Latest / Parent's Talk with Francine Juhlin / Episode 1: Parents Can't Stop Talking About Milo's Superpower—Here's Why

Transcript

Episode 1: Parents Can't Stop Talking About Milo's Superpower—Here's Why · Parent's Talk with Francine Juhlin

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am here today with Children's Book Authors. Mark is
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a member of Children's Authors Unite. We have an exciting
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: event coming up December 6th and 7th. Let's get into
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the fun stuff.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: We want to hear.
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  Speaker 1: All about Milo and the story. So first I'm going
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: to ask Mark, you were the first one to get
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: inspired to write this book. So tell us what inspired
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: you and why this book was a passion project for you.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: So around the time of the pandemic, I had to
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: deal with cancer, retired, and moved across the country and
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: had to start life anew. Luckily, that involved being and
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: spending time with my two grandsons. And it was just
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  Speaker 3: a wonderful experience being with them and learning from them.
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  Speaker 4: And one day I noticed where there was a conflict
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  Speaker 4: between the two.
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  Speaker 3: And the younger one went off to the side, sat
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  Speaker 3: down and sulked and.
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  Speaker 4: Was just rather dejected.
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  Speaker 3: And he looked up to me and you know, was
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: telling me how he felt. And I told him, Rocky,
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  Speaker 3: you have a superpower. And your superpower is your smile
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: and your ability to make people laugh. And don't ever
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  Speaker 3: forget that. And that's going to get you the things
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  Speaker 3: you want. Some people will fight and yell and scream,
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: but your smile is going to get you more than
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  Speaker 3: screaming will. And one of the things he did that
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  Speaker 3: day earlier that just had me laughing was he came
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: to visit and he walked in carrying his rumba vacuum.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm like, why do you have that? And he says, well,
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  Speaker 3: I don't want to leave her at home. She'll be lonely.
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  Speaker 4: So I brought her over to your house.
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  Speaker 3: He was spending the day with us and he goes
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  Speaker 3: to the bedroom. puts the thing down on the floor
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  Speaker 3: and that's where our Roomba vacuum was docked. And he
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  Speaker 3: turned them both on, got on top of them and
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  Speaker 3: he called me and I came in the room and
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  Speaker 3: he's riding around on the top of one of them
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  Speaker 3: and the other one's going and he says, grandpa, they're dancing.
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  Speaker 4: And he keeps us laughing.
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  Speaker 3: So that was the inspiration that I was struck that
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  Speaker 3: if more people knew to use smiles and laughter to
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  Speaker 3: deal with conflict, we'd be in a better place.
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  Speaker 4: Wow. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Laughter is the best medicine and being able to make
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  Speaker 1: somebody laugh to diffuse a situation is absolutely brilliant. So Mark,
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  Speaker 1: we have Justine here with us. How did you get
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  Speaker 1: her involved in this whole process?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I actually, the first book I wrote was 35,
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  Speaker 4: 40 years ago. I was.
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  Speaker 3: Book for my fertility patients called Miracle Babies. And actually,
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  Speaker 3: some of those couples that I helped are now grandparents
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  Speaker 3: and looking to buy books for their own children.
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  Speaker 4: But I realized that I would have to write a
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  Speaker 4: book both for the parents and for the kids.
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  Speaker 3: And I knew nothing. I mean, as a grandpa, you...
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  Speaker 3: do carpool and you'll play games and be silly, read
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  Speaker 3: a book. But I really don't understand the audience. So
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  Speaker 3: I realized that Justine loved the boys and had been
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  Speaker 3: out to visit and they interacted so well.
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  Speaker 4: And being a teacher, I figured this is what we
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  Speaker 4: have to do.
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  Speaker 3: We have to involve Justine to figure out what is
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  Speaker 3: the real story what is.
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  Speaker 4: The important thing to communicate in this book?
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  Speaker 1: And I think you hit on it perfectly with the humor,
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  Speaker 1: the using humor. So Justine, when you were asked to
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  Speaker 1: come into this project, what did you think?
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  Speaker 2: What part was your favorite?
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  Speaker 5: Well, so first, starting off, I did my research and
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  Speaker 5: I actually read the story, the first draft. So it
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  Speaker 5: was only just a Word document, no pictures, nothing. We
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  Speaker 5: even had different character names. So it's very, very the
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  Speaker 5: first draft. And I read it to my students and
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  Speaker 5: they loved it. And I was so happy and they
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  Speaker 5: loved it without even illustrations or anything. So that I
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  Speaker 5: knew I'm like, we have a story. If my seven
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  Speaker 5: and eight year old students can love a story without
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  Speaker 5: even seeing the pictures, like we know we have a,
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  Speaker 5: we have a hit. And I also just really resonated
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  Speaker 5: with the message that such a small thing, like a
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  Speaker 5: smile has such a big impact. And that a superpower
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  Speaker 5: doesn't have to be really fast or really strong. Like
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  Speaker 5: it could be something within your personality. And that's something
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  Speaker 5: that I think is really important to teach kids. And
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  Speaker 5: just those types of like interpersonal skills, problem solving, I
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  Speaker 5: think that's really important to teach kids. So I was
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  Speaker 5: definitely on board with the story the moment I heard it.
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  Speaker 1: And then there was also some conflict between the siblings.
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  Speaker 1: And as a teacher, I'm sure you see conflicts in
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  Speaker 1: the classroom. How does this book address that to help
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  Speaker 1: you teach the kids how to deal with the conflict?
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  Speaker 5: So definitely in the classroom, a big thing that we
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  Speaker 5: teach the kids is like different ways to solve conflict.
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  Speaker 5: So you could talk it out. You could take deep breaths.
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  Speaker 5: You can like count to five. You can use your words.
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  Speaker 5: And we actually haven't talked about how you can just
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  Speaker 5: smile and But I think that's definitely one that I
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  Speaker 5: want to add because it's really important, you know, just
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  Speaker 5: take a deep breath and maybe like give a compliment.
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  Speaker 5: We do a lot of like compliments in my classroom.
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  Speaker 5: Sometimes we'll do like compliment circle. And then I ask
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  Speaker 5: the kids how they feel after each of them has
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  Speaker 5: received a compliment. And it's usually always something positive. And
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  Speaker 5: so I found that just the little act of, yeah,
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  Speaker 5: a smile or a compliment is an easy way to
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  Speaker 5: kind of make amends and become friends with somebody.
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  Speaker 2: I love that.
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  Speaker 1: In one of my Toastmasters clubs, every year at Christmas time,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: we have a Christmas party, and it's an online club.
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  Speaker 1: So how do you entertain the crowd with an online club? Well,
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  Speaker 1: in Toastmasters, we have a lot of listeners. We listen
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  Speaker 1: for uhs and ums. We listen for grammar. Well, in
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  Speaker 1: this one meeting in particular, every Christmas party, we have
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  Speaker 1: somebody whose job is to compliment everybody who shows up.
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  Speaker 1: And I try to get that one if nobody beats
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  Speaker 1: me to select in that role, because I think a
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  Speaker 1: compliment can just change somebody's whole attitude.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: It's interesting when you talked about that role. Shortly after
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  Speaker 3: we communicated to Rocky that he had this superpower, we
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  Speaker 3: were at the park playing and he comes running over, grandpa, grandma,
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  Speaker 3: that boy.
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  Speaker 4: He doesn't have a superpower. He doesn't have.
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  Speaker 3: And boy, it lit up the idea for book number two.
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  Speaker 3: And that was to let Rocky know that there are
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  Speaker 3: a lot of people, Superman had an amazing superpower, but
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  Speaker 3: he was Clark Kent.
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  Speaker 4: And that's how everybody knew him.
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  Speaker 3: So not everybody shares their superpower.
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  Speaker 4: With the world.
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  Speaker 3: The other thing is he may not know how special
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  Speaker 3: he is and you can help him discover his own superpower.
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  Speaker 3: Maybe it's a smile. Maybe it's, uh, being helpful. Um,
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  Speaker 3: maybe it's sharing whatever it is. He can help that
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  Speaker 3: person discover what's special about them and, and share that.
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  Speaker 4: So, um, It's interesting.
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  Speaker 3: It's like your person at the event or the event
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  Speaker 3: who shares compliments.
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  Speaker 1: And that brings up in Let Your Sparkle Shine, which
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  Speaker 1: is my second book, Let Your Sparkle Shine, Eugenia and
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  Speaker 1: Tilly the Turtle help the kids figure out that the
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  Speaker 1: one thing that they're shy about, the one thing they
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  Speaker 1: try to stay hidden because they don't want to stand out,
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  Speaker 1: that's really what their superpower is. So I love that
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  Speaker 1: our books are so similar in that we're telling kids
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  Speaker 1: to find what it is that's special about them and
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  Speaker 1: share it with the world.
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  Speaker 3: So I think that there's a lot out there in
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  Speaker 3: media and school and other places where we are told
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  Speaker 3: that we had to confine ourselves to a given role
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  Speaker 3: and we're told who to be and then at the
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  Speaker 3: same time the kids are getting the message to be
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  Speaker 3: yourself and discover yourself so they're dealing with this internal
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  Speaker 3: conflict of who am I and am I this person
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  Speaker 3: who has to go out in the world and sell
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  Speaker 3: myself or do I need to just Be quiet and
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  Speaker 3: get along.
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  Speaker 2: Be quiet and get along. I've never been good at that.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, I have a question for Justine. How can parents
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  Speaker 1: and educators use Milo's superpower as a teaching tool?
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  Speaker 5: So as an educator myself, I teach second grade. I've
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  Speaker 5: loved having this book in my classroom, and I think
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  Speaker 5: an important message to educators and parents alike is is
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  Speaker 5: that all kids have a superpower. No matter what it is,
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  Speaker 5: there's something that makes them special that they can use
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  Speaker 5: to help others. So I've talked to my students and
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  Speaker 5: told them, you know, it's not being fast or being strong.
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  Speaker 5: Your superpower can be within your personality. It can be
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  Speaker 5: being a good friend, being helpful, a smile. And also
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  Speaker 5: that if you can't think of a superpower, everybody has
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  Speaker 5: the superpower of a smile.
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  Speaker 2: You just have to use it.
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  Speaker 5: And you'll find that using it will light up other
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  Speaker 5: people and it'll also make you feel good too. So
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  Speaker 5: it's a win-win.
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  Speaker 2: I love that.
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  Speaker 1: And then another thing you said, you teach second graders.
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  Speaker 1: Now I don't have kids, so I'm not good with ages.
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  Speaker 1: So the books for ages three to seven. So I'm
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  Speaker 1: assuming seven is the second grader.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, seven is second grade. Although honestly, I think it
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  Speaker 5: would work in like third or fourth grade too.
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  Speaker 2: So how does- Primarily for little kids. How does that
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  Speaker 2: work then for like the three-year-olds?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think the interesting thing was when Justine was
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  Speaker 3: out here last, we did a reading at one of
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: the local bookstores and the seven-year-old was insistent on grabbing
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  Speaker 3: the book, opening it up, and he wanted to sit
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  Speaker 3: in front of everybody.
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  Speaker 4: And read the book.
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  Speaker 3: So I think for the younger ones, you're going to
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  Speaker 3: read the story to them. And they're going to be
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  Speaker 3: more focused on just the whole thing of the superpower
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  Speaker 3: and picturing Superman and flying around and all that. And
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  Speaker 3: so we're explaining the superpower concept. The older ones, it's
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  Speaker 3: really getting involved in reading and sharing the story.
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  Speaker 5: And I also think the little ones will definitely... really
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  Speaker 5: enjoy the illustrations. The illustrations are so vibrant and fill
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  Speaker 5: up the whole page. Our illustrator, which is actually the
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  Speaker 5: art teacher at my school, she really did amazing. The colors,
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  Speaker 5: everything is beautiful. So I think something that will engage
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  Speaker 5: the little ones is definitely the illustrations.
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  Speaker 3: It's also interesting when you read this to a nursery
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  Speaker 3: school group, towards the younger three-year-old, four-year-olds, the teacher asked me,
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  Speaker 3: so how long is this going to take? And I'd say, well,
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  Speaker 3: we'll probably read the book.
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  Speaker 4: In 10 minutes. 45 minutes later, I.
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  Speaker 3: Got to the end of the book because it wasn't
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  Speaker 3: where you sat up there and just read from beginning
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  Speaker 3: to the end. Throughout the book, each child would have
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  Speaker 3: something they wanted to contribute. So the story was not
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  Speaker 3: just what was on the page, but it was also
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  Speaker 3: what all the children were sharing with each other, whether
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  Speaker 3: they had a brother or a sister who had a power,
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  Speaker 3: what their power was or how their parents reacted, you know,
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  Speaker 3: all those things come into play that I think can
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  Speaker 3: make so much more than just a book.
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  Speaker 4: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: I love that because I found it really challenging to
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  Speaker 1: read to the two and three year olds because, and
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  Speaker 1: one of the mothers, I thought they were like all
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  Speaker 1: over the place, getting all crazy.
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  Speaker 2: And one of the mothers said, you have captured their
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  Speaker 2: attention like nobody else ever has. And then I'm.
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  Speaker 1: Like, OK, so I keep reading. Next thing I know,
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  Speaker 1: this little girl comes up and just sits next to
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  Speaker 1: me on the chair and kind of cuddles up with me.
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  Speaker 1: So that was a special feeling. Have you ever experienced
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  Speaker 1: something where a kid just really connected like that?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I can't pick out just one, but we've
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  Speaker 3: had a number of them. It's hard sometimes to get
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  Speaker 3: back to reading the story because they're so excited about
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  Speaker 3: all the events, and they identify with the characters in
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  Speaker 3: the book. That's one nice thing about having them different ages,
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  Speaker 3: that a lot of them will have an older or
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: younger brother, and if they're older, how do they.
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  Speaker 4: Treat their younger sib? Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 3: And in terms of parents how to do this, on
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  Speaker 3: our website, we have a resource section where we have
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  Speaker 3: discussion questions.
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  Speaker 4: And those are good tools.
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  Speaker 3: To bring to the reading where a parent can stop
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: and ask a child a particular question that is suggested there.
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  Speaker 3: And then Justine put together a list of, classroom activities
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  Speaker 3: that can go along with it for teachers who are
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  Speaker 3: trying to share the concepts that the book talks about.
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  Speaker 2: So that was going to.
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  Speaker 1: Be a question later on, but now that you brought
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  Speaker 1: it up, tell everybody how to find your website.
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  Speaker 4: We are at www.milossuperpower.com.
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  Speaker 3: And there's an S on the end of Milo's and
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  Speaker 3: an S on the beginning of superpower. So it's Milo's
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  Speaker 3: superpower with two S's in the middle. And there's a blog,
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: there's resources. I'm soon going to post a number of
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: coloring pages that we put together for kids that they
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: can participate.
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: In the story and get involved. We're also on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: TikTok.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: TikTok, yes.
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  Speaker 1: And we'll put some links down in the comments section
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  Speaker 1: so you can hook up and check out their content.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: And then another thing I want to bring up, it's
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: a public service announcement for all authors. We love reviews.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: So please, if you enjoyed one of our books, please
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: leave a review. And for me, if there's something in
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: it you didn't like, please let me know because there's
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: going to be more books in my book series and
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: I want to know how to make them better. So
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: it's about time to wrap this up. But what I'd
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: like to hit on one more time is kindness. In
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: our children's group, children's authors group, we have Rosemary. It
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: was probably the kindest person I've ever met in my
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: whole life. And I'm trying to get Rosemary on this podcast.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: But kindness is so underrated. So can you both tell
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: us what your take is on how this book is
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: helping bring more kindness.
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  Speaker 4: In the world?
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  Speaker 5: I could go first. I mean, just again, reiterating the
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: power of a smile and that just one act of
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: kindness has a ripple effect and can affect all those
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: around you. And it could be so small as just
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: a smile or even giving a friend a pencil to
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: borrow something little, like really just makes a difference. And
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  Speaker 5: kids remember it for years to come. So it definitely
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: has an impacting or sorry, a lasting impact.
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  Speaker 2: And you know what?
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: In my fifties, I remembered something that happened in the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: third grade and it wasn't an act of kindness. So
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: remember that, when children aren't being kind, that's gonna have
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: a lasting effect on the other child.
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  Speaker 4: Yep.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think that's also something for adults. And in
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: doing this, I was at a time of really reinventing
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: myself when this came up. So I think the story
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: and watching the two siblings together and watching how the
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: story was out there in the community, I learned and
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: I had to explore how was I being kind and
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: when could I be kinder?
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  Speaker 4: And it changed.
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  Speaker 3: It got me looking at my pet therapy work, which
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: I took on and expanded, going out to senior homes
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: and other places to meet people and working with guys
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: with cancer.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: I think when you're writing a.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: Book like this, it forces you to think about your
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: own behavior. It's not just that we're sitting here trying
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: to open up their heads and pour in a certain message.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: The message is important for adults just as well.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: That is so funny you said that because coming from
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the military, my little sailor comes out sometimes, which isn't
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: very pleasant or kind. I don't want to be out
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: in the world and have someone see Princess Francie not
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: being kind.
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  Speaker 2: So yes, you're right. I.
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  Speaker 1: I, we authors need to be at a higher standard
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: and set the example for other adults too.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: So is there anything else you want to say before.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: We wrap it up?
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  Speaker 3: All the authors in our group are going to be
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: listed there. And many of them have more than one
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: book to share. And I think that you don't have
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: to just go to a big box store to find
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: a book and a story that's worth hearing.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, we are supporting indie authors and non-traditional authors because
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: we're not all self-published. Some of us do have a publisher,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: but we're still considered indie authors because it's not one
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: of your regular ones that you're going to find in
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: the big box stores. So come support us. There's about
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: 12 to 14 authors with a bunch of books and
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: they all have an amazing message.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: And with that, it's time to say goodbye again.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: And I hope you enjoyed this episode of Parents Talk.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: And I hope you got some tips to help your
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: kids become more confident and find their own superpower. Bye.