just I loved it love. I loved watching How a
7:45
Speaker 2: Mother's Love Has No Bounds.
7:47
Speaker 3: Okay, Rex, an autobiography, what do you give that out
7:50
Speaker 3: of five, give it a four. Okay, sounds great after
7:52
Speaker 3: the break, a couple of books from me, and then
7:54
Speaker 3: Kylie's one that she's more excited about than any of
7:56
Speaker 3: the others. You've asked politely, you've asked again, you've patiently waited,
8:06
Speaker 3: you've even made a threat, but finally you lose it.
8:09
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8:14
Speaker 3: Screaming Spiral, you'll learn the top reasons why your child
8:17
Speaker 3: isn't listening, and you'll get pro tips and strategies to
8:20
Speaker 3: get them to hear without yelling. Available on the Happy
8:24
Speaker 3: Family's webshop.
8:24
Speaker 2: Now it's the Happy Families Podcast, the podcast for the
8:28
Speaker 2: time poor parent who just wants answers now and justin
8:32
Speaker 2: what have you been reading lately?
8:34
Speaker 3: Well, if you haven't listened to this song, it'll give
8:36
Speaker 3: you a clue. I walked into a second hand book
8:38
Speaker 3: at the bookstore and picked up a couple of copies
8:41
Speaker 3: of books by Jimmy Barnes. One of them was Working
8:45
Speaker 3: Class Boy, the other one was Working Class Man. And
8:48
Speaker 3: I've pretty much read the entire life story of the
8:50
Speaker 3: guy who was the front man for one of Australia's
8:52
Speaker 3: biggest rock bands ever, Cold Chisel and I mean you
8:59
Speaker 3: hear this riff? Can you hear this song? And if
9:01
Speaker 3: you're a child of the seventies and eighties like me,
9:03
Speaker 3: it just takes you back. So let me talk about
9:06
Speaker 3: those two books first of all, and I'll tell you
9:09
Speaker 3: what I loved, and then I'll tell you what I
9:10
Speaker 3: didn't love. First off, we'll start with Working Class Boy.
9:13
Speaker 3: This is the book that shot Jimmy Barnes to start
9:15
Speaker 3: him again for like the umpteenth time a few years
9:18
Speaker 3: ago when it was released. I've heard so many people
9:21
Speaker 3: rave about this book. Obviously, when I saw it on
9:23
Speaker 3: the shelf for the second hand book store, I grabbed
9:25
Speaker 3: it and I have to say, in a word, it
9:28
Speaker 3: is harrowing. It is compelling, it is horrible. It's a
9:35
Speaker 3: story about a boy who experienced what I can only
9:38
Speaker 3: say is so much of the very worst that life
9:41
Speaker 3: can throw out a child. And how he survived it,
9:44
Speaker 3: I think is simply extraordinary. It's a book that doesn't
9:48
Speaker 3: pull any punches at all. It's compelling, it's striking, it's frightening.
9:51
Speaker 3: The world has changed since he was a boy for
9:55
Speaker 3: the better, and I'm grateful for it. Because it is awful.
10:00
Speaker 3: The content warning that I have to give strong language,
10:04
Speaker 3: very very very strong language. The book is confronting, it's
10:08
Speaker 3: challenging at a really emotional level, but it's a really
10:11
Speaker 3: solid autobiography and it tells a story that's worth sharing.
10:14
Speaker 3: I loved Working Class Boy. I'd give it four and
10:17
Speaker 3: a half stars. Thought it was an amazing book. The sequel,
10:21
Speaker 3: on the other hand, Working Class Man, it kind of
10:24
Speaker 3: kicks off when Cold Chisel starts to make a name
10:26
Speaker 3: for themselves. And if I could summarize Working Class Man,
10:33
Speaker 3: I would say it's about five hundred pages long, and
10:36
Speaker 3: I reckon you could summarize it in two pages by saying,
10:39
Speaker 3: Jimmy had lots of drugs, he had lots of booze,
10:42
Speaker 3: he had lots of sex, he made lots of money,
10:43
Speaker 3: he went broken, he lost it all. And if you
10:46
Speaker 3: just use the words harder, stronger, faster, more, harder, stronger, faster,
10:52
Speaker 3: more when it comes to drug taking, or when it
10:54
Speaker 3: comes to violence, when it comes to whatever, that's pretty
10:56
Speaker 3: much it. I think there's a couple of issues with
10:59
Speaker 3: the second one, Working class Man. First, the book lacks
11:02
Speaker 3: insight about Chisel, and it lacks inside about Barnsey and
11:07
Speaker 3: it absolutely lacks insight about the songs and the decisions
11:10
Speaker 3: that were made in his life. I mean, I wanted
11:12
Speaker 3: to hear about Kay Sam. I wanted to hear about
11:16
Speaker 3: Bow River. I wanted to hear about Forever Now and
11:24
Speaker 3: Cheap Wine and When the War Is Over, and I
11:27
Speaker 3: really wanted to hear about Flame Trees Are the Blame
11:33
Speaker 3: movie Drama. I wanted to hear more about the relationships
11:37
Speaker 3: between the band members. I wanted to hear him talk
11:40
Speaker 3: about his experience working with Tina Turner with the NRL
11:43
Speaker 3: and singing simply the Best with Tina Turner more than
11:45
Speaker 3: he did, or when he sang with John Farnham and
11:48
Speaker 3: Johnny Diesel with when Something Is Wrong with My Baby.
11:52
Speaker 3: I wanted to hear the story behind Working Class Man,
11:55
Speaker 3: and instead the second book, Working Class Man was like
11:59
Speaker 3: a two to two and a half star read full
12:02
Speaker 3: of the same thing, repeated page after page after page.
12:05
Speaker 3: It didn't do it for me at all. Didn't enjoy
12:07
Speaker 3: it at all. I loved Working Class Boy. It was incredible,
12:11
Speaker 3: It was so compelling, but can't say the same for
12:13
Speaker 3: the other one.
12:15
Speaker 2: It's interesting when you think about the things that he
12:17
Speaker 2: obviously was involved in through that period. Chances are that
12:24
Speaker 2: his capacity to be in the moment and actually remember
12:27
Speaker 2: those experiences the way they could be told would have
12:32
Speaker 2: impacted the story as opposed to his childhood, where he's
12:35
Speaker 2: fully present.
12:36
Speaker 3: That thought definitely occurred to me, and I would have
12:39
Speaker 3: loved to have known more about It's just so much
12:42
Speaker 3: as I read Working Class Man, even though it was
12:45
Speaker 3: longer than Working Class Boy, I know that he was
12:48
Speaker 3: revealing everything that he could. But all that he could
12:50
Speaker 3: reveal was more and more and more, faster, stronger, harder, drugs, sex, booze,
12:55
Speaker 3: and then more. That's really how it felt. And it
12:58
Speaker 3: was just overwhelming, but didn't don't really go anywhere. It
13:01
Speaker 3: didn't really give me insight into the man other than that,
13:04
Speaker 3: like you said, there's nothing there except for sex and
13:09
Speaker 3: drugs and booze and rock and roll. And therefore, I
13:12
Speaker 3: think the second issue is the lack of insight and meaning.
13:15
Speaker 3: Seems to stem from the lack of insight and meaning
13:19
Speaker 3: in anything that he did because of the drugs. But
13:21
Speaker 3: he was massively productive and a huge hit maker. But
13:25
Speaker 3: the second book is not a hit the first one is.
13:27
Speaker 2: Wasn't there three books.
13:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, the third one is still on my bedside table.
13:30
Speaker 3: I'm not sure if I'm going to pick it up
13:31
Speaker 3: now because I was left wanting with the second one.
13:34
Speaker 3: I'll probably get to it in the next month or so.
13:35
Speaker 2: Okay, so what asked? Have you read?
13:37
Speaker 3: Okay, another one really quickly. I've got to give this
13:39
Speaker 3: one a really big plug. We've had Amantha Imba on
13:42
Speaker 3: the podcast a couple of times talking about her book
13:44
Speaker 3: time Wise and her podcast How I Work. This is
13:48
Speaker 3: basically a book of one hundred ideas to be more
13:50
Speaker 3: productive and to be more efficient, based on interviews that
13:53
Speaker 3: she's done with literally the thought leaders of the world
13:58
Speaker 3: in these areas. It's built on ideas from the podcast
14:02
Speaker 3: How I Work, and I just love the book. Lots
14:04
Speaker 3: of fun, really easy to read, highly breathtakingly practical, super simple.
14:12
Speaker 3: Some of the ideas were kind of ridiculous, So like,
14:13
Speaker 3: there's one hundred ideas that I'm not going to it's
14:15
Speaker 3: just they're not all going to resonate. But I got
14:18
Speaker 3: so much value from this book and I thought it
14:20
Speaker 3: was wonderful. Amantha is somebody that I would consider to
14:24
Speaker 3: be a friend, So I'm not going to put a
14:25
Speaker 3: rating on it. I don't think that's fair to rape
14:27
Speaker 3: my friends on the way they've written their books, and
14:28
Speaker 3: I hope that she wouldn't put a number out there
14:30
Speaker 3: for me either. But it's definitely a great book to
14:32
Speaker 3: read if you're running a business or if you want
14:34
Speaker 3: to be more productive or efficient. It's not really a
14:36
Speaker 3: parenting book, but there's plenty in there that could help
14:38
Speaker 3: you to be a better parent as well.
14:39
Speaker 2: It's funny. I actually opened that package when it arrived,
14:42
Speaker 2: and I noticed that she'd written a little note that said,
14:44
Speaker 2: I know, I recognize that you're time poor. You might
14:47
Speaker 2: want to turn to page I don't know, seventy two
14:49
Speaker 2: or whatever. She'd worked out that there was something in
14:53
Speaker 2: there for you.
14:53
Speaker 3: Did it work? I can't remember which one that one was,
14:55
Speaker 3: but the book was worth reading, and it's an easy read.
14:58
Speaker 3: So time Wise by Amantha Imber an unknown quantity of stars,
15:03
Speaker 3: but well worth reading because I have that relationship with her.
15:06
Speaker 3: We're out of time for me to share any more.
15:09
Speaker 3: But just lastly, the one that I've probably enjoyed the
15:11
Speaker 3: most in the last month is a book called Raised
15:14
Speaker 3: by Animals by a university professor called Jennifer Verdilin. She
15:19
Speaker 3: wrote an entire book, fascinating take on the way that
15:22
Speaker 3: animals raise their young, comparing it to the way humans
15:25
Speaker 3: raise their young. Lots of science stuff, incredible breadth of
15:29
Speaker 3: material covered. I couldn't help but think that she might
15:32
Speaker 3: have been grabing content that emphasized her views on how
15:34
Speaker 3: kids should be raised and then saying this how they
15:36
Speaker 3: do it in the animal world, and so you should
15:37
Speaker 3: do this. And it wasn't always consistent with the very
15:39
Speaker 3: best parenting science, but it was an enormous undertaking and
15:43
Speaker 3: such a fantastic, fantastic book. I'm going to give it
15:47
Speaker 3: like before and a quarter for ye four and a
15:50
Speaker 3: quarter I'm going to give it was a little bit wordy,
15:52
Speaker 3: it could have been trimmed a bit. Great book. It's
15:54
Speaker 3: one that I'm definitely going to be using as a resource.
15:56
Speaker 3: Jennifer Verdilein Raised by Animals four point twenty five stars,
16:00
Speaker 3: four point twenty five. What's your last one? Because we've
16:03
Speaker 3: go to wrap this up and I know you want
16:04
Speaker 3: to talk about it.
16:05
Speaker 2: So late last year I attended a health retreat and
16:09
Speaker 2: as part of the conversation, one of the women that
16:12
Speaker 2: I was talking to said that The best book she'd
16:14
Speaker 2: read in a long time was called The Boy, the Mole,
16:16
Speaker 2: the Fox, and the Horse. It was a great book
16:18
Speaker 2: on friendship. So one day I happened to be in
16:20
Speaker 2: the store and this book jumped out at me, and
16:23
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm sure that's what that woman said I
16:25
Speaker 2: should read. So I love covers. If cover speaks to me,
16:29
Speaker 2: I'll pick a book up. I didn't even flick through
16:32
Speaker 2: the pages. I just assumed that I was going to
16:35
Speaker 2: be picking up this beautiful novel.
16:36
Speaker 3: It's a big, thick book. It is like two hundred
16:39
Speaker 3: pages or something not quite that.
16:41
Speaker 2: It doesn't even have page numbers, so I can't even
16:43
Speaker 2: tell you how many pages there are. Sure, So it's
16:45
Speaker 2: been on my bookshelf for months, and.
16:47
Speaker 3: So you're thinking, I don't have time to read another novel,
16:49
Speaker 3: that's right.
16:50
Speaker 2: And so I'd finished my book and I needed something
16:52
Speaker 2: light to kind of get me through, and I picked
16:55
Speaker 2: it up and I opened it up only to realize
16:57
Speaker 2: that there's only about maybe seven or eight words on
17:00
Speaker 2: each page. It's a picture book.
17:01
Speaker 3: In fact, there's no words on many pages.
17:03
Speaker 2: It has the most adorable illustrations, And can I tell you,
17:08
Speaker 2: I just I you won't let me read it because
17:10
Speaker 2: you told me we've run out of time. But there
17:12
Speaker 2: was just a handful of phrases that jumped out at me,
17:16
Speaker 2: And this has become a go to for gifts because
17:19
Speaker 2: I just think every person should should remember these things.
17:23
Speaker 3: That's a big cool If you're buying a book consistently
17:25
Speaker 3: and giving it to lots of people, that suggests that
17:27
Speaker 3: you really like this book.
17:29
Speaker 2: So I'm just gonna read you a handful of phrases.
17:31
Speaker 2: Isn't it odd? We can only see our outsides, but
17:35
Speaker 2: nearly everything happens on the inside. I just love that insight.
17:39
Speaker 2: And if we can stop as individuals and actually take
17:43
Speaker 2: the time to understand what's happening inside, it will make
17:47
Speaker 2: life so much better.
17:49
Speaker 3: I'm leaning in.
17:50
Speaker 2: We often wait for kindness, but being kind to yourself
17:53
Speaker 2: can start now. So many times we think that we
17:57
Speaker 2: have to wait for other people to be kind to
17:59
Speaker 2: us to experience kindness, but we can actually do it
18:02
Speaker 2: for ourselves. What is the bravest thing you've ever said?
18:06
Speaker 2: Ask the boy? Help, said the horse. That's one thing
18:11
Speaker 2: I think, especially as mums, we are so bad at doing.
18:14
Speaker 2: We think that to ask for help means that we're weak.
18:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's not just mums. When we consider some
18:20
Speaker 3: of the tragic events that we've heard about in the
18:21
Speaker 3: news recently, there's just such an important lesson there, the
18:26
Speaker 3: need to ask for help. We don't need to cop
18:30
Speaker 3: what life gives us and shut up. We need to
18:32
Speaker 3: cop what life gives us and reach out and speak up.
18:35
Speaker 2: And it goes on in the book to just say
18:37
Speaker 2: that when we ask for help, it's not that we're
18:39
Speaker 2: giving up. It's that we don't want to give up.
18:41
Speaker 2: We actually recognize that we can't do this alone and
18:44
Speaker 2: we're not willing to give up. So I just love that.
18:47
Speaker 2: It goes on to say, the greatest illusion set them
18:50
Speaker 2: all is that life should be perfect. So often we
18:54
Speaker 2: get so disillusioned by life in general, especially family life.
18:58
Speaker 2: It's so messy, and we think we've worked so hard,
19:00
Speaker 2: why isn't it better? But it's not supposed to be perfect.
19:03
Speaker 2: It's actually supposed to be messy, and it's beautiful because
19:06
Speaker 2: of that. And then he says, what's your best discovery?
19:10
Speaker 2: Asked the mole, and the boy said that I am
19:13
Speaker 2: enough as I am. The book closes with this, always
19:18
Speaker 2: remember you matter, You're important. And you are loved and
19:21
Speaker 2: you bring to this world things no one else can,
19:24
Speaker 2: and I just love it was just it was completely unexpected.
19:27
Speaker 2: It was not what I thought I was opening up
19:29
Speaker 2: to read. But I am so grateful for this little book,
19:32
Speaker 2: and like I said, has become a go to for gifts.
19:34
Speaker 3: When I hear what you read on that last page,
19:36
Speaker 3: my mind goes back to the recent events with Paul Green,
19:39
Speaker 3: the former NL player and coach who died by suicide
19:43
Speaker 3: a couple of weeks ago, and I think, ah, I
19:45
Speaker 3: wish everybody could hear that message. That's just beautiful. It's really, really,
19:50
Speaker 3: really gorgeous. I think you might need to pop that
19:52
Speaker 3: onto my bedside table and I'll read that one next.
19:55
Speaker 2: So the book is The Boy, the Mole, the Fox
19:57
Speaker 2: and the Horse, and it's by Charlie Mackasey.
20:00
Speaker 3: How many stars, oh five?
20:02
Speaker 2: It sounds like probably a tend to be honest.
20:04
Speaker 3: It's now if I love it. Well, we'll put all
20:06
Speaker 3: of these books into the show notes for you. We
20:08
Speaker 3: hope that this has been a fun podcast for you
20:11
Speaker 3: to listen to. We love talking about the books we're reading.
20:13
Speaker 3: We hope that you're enjoying listening to it. You can
20:16
Speaker 3: get more information in the show notes. The Happy Families
20:18
Speaker 3: podcast is produced by Justin Rowland from Bridge Media. Our
20:21
Speaker 3: executive producer is Craig Bruce. For more information about making
20:24
Speaker 3: your family happier, we would love for you to visit
20:26
Speaker 3: us on our Facebook page Dr Justin Colson's Happy Families
20:29
Speaker 3: or at happy families dot com dot A. You kids
20:32
Speaker 3: are bab said