Social-emotional learning, mindfulness, soft skills, emotional intelligence— call it what you want. Learning how to understand and deal with emotions plays a significant role in our ability to handle all varieties of problems we face throughout our lives. In this episode, we get into the nitty-gritty with Scotty Iseri, father of a 7-year-old son and fellow podcaster, on the true value of social-emotional learning (SEL) in school and at home. Also, we test out a new drinking game and encounter a commode-themed mystery in the Flaherty household.
Social-emotional learning, mindfulness, soft skills, emotional intelligence— call it what you want. Learning how to understand and deal with emotions plays a significant role in our ability to handle all varieties of problems we face throughout our lives. In this episode, we get into the nitty-gritty with Scotty Iseri, father of a 7-year-old son and fellow podcaster, on the true value of social-emotional learning (SEL) in school and at home. Also, we test out a new drinking game and encounter a commode-themed mystery in the Flaherty household.
Episode 26 of Modern Dadhood opens with a conversation about the emotional effects of quarantine on our kids. Adam shares about his daughters spent their Summer, and how their experience likely differs from that of an only child. Despite kids, generally speaking, being resilient little beings, the current state of the world is different than anything they (or we) have ever experienced, so it shouldn't be a surprise that there could be some behavioral side effects.
The guys welcome to the conversation Scotty Iseri, a father of one 7-year-old son. Scotty works at Committee for Children, and hosts a podcast called The Imagine Neighborhood, among many other unique talents and experiences. And he also deeply understands the importance of social-emotional learning. Scotty teaches us that the social-emotional conversation impacts everyone regardless of age, sex, or whether they're a child or parent. Topics of conversation include:
• It's just as important for us as fathers as it is for our kids, to understand and manage our emotions
• Learning how to redirect our energy
• Teaching ourselves to be okay with big emotions
• Social-emotional growth and strengthening isn't inherent - it takes work
• How schools are starting to place importance on these skills
• Tips for dads when these conversations don't come naturally
• The rise of kindness and empathy
Adam shares a So That's a Thing Now concerning his daughters' deuces before the episode comes to close.
LINKS:
Scotty Iseri (YouTube)
The Imagine Neighborhood
The Imagine Neighborhood (Apple Podcasts)
The Imagine Neighborhood (Instagram)
Committee For Children
Social-Emotional Learning
Red Vault Audio
Caspar Babypants
Spencer Albee
Adam:
Oh, I'm supposed to go first?
Marc:
Okay, you ready? In 10, 9... No, just go.
Adam:
That's a painfully slow count down.
Marc:
Yeah, maybe I'll start even higher.
Adam:
Welcome to another episode of Modern Dadhood. This is an ongoing conversation about the joys, challenges, and general insanity of being a dad in this moment. And my name is Adam Flaherty. I'm a father of two daughters, six and three.
Marc:
And my name is Marc Checket and I'm a dad of twin, boy toddlers.
Adam:
You're a fatherhood expert.
Marc:
I'm an expert in all things fatherhood. What would you like to know about? I'll tell you anything, hit me. This is your personal AMA.
Adam:
How do you have the birds and the bees conversation?
Marc:
YouTube?
Adam:
I think that's what it is, yeah. Give them a few search queries to run.
Marc:
Exactly. No. I would say we're far from experts, Adam. However, one could make that case for our guest today. I'd put him in that category.
Adam:
I would concur.
Marc:
Scotty Iseri, is among other things, an award winning producer and narrative designer. And creator and host of the wonderful and very entertaining podcast, The Imagine Neighborhood.
Adam:
It's very entertaining.
Marc:
I love it.
Adam:
And quirky.
Marc:
Yes.
Adam:
It's a little bit odd.
Marc:
Yeah, totally.
Adam:
But in all the right ways.
Marc:
Yeah. And I think they sort of lean into that and I think that's part of the ethos and they're very fine with that.
Adam:
I'm really excited to chat with Scotty Iseri shortly.
Marc:
Same. So, hey, don't change your channel. Adam. I have a question for you.
Adam:
Yeah.
Marc:
Throughout quarantine, which by the way, I think we should start a drinking game because I feel like we say quarantine at least a handful of times every episode now. So maybe we should invite listeners to just, hey, if you hear the word-
Adam:
What word?
Marc:
Quarantine. Have a little sip of whatever's in front of you. So anyway, Adam throughout quarantine how would you say your kids have been effected emotionally?
Adam:
Hmm, that's a great question. So my daughters, I would say that they are holding up pretty well. I honestly can't think of any ways immediately right now on the spot, that they seem to have been affected emotionally by this. No question, we're seeing more meltdowns than we have in the past. But I think that I could easily justify that as they're both getting older and they get on each other's nerves a lot more. And so who knows if that is a byproduct of this period of quarantine or if that's just the girls getting older and their relationship developing? I do feel lucky that they have each other during this time, because I think for... What do they call it? What do you call it? What do you call it when you don't have any siblings?
Marc:
A singleton.
Adam:
A simpleton. Yes, I think for the simpletons…
Marc:
No, we learned singleton when we were pregnant and they refer to a pregnancy with only one baby as a singleton. But an only child, I think is what you're looking for.
Adam:
That's right. And it's embarrassing that I couldn't come up with that term.
Marc:
You don't have an only child, so you don't use the term often. There you go.
Adam:
I think that families with only children, those kids are probably hit a lot harder by the isolation of being quarantined.
Marc: I remember a long time ago having a conversation with a neighbor of ours who does have only one child, and she's a little older than our boys. She's probably close to four and they were having some problems pretty early on in this period of time. Where everyone is working and schooling and being at home. And it honestly, it makes perfect sense. But it actually came a little bit as a shock to me. And I felt like such an idiot actually in this conversation because I've been so wrapped up in our situation and our kids have each other. And so it wasn't something that I thought about. But, yeah. I mean, parents of a single child have a whole different set of things that they've had to work through throughout this time.
Adam:
Oh, totally. Yeah.
Marc:
Being around other kids, similar to them in age. It's so important. And you're right, kids are really resilient. It's something that we've all heard, right? Kids bounce back, but it's true. They have this ability to adapt I think. Whatever reason it is, I don't know. But I actually have lately really been struggling a lot with keeping an even temper. And I think, if you know me, you know me as generally speaking kind of a happy-go-lucky, bit of a jokester, kind of.
Adam:
Even keel, happy-go-lucky. Don't tell me there's a dark side. Don't spoil this for me.
Marc:
Right. That's what I'm doing, I'm just spoiling everything. No, I mean, everybody's prone to getting angry or frustrated or fed up or whatever. But man, lately it's been really hard and I've been letting my temper get the best of me in front of the kids. Which is the thing that compounds the problem that's going on inside my head. Because that's the last thing I want to do. There are these situations where they're just being kids, and something will happen. And I'm in whatever weird head space I'm in and I don't react the right way or I react in a way that it's just wrong for them and for the situation.
Adam:
So is it a raising your voice thing in a way that you don't like to do? Or is it saying something in a way that's shaming them rather than trying to be empathetic?
Marc:
It's more of a quick rush to being dismissive. And there's definitely some yelling that will happen. And oftentimes it's when the volume level is already at 10 and I'm like, I've had enough of the 10, let me take it to 12 for a second and see if that has an effect. I feel like an idiot when that kind of stuff happens. It's like, all right, aren't you old enough? Don't you have the tools in your toolbox to get through a moment like that?
Adam:
Yep.
Marc:
And that's why I'm so excited to talk with our guest today, Scotty Iseri. Scotty is someone who's made it his aim in life to teach children social-emotional skills. Whether that's through the work that he does with the nonprofit Committee for Children or the podcast, Imagine Neighborhood. Imagine Neighborhood is a really great example of how to take the methodology behind social-emotional learning, and conveying it in a way that is just so attainable to parents and their kids.
Adam:
Scotty Iseri, welcome to Modern Dadhood.
Scotty:
Thank you so much. It's so great to be here.
Adam:
It's great to have you here, man. Since we first connected with you, both Marc and I have spent some time on your YouTube channel, and just doing some research on you. You've done a lot of stuff.
Scotty:
I've been all over the place, it's true.
Adam:
You've been busy.
Marc:
I thought it might be appropriate to, off the cuff, rattle off some career highlights of yours, if you don't mind? You've worked with WBEZ in Chicago.
Adam:
Hold on, hold on. Do you know Peter Sagal?
Scotty:
I've peed next to him at a urinal.
Adam:
That's huge.
Scotty:
If I called the station, I don't think he'd be like, "Scotty, what's up?" Most of my celebrity stories frankly involve being next to them while we're going to the bathroom, so. That's how I met John Mahoney, Ira Glass. Yeah, the whole crew.
Marc:
So do you guys remember the character J. Peterman from Seinfeld?
Scotty:
Oh, yeah. He kind of talked like this and said, "Elaine, how are you? Come in and come to my office."
Marc:
Yeah, he had that silver hair. And well, that's the one celebrity that I have peed next to. And that's...
Scotty:
Nice. Adam, have you peed next to a celebrity?
Adam:
I was trying to think about it. No. And I used to work at a lot of concerts, backstage and stuff like that. So I've seen a lot of people up close and met a handful of famous people, but I don't think I've ever had the honor of urinating next to somebody.
Marc:
You have a lot of life left, Adam. So I think it could happen.
Scotty:
Yeah, never say never.
Adam:
It's my goal.
Scotty:
Plenty of time.
Adam:
I just got to choose who it's going to be and set my eyes on the prize. I think I'll divert my eyes from the... Go on.
Scotty:
Depends on the prize.
Marc:
So you've worked at WBEZ in Chicago. You have invented a game, you've created an app. You are the senior product manager at Committee for Children. And the creator and host of just wonderfully entertaining podcast. But we're wondering if we can perhaps start with arguably the most difficult gig you have, which is that you are a dad.
Scotty:
I am a dad. I have a son who's going into second grade. And he's in the other room, yelling at his friends on online right now to play Minecraft.
Marc:
Perfect.
Scotty:
And I'm a single dad. So the role of dad comes with everything from emotional support to tech support, to a playmate, to tuck her in. And it's a lot to juggle.
Adam:
Oh, yeah.
Scotty:
And then I'll admit today, it's Tuesday, it was kind of a rough day. Our first day of back to school, we're doing remote schooling, is tomorrow. And it's just one of those days where sometimes things don't go right and that causes some big emotions. And I'm saying this out loud, because I have also been having big emotions about it today.
Marc:
Let's let it all out right here.
Adam:
Let this be your therapy session.
Marc:
Yeah, this is the space.
Scotty:
How am I doing? Am I doing okay as a dad?
Marc:
You are doing awesome.
Scotty:
Thanks, thanks.
Adam:
So Scotty, between your work with Committee for Children and your podcast, Imagine Neighborhood, your world is very centered around this topic of social-emotional learning. For someone who doesn't know what that means, how can you sort of distill that down to sort of the most simple definition or elevator pitch of what social, emotional learning is?
Scotty:
Sure. Social-emotional learning goes through a lot of names. People know it as mindfulness or emotional intelligence. In the business world, it gets called soft skills or people skills. And the overall notion that I like to use is, we've all known people that don't have good social-emotional skills, right? We've had that boss, we've had that coworker. We've had that person that you've dealt with that just doesn't know how to interact well. But it encompasses a variety of skills around things like understanding and managing your emotions and building empathy. And the way it pertains to learning is skills like a growth mindset. Not saying to yourself, "I'll never get this right." Or, "I'm never going to be able." It's being able to say, "I will get it someday." Or, "If I work hard on this and then I will achieve it." And so Committee for Children has been around for... It's a nonprofit based in Seattle. That's been around for about 40 years and produces a curriculum called Second Step. It's in about half the elementary schools in the country. And kids internationally use it as well. It's really about how to get along and then how to be able to learn. Right? If you're so upset that you can't redirect your energy somewhere else, you're not going to be able to do some math problems and stuff. So the overall skill set of social-emotional learning is stuff that's really important. And is only now in the last couple of years, really starting to be seen as something that this helps with all these other potential pitfalls of learning. That it helps kids be able to calm themselves. It helps kids be able to redirect those angry feelings or express those angry feelings in a way that's healthy rather than freaking out and hitting stuff. And so the podcast Imagine Neighborhood was really an attempt to see, how do we take this thing that's working really well in the classroom and make it so it's really easy for parents to do? Because that's a huge missing component, right? As much as with any kind of learning, right? You can have an amazing teacher, you could have a really ready classroom, but really that home piece is really important. Whether it's parents that help kids do the homework or parents that have the skills that can help their kids with learning. And so the same was true with social-emotional learning. You can have this great curriculum and teachers that know how to do it, and they're nailing it. Kids are only in class six, seven hours a day, maybe. So we wanted to create something that would be easy and available for grownups in a non-classroom situation. And we do it with spaceships and pirates and professional wrestlers and all that kind of fun stuff. So that is The Imagine Neighborhood.
Adam:
All right. So my ignorance is going to show here, but if someone asked me how social-emotional issues present in kids, I think I'd assume that it's things like anxiety disorders or early signs of depression or any effects of any sort of abuse or neglect. But if I'm hearing you correctly, it sounds like these things might actually represent sort of the more extreme examples, and that a big part of the conversation is actually just around managing strong feelings that all kids have. Or that we all have, frankly. So is it correct that this work is not reserved for young people who've been brought up in dysfunctional families or experienced some form of abuse? Is that accurate?
Scotty:
In a sense. I think there can be an instinct to think of things from a, what's the problem kind of thing. Right? And as you say, there are things around anxiety, depression, trauma, right? A lot of kids, sadly go through a variety of different kinds of trauma. I don't want to give the impression that social-emotional skills are a cure all for it. But that is something that can be affected by childhood trauma. But the reality is with social and emotional skills, you don't give a toddler a 10-speed and say, "Great. Ride a bike." Right? You start them on the little push bike and you're behind them the whole time. Or maybe they start on a trike. There's these levels that kids get to go up and they learn. And the same is true with things like math, you don't give them trigonometry. You start them with, here's what a number is. No one's born knowing how to talk about how they feel in a way that's helpful and happy. No one's born knowing how to take the anger inside them and judo it into something positive. It takes work and it takes some guidelines and some skills to be able to kind of get there. So it's really only been in the last few years where schools and families and people are more in tune with this idea that these are skills you can build. It's not just about being good at something. You don't just have grit or you don't have grit. The things that you can build in people and they can grow. That's a hopeful thing to think about, right? That you're not born a jerk and you don't have to stay a jerk. You can find other ways to not be a jerk.
Marc:
This was not at all a part of my curriculum. And it was not really a part of the discussion in my household either. Not to say that empathy, for example, wasn't demonstrated, but was there a sort of a moment or something, do you think? That was maybe the catalyst for, "Oh, maybe this is something we should be teaching our kids." Or is it really just something that's very sort of a slow rollout to catch on? And we just have lots of work to do still to make it part of our regular everyday curriculum that every child gets taught.
Scotty:
That's a great question. I personally think it's about evolution, and evolution always sort of goes slower than you want it to. Right? That as we grow as people, as teachers. As each generation of teachers sort of steadily improves on the teachers before them, as each parent kind of steadily improves on the parenting skills that they experienced, we grow and we change. And so I think research has grown up around these skills, around how the development of empathy. I do think it's also an interesting evolution amongst dads specifically that we could probably all think of a dad that we might know that is that just doesn't talk about it. The sort of stoic kind of stereotype of a dad. And I think our generation of dad, there is a different expectation for the kinds of emotional labor that we take on in the house. And part of that is just helping our kids be able to talk, be able to say, "I'm sorry." Or, "I appreciate this about you." And we may or may not have had those experiences from our own fathers, but that's kind of the new norm. So to answer your question, I think it's something that just sort of has grown and evolved as research has improved. And as we've seen more about how kids interact with the world around them, when they become adults.
Adam:
I was going to ask you this question and you sort of answered it in part, that as dads some of us are very comfortable talking openly about emotional stuff in our own struggles. And for some of us, our instinct is to kind of hold that stuff in for any number of reasons. Do you have any other thoughts or recommendations for dads who might find it a little bit foreign to sort of openly discuss their emotions and have those conversations with their kids?
Scotty:
What's worked for me is, it's kind of like when you're on an airplane and they say, "Put your own oxygen mask on before helping others." Some of it's getting right with yourself a little bit first and that's a hard first step, right? To say, "Okay, what do I need? What do I need to be able to say these things out loud?" Or, "What do I need to think about when I'm thinking about my feelings?" And when you have that as a base layer, I feel like it gets easier to be able to express that outwardly. Right? But it does take that internal work of asking yourself, why don't I feel comfortable about that? Right? Or why don't I want to do that? What am I... Big word here. What am I afraid of?
Marc:
The topic that we're talking about is something that my wife and I have always sort of talked about. And I feel like I try to be aware at least, aware of what I'm saying to the kids and how they're receiving it. A habit that I've found myself falling into is something like this. Someone falls down or a toy gets stolen from one child by the other, or we're eating our waffles in the morning and they break in half. Which is, man, when a waffle breaks in half.
Adam:
Disaster.
Marc:
That is a big problem in our house. Talk about big, big emotions. Yeah. I'm not sure what it is about waffles, but-
Scotty:
Well, their waffles have to be perfect. If they're broken in half, then you only got half a waffle. And then there's slightly less because the break...
Marc:
That's it.
Scotty:
Sorry, sorry. I have big feelings about waffles.
Marc:
That's exactly it. So you understand where my kids are at.
Scotty:
I feel you man, I'm with you.
Marc:
Right. And this meltdown ensues, and this is something that can potentially happen. I mean, let's just talk about breakfast. It could happen a dozen times in that period of time. And oftentimes I find myself doing this, I react with a, "Oh, it's okay." Which, in the moment it's as if, maybe in the back of my mind, I'm thinking like, "Ignore that and they'll ignore it and we'll get past it and everything will be fine." And when I think back when I have the hindsight, and I think about it later at night. When I think back to that moment, I think there's another moment where I've potentially missed the opportunity to demonstrate empathy. And this is a little bit of a joke, but the question is, how terrible of a parent am I, that I'm not taking those opportunities? But that I wrote that and I ask that because that's kind of how I feel at the end of the night. You know what I mean? That here's an opportunity for me to swoop in to a scenario where my son is hurting in that moment. And also often I find myself relying on this, "Oh, it's fine." And it's very dismissive. And I guess I just wonder what your take is on that type of scenario.? And gosh, is there a thing or something I can do to wedge in there to say, "Before you do the dismissive thing man, realize that this is an opportunity."
Scotty:
Well, first of all, I don't think you're a terrible parent.
Marc:
Oh, thank God.
Scotty:
I think having those thoughts is... Life is live, right? It's not like you can go back and edit later. So everyone's doing the best they can on any given day. And you as a dad are doing the best you can on any given day. And if the waffle breaking thing is the 50th time that it's happened that month and just going, "The waffle thing happened again." Cut yourself some slack. But a thing that helped me, because I remember having those similar stuff around a shoelace being untied or one on a hoodie, you've got little strings on a hoodie and one is longer than the other. Or they are too even so you've got a yank. That kind of stuff was occasionally cause for some big feelings. And the thing that helped me a lot was taking a moment and going, "Okay, what's the problem if we cry about this?" It's loud, it's stressful when someone's having a meltdown in front of you, but it's not the end of the world. And taking that moment to go, "It really sucks that your waffle broke, that's hard." Them saying, "Yeah, it really is hard." Finding the room to just have some big feelings can be helpful because it lets you express those and it gives you the opportunity as a dad to say, "Yeah, this is hard. Waffle breaking sucks. Let's talk about the suckiness of a waffle breaking." Now of course, that's in this little bubble where you can have the moment to step back and realize the reality is it's the fifth time that's happened in the week and you haven't had coffee yet. And at the same time, there's something else burning on the stove and the other one has spilled their orange juice. You know what I mean? There's all the things around that that make it, hard to take that moment.
Marc:
Were you in my house this morning? Because you just described...
Scotty:
I'm describing my breakfast, sir. The chaos around any given meal time. That's been my experience. I don't know if that works for everybody, but I totally feel you on the wanting to rewind the tape of the day or oh man, I messed that up.
Marc:
It's almost like there's an opportunity to there to... It's one thing to be dismissive to them. To say, "Oh, it's fine." But at the same time, it's interesting because you're kind of feeling really some feelings that are very similar to what they're feeling. They're feeling it because of the waffle, I'm feeling it because they're feeling it because of the waffle. And it's like, maybe just let that out a little bit. And it's almost a way to commiserate and get onto that level, whatever level that they're on and, hey, let's go through this together. That could really be a sort of cathartic experience for both of us.
Adam:
This is a particularly difficult time for kids and grownups and for our kids, whether it's preschool up through high school or college. They're at the onset of a far from normal school year. Things are so divisive in the country. There's a lot of stress and a lot of shit trickling down to our kids. And I'm wondering in your line of work, are there predictions about how this time might shape the future of social-emotional learning?
Scotty:
Oh, man. It's really challenging in a lot of ways because there's not one uniform way that schools specifically are handling things. Right? My school district is all remote and other schools are trying a variety of other things. So it's not like there's a single uniform experience that the kids are going to have. I think the experience that they're all going to have at some point, that I'm certainly going to have is at some point you look back and go, "That was pretty messed up." Or, "That was scary." But something that I find a lot of hope in is when I see things online, I don't do a lot of social media, but I see things online about people talking about masks, right? And that wearing a mask is a kindness. It's a kind thing you're doing for the people that you don't know, but you just might come across, right? The person that you're about to pass on the sidewalk, they may have someone at home that's immune compromised. They may be immune compromised. They may have asthma and they have other... Or bare minimum they may be a completely healthy person and you don't want them to get sick. So this mask thing is just the thing we're all doing to be cool. Right? We're cool, wearing a mask. And so I've really enjoyed sort of seeing the framing of it that way. And I found a little bit of hope in hearing the idea of kindness, having a very concrete, actionable thing that can be done and being a thing that's in the conversation, right? I see some hope when I see the conversation around masking and kindness and I hope that is something that we can continue to move towards.
Adam:
Scotty Iseri, thank you so much for all the work that you do with Committee for Children. It's very important work. And for the fabulous Imagine Neighborhood. It is just so the type of content and education that the world needs right now. And dads, you can find Committee for Children at cfchildren.org. And Imagine Neighborhood can be found pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts. All the same places that you find Modern Dadhood. There are also some really great fun activities at imagineneighborhood.org. Scotty, hope you and your family stay well and stay healthy and look forward to staying in touch.
Scotty:
Thanks fellas. I am so grateful to be on the show. I'm a listener of the show as well. So I appreciate having a spot where dads can talk. So congratulations and thank you for having me.
Marc:
Adam, my friend.
Adam:
Uh, What?
Marc:
We've reached the point in the episode where we've hit the apex and we're on the down slope right now.
Adam:
It makes me sad.
Marc:
Yeah. But here's what I'm wondering. What have you got in that little brain bank of yours in terms of recurring segments? Because I feel like you got something.
Adam:
Yeah, it's called, “So That’s A Thing Now.” And it's not a pretty one.
Marc:
Uh oh.
Adam:
Here's what's the thing now in my house.
Marc:
Wait, should I get a snack?
Adam:
No, you're not going to want a snack while I'm telling you this.
Marc:
Okay. Oh shoot. Okay.
Adam:
Both my girls, six and three, are long potty trained, but it's happened on more than one occasion lately that I have walked by my bathroom or walked into my bathroom to use it. And I look down in the toilet and looking back at me… is a deuce.
Marc:
Oh, man.
Adam:
It's not my wife's deuce. It's not my deuce.
Marc:
Right. Because you recognize your wife's deuce immediately.
Adam:
I don't like looking into the toilet and seeing a deuce looking at me.
Marc:
Not many people do, I don't think. I'm sure there's a couple.
Adam:
And I'm going to call it out. So I say, "Girls, who left a poop in the toilet?" "Not me." They both say, "Not me." They both deny it and they're denying it to the bitter end. But my six year old now is like I was telling you earlier, she looks at me and she'll be like, "Daddy, Daddy. It was not me." I have a hunch it's my younger daughter. But I'm not positive in either way. One of my kids is straight up lying to my face.
Marc:
Yeah. Yeah. You got a liar on your hands.
Adam:
I got a liar, a forgetful liar. I don't think it's vengeful. I don't think that whoever's doing it is doing it on purpose. I think it's just forgetfulness.
Marc:
Man, so you're in this predicament right now. Huh? That's a thing now.
Adam:
Yeah. I mean, I've got to think that when it happens, if I bring it up and turn it into kind of a thing, obviously without shaming them, nut making it enough of a thing that it's hopefully, eventually, it'll stay top of mind. But who likes walking into the bathroom and seeing a big shit? Nobody does.
Marc:
No. I mean, look, we all know that if it's yellow, you let it mellow.
Adam:
Sometimes you let it mellow.
Marc:
But if it's brown, come on.
Adam:
Send it away.
Marc:
Flush it down. If it's pee, leave it be, if it's pooh, leave it be. I'm going to work on that. But you're absolutely right though. You don't want to make an overly big deal about it, right? Because then you run the risk of having someone feeling ashamed of it or it having some unintended consequences.
Adam:
It's not darkening my day. It's not something I'm fixated on, but it's something that I want to try to get in front of and try to turn around as quickly as I can. Because it's happened a number of times, more times than I can count on one hand. Whatever, right? Bigger fish to fry.
Marc:
Bigger deuce to fry.
Adam:
Bigger deuces to flush. And that's it, that's it. I don't even want to do the outro anymore.
Marc:
You want me to take it?
Adam:
Yeah, you do it.
Marc:
All right. Well folks, you can find us at moderndadhood.com, iTunes/Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google podcasts. Wherever you like to listen to your podcasts. And hey, would you please subscribe if you haven't? It would make our little hearts go pitter patter, and it takes so little time. And while you're there, if you could give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts, it would go a long way.
Adam:
That'd be swell. You can also drop us a line anytime at hey@moderndadhood.com. And we want to thank our friends, Caspar Babypants and Spencer Albee for the music in Modern Dadhood, and to Pete Morse at Red Vault Audio for his impeccable mixing skills. And also...
Marc:
Hold on, I'm going to do a drum roll. Can you hear it?
Adam:
You might have to roll your tongue. They're not going to see you.
Marc:
I'm going to mime the drum roll. You're going to put it in, in the edit.
Adam:
All right, here it goes.
Adam:
And thank you to our new intern, Mr. Miles Crusberg-Roseen. Glad to have you, man.
Miles: I’ve been here the whole time.
Marc: He speaks! And last, but absolutely not least. Thank you for listening.