Welcome to Unlimited Parenting. This is a podcast
where we talk about what it's like having children
with disabilities or and special healthcare needs.
Today is everyone's favorite series. Is it? It
is. That's what I hear on the interwebs. Do they
tell you that? They do tell me that. That's what
I say. Our best ones are this. I do hear that
often, frequently. forthcoming information um
bring like that makes me a little scared does
it i think it's just real it's like a lot of
pressure though can i introduce this sorry yeah
my bad bring your own topic oh my god now i'm
nervous at my topic today isn't gonna be a good
one why it always ends up being they always end
up being great i can make fun of anything that's
true I'm just kidding. Well, who wants to go
first? I always go first. The random name generator
says Sarah. Okay. Sarah, would you like to go
first? I would absolutely love to go first. Sarah,
tell me. Drum roll, please. I hope it's exciting.
Anyway. Next. It kind of has to do with some
things we're working on with our youth to adulthood
projects. Well, I mean, no, no, I'm sorry. Go
ahead. But we're putting together some activities
and outcomes for 10 to 13 year olds thinking
about planning for adulthood. That is so wild
to me. I know. Right. I can't get because I have
our kids. I know. And so I went to Melissa and
I said, you know what? What's Archer like to
do? He's 11. What are some things that he is
really interested in so that when we're planning
this, we're not just getting people who are adults
thinking we know what 10 and 13, 10, 11, 12,
13 year olds like and are wanting to do because
when they're in a classroom. they have certain
things they have to do but outside of the classroom
what are your kids doing my kids are 19 and older
right now and it's different than when we were
absolutely and when i was 10 and 13 i wasn't
even then allowed inside the house during the
day so well hold on hold on i'm not trying to
age you here I'm just saying, like, we didn't
have screens. No. When we were younger. When
I was 10. It was 1987. I know. Yeah. It was 1987
when I was 10. So 1987. That is so wild because
I was not even. 1991. Yeah. That's when I was
10 to 13. I know. I am of the same age. You didn't
come from India. The streetlights came off. Okay.
10 to 13 would have been 99 to... For you. Yeah,
for me, 10 to 13 would have been 99 to 2001.
Okay. Two. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, we grew up
in different times, but neither of us had screens.
True. There were no... iPads weren't invented.
I mean, he had Saturday morning cartoons. You
had, but you had, like... the internet. You had
computers. Al Gore did invent the internet in
my lifetime. Yeah. But didn't you have like handheld
game? You know what? You know what? When I was
about 13, I think is when the Game Boy came out.
So yeah, that's fair. Okay. We didn't have like
Kiwi and Coke kits. Yeah, no kidding. Like my
little... I didn't have a VR. Yeah. Kids these
days. So here we go. When I was 10 to 13, we
were at the park, the playground. Sometimes we'd
wander around the mall with our parents. What's
a mall? Exactly, right? We were talking about
that earlier. Or we would go to the library and
things like that. The Wild Waters. Yeah. Wild
Waters. Oh my gosh. No, Wild Waters was over
there across from McDonald's. On the fun zone
at the park. Oh, my gosh. Are we going to reminisce
or talk about transition? Anywho. Sorry. I wanted
to know what things would get a 10 to 13 -year
-old's interest so that we could plan our activities
and outreach where they are and not what we think
that they want to see or do or hear. Have you
done any of that focus group type stuff? Have
you been surprised? not really surprised because
i'm like i try to stay i mean your kids help
me stay in touch and i'm not like an old fuddy
-duddy where i'm not involved in the tick -tock
right and so and my my kids are pretty trendy
so it's like yeah for sure so i i just wanted
to know like what are they what are they interested
in and i know their attention span is worse than
mine and that's about 30 seconds so um yeah you
know what are Where are we going to get to them?
But it is kind of cool to see the evolution of
it. Like kids are using, like you said, VR. Like
kids are using VR for employment. Back in our
day. Milk carton. Right? Uh -huh. Cereal box.
Milk carton. Well, there were like. Yeah, yeah.
It's like a happy meal. Or missing children on
the milk carton. Or a billboard, you know, like,
there, don't do drugs. And it was different than
it is now. Because kids are, I mean, they're
just accessing information. Which is absolutely
fine. Yeah. And we're evolving. Yep. I just think
it's kind of cool to see it now. Kids, they do.
They play. And you wouldn't think that it's employment
unless you really think about it. But I mean,
there's pressure washing games on the VR. There
is a restaurant. There's office game. Like it's
simulation and they are filing. And it blows
my mind. Everything. Silas was a car mechanic.
Yes. That's crazy. I forgot about the mechanic
when there are. There are. I'm just blown away
by the realism because he was. kind of stepping
out of his little circle. Are you drawing the
VR? And I'm like, what are you trying to do in
your game right now? He's like, well, I'm not
tall enough to reach the highest shelf, so I
have to get my stool in the game, and it's just
outside of the circle I've drawn for myself.
So I'm just trying to get my stool so I can get
to the top of the shelf. And I'm like, wow. You
know what I think would be so cool is if... If
there was a way to create a VR from the lens
of a person with disabilities for us so that
we could see what that looks like every single
day. Do you know what it means? Yes. Like the
schizophrenia simulators. You know, they have
those like you could do like a blind, visually
impaired simulator. Or I know this is a family
show, but like the drunk simulator for when you're
learning what it's like to. Drive a car intoxicated.
So I went to a communication class about because
my son uses an AAC device and I went to a communication
class and they said for a day only use that device.
And are all of your words in there? Because that
should tell you that you need a robust vocabulary.
And it was things as simple as like, does your
individual have an opportunity to express? Like,
are they, is there a square word on there? That
is their right. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I had
never thought about any of that stuff. Anyways,
totally tangent. I didn't mean to take over.
But still, like, yeah, what are our kids interested
in? Yeah. I mean, I was in my kitchen the other
day and my Alexa was showing me all sorts of
different pop -ups of what they think I need
to buy at the store, what they think I need to
watch on TV based on conversations or... Things
that I'm interested in. And so what if, you know,
what if that had a pop -up of something like
that? I don't know. That's way down the road.
But those types of things where they're already
here in front of our faces or where our kids
are already accessing them. Yeah. Neato. So,
yeah, you guys had some really cool VR ideas.
Jessie had a thought this weekend. Tell me. To
do, because she's going to do a... fair up in
Coeur d 'Alene and a family day fair I can't
remember the name of it but she thought can we
make a coloring book for kids with transition
activities oh that is such a good idea absolutely
yes you cannot would be such a great thing to
do to give away my word I know yeah great idea
I know that's me in a doctor's appointment today
oh sorry right have you what did you find something
new that you like to do volunteer or um you know
i don't know did you help help i don't know did
you do your chores today yeah did you brush your
teeth did you i mean right you know what i mean
i thought you were asking mary in general did
you i mean it could be it could be fun ideas
about employment and discovery and self -advocacy
or that is a brilliant you know what i mean yeah
so i haven't ever thought about that I hate that.
Because we don't have time to think. Good job.
I know. That's brilliant. I love that. I love
that she's thinking about those things. I do
too. Anyway, so that's my thought was what are
our 10 to 13 year olds interested in and how
we're getting their information. And Jessie is
the closest thing we have to a 10 to 13 year
old. She's still a youth. She is. She is. Maybe
that's why she has some. She has all the good
ideas. And she has a different perspective, too,
because she's also a sibling. So she's had to
entertain her sibling. And she's probably come
up with a lot of different ways, aside from a
caregiver, how to hang out with her sibling.
I love it when Jessie talks about her, too, because
it's a sibling. It's just a normal sibling relationship.
She's like, she's annoying. You know? And that's
what is one of my most favorite things. kids
are annoyed by their sibling just in the normal
sibling annoyance right it's not because he has
a disability endearing and you're like don't
talk to your brother like that and you're like
that's a regular conversation that i've always
had with yes Non -regular situation. I love that.
I caught a couple of glimpses of that this weekend.
They were annoyed at him just because he was
being annoying. Not because of that TikTok you
shared with us. Yeah. I loved that so much. The
random name simulator says Melissa's shoes. I
don't. Can I see that random? No, you cannot.
This is an audio only podcast. So you're not
able to access. Okay. The reason I thought of
this is because I caught myself several times
this weekend. With your hand in the cookie jar?
Uh -oh. If we would have had cookies, it would
have definitely been in there, but I didn't.
We didn't have any cookies. No. I will turn on
shows for my kid. that I think he wants to watch,
and he watches them temporarily. Daniel Tiger
was one example. I love Daniel Tiger. And he's
off in his own world doing... Not Daniel. Oh,
okay. Okay, following along. I'm like, Daniel
does exist in his own world, though. You're right.
He does, and he's so endearing. And so then I
just found myself at multiple points this weekend.
Just staring at the TV watching Daniel Tiger,
Brave. Brave was another one that I turned on,
thought he would love, but nope, he took off
and went and played with some Play -Doh. Brave
isn't where the mom turns into the bear. What
a twist. Sorry if I've ruined that for you. It's
been about five hours. I think I love Braves
so much because of all of the little redheaded
children that reminds me of my family. They're
just crazy boys running around. But at very,
there was three, so multiple times this weekend,
I found myself just watching cartoons or videos.
So Bluey is one that I would absolutely stop.
It wasn't on this weekend, though. So it was
Daniel Tiger. It was... What was that one we
were just talking about? I lost it. Brave. I
saw it in my head. And then it was... Notorial
one. It's the Bruno one. Nobody talks to Bruno.
That one was on, too. I keep trying to say Coco,
and I know that's not it. In Canaveral. So those
were all on, and multiple times, I was the only...
human being in our home watching them. I wasn't
the intended recipient of these. I turned them
on so that I could work in the yard and then
I would come in and get a glass of water once
in there. Yeah, so I bring this to you to say,
what are some of your favorite children's shows
that you find yourself being very drawn into?
Scooby -Doo. Yes. Scooby -Doo would get me every
single time. And the Smurfs. I don't know why.
Oh my word. I've heard good about the Smurfs.
And the Care Bears. Wow. This is a blast from
the past. Yeah. We talked about the Fun Zone.
Wow. The Fun Zone. The Care Bears. I've never
felt so left out of my own activity. Yeah. But
also The Wizard of Oz. I'll watch that over and
over and over again. That's a very good one.
Okay. My kids are only watching... clips on youtube
of youtubers playing games and i don't want any
part of that and and while i was watching daniel
tiger i thought i'm really glad this isn't youtube
because it wouldn't draw me in and the same mr
beast is not gonna give me what daniel tiger
gives me in fact this is not my topic but i will
just say this briefly it's a little disturbing
what you can find on youtube kids even with an
age restriction that is like less than 13. really
sad yes because she remember a couple years ago
god my daughter's gonna listen to this podcast
in like 15 years and hate me um A couple of years
ago on YouTube, there was that grimace. I think
you really. Remember that? I don't really think
that. You don't think she's going to listen to
it? You know what? What if I'm famous and cool
and she's like, this is. This one time. I'm imagining.
So that's what was happening this weekend. Okay.
Okay. Is she, remember the grimace shake? Yeah.
And the grimace would come and on the live children
and. What? Oh, yeah. There was like a seedy underbelly
of that. There was a whole trend where grimace
would just show up and on a live, the person
and teenagers thought it was super cool. Anyway,
my child. You get to parts of the internet. Yeah.
You can get there on YouTube, kids. What? Is
what I'm trying to tell you here. Wow. So my
daughter is under the age of eight. Wow. And
I deleted YouTube, like YouTube proper. And she
has YouTube kids. And she's still, because at
first it starts with a song that goes something
along the lines of, yes, it's so delicious and
something like that. So it sounds fun and catchy
to sing. So then she's clicking through the videos
and all of a sudden grimaces unaliving someone.
And she's frightened and this youth is laying
in a pool of purple. right oh and so everly is
like i'm just imagining oh that grimace is here
and so she's really upset so i'm saying all of
this to say like these videos are terrible right
but maybe turn on the daniel tiger because even
youtube kids can take you to some places that
I'm like looking at her age restriction and I'm
like, there is no way that you should have been
able to get this. But that's on me, right? As
her parent to like, I don't want to have her
over her shoulder while she watches. Well, but
I guess that is just, that is a good warning
to say, don't just put all of your stock on YouTube
kids and age. Yes. Right. Yeah. Do diligence
as a parent and use it as a, as a teaching moment
or a conversation starter and open lines of community
you know that yeah relationship yeah just tell
her that grandma shakes yes thank you that's
true and i mean it's not that you saw anything
but grimace would show up and then the kid would
be laying in the it was a limited time thing
i know but i feel bad because i got scarred for
life from chucky yeah when i was when i was five
that's fair And she's seven. That's true. Yeah.
But she's such a sweet soul. She can't handle
that. My other boys, they're fine. They could
care less. But she is so just deeply in tuned
with emotions. Well, when you look at the Grimace
character, it's purple. It's fluffy. Like it's.
I even, I tried to do that. I'm like, let's watch
an old McDonald's commercial with Grimace. And
then she just saw him and just started crying.
And I'm like, but he was never like that. Anyway.
I digress. Anywho, that's all. Those were mine.
I just, at various points of this weekend, I
was watching some shows. That's awesome. I know
cartoons just take you back. They do. Maybe that's
what it was that I just needed to like, it's
kind of a reset. Yeah. Yeah. At Daniel Tiger's
mom. I know. She just gets an A plus every day.
But I feel that way about Bluey's parents too.
So if it had been Bluey, it would have been very
similar. I just, I love them. I feel them. I
see them. They make me feel seen. Really? They
make me feel bad. What? They make me feel bad.
Like, why can't I always respond? You do. So
the positive discipline -y. The Bluey episode
that I saw that the car was so dirty. Oh, the
stickers. I just never felt. seen by a cartoon
like that before. Oh, 100%. And they always have
snacks. Yeah. And they bicker. And that does
make me feel better. Yeah. That does make me
feel better. Anywho. I suppose it's my turn then.
The other random name selector. Allison. Chose
you. I choose you. So my topic is something that
you guys already kind of know about. Wow, how
weird that we all picked like technology related
things. Oh, yeah. Oh, now I know what I'm going
to do. I spent too much time on TikTok. It's
a real problem. It's a disease. It's an addiction.
That's what it was going to be. What did you
think it was going to be? I thought it was going
to be the skylight calendar. Oh, my God. Oh,
my God. Can I talk about the skylight calendar
for 900? If you don't have a skylight calendar,
get one. I'm not sponsored. Can I say one thing,
Will, before I talk about my real topic? Okay,
I'm sorry. The only thing that makes the skylight
calendar, like, not undefeatable, like, if there
was one more thing that this son of a gun had,
it would be the best thing in the world. A visual
timer. If the skylight calendar with how I have
the max, so the 28 inch one that hangs on my
wall, if I could use that as a visual timer for
my kids, that would be life changing. Skylight
calendar, if you're listening, you can have that
idea for free. I'm surprised they don't. I'm
surprised not. I looked. So maybe I'm wrong and
I'm just not looking hard enough. But, you know,
you can have pictures on it. You can have to
-do lists. Like it's supposed to be. Meal planning.
And I'm like, where is my, because you kids have
routines and chores. I'm like, where's my. Could
you do one of the YouTube timers? But you can't,
like, cast anything to it. You know, I want it
to be on the calendar. Yeah, they could just
start it. Sorry. And it would go. Thank you.
Or I could say, hey, five minutes until we start
our tasks. And they could watch it. Does it have
voice activation? No. From one autistic family
to another, please do that. Mine is actually
the cool videos that I have been finding on TikTok.
So normally when I think of TikTok, I think of
people using it as just like a way to be like
raunchy and funny. Maybe that's just a side of
TikTok I'm on. But I'm thinking of it more like
the disability information that I find on TikTok.
Think about the ones that I've just sent you
guys last week. What about the guy who, he's
like 17, 18, and he lives with his mom. And his
mom was trying to give him a sense of independence.
And so she redid the door to his room as if it
was his apartment. Yeah, I loved that. That was
really cool. She gave him a mailbox, like a sconce
light, a doorbell, a door hat. like it looks
yeah and he's like remember he was like thank
you mom thank you thank you so much mommy oh
what did i love you it opened up like opportunities
for him to try new social interactions that he
wouldn't normally have had like come into my
space exactly and knocking on the you know yeah
that kind of stuff but the best is when you like
use the hashtags under the videos and you find
other videos similar to that and it's like oh
really it's like uh A higher version of Pinterest,
I guess, is what I'm trying to say. Like the
ideas that you can get from TikTok as a parent
of a child with a disability. Unreal. Yeah. We
were looking for ideas for the youth on our Youth
Unlimited page and thought we like just Linda,
not me. I won't claim any of that. But she was
like searching. People using wheelchairs and,
you know, and then found a person like a day
in the life of and what it was like to navigate
a college campus with a wheelchair and how things
seem to be accessible, but they're really not.
I mean, a parking lot is 100 miles away from
a classroom. And so is it really as accessible
as as we think it is? And so those day in a life
sub or like you, Alice, in the that one finding
innovative ways to create. independence or because
i would have never me either in a million years
thought of that and i saw it and i was like what
an absolutely genius idea and it's it's more
accessible on tick tock everybody's on tick tock
everybody's scrolling but not everyone's going
to the sippers website not everyone's going but
like it's all right here and if we could just
use this and the other one that i saw that was
so good it was like get I'll put a link to it
in the description box below, but it's getyarn
.io. And it's for those kids who have, you know,
gestalt language processing and speak in scripts.
So if you have a child who's just... randomly
saying a phrase over and over again, and you've
plugged it into YouTube, you've plugged it into
Google or ChatGPT, and you're like, where is
this coming from? You can put it in this app
and it'll show you the video clip that it comes
from. And that is just amazing. That alone could
be life -changing for so many families. Yeah.
Like, just remove the incessant, like, where
does this come from? Like, the madness. Yeah,
like, yeah. I can't even imagine. I've never
thought about. So you're saying you search with
hashtags. That is. Yeah. So search. I mean, so
thinking of that video in specific where the
mom as the son. Right. Underneath that picture
was a lot of like hashtag transition to adulthood.
Hashtag disability mom. Hashtag preparing for
independent living. And if I clicked on preparing
for independent living and there was videos on
videos on videos about that. And I have so many
ideas that I had just never even considered.
That's super helpful for our transition or planning
for adulthood work. Just us in general. Yeah.
Gosh, maybe I'm going to go health care. We have
so many. My mind is just like. Like I'm thinking
traveling, like type in like how to travel with
a child with a disability. Yeah. Hashtag airplane.
Airplane. Special needs. You're going to get
like the sunny flower program or whatever. Oh,
yeah. Those people just help. They did me a solid.
That TSA cares is hands down. I will talk about
that on the next Bring Your Own Topic. Yeah,
because you'll have more experience with it too.
But it saved our. It saved my marriage. Yeah.
It saved the Randall McDonald house thing too.
Yeah. Oh my gosh. We got next topics. Look at
us. Okay. So are you jazzed about listening in
next time then? If you've already got your topic,
you got a topic. Yeah. I'm back next time. Next
time on Bring Your Topic. Sounded very like.
Matt's off -road recovery. It did. Or in a world
where, like Michael Bay. Okay, well, our producers
are flagging us to let us know that time is limited,
so I'm going to have to wrap us up. Sorry, guys.
But we'll see you next time. Thank you so much,
everyone out there, for listening in. And know
that if you are in Idaho or planning on moving
to Idaho and have questions on systems or services
for children with disabilities, please consider
reaching out to us on our website at iPullIdaho,
that's I -P -U -L -Idaho .org, or by calling
us at 208 -342 -5884. Be sure to tune in next
time. Until then... This has been unlimited parenting.
Thanks for listening.