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How to Find a Summer Schedule and Transition Back to School with Jessica Irwin · The Spiritual Parent: Mindful Tools for Raising Spiritual and Conscious Kids

• 0:01
  Jessica: When I teach about routines in my business, I like to kind of structure it in my five non-negotiables that's what I call it.
• 0:11
  Jessica: And so throughout your regular school year or when you are in a routine, it's really helpful if you think about having routines in these five areas.
• 0:20
  Jessica: So the five areas would be sleep routines, so that can include bedtime, waking and nap time, if your child still takes a nap.
• 0:32
  Jessica: Morning routine, so what happens in the morning right when they wake up.
• 0:34
  Jessica: Mealtime routines, or any routines around food.
• 0:36
  Jessica: Playtime routines, so routines around play when that happens, what that looks like.
• 0:41
  Jessica: And then the last one is outdoor time routines.
• 0:44
  Jessica: So ideally we are getting outside at least once a day.
• 0:48
  Jessica: Kids should be getting outside a lot.
• 0:50
  Jessica: So just kind of what the routines looks like around getting outside.
• 0:56
  Carrie: Welcome to Heart to Heart Parents.
• 0:57
  Carrie: Let's connect with our kids and learn together.
• 1:00
  Carrie: I'm Carrie.
• 1:01
  Carrie: I was a former teacher and speech therapist.
• 1:03
  Carrie: I'm Carrie.
• 1:04
  Carrie: I was a former teacher and speech therapist.
• 1:05
  Carrie: I'm also a parent of two spirited, gifted, highly sensitive kids.
• 1:08
  Carrie: I was quickly brought to my knees as a parent when I thought that I would see a rosy lens version of parenting, just as they present on Instagram, but I quickly learned that's not real life.
• 1:19
  Carrie: I will provide real life experiences and transform them into moments for connections and change for you to use in your house.
• 1:27
  Carrie: Hi there, I'm Carrie, with Heart to Heart Parents.
• 1:33
  Carrie: I'm your friendly mom here to share some knowledge and information that I found out, and today I have a really fun guest Jessica Irwin, a childhood routine expert, pediatric occupational therapist, mom of a toddler ooh busy mama and a lover of all things child development.
• 1:51
  Carrie: So she founded her business online, which is called Rooted and Routine, and if you don't follow her, you should check her out on Instagram.
• 1:57
  Carrie: She's a wealth of knowledge and I just want to say, Jessica, thank you so much for meeting with me online.
• 2:04
  Carrie: You're the first OT I've had and, as an SLP, I'm really excited to connect with another therapist.
• 2:10
  Jessica: Yes, I'm so excited to be here.
• 2:12
  Jessica: Thanks for having me.
• 2:13
  Carrie: Yeah, it's really fun and we were chatting earlier and I was really excited we were talking about routines and I feel like my life has been really chaotic right now.
• 2:25
  Carrie: I was just running from the pool, leaving my kids with my mom at the pool, like if Mimi needs to load the car, carry things in for Mimi, please.
• 2:32
  Carrie: So we, our routine, is a little wonky in the summer and I wanted to see if you have any tips about maybe regular routine versus summer routine or any of those pieces for us.
• 2:47
  Jessica: Yeah, sure.
• 2:48
  Jessica: So I think when I teach about routines in my business, I like to kind of structure it in my five non-negotiables that's what I call it.
• 2:59
  Jessica: And so throughout your regular school year or when you are in a routine, it's really helpful if you think about having routines in these five areas.
• 3:08
  Jessica: So the five areas would be sleep routine, so that can include bedtime, waking and nap time if your child still takes a nap, sure.
• 3:17
  Jessica: Morning routine, so what happens in the morning, right when they wake up.
• 3:19
  Jessica: Meal time routines or any routines around food.
• 3:23
  Jessica: Play time routines, so routines around play, when that happens, what that looks like.
• 3:29
  Jessica: And then the last one is outdoor time routines.
• 3:32
  Jessica: So ideally we are getting outside at least once a day.
• 3:35
  Jessica: Kids should be getting outside a lot so just kind of what the routines looks like around getting outside.
• 3:41
  Jessica: So in the normal school year, when you're a child's kind of in their routine, it's fairly simple to have routines around these five areas, I think.
• 3:49
  Jessica: And I think it's a really good starting point.
• 3:51
  Jessica: If you don't, in the summer of course, things are going to be more fluid.
• 3:55
  Jessica: So I think, first of all it's okay, it's important to know, it's okay to not have perhaps as structured of a routine in the summer, but I do think it's important to maintain routines around at least some of these five areas, if not all.
• 4:10
  Jessica: Maybe not all five every single day, but it's a really nice framework to keep at least some of them consistent throughout the summer and thinking which ones maybe are more important to your child and your family's values and which ones can be a little bit more fluid.
• 4:25
  Carrie: Okay, yeah, that's super helpful.
• 4:28
  Carrie: I think my son sometimes sees our neighbors outside and he's like mom, you make me go to bed so early, but I'm going to tell him.
• 4:36
  Carrie: Ms Jess said that we need to go to bed at a normal time.
• 4:41
  Jessica: Yes, Somewhat normal.
• 4:43
  Jessica: Yes.
• 4:44
  Carrie: I know I mean 11 o'clock would be normal for him.
• 4:47
  Carrie: He's nine and he likes to sleep like a teenager, so he would think that was normal.
• 4:52
  Carrie: But I think I'm also going to have my husband listen as well, because the food routine is one that I think they often.
• 5:01
  Carrie: I was talking to a girlfriend recently that husbands often forget the snack routine.
• 5:06
  Carrie: I think on a weekend we often our kids will be melting down.
• 5:10
  Carrie: We're like, oh my God, we forgot the snacks.
• 5:12
  Carrie: So yeah, it's, that's really important.
• 5:14
  Carrie: Anything with food.
• 5:16
  Carrie: It sounds like to keep those at the regular times right.
• 5:20
  Jessica: Okay, yeah, I think young children in general, on average and this is going to vary, right For every child, but they're usually, you know, on average should be eating around four, maybe five times a day.
• 5:33
  Jessica: That's a pretty basic routine.
• 5:35
  Jessica: So every couple hours they're either having a meal or a snack.
• 5:38
  Jessica: As they get older and some adults choose to space that out, of course, in wider intervals.
• 5:43
  Jessica: But, yeah, it's also important that we are spacing them out appropriately for kids, so you're not snacking all day long either.
• 5:50
  Jessica: And so I think having you know a sample example would be like you wake up, you have breakfast.
• 5:56
  Jessica: A couple hours later maybe you have a snack.
• 5:58
  Jessica: A couple hours later you have lunch, then you have an afternoon snack, then you have dinner.
• 6:03
  Jessica: That's like a basic example, but I think sticking to that as closely as you can on most summer days is actually really helpful for kids, because then we're not getting into this cycle of when is food available.
• 6:16
  Jessica: I forget.
• 6:17
  Jessica: Are we snacking all day?
• 6:18
  Jessica: Can I have this treat Like it just gets really chaotic.
• 6:22
  Jessica: So I think for a lot of parents it can be helpful to maintain that meal and snack routine in the summer too.
• 6:29
  Jessica: Okay.
• 6:30
  Carrie: All right, that's really helpful.
• 6:32
  Carrie: And I was thinking my kids this summer.
• 6:35
  Carrie: They had a lot going on this spring as we changed schools in January and their systems were really taxed out.
• 6:41
  Carrie: They asked to have no activities this summer.
• 6:43
  Carrie: They didn't want to do camps.
• 6:45
  Carrie: They didn't, luckily, moms staying at home and doing podcasting at home, but they didn't want to do camps.
• 6:50
  Carrie: They didn't want to do dance or Taekwondo or anything.
• 6:54
  Carrie: They just wanted to check out.
• 6:55
  Carrie: So I guess I'm going to try to keep these food routines in mind.
• 6:59
  Carrie: Any any ideas about the outdoor piece?
• 7:02
  Carrie: Do I just try to fit it in when I can?
• 7:07
  Jessica: Yeah, I mean, I think if you do have kind of the whole day open right with your kids, depending on their age, I think it's like first think about okay, we have our morning time, and then we have our evening wind down time and then we have our meal spaced throughout.
• 7:23
  Jessica: So then you think, okay, now what are my like chunks that are that I can kind of fill in with stuff, and, of course, meals can happen outside or meals can happen on the go.
• 7:33
  Jessica: Right, like that's okay.
• 7:34
  Jessica: But it may be helpful thinking of like when, when are times that I feel like we can get outside, when are times that I think we could do an outing, like go somewhere, like you know, to the pool or to the park or to the zoo, wherever like you feel like it's best?
• 7:49
  Jessica: There's not going to be like a perfect answer.
• 7:51
  Jessica: I, like we're both in Colorado it does tend to get really hot later in the day, so, depending on the weather too, sometimes people really like to get outside in the morning.
• 8:01
  Jessica: It also is great to have like sunlight in the morning and expose your body to light um can help your mood.
• 8:08
  Jessica: So that could be a great time to maybe have like outdoor play.
• 8:11
  Jessica: If you have a yard you can go to, and then maybe your outing is like later.
• 8:15
  Jessica: So there's different ways to do it.
• 8:18
  Carrie: Yeah, that's great.
• 8:19
  Carrie: That's great info.
• 8:20
  Carrie: I like that.
• 8:21
  Carrie: I'm thinking I'm going to keep shooting for having my outdoor time in the morning, because in Colorado you never know when those thunder bumpers are coming in Like I've heard that to the library, all right, and then you get no outdoor.
• 8:34
  Carrie: If you were planning on the afternoon, so that's great, I like that.
• 8:38
  Carrie: Thank you so much.
• 8:39
  Carrie: And then, as we kind of wind down and the school year comes back, which always jumps at me, I think we only have like 10 weeks in Colorado.
• 8:47
  Carrie: It's really crazy.
• 8:48
  Carrie: Here, by the time we go on our vacation plan July, it's like, oh time to buy school clothes.
• 8:53
  Carrie: Do you have any tips as we start to get back into the school year?
• 8:57
  Carrie: As you can tell, I'm already starting to plan.
• 9:00
  Jessica: Yeah, no, and I think a lot of parents are.
• 9:02
  Jessica: I think that's a very common feeling, that it like sneaks up on you.
• 9:06
  Jessica: So I think the biggest one that parents will ask about is usually timing of sleep, because oftentimes not for everyone, but a lot of times our kids are staying up maybe a little later in the summer, which is totally normal and okay because the sun is up up later and that's kind of natural.
• 9:24
  Jessica: But as school year comes, a lot of times they're going to have to be waking up earlier, and so we want to think about then trying, if possible, to shift bedtime a little earlier, at least in small increments as we get closer to school, starting maybe a week before two weeks if you can, but a lot of people can't, and that's okay.
• 9:46
  Jessica: So I think, and I think for school age kids, we can talk to them openly about what is going to change and what's what their new routines are going to look like and why, giving them the reasoning behind it and how your job is to make sure they're rested and they're ready for school, and then really just solidifying like a consistent bedtime routine, maybe the week or so before school starts, so that that is consistent when the first day of school comes.
• 10:15
  Jessica: I think that can be really helpful if you're not already doing it.
• 10:18
  Carrie: Yeah, I love that and I was actually talking to my husband yesterday.
• 10:22
  Carrie: We were trying to figure out my daughter's going back and forth between gymnastics and hip hop.
• 10:27
  Carrie: She's six and she loves movement and so we're trying to figure out what we're going to do as the school year starts and she's going into first grade where her academics are kind of building up a little bit, and we're in a crazy area where you have to know what you're going to want as an activity and you have to like get up at 5am andm and sign up your child before it closes for gymnastics, otherwise you're out for the whole school year.
• 10:52
  Carrie: So I was telling my husband I think we're going to have to sign up for two things or three things and then just start weeding out what she doesn't want.
• 11:00
  Carrie: Otherwise we'll miss our spots.
• 11:02
  Carrie: Do you have any any ideas about what we can do to kind of help that transition from school into the full day of class as academics are coming up?
• 11:12
  Carrie: Is there anything that we can do for her system to kind of prepare her as she goes back into school?
• 11:19
  Jessica: Yeah, so I think it is definitely different when a child is on summer vacation and there's not really as many demands in their day as there will be in the school day, and then adding on activities as well.
• 11:33
  Jessica: And so at six years old, and really for school age children in general, I love implementing some sort of visual.
• 11:40
  Jessica: So, whether that's a like a weekly calendar or a written list of what, something that shows them what their days are going to look like or what their week is going to look like, can be really, really helpful, just so they are like seeing.
• 11:55
  Jessica: Okay, let's say, for example, it's a kind of a picture of a week, monday through Sunday.
• 12:00
  Jessica: They see the days that they're going to be going to school, maybe they see the days that they have gymnastics or the days they have dance practice or whatever they have.
• 12:07
  Jessica: That can be really helpful.
• 12:09
  Jessica: Um, for them to just have a little bit of preparation going into that week, and I have some recommendations.
• 12:16
  Jessica: I have a few brands that like, products that I like, that make these for you so you don't have to make it yourself unless you want to that are really helpful for these ages okay.
• 12:26
  Carrie: Okay, is that on your website or your Instagram?
• 12:29
  Jessica: Yeah, we can.
• 12:29
  Jessica: We can link it here.
• 12:30
  Jessica: One of them is called Mighty and Bright.
• 12:33
  Jessica: I use one with my three-year-old.
• 12:34
  Jessica: He's still a little bit young, of course, to be doing like lots of different activities, but even just seeing this year, you know we it's magnetic so you can change the magnets out depending with pictures, depending on where he's going.
• 12:46
  Jessica: So he saw, like, what days he was going to preschool, what days he's staying home with mom and what days maybe he was seeing his grandparents.
• 12:54
  Jessica: And even just that basic level of what's going on each day can be really helpful for, honestly, kids of any age, yeah, yeah, even the bigger kids.
• 13:03
  Carrie: I know my son too.
• 13:04
  Carrie: He's like what day?
• 13:05
  Carrie: And he really gets set in his days, so I have to warn him before if we have something coming up.
• 13:10
  Carrie: But I love that.
• 13:12
  Carrie: I love that you know a company that makes them, because I only had time to make a visual schedule out of my own creation during the pandemic.
• 13:20
  Carrie: Since then I have not been so good at it.
• 13:23
  Carrie: But yeah, I love that idea of the weekly calendar, do you actually?
• 13:27
  Carrie: It just came into mind.
• 13:28
  Carrie: We're leaving for Hawaii in a couple of weeks and my husband and I are trying to think of all the things to take on the airplane for the longer flight that we haven't done and the change of the routine, going to new places and such.
• 13:41
  Carrie: We've thought about doing.
• 13:43
  Carrie: Maybe a schedule he's actually my husband's been typing it up Like here's pictures of the beach that we're going to go to.
• 13:50
  Carrie: Here's a picture of an activity we're going to go to.
• 13:53
  Carrie: Is that the kind of thing we should be thinking about?
• 13:57
  Jessica: Yeah, I think it's.
• 13:58
  Jessica: Every child's a little different and there are some kids who really do like to be prepared for change and do better when they're shown in advance what things are going to look like.
• 14:08
  Jessica: So if you can, if you have access to even like photos of maybe, the place you're going to, what it's going to look like, if you're going to a hotel or an Airbnb like a photo of it, I think that's great.
• 14:20
  Jessica: You can either I mean easily, obviously show them on your computer or something, but even better, printing it out, talking about it is is great, and there are that's have you ever heard of?
• 14:32
  Jessica: I'm sure you have as a speech pathologist, but like a social story.
• 14:35
  Jessica: Have you heard of this?
• 14:37
  Jessica: So it's kind of similar to that where it's like you know, a child is shown what they're going to be doing and then it's kind of written in a story format.
• 14:45
  Jessica: Um, that can be really helpful.
• 14:47
  Jessica: You can literally make your own as a parent, just like typing that up too.
• 14:51
  Carrie: Yeah, I made that for my son when he was two he's now nine and we were traveling on a flight and we were going to several hotels and several locations and he would just look.
• 15:01
  Carrie: I had like little plastic sheet protectors in a binder and he would just look through it and be like we're going.
• 15:06
  Carrie: He would say like traverse city and he'd just repeat traverse city.
• 15:10
  Carrie: It was really really helpful for him because, um, he's the type we were going to surprise him with legoland.
• 15:15
  Carrie: But he said we asked him straight out do you, we're gonna take you on a surprise trip?
• 15:20
  Carrie: We kind of had this feeling like do you want us to tell you where we're going?
• 15:24
  Carrie: And he's like, yeah, I need to know, need to know, I need to know ahead of time.
• 15:27
  Carrie: You can't surprise me.
• 15:28
  Carrie: So we had to lay it out Like we're going to California, we're going to go on a plane, it's coming up this Friday and he's like, okay, that's all, that's enough for me to feel safe.
• 15:38
  Jessica: So so, yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
• 15:40
  Jessica: You say that because one of my like mottos that I like to share and, of course, take this with a grain of salt, because not every child is the same but one of my mottos is kids don't like surprises.
• 15:51
  Jessica: They really don't.
• 15:52
  Jessica: Some may, but a lot of times they feel safe and they feel secure in their nervous system and in their body when they know what's coming.
• 16:01
  Jessica: It's just kind of like a safety mechanism.
• 16:03
  Jessica: We all have adults that are able to be a little more resilient towards that, depending on your personality.
• 16:09
  Jessica: Some aren't.
• 16:10
  Jessica: So, yeah, it's.
• 16:12
  Jessica: A lot of kids don't want to be surprised and it can be really overwhelming, especially kids who maybe have developmental delay or diagnoses of some sort too.
• 16:22
  Jessica: They especially may prefer to know what's coming.
• 16:25
  Jessica: So that's really interesting, even at two, that he knew that.
• 16:29
  Carrie: Yeah, oh, this was recently that he knew when we went to Legoland.
• 16:33
  Carrie: It was when he was eight and we were able to converse, but, yes, even at two.
• 16:38
  Carrie: We kind of knew that this was the procedure for this kiddo.
• 16:41
  Carrie: But yeah, and I wish you would have communicated with me a year ago because I tried to do a surprise birthday for my daughter when she turned five and that did not go well.
• 16:50
  Carrie: She was really shy and crying.
• 16:54
  Jessica: So I don't like surprises.
• 16:55
  Jessica: My parents.
• 16:57
  Jessica: To this day they tell me I'm 36 years old and they're like we would never throw you a surprise party.
• 17:01
  Jessica: Wow.
• 17:03
  Carrie: That's cute.
• 17:04
  Carrie: Yeah, it's true.
• 17:05
  Carrie: Certain ones, yeah, certain people, so, yeah.
• 17:09
  Carrie: So my kids, I'm starting to learn.
• 17:11
  Carrie: I always thought that they were more sensory averse because they didn't like the surprises.
• 17:17
  Carrie: They wanted to know the trip, how it's planned out in these pieces.
• 17:18
  Carrie: But then I started working with an OT here locally where I live, and she had mentioned how they're more sensory seeking and wanting to be spun in the swing around in circles constantly or jumping up and down.
• 17:30
  Carrie: And do you have any tips for us parents of these active and sensory loving kiddos?
• 17:39
  Jessica: Yes, so that's interesting.
• 17:40
  Jessica: You say that too, because I think that's actually very common.
• 17:43
  Jessica: We see children who crave certain types of sensory input to their actual body.
• 17:50
  Jessica: They also oftentimes don't like change in their environment or like new experiences, and it's all kind of relates to nervous system regulation and how they're trying to stay regulated.
• 18:04
  Jessica: So that's really interesting.
• 18:05
  Jessica: You mentioned that.
• 18:05
  Jessica: But in terms of kids who crave sensory input so that they may be labeled as sensory seekers First, I think it's important for parents to know that that's kind of the blanket term we would use in the OT world.
• 18:20
  Jessica: But every sense in your body can be different, so you have to then dive deeper and think okay, but what sensation is he actually, he or she actually seeking?
• 18:31
  Jessica: Is it movement?
• 18:32
  Jessica: Is it specific movement in a certain way?
• 18:34
  Jessica: Oftentimes we see rotary movement is.
• 18:37
  Jessica: Is they're seeking like that spinning or going in a circle?
• 18:40
  Jessica: It could also be linear, like swinging back and forth.
• 18:44
  Jessica: That's another one.
• 18:45
  Jessica: So that would be movement.
• 18:46
  Jessica: Some kids then seek touch, so they're constantly touching things or really wanting to get their hands on things.
• 18:52
  Jessica: And then another one.
• 18:55
  Jessica: This is like kind of an OT term that not everybody is familiar with, but proprioception is another sensation in our body and a lot of times kids crave that, and that's that deep pressure feeling into their muscles and joints.
• 19:08
  Jessica: So those are kids who crave like being thrown onto the ground or like throwing their body onto the floor, where they really like to be squeezed tight.
• 19:17
  Jessica: So those are, those are the three most common sensations we see kids crave, and so when your child is sensory seeking first first step sorry, this is a long-winded answer, but your first step is to decide like which ones of these are they craving?
• 19:34
  Jessica: So then you can decide how am I going to help them, like, meet their threshold in a safe way, in an appropriate way and, and ideally, within their daily routine.
• 19:46
  Jessica: So you're almost like providing them opportunities to get that need met proactively.
• 19:51
  Jessica: That's like the golden ticket.
• 19:53
  Jessica: It's actually not easy to do, though, oh man.
• 20:00
  Carrie: Yeah, well, it's.
• 20:01
  Carrie: It's really interesting.
• 20:02
  Carrie: I think that it brings back.
• 20:04
  Carrie: It brings us back to being mindful of our kids and connecting with our kids and noticing like hey, he's jumping up and down a lot and I'm trying to get him to eat dinner right now, or I'm trying to get him, I'm trying to tell him what we're going to be doing for the rest of the day, but he's like jumping up and moving.
• 20:21
  Carrie: So it really helps to to know from somebody that knows what they're doing, like just pay, pay attention, figure out, like, are they chewing on their shirt all the time?
• 20:31
  Carrie: Or, which happens in our house, are they spinning in the swing all the time?
• 20:35
  Carrie: Like, what are some of the things that you can help to help them get that out, so that way they can focus, or to be doing that while you're talking to them, so that they can focus on what you're saying.
• 20:44
  Carrie: Yeah, yeah exactly it's.
• 20:48
  Jessica: that first step is definitely observing them and trying to like, trying to remind yourself that this is a need that their body and their nervous system has.
• 20:58
  Jessica: And so then, how can we kind of incorporate it into the day safely and appropriately?
• 21:04
  Carrie: I feel like it also like opened a door of a superhuman power for myself, where my daughter used to always get nervous going into the doctor's office and I realized like she liked she had the proprioception where she wanted the tight hugs and such.
• 21:20
  Carrie: So when she'd be sitting in my lap at the doctor and she's nervous I could be giving her bear hugs and things like that.
• 21:26
  Carrie: It just opened a level of calmness for her which I love myself.
• 21:31
  Carrie: Hugs are the best, so I get it, yeah.
• 21:34
  Carrie: So, as we're talking about some of these sensory seeking, do you have any tips for the mealtime area?
• 21:41
  Carrie: I feel like my kids are definitely movers and shakers, so, or?
• 21:47
  Jessica: anything.
• 21:48
  Jessica: So it's like getting them to sit and eat or sit for a meal can be really difficult.
• 21:53
  Jessica: So, first of all, I think this is super common, so if you or any of your listeners are dealing with this, know that you're not alone, and I think it's so.
• 22:03
  Jessica: It can be so frustrating as a parent because a lot of times adults, that's when we sit.
• 22:08
  Jessica: It can be so frustrating as a parent because a lot of times adults, that's when we sit, we relax, we want to converse, and it's like our children are clearly not able to do that with us.
• 22:18
  Jessica: I think the first thing to think about is kind of like you mentioned before, but perhaps think about having a routine that happens before meals, where they are able to kind of get their body moving or kind of get that need met so that it's it's almost like their cup is as full as it can be before they're expected to sit.
• 22:36
  Jessica: So that can be really helpful.
• 22:38
  Jessica: Um, some like examples tangibly could be like if you're cooking dinner, maybe you're letting them play.
• 22:43
  Jessica: You're like putting on a dance video, or if you do any of those, like you know, youtube dance videos, or maybe you're playing freeze dance, like with music, on anything where they're allowed to move and can get that input before dinner or before lunch can be helpful.
• 23:00
  Jessica: So that would be my first suggestion.
• 23:02
  Jessica: Another one in terms of the actual meal, is we really want to make sure this this one, I think, is overlooked.
• 23:09
  Jessica: Personally, but as an OT, I always look at a child's seating arrangement and we want to make sure it actually fits their body, because sometimes what I see is if a child is sitting in a chair or a seat situation that doesn't fit their body properly, they're actually going to be really uncomfortable in their seat and wiggle a ton and just want to like flail off the chair because it's too big or it's not the right height, so that we think that they're just being wiggly and they're not following our directions, but really they're not sitting in an appropriate seat.
• 23:44
  Jessica: So I'm a big believer in even older kids making sure that they have a foot rest on their seat if possible.
• 23:52
  Jessica: They're not sitting in a huge dining chair that's way too big for their body, um, so that's another one to check.
• 23:57
  Jessica: And then the last one.
• 24:00
  Jessica: If you want to think about okay, I'm doing all this, but like it's still really hard for them sometimes we suggest I don't know if your kids ever use those like air filled, bumpy seat cushion type things.
• 24:13
  Jessica: So it's basically a cushion that your child can sit on, but they can wiggle on that cushion and it kind of lets them wiggle a little bit while they're also sitting.
• 24:21
  Jessica: And another one is if your child's feet are kind of like constantly dangling or flailing all over the place and we do this in school sometimes too is we'll tie a therapy band around the legs of the chair so they actually have something to kick a little bit with their feet, so that can again let their feet bounce and wiggle a little bit while they're sitting and it actually can be really regulating for some kids.
• 24:49
  Carrie: Okay, ooh, I love that.
• 24:51
  Carrie: I'm writing that one down because I sold my stoke chair too early and now my dog is just wiggling around.
• 24:58
  Carrie: I'm like, oh man, I thought six would be enough.
• 25:00
  Carrie: It is not.
• 25:02
  Jessica: Okay, yeah, I think those, those high chairs right, they're technically high chairs for babies but they they adopt into regular chairs for kids and I know I have friends who's like 10 year olds still sits in it.
• 25:14
  Jessica: It's basically just a chair with a footrest?
• 25:17
  Carrie: Yeah, and you can adjust the footrest so that they always have their feet planted.
• 25:21
  Carrie: And yeah, we were.
• 25:22
  Carrie: I was very strict.
• 25:23
  Carrie: When we first started feeding.
• 25:24
  Carrie: I had the 90, 90.
• 25:26
  Carrie: My son was like reclined.
• 25:29
  Carrie: I'm like why is he all the way back here?
• 25:31
  Jessica: I don't understand these chairs, but yeah, yeah, ideally they are.
• 25:36
  Jessica: I mean, that's the ideal position.
• 25:37
  Jessica: It doesn't have to be perfect for an older child, but that is the ideal position.
• 25:42
  Carrie: Okay, that's really helpful.
• 25:44
  Carrie: Yeah, cause I'm always seeing my daughter slouch in her chair.
• 25:47
  Carrie: I'm like, oh man, your pretty dress is covered in food.
• 25:50
  Carrie: I don't know, yeah, cause I'm always seeing my daughter slouch in her chair.
• 25:51
  Carrie: I'm like, oh man, your pretty dress is covered in food.
• 25:52
  Carrie: I don't.
• 25:52
  Carrie: Yeah, yeah, it's good times.
• 25:53
  Carrie: Well, that's super helpful too.
• 25:55
  Carrie: I'm really, I'm really excited to put some of these tools to use, and I wanted to ask you just what is your superpower?
• 26:04
  Jessica: Okay, so this is super random and has nothing to do with anything we're talking about.
• 26:08
  Jessica: Um, but I am like yeah, I am like strangely really good at parallel parking my car.
• 26:17
  Jessica: Oh, like I feel like I could enter a competition and I would win.
• 26:21
  Carrie: Oh, my goodness, you must be really good at like pool or something like with the angles.
• 26:27
  Jessica: That must be your jam, yeah yeah, I am very visual and I'm like a very like mathematically oriented visual learner, so I think that's what it is, but it makes like city, going to cities, like driving into Denver, I'm like, oh, this is no problem, I'll just squeeze in here, yeah yeah, even without those rear view cameras.
• 26:47
  Carrie: Man you are, you've got it.
• 26:49
  Carrie: That's a great superhuman power.
• 26:51
  Carrie: Well, thank you so much for coming on today.
• 26:54
  Carrie: Are you able to share with our listeners where they can find you?
• 26:58
  Jessica: Yeah, for sure.
• 26:58
  Jessica: This was so much fun.
• 26:59
  Jessica: You can find me on Instagram.
• 27:02
  Jessica: I'm at rooted in routine.
• 27:04
  Jessica: That's where I share all the tips and tricks.
• 27:06
  Jessica: Send me a message and then I offer lots of resources to help parents, including eBooks and group coaching programs and all that kind of stuff.
• 27:15
  Jessica: And that is all on my website, rootedinroutinecom.
• 27:18
  Carrie: Okay, that's amazing.
• 27:19
  Carrie: What kind of group groups do you host?
• 27:22
  Jessica: That's really cool, yeah Right now I have two different types of groups that I'm doing this year.
• 27:27
  Jessica: One is a potty training group, so it's four weeks together, really aimed at younger toddlers, but there's sometimes a little older kids that join.
• 27:36
  Jessica: And then the other one is a picky eating group.
• 27:40
  Jessica: So this would be for parents who really want to rein in their child's pickiness at meals.
• 27:45
  Jessica: The next one for that will be this September, so coming up kind of soon.
• 27:50
  Carrie: Okay, I know, and these are online too, so people can join from other states and stuff.
• 27:55
  Jessica: Yes, okay, yes, everything is virtual and everything's recorded.
• 27:59
  Jessica: Nothing is like live, so people join from all over the world.
• 28:02
  Jessica: It's pretty cool, awesome.
• 28:04
  Carrie: Okay, I have some people in mind I will share that with and we'll put the links in the show notes.
• 28:08
  Carrie: Thank you so much, jess, for joining us today.
• 28:10
  Carrie: You're a wealth of knowledge Great, thank you so much.
• 28:14
  Carrie: Thanks so much for following along with us on our Heart to Heart Parents podcast journey.
• 28:20
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• 28:26
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• 28:36
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• 28:38
  Carrie: That's super helpful.
• 28:39
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• 28:45
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• 28:46
  Carrie: It's info at hearttoheartlifecom.
• 28:50
  Carrie: Have a great week.