Harrison’s birthday, new screen time rules & family trips to Disney

36:27So you can both be very comfy. I love my eight sleep. For example, my side's off because I like to sleep normal, but his is cold. Mine is very, very, very cold. So he said one of the biggest drivers of optimizing deep sleep is not eating within four hours of bedtime. Interesting. So you're supposed to eat at five, let's say? Exactly. Go to bed at nine? Yeah. And why is that? Because I think I would be hungry before bed, but what does the study say as to why? He didn't point to a study. I think what he was referring to was looking at customer data within the eight sleep community. And I'm sure some polling that they did, which is all right.

37:10When you look at the people who have the most hours in deep sleep, what are the commonalities between their behavior? and one of them was not eating within four hours of going to bed. I think the why in that is your body, if you just eat, your body's focused on breaking down foods and digesting as opposed to doing that when you're awake. And when you're sleeping, your body can focus on resting and recovery. I think it makes a lot of sense. And I'm down, not pregnant, I'm down for that. I'm down to at least try that because I always think like you do feel a bit groggy if you eat then go to bed right and they always say they say walk like the best thing you can do after you eat a meal is walk for 10 minutes and I'm always seeing people talking about that and what I like that you're talking about right now is just a couple like consistent things that have been around forever number one like walk number two eat before you go to bed number three prioritize sleep like we can do that I can do that those aren't these aren't fads yeah and so I think we just like Back to the point of routine, another – so I kind of looked at it like what are the key things to do to optimize sleep and look at what are we doing, what are we not doing?

38:27So yes, walking after you eat, getting sunlight first thing in the morning. But where I want to go – oh, the other one was routine, was going to bed at the same time. I think both of us can – once the baby comes, I think that that's something we can dial in on together. we can move up an hour right now we waste an hour at night i'm just chilling in bed i totally agree but it's kind of nice but what i was going to say is like readjusting our routine around all right if we're going to eat at five we need five with bubs like making sure we have enough time for her to go outside because she's because right now we eat and then play sorry right now we play and then eat yeah we could change that up bubs loves to go play outside well we kind of play eat play so you know how but okay so tate so we eat and then i'll play right right which would be good for us because we go outside on a walk okay i like i like this age i like what you're talking about here so tate's on this thing right now where she goes to the door and she knocks on the door because she wants to go outside all the time and i was talking to a couple of my friends whose kids are in or around the same age as tate which is like that 18 month old mark and they're all doing it all kids are wanting to go outside so i wonder why that is um they're fun it's fun for them it's fun to go outside but i just also think it's really cute because it just kind of came out of nowhere one day the other thing she's doing which is like right out of a movie is like at the side of our house you can look out you can see a yard where now the kids are starting to play a lot and like we brought her in for dinner and like she just went right to the couch and was just watching all the kids play and like hitting the window.

40:10And it's like, she just like wants, she just like wants to play with kids right now. It's like, Bub's like, we got to have dinner. And then once you have dinner, you can go back and play with them. And it's like, that's such a like storybook, classic family interaction of like the kid wanting to play and needing to come in for dinner. But Bub's, it's dinner time. You got to eat. Let's be honest, guys. If a routine takes longer than five minutes, it's not happening. especially if you are a mom of a little one. That's why Merit Beauty believes great makeup should be effortless. Their clean, thoughtfully curated essentials help you get a fresh, polished look in minutes with products you can swipe on, blend with your fingers, and move on with your day.

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41:28That's M-E-R-I-T Beauty.com to get your free signature makeup bag with your first order. meritbeauty.com so I want to talk about this first I want to take this and I want then I want to talk about my happy hour about the school okay so this I I watch it's so funny I've been really emotional lately about a lot of things like your birthday had me emotional this morning with you and Bub sitting at the table like because I just thought about this photo I took a photo of Tate and Harrison eating breakfast this morning at the table and I'll always remember that was your birthday and like those are the moments that you look back on you know in 20 years like oh this is you and your daddy you were one here it's his birthday um which i just think is really special and the other day bubs was up really late and we were both holding her we were taking turns holding her and singing to her and i just thought to myself like these are the days like like in 10 years these are days we're going to wish we could go back to not in 10 years but in 50 years and whenever i see her looking outside the window to see those kids i think this is very like nine like our street is very 90s childhood, which I love, which reminds me of the conversation I had whenever we went to this school happy hour and what the school happy hour was, it was a mom on our street.

42:46She was like, okay, a lot of us have questions about the local school. So what we'll do is we'll get a group of moms of kids that go there and then we'll get a group of, you know, moms that are looking at going there and we'll do a Q &A. And so we did one and they said two things that stuck out to me. And the first one was, which this is great, our pickup line is on foot. So a lot of times at school you hear the thing of like, oh, I had to get there 45 minutes early just to get in the car line. Well, at this school you walk, the majority of the parents, I think it's like 70 % of the parents can either walk there or they park their car and they walk anyways, because there's not really like a spot to form a long line either.

43:28So a lot of the parents get to know each other, number one. And number two, she was saying a lot of her other friends that go that they have car line pickups. She's like, you know, I've never even really talked to Sally that much because we're always in our cars that pick up, but they're always on foot at pickup. And so they're like going to coffee afterwards. She said, sometimes you'll stand out there for an hour and just talk to people. And I thought that's a really cool dynamic that I haven't thought of because I remember walking out of my elementary school and looking for my mom's car and then it pulls up and they call your name whereas this one you walk out and you just look for your parent in the crowd yeah my my elementary school had a had a pickup lane I think most I think majority have a pickup lane and the school does not have a pickup lane it does not have a pickup lane number one it can't number two it doesn't which that I want to say something else about that reminded me of what one of our friends said to us, which is always do pick up.

44:24Always, if you can be the one that picks them up in the car or picks them up on foot, do it. Because what happens right after school is the kids have a ton of energy and they're talking about everything that happened at school. So-and-so did this. This happened with this teacher. Oh my gosh, there was a food fight. But by the time they get home and they see their parents and you say, hey how was your day good but right after school when they're all talking to each other just stand there and you'll get all the scoop and i thought that is the best idea ever yeah i want to i want to clarify my understanding of what she said is she said i think the the delineation was that when you pick them up and you're picking them up with a friend because then you hear them and the friend talking well so it's it's both how willing and open and much energy they have to talk to you but I think a lot of it is like you actually sitting and hearing what they're talking about with their friends but I think that's how I understood what she was saying I think it's twofold I think that's as they get older they talk to their friends a lot about things but right when I mean you know how it is right whenever I leave a meeting I want to call you right then because it's on my mind and it's fresh and I want to tell you everything okay by the time I get home I'm like I don't know it was fine I don't really care I don't know I understand that so I think like the the point is it's like hot off the press right when school ends yeah so either way just be the one that picks them up yes which i think is a great tip um the other thing they talked about with this school which i loved is it's not the nicest school on the planet right they don't have the cream of the crop when it comes to like technology or something like that um but what they did say is like, this is a nineties feeling like this is what school should be about.

46:12They, their curriculum is great. So if your kid is advanced, they stay in the class. If your kid's falling behind, they've got tutors there. Right. So it's like, they're very academic savvy, but also she said the way that the school feels is warm and fuzzy and happy. And it feels how school should like, imagine the cafeteria. You can pull up every morning, what's for lunch and say like, do you want me to pack your lunch? Or do you want to have lunch at the school? Or mom and dad can bring you lunch. Like it just made me think about how my elementary school was that way. It was warm and fuzzy and it was happy.

46:48And they said a lot of times like the nicest X, Y, Z doesn't translate to like the richest experience. Totally. And this school has that very sweet, happy. You seem to have walked away from the evening with a real positive taste in your mouth. Very positive taste in my mouth. I was really excited about it. It was just everything I wanted for Bubz in terms of school. I just want her to love school. And this felt like a place where a lot of the students love school. But it was funny. I had to ask questions about safety. I was like, how do they know if intruders are coming in the building? one mom had to ask about how do they handle bullying and i just thought wow i'm really a parent like i'm officially like i'm asking these questions and you have to like raise your hand and be like okay how do they handle this how do they handle if a kid's having a hard time reading these are the things that i know what audiobooks audio yeah they just listen to the books i should have said that jules so i'm like oh have you heard of audiobooks it's the same thing as reading they can just listen but one one yeah so i don't know it was just awesome and i thought it was cool there were so many moms there and i just thought it was like a really cool scenario yeah if you were to ask me and i'm going to kind of go back to something you're talking about because it struck a chord on like our street has a 90s feel and there's a lot of older kids like kids two three four five um and they're always outside playing they often shut down the street and then a group of young kids is just biking and running around and chasing each other, drawing chalk, and the list goes on.

48:35And I could keep the list going on, but I know you and Jules don't want me to. We don't. I think the commonality when I talk to all the parents is like they are massively avoidant on screen time. But here's the thing. All of the kids, every day, yesterday, it's actually at 6. All the kids were outside in the lot, next door. Like these kids are outside, but Austin has – We're playing and having fun. Yeah, but we have a good climate for it. But also it's taught me the importance of living near other kids. Totally. Because if Bubz didn't have anybody to run outside and play with, I don't know that we'd be saying the same thing because it would be a lot harder to entertain her.

49:15But I also love that the mindset of the neighborhood is get the kids outside. But like the – we're talking a lot about the street. But when you go to the park, the park slammed as well. Yeah. We tripped and fell and moved into a phenomenal area. And I think we liked the house. And we liked the walkability. For sure. We were going off the Diet Coke index, which I don't know if you guys remember. That's Harrison saying how far is it to walk to get the nearest Diet Coke. We have a great Diet Coke index. We have a 10. I would know even nine Diet Coke index. Yeah, we have a nine on the Diet Coke index.

49:53And what we weren't looking at at the time was any of this stuff in terms of the street feel with kids. And like we got really lucky there. So it's great. Now, I want to talk on this. One of the things that Harrison and I DMed each other was the American Academy of Pediatrics updated screen time guidelines for kids, which is exactly what we're talking about. Okay. And basically they used to ask how much screen time kids were getting. Now they're asking what, why, and what is it replacing? So they compare it to dessert, which is, it's just, it does not replace a meal. It's a nice to have. You don't have dessert every night, but it's something that you can sprinkle in after one meal, right?

50:37We all know that we all know the spot that dessert plays in our life. Yeah. Okay. Okay, so toddlers 18 to 24 months, they said it should still be very limited. If used, it should be high-quality programming, and this is the part co-viewed with parents. So they're starting to talk about not just plopping your kid in front of a screen and walking off, but can the parents be part of it? Can we watch the wheels on the bus, and can we do the motions together? Ages six up, there's no strict universal number, but parents should set consistent limits so it doesn't interfere with sleep, physical activity, schoolwork, playtime.

51:12That's where it becomes a dessert, right? So it's not instead of physical activity. You don't watch a screen instead of going outside and playing. It's not instead of schoolwork, and it's definitely not instead of family time. It's a Saturday morning slot, right? Yeah. No, I think I love that there's so much attention now being put on the matter and our government agencies are consistently looking to update their guidelines based off the latest. It feels like generally this is a step in the right direction. I think the dessert anecdote is super interesting. I love the suggestion around doing it together.

51:59I don't think you touched on this, but the added point of being able to discuss it with them after the fact my take though is like it's still these are still feels like far too lenient uh or far too like encouraging of um of screen time and and like i don't know i think that that to not have limits it probably leads to a situation where um where things get taken advantage of jules what you got to look on your face no i did and then i forgot what i was gonna say so well i'll kind of at the end of the day like i'm just hoping that our children spend as much time out of the house developing real world skills as opposed to behind the screen behind screens zonking out i remember what i was gonna say sorry what you guys have talked about before so the old guidelines that did focus on like a number that you should or shouldn't do yeah and the new guidelines are just how you should do it and i think that's just reflective that technology and screens like are more and more inevitable because like i don't remember when those last guidelines were published but like maybe they were published 20 years ago when what was the suggested time on the last one do we have that um zero to 18 months is zero 18 to 24 months it's also very limited two to five is one hour per day and six plus no timeline like to me it's surprising to not have a timeline on six plus and like an hour day seems like a lot like that seems like a lot i don't know yeah to me like an hour feels like uh like if you look at it if kids are on average if sorry if kids are home from four to eight okay four to seven so let's say there's three to four hours where they're home after school you're telling me that anywhere between 25 and 33 of their time is like spent on screens that feels like way too much and Like I get screens are going to be a part of every kid's lives.

54:15And they like that is the reality of our situation. I do hope we spend as much time with our children outside of the house and helping them develop real world skills. And I yes. Sorry to cut you off. But I do get it. I do get, you know, like if a parent's listening, they're like, we just we do the hour of screen time. I get it like you've been at work all day you guys get home it's a lot and so I don't I definitely don't knock it I just think for us you know we've got our area we've got our strengths and our weaknesses I think one thing we talk a lot about is like trying heck we try to limit our own screen time so we just see how for her little brain like trying to too yeah and that's where I think that's where I know I want to put my effort is on and that's what it takes it takes effort is on exactly because spending as little time as possible with them behind the screen as much time as possible outside and having fun because what i've noticed with bubs is it's 24 i mean we yesterday harrison was gone from 5 to 5 40 and i'll never forget bubs and i were outside i was drenching sweat and she wanted to do the same slide over and over and over again and it's just like these kids have the most energy like they're not she's not going to sit down for five minutes with being like drink a water so it's go go go yeah it's just constant go go go which is the cutest thing on the planet but it's as a parent you have to be more alert totally ever wonder why your prenatal vitamins stays the same when your body changes so much during pregnancy i realize my body and baby need a different support in first trimester versus third trimester and your body is so different in the first trimester versus the third trimester.

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56:42Exclusive for our listeners, new customers can enjoy 20 % off their first order with code 2PARENTS. Visit ParallelHealth.com. That's P-E-R-E-L-E-L-H-E-A-L-T-H.com. Last thing on screen time. I'm trying this Gray Situation on the phone Okay Apparently Show her like you're on TikTok It's like shocking to see So like I've heard that when you turn your screen Into this gray mode It just makes it A lot less fun A lot less enjoyable So Like Wow it is a lot less enjoyable it's jarring yeah well that's our content our content's enjoyable my screen time let's just do an accountability check okay we'll say what my screen time is maybe to you and then we can beep it so it's over the past week okay okay that's really good let's see how it goes down screen time is so much better than mine okay let's see that gray wow it's really boring yeah but it's like watching black and white television versus color it's a tale as old as time black and white is not as fun to look at as colored should i say how you turn that mode on would that be helpful yeah tell us okay i'll just pull it up quickly oh i should do it with you but i don't want to because i love seeing i love color okay so when you are on your iphone the way to do it is you go settings accessibility display and text size color filters on and then grayscale and then what i've done is i've created a shortcut as well and so to do that you go settings accessibility accessibility shortcut and color filters wow and so that way like when i do want to turn it the color you just hit that three times and it turns out the color oh yeah you know what i don't like the shortcut no easy do you know why i think you need the shortcut photos is because like we do do a lot like a posting right and you can't post in black and white why i just feel like you're not gonna like pick the best photo oh but you can yeah you can do it but like you know especially yeah especially for you where like you know it's no i i don't know that i'm jumping on this band i number one i'm proud of my screen time what's your screen time let's look it's gonna be bad this week how do you uh i know how to find it well i'm about to travel so when you travel it goes up Mine worse than yours.

59:38What is it? I can't believe it. What is it? 530. That's the highest it's been in a very long time. Darn it. It's because I've been in bed a lot. You don't feel bad about that, please. But I'm happier when I'm reading. Like I just am. Maybe try your Grayscale mod. Maybe I will try it. Okay, maybe you can turn on the shortcut for me afterwards. Usually I'm in the threes on my screen time. I'm like pretty upset by that. Okay, let's go. I want to talk about something else. Okay. All right. So Jules is giving us a head nod. No, I just love this topic. I think it's really interesting. Yeah. I love this next one.

1:00:14So basically, um, all right, this next topic we're going to talk about, where should a dad take his daughter to go to the bathroom? So a dad made a video and he said, Hey guys, I'm a girl dad. Today we were out in public and I didn't know which bathroom to take my daughter. And what I did was I went to the girl's bathroom. I opened the door and I leaned inside and I said, Hey guys, I'm a male. Is anybody in here? Nobody was in there. So we took his daughter in and then he heard somebody come in. He stuck his head out. He said, Hey, I'm a male. I just want to let you know I'm in here with my daughter.

1:00:42And he said, but I don't know where I'm supposed to take her to go to the bathroom. Can you guys weigh in? I'm just a dad looking to do my best here. So I looked at the comments and the comments said overwhelmingly, it was women in the comments saying as a woman, we don't care if you come into the bathroom. So please bring your daughter into the girl's bathroom because everybody is safe in the girl's bathroom. She's welcome in there. You're welcome in there. And nobody is in harm's way in the girl's bathroom. That's what all of the comments are saying. But then I was thinking about it. As a mom who's got a little boy on the way, I know, let's say I'm in the airport, which is a very crowded bathroom typically, okay?

1:01:22I know when he's three or four years old, he's coming to the bathroom with me. and all the time in the airport for example do i see moms in there with their sons that's where the son goes to the bathroom i've never thought about where you would take tate to the bathroom when she's three or four at an airport because that's a really crowded bathroom you can't stick your head into the bathroom at an airport and say is anybody in here it's gonna be packed yeah i have a couple comments on this so the first is when it comes specifically to airports they all generally have the family bathrooms which are very good and i find the respect of usage around those family bathrooms is very good like maybe i can count the amount of times on my hand where i've been normally they're open but where i'm waiting and the person who comes out isn't with the family like nine out of ten times the person who comes out of there is with the family totally if they aren't with the family then they get my best dirty look i have a question yeah sometimes i will go in one when i have jenny at the airport because it's easier for me to handle like otherwise she's like in a little tiny stall with me so is that okay it's okay if it's not okay but sometimes tate's in a stall with me yeah a hundred percent but like my dog i have no problem if it's a problem i bring her in the stall all the time but if a family one's open i'll use it because she's sitting in her bag on top of my suitcase you have to like push that in and then push it out and then she's just like chilling i don't know the take on dogs i don't i don't know I don't have a view on this.

1:03:07I don't know. Okay. Well, that tells me your view. I want the listener to weigh in here. I want to hear the listener view on this. Have you guys seen the funny? There was like a viral TikTok though of all the dogs like hanging on the back of the bathroom stall. Oh my gosh, that's so funny. I have not seen that. I want you to clip this one and I want to know. I'm actually very curious. And for Ginny, I want a dog emoji so they know Ginny's the dog. But I don't know. Because I do see both sides of it. I do both. but yeah because like i listen you're not here's where i think we have to delineate here's my question have you ever walked out and there been a family waiting for you no no because i will say that even when i'm in like when i'm in there with bubber and i walk out and there's like a family with like three kids i feel terrible my heart drops i feel like i shouldn't have been using it obviously i didn't see them there beforehand i got there before them but like i i do want to call out those airport change rooms because like the airport family bathrooms because they they are amazing now when it comes to this specific situation on the dad wondering i hadn't thought about it because at this point right now bubber comes into the bathroom with me so she comes into the boys bathroom do you guys have changing tables in boys bathrooms sometimes normally we do okay great i'd say like as i thought about this question most of the time we that she goes to the that i take her to the bathroom it's it feels like it's at restaurants where like it's two bathrooms for both genders but h you gotta you gotta answer the question you're out of sporting game there's no family bathroom they're very crowded bathrooms the girls my initial default would have been and what i've been doing is i take her into the boys bathroom I don't know at what point that changes.

1:05:01I would have thought that like I wouldn't have been allowed to take her into into the girl's bathroom. So because I see where this dad that made the video nailed it. I'm imagining he's at a very not not crowded place. I'm imagining the coffee shop by our house where there's a girl's and a boy's bathroom. There's two stalls in there. A lot of times they're completely empty. But I don't know how he I because I agree with you here. He can't go in to the girls' bathroom at a really crowded place, I don't think. I would never care if I saw him in there, but you'd feel so weird. As I think about this, it does surprise me how many bathrooms we go to are one-off stalls.

1:05:44And I know that isn't helpful for this, so I'll give you a take. Yes, please. Okay. My take is right now, like we go into, into the guy's bathroom. If there's an age at which it changes, I'd love to know when that is and when it should be on my radar. Totally agree. Cause I would like it on my radar too. Cause I want to follow the best procedure, the best practice on this. Of course you do. You want to come correct. And like, for me, it's easy. She goes with me. And when we have a little boy, he goes with me. Cause like, that's very normal. and I always remember that's just a thing when does he stop going with you though okay that that I do think about a lot though like when can I'm I don't know six seven is that when you let them go by themselves into the bathroom I don't know I have no clue either people can let us know yeah the people with kids older than ours will yeah I feel like it's probably correlated to like a series of other things you let them do on their own yeah but like yes sending your kid into a bathroom on their own.

1:06:46I mean, you'd have to stand right outside, of course. We've got to make sure it's also a bathroom with only one entrance and exit. Like at stadiums, you have two. Yeah, what if they get confused in there and go off the other side? Oh man, there's so much to think about. Do you remember the first time you got lost? That's a great question. I don't think I've really been lost. Knock on wood. Do you remember the first time you got lost? Knock on wood. I don't think I'm going to start now, but I will knock on the wood. I feel like I'm always losing you, Alex. Have you ever been lost? Never in like for an extended period of time.

1:07:29But like I definitely recall like getting lost for like short periods of time. Like from your parents? From my parents. And like I recall like at the grocery store like needing to go to the front and like ask them to page my parents. No. So that I've never had. Yeah. Oh, you were probably so scared. Being lost was very scary, yes. I know. I know that they'd never like leave me. No, you wandered off, I would imagine, knowing you. Yeah. You know that what I put. So this is actually a funny story. And like I've stopped doing pranks. Pranks aren't a part of my life. But we went to, we were at the grocery store the other day and I was there with neighbor T.

1:08:11and I thought we were going to the grocery store together and he just scampered off. He wanted to divide and conquer. I felt very lonely, very abandoned. You wanted to go together. And so my game plan was like, I'm just going to go to the front and I'm going to page him. But I got to the front and he was already there checking out. He totally left. He also didn't have his phone. Of course not. Yeah. It's so funny. So I'm going to do a page. Okay. So speaking of talking about, you know somebody wandering off okay where in here there's a leash there's a leash topic i want to find ah what okay listen to this one of the most common reason kids end up in the er at disneyland is for dislocated shoulders parents grab their hands when they run off who knew maybe a time in a place for leashes.

1:09:06Food for thought. Dislocated shoulders. Because they want to run off so bad and mom and dad are pulling them back. So leashes dislocate shoulders? No. Leashes would solve this problem. They're saying the kid's trying to run off and the parents are yanking them back and it dislocates their shoulder. One of the most common reasons that kids go to the ER at Disneyland. Someone told us that in the comments.

1:09:31Listen, if there's a time and a place for leashes, I would think Disneyland would be one of them. Yeah, you want to say like, how does that happen? But then at the end of the day, kids can bolt it. Especially at Disneyland. That's like magic for them. That is the magic kingdom. Of course they want to run off. So have we talked about Disneyland yet or no? No, let's talk about it because I think about it a lot. When do we think we're going to take pubs to Disneyland for the first time? So I didn't grow up as a Disney kid, right? I never went to land or world. I always said before I had a kid, I was like, I'm not going to be a Disney parent.

1:10:08We're not going to Disney. The way Tate's eyes lit up even this morning when she saw your birthday balloons, I can't not take this kid to Disneyland or Disney World. And I'm so excited to show her all of it for her to dress up, for us to stay at the hotel on the property. I want to go full Disneyland or full Disney World. So no, we haven't talked about it. I don't know what age we do it, but I just want to let you know I'm down. I'm almost down to go yearly. So... I think it's the cutest thing ever. Have you been to Disneyland? I've been to Disneyland one time for like an hour. And do you know when?

1:10:43Whenever I lived out in LA. I didn't even ride. Did I ride a ride? I like went for the food. I also want to do like the around the world drinking thing. But I saw a TikTok on this. Apparently, like they're all very close. All the worlds are very close. and so you don't even have time. This guy who was making the video about drinking his mango margarita, he was like, you would think when you went to drink around the world that you'd get your mango margarita and you'd have enough time to drink it from one world to the other, but you don't. One continent to the other. But you know, it's all very, you don't know around the world.

1:11:16It's like, I've always wanted to do it. So, Expo West is across the street from Disneyland. I didn't know that. And two years ago, we like walked over to the like there's part of disneyland you can go into without having a ticket yes and like i was very impressed by just like the general vibe that was going on there yeah i'm sure um and so why don't we do that why don't we always tack that on why don't we say to bubber we go on work trip for dad and then we go on a fun trip for bubs what does comfort that carries you from the morning tonight feel like well i'll tell you because this march cozy earth crafts every piece with care from soft supportive socks for your steps through the day to breathable comforters that help you rest deeply at night.

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1:12:53Head to CozyEarth.com and use our code 2PARENTS for up to 20 % off. That's code 2PARENTS for up to 20 % off. And if you get a post-purchase survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth right here. Experience the craft behind the comfort and make every day feel intentional. That's why I had this conversation with someone, and I guess it was with Alex Cost. Yeah, it wasn't me. Okay, yeah, I think that tagging... Why don't we take him and his family too? Yeah. So this was a little conversation we had. And I thought a really exciting component of it is like you tag on like two days in Newport beforehand.

1:13:31So my trip is Newport. Your trip is Expo West. And Bub's and little Bub's trip is Disney. Now let me ask you this. Do you know at Disney there are restaurants and things there too like at night? Is it just a full kids trip or is it like we can go get a nice meal somewhere? I, so one, there's a Dintai Fung that is very close to the property. And Dintai Fung is one of the best restaurants in the world. Okay. I think it may be like the highest grossing fast food chain that exists. I've seen people in terms of dollars per restaurant. Okay. Fast food. Quick service restaurant, chain restaurant, chain restaurant.

1:14:13Yeah. So yeah, it's like. No, I'm excited. I think they've got it dialed I think that we're going to want to do it our way as well so that way but I think they make it so that way the adults can also have fun clearly they do because all I know about Disneyland or Disney World they've just done something so right that it stands the test of time people still go back they make family trips out of it and the adults seem to love it too like something about it they've nailed i don't know because i haven't experienced it he loves it he loves it he loves it and and uh something about it i don't know you know like you don't know until you don't know but like yeah but i think that speaks to it is like is it is it can be a magical place for all sorts of people but here's where i'm at in life yeah i was so excited for your birthday today because i wanted to put bubs in her happy birthday to the best dad outfit like everything for me is so much more magical being a mom easter included like i've decorated for easter i've never decorated for easter in my life totally and i've already got her easter basket i've got the stuff that goes in the easter basket like we're like we're i've already got recipes i want to make for easter i don't know do you know what else i've noticed about myself in 2026 fill in this blank hold on fill in this blank my 2026 hobbies is the year for me of hobbies okay i bake sourdough bread and i play mahjong two things that i never thought would be in my vocabulary what do you know what the third thing is for me next what what what comes with this does anybody know can anybody in the room guess if somebody somebody that mahjongs bake sourdough bread what's usually grandma p i have no idea i don't know either the needle pointing cross stitch situation is coming what is it i got i got you that i got you that for christmas yeah i'm gonna be like crocheting something so i have my take on disneyland okay what is it i want to do one day oh no you got to do two days because you're gonna and lean into the one day but do it more often so like i don't want it to be like three days every five years i want it to be like one like one day every year but because i think that one day I'm sure she'd want to go for three weeks right?

1:16:42She would want to go for three weeks. We go for one day we nail the one day we're all in and we do it every year around Expo West. I have to push back on the one day because I think you got to at least do two powerhouse days because I would imagine on the one day you get there and you think you know what all you want to do but then they're like can I please go to that right? Can I please try this? And you have to have the second day to do that. I'm with you I don't want to go once every five years but I I would like to go once every two years. Okay. I'd love to throw just Disney out. Like I just think how fun.

1:17:13The other thing is I think you got to plan it around like non-work days. I think you got to avoid it on weekends. I think you want to do it on like a Tuesday, Wednesday. I think you must. I don't – I bet it doesn't even matter though. Really? I'm sure. Oh, like to me, there's no way – I guarantee – there's no way that Tuesdays are as busy as Saturdays. And what's going on with the Fast Passes? You just pay to get to the front of the line. There's a genie pass now. Genie pass, which is what? On the app. You can book it ahead of time. Oh, there's a genie pass so you can book your rides ahead of time?

1:17:50I might be doing that. Yeah, but beyond that, I don't think you can avoid it just being a zoo. You want to avoid it being a zoo. I think it's always a zoo is what I'm saying. Yeah, Jules is saying she doesn't care if it's 10 a.m. on Tuesday. I don't think Tuesday 10 a.m. is the same as Saturday. Well, somebody will be able to tell us. Somebody will tell us. He's telling us right now that I'm right. Tuesdays, Wednesdays. Tuesdays, Wednesdays are the down days of Disney. Yeah, and it's worth taking the day off. It's 100 % worth it. You can do more and... I mean, listen, Disney's for sure in our future and I can't wait on the day.

1:18:23I'm excited. I love the phase that Bub's in right now, but I can't wait until Bub starts to want... Right now, she wants to go outside and I love giving her that joy. I can't wait until she wants to go to Disneyland or something like that and we get to give her that joy. Like it'll just be awesome. Okay. Okay. Speaking of travel. Travel, because we talked about this last week where I said every time we travel, I feel like we get back and Tate hits a milestone of some kind. To which Harrison said he doesn't think that that's actually a thing. To which the comments say travel actually does help kids with milestones.

1:19:00Number one, new environments stimulate the brain. So getting them out of the house. When toddlers travel, they experience new sights, sounds, people, languages, foods, and a new routine. This novelty activates learning networks in the brain and can temporarily increase curiosity, attention, and skill practice. Yeah, I want to read clarification here because that very much describes my mantra around parenting. Which is like putting her in new environments, giving her experiences, and letting those experiences lead to her developmental progress. what I was like kind of debunking or what I was pushing back on last week was like you take her for a trip and then like you know there's like a a switch flips like to me it's very much a gradual part of her uh of her growth and development well the last bullet point okay I was gonna say the so routine disruption can also temporarily boost development which is exactly what you're talking about.

1:20:04Being slightly outside of normal routine sometimes pushes toddlers to practice new skills like communication, flexibility, and problem solving. Also this, though, development often happens in bursts after stimulation. So that's what I think it is. That to me summarizes what I'm saying. She goes on these trips, we get home, boom, she knows new words. Boom, she knows how to knock on the door. Yeah, I'm very pro travel for a bunch of reasons, and that's why she's traveled so much heretofore. But I'm just saying there is a direct link between us getting home from a trip and her unlocking new news.

1:20:39Okay, all right. I accept and I'm glad and happy to be wrong. And I'm also prepared. I think that I said that we're pausing the... Have we said that we want to pause the travel only for big occasions now? Well, we have to pause the travel because I'm on baby watch. But I meant like, yeah, travel's great for all ages. I'm upset at myself for not giving travel the credit it deserves. Travel is great for people in their teens and people in their 20s and people in their 30s and people in their 80s. Travel's phenomenal. I love travel. So many of my amazing life experiences. Okay, we know you love travel.

1:21:22So I don't know what I'm saying here. I'm just saying I thought that there was something happening every time we got home from a trip. and it just shows that there is some science that backs that up. Yeah, and you were right and I should have been more on that. But we don't have to travel every month to like unlock some new – like that's not what this is saying. No, no, no. Yeah, for sure. It's just saying, yeah, when you do go on a trip. And like we are home for a while now. That's why I'm doing sourdough. Yeah, what does jump and strike a chord there is like the routine is so nice and she's so good in her routine and having that reminder that like there are benefits to breaking the routine.

1:21:59even though that is like it it's harder but being off the routine constantly is also not good they need structure but structure is the foundation of spontaneity it's that no it's a fine balance of of a parenting um okay the last thing that i want to discuss is costco now offers cheaper access to ivf treatment which the number one comment on this was can they run the country like what a really cool thing to give people affordable access to IVF treatment. Costco isn't doing IVF itself, obviously, right? But it partnered with a healthcare platform called Sesame and a fertility clinic network to help members access fertility specialists and IVF treatments more easily, which I just think is amazing because I want everybody to have access to this.

1:22:48Hold on. The big savings here comes from medications. Okay. Fertility drugs, a major part of IVF costs can be up to 80 % cheaper through Costco's pharmacy pricing, which is amazing. So this could save patients$5 ,000 to$10 ,000 per IVF cycle, which is huge. So members can pay about$99 a month to access consultations, fertility evaluations, care coordination, and then get referred to IVF clinics with discounted pricing if treatment is needing. So for context, let me tell you this, IVF can cost$15 ,000 to$30 ,000 per cycle in the US. This could save you, and the goal here is to reduce that, obviously, okay?

1:23:32So this could save you$5 ,000 to$10 ,000 per cycle, which is just incredible that they thought of this and did it. Yeah, fantastic offering, and I think strikes two chords. One, obviously giving people a price break on something that is very, very important. And then I think secondarily, it's like them taking on this offering and the awareness it brings is also obviously a really positive thing. So this is really cool and great to hear. Yeah, it's really cool. And I think that it's something that a lot of people struggle with. So I think somebody like Costco adapting this doesn't help normalize it, right?

1:24:15Because it'll never be normal to those people. But I think it does help normalize the conversation around it and further giving them access to this, I think is an incredible thing. That's great. So I'm really happy to hear that Costco's doing this. And then the very, I said that was the last thing. I do want to do this because Dr. Ari did answer it. And you guys love the Dr. Ari episodes. So do we, because we learned so much from her, but it's nice to see that you guys are so many questions for her. Yes, I would like to ask a question on that. What? So we obviously love Dr. Ari and are keeping those recurring episodes.

1:24:47If, is there anyone else that you think would be helpful to get in the mix as, as either a guest or potential recurring guests? Let me, let me help you also, let me further this question for you because we love having Dr. Ari on and actually want to extend our invitation to her, um, because she just gives us a wealth of knowledge. So we don't need another pediatrician but is there is there another topic you guys are curious about with a specialist that we could talk to that wouldn't be a topic that your pediatrician would know so either runoff or recurring yeah um like speaking of the costco stuff we did a fertility specialist we did dr lucky like is there anything like that that you guys want us to do let us know in the comments okay this is a question for dr ari and she did send over a response because of the thorough gal she is.

1:25:39How do you introduce allergens to kids if you have an allergy? Are your kids automatically allergic? Long answer. Allergic disorders are hereditary. Eczema, food allergies, seasonal allergies, asthma. A child has an increased risk of having an allergic disorder if one parent has allergies and an even greater risk if both parents suffer from allergies. But the best way to reduce that child's risk of developing a food allergy is to introduce the higher allergenic foods and a baby's diet by at by slash at six months of age and offer them regularly particularly eggs and peanut products three times a week the data is pretty clear that regular exposure desensitizes the baby to these food proteins for example i'm lactose intolerant when i'm not pregnant okay this was one thing that i had read about so i started giving tate we give her real milk real cottage cheese so she doesn't develop the allergy and we started that at six months um if the parent has a food allergy and is extremely sensitive even to skin exposure, create a food prep area, cutting board utensils for your baby that won't risk cross-contamination and wear kitchen food prep gloves to clean the high chair and your baby after mealtime.

1:26:53Let's face it, mealtime can be messy. So that's a really, really, really helpful response. My biggest takeaway in it is if the parents, let's say both parents have a peanut allergy, introducing it at six months, three times a week can help desensitize the baby to it. As always, thank you, Dr. Ari. Thank you, Dr. Ari. She's the best. She was at Expo West. She was at Expo West. I heard she came by and said hi to you. Yes. That's the best. She's really sweet. And I look forward to our next episode. I look forward to all of our episodes with her. Okay. Happy birthday, Harrison. Thank you. We love you.

1:27:26Thank you. Love you too. Thank you. That's very nice. I meant we as the listeners. Oh, you guys, it was Jules' birthday present on Monday. Today, it's Harrison's birthday present. Please subscribe to the podcast and send it to a friend for his gift from you. And you know what else for your birthday? What? I want you guys to go follow him on Instagram. Oh, Alex. What are you? What are you? At Harrison Fugman? Are you Harrison Daniel Fugman? What's your at? At Harrison Fugman. Thank you, Jules. At Harrison Fugman. I mean, I had to block you, unblock you this morning from my story because I wanted to upload your balloons last night.

1:28:02Alex Cross was like, how are your balloons? When I spoke to him. How did you know that? How did you know I had balloons? All right. We love you guys. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Thanks for listening to another episode of Two Parents and a Podcast powered by Just Media House. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to like, subscribe, comment, rate, and review. Stay connected on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook at Two Parents and a Pod. Welcome to our home. Sorry it's so messy. New episodes Mondays and Thursdays.

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