Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #479 Holiday Edition - Susie O'Brien

Transcript

#479 Holiday Edition - Susie O'Brien · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

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  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families Podcast. It's the podcast for the
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  Speaker 1: time poor parent who just on answers. Now.
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  Speaker 2: Hello, this is doctor Justin Coulson. It's so great to
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  Speaker 2: have you joining me for another episode of the Happy
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  Speaker 2: Families Podcast today, as we look at the very best bits,
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  Speaker 2: the best tips that have come from people in our
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  Speaker 2: interviews over the last couple of months. A conversation that
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  Speaker 2: I had with Susie O'Brien, she's a reporter, she's an author,
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  Speaker 2: and in episode three hundred and fifty four, talking about
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  Speaker 2: the juggle and the pressure of being a hands on parent,
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  Speaker 2: I was having a chat with her about data that
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  Speaker 2: says that surprisingly, we actually have around about twenty percent
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  Speaker 2: of our day according to time use surveys, twenty percent
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  Speaker 2: of our day is allocated for leisure. I just sort
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  Speaker 2: of said, Susie, as parents, what are we doing with it?
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  Speaker 2: Where did it come from? But what are we doing
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  Speaker 2: with it?
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  Speaker 1: We're doing things with and for our kids, And you
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  Speaker 1: know what, in some ways that's not a bad thing,
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  Speaker 1: but it means that we actually don't have time for
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  Speaker 1: anything else, and we're filling our time driving our kids
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  Speaker 1: around to places that they could probably get to themselves
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  Speaker 1: where not only dropping them off at sporting matches like
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  Speaker 1: my parents certainly used to do. My dad used to
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  Speaker 1: sit in the Kingswort out the back, you know, about
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  Speaker 1: a block away and listen to the Google on the
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  Speaker 1: radio because they were like the thought of watching my
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  Speaker 1: sister and I for endless hours play sport was just
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  Speaker 1: not on his radar. He would have driven home, but
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  Speaker 1: we lived on the other side of town. So you know,
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  Speaker 1: I think we're filling our days with things that don't
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  Speaker 1: necessarily make us happy, but we feel compelled to do
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  Speaker 1: these days. And you know, I look at Lego, and
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  Speaker 1: that's a really good example. When I was growing up
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  Speaker 1: in the seventies and eighties, Lego, you'd get a new
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  Speaker 1: box of Lego, you'd think it was Christmas. You'd open
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  Speaker 1: it out onto the living room floor. Your parents might
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  Speaker 1: swear if they stand on a piece, that's about the
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  Speaker 1: extent of their engagement on it. And they would leave
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  Speaker 1: us to make our wonky creations. These days, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Lego is all branded. You spend two hundred dollars on
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  Speaker 1: the Mandalorian X Wing star Fighter whatever they're called, and
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  Speaker 1: the parents sit down and they do the Lego with
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  Speaker 1: the kids, and there's.
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  Speaker 2: Right and the wrong way to do it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know what, the kids aren't happy because
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  Speaker 1: they've been told that they're doing it wrong. The parents
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  Speaker 1: aren't happy because it's boring, let's face it, and it's
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  Speaker 1: expensive and it takes up hours of our time. And
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  Speaker 1: when that X wing plane or whatever it's called has
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  Speaker 1: been finished eight hours later by the dad, often it
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  Speaker 1: goes up on the high shelf because it's too valuable
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  Speaker 1: to be played with.
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  Speaker 2: That's just nuts.
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  Speaker 1: We're giving our kids these lego, but we're not actually
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  Speaker 1: letting them.
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  Speaker 2: Play with it. That was Susie O'Brien, our conversationalist for
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  Speaker 2: episode three hundred and fifty four. Conversationalist, Is that a word? Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to take that. Susie is an author, a reporter,
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  Speaker 2: and an all round great person to talk to about
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  Speaker 2: anything related to parenting and raising kids. I hope you
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  Speaker 2: enjoyed that little snippet, that little tidbit of a conversation.
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  Speaker 2: To hear the rest of the conversation, episode three hundred
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  Speaker 2: fifty four of the podcast. Your daughter just walked by,
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  Speaker 2: eyes glued to her phone, expression unreadable. You ask her
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  Speaker 2: to put it down. But she balks. You know it's
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: not good for her, but you're not sure why or
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  Speaker 2: how to support better choices. In the webinar, pixel perfect
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I joined with psychologists and teen tech expert Joscelyn Brewer
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: to discuss how to set screen boundaries that work for
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  Speaker 2: you and your daughter. Check out pixel perfect now on
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  Speaker 2: the Happy Family's webshop. It's the Happy Famili's podcast, the
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  Speaker 2: podcast for the time poor parent who just wants answers. Now,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: just before we wrap things up, if you haven't found
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: out about it already, please consider joining us for the
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  Speaker 2: Bringing Up Boys Summit. It's happening today. All the details
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  Speaker 2: are at Happy families dot com dot IU. If you
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  Speaker 2: have a son between the ages of eight and eighteen
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  Speaker 2: and you're wondering how to give him a healthy view
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: of masculinity, this is the summit for you. We have
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: internationally renowned authors and speakers sharing their very best ideas
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  Speaker 2: about how we can raise strong, caring, responsible, healthy, successful
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  Speaker 2: boys instead of dealing with the baffleman that comes with
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  Speaker 2: boys from time to time. I hope that you'll join me.
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  Speaker 2: It's happening today. All the details to sign up at
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  Speaker 2: the last minute are available at happy families dot com
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  Speaker 2: dot au. The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin
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  Speaker 2: Ruland from Bridge Media. Craig Bruce is our executive producer.
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  Speaker 2: Hopefully I'll see you in the Bringing Up Boys Summit,
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  Speaker 2: but if you would like more info about raising kids,
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  Speaker 2: you can find it all at happy families dot com
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  Speaker 2: dot au