Episode 362- A Realistic Roadmap For Neurodiverse Young Adult Transition with Dr. Norrine Russell

One sentence from a professional can steal your breath for years, and one unexpected win can finally give it back. We sit down with Dr. Norinne Russell, educator, advocate, and founder of Russell Coaching for Students, to talk about the part of parenting neurodiverse kids that rarely gets said out loud: the seasons when you never fully exhale, the loneliness behind the logistics, and the way “normal” expectations can quietly become a trap.

We get real about autism, ADHD, anxiety, DMDD, and uneven development in the teen years, especially during the young adult transition. Dr. Russell shares how her family moved from constant worry to tangible growth, and why a child’s future cannot be predicted at five years old. We also dig into executive functioning skills that matter in the real world: planning, procrastination, self-advocacy, goal setting, and the messy leap into driving, jobs, college, and adult responsibility.

If your teen won’t take budgeting advice from you, you’re not alone. We talk about financial literacy, why money conversations can turn into conflict, and how a neutral, qualified coach can help protect your relationship while still building skills. Dr. Russell also explains the Life Launch Program for young adults who feel stuck after high school, plus what to look for when vetting any coaching or transition program.

To support your next step, Dr. Russell is offering our listeners a discount: use coupon code Sarah and get 20% off three months of coaching. If this conversation helps, subscribe, share it with a parent who needs hope today, and leave a review so more families can find it.

Transcript

Welcome Back And Big Milestones

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Hi, welcome back to the SJ Child show. I'm so excited to be here and so excited to be bringing back Dr. Doreen Russell. It has been, oh my heavens, I looked it up. It has been four and a half years since season two, episode 48 and 49. And you won't believe it. We are in episodes 360. Sarah!

SPEAKER_01 0:29

A busy, busy, busy person. Oh, I hope I get there.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

That is a huge accomplishment. You oh, it's been amazing. And that with the summits, you know, the autism summits that I've hosted. I think I'm upwards of about 600 or plus interviews or so. So yeah. Anyone who's anybody has been interviewed by Sarah. There we go, right? We could just wear I know Sarah name tags around and find your group of friends.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

I tell people to do that on their event when they go to autism conferences and stuff. And people have literally, I mean, they haven't done that exact thing, but they've they've met and they've brought like come back to me and said, Hey Sarah, I ran into this and this. And you know, Stephen Mark Shore and I had a conversation about you this weekend, and I'm like, Oh, I love this. This is so incredible. So it what a what an amazing journey that has transpired and so much has grown, and both of us, you know, are still just as I guess inspired and passionate about educating as ever before. And even though sometimes our lives take a little bit of twists or turns, and our perspectives or our ideas of what is relative and important at that time in our lives may change, it's so neat to catch back up, see what's happening, see the changes that have occurred. So, for those who, you know, all of you go back to season two, obviously, and listen to those episodes. But for those of you who don't know Dr. Noreen, please introduce yourself.

Meet Dr. Noreen Russell

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Thanks, Sarah. You're just such a great connector. Yeah. So Sarah and I met several years ago. I also am an educator and an advocate in the neurodiversity world. I have a coaching practice, Russell Coaching for Students, that I started about 17 years ago. And over the course of the last 17 years, we have grown into the largest student coaching practice in the United States and the largest practice dedicated to kids who are neurodiverse. So our specialty is not just kids with autism or ADHD or anxiety. Our specialty is complex kids, kids who are in the syndrome, in the mix, right? They've got ADHD and autism. They've got autism and dyslexia. And that kind of complex student is our niche at Russell Coaching. So I do that. I have a podcast called ADHD Anxiety and Autism, Breaking Out of the Box, where we try to talk about how do we get out of the box that these things kind of put us in, or the box that sometimes school puts us in, or that sometimes we put our own selves in. I also am excited to tell you, I haven't had a chance to tell you this yet, that I am the host of a TV show called Connected Executive Functioning in the Real World that airs on Roku. So I'm super busy professionally, and my children are now 16, and my son is turning 18 this week, June of 26. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

Wow. When they get into the older teen years, you really, I feel like, have taken for granted all of the time they were young and all of the panic that ensues. But no, all of the new responsibility that's about to be taken on by yourself, by them, by the world, just loads of responsibilities. So congratulations on all of those things, though, and happy birthday to upcoming in two weeks, 18-year-old. That's really, really

Turning 18 Without Losing Hope

SPEAKER_02 4:20

exciting. Are you kind of strange to throw out this question? Is there any type of guardianship that you have to do with that individual? Is that something you're seeking into?

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Yeah. So we have looked into it in the past and been prepared for what we might need to do. And we do have some financial fail-safes in place because he is definitely still learning budgeting. And so his dad and I both happen to have a tragic accident. I would not want him to be managing that. But and we will have, you know, some durable power of attorney for medical things. But no, we are not going to be in a position where we're going to have to do a guardianship. And Sarah, you know, I know that you have to have listeners out there who were in the same space I was when Ethan was one, two, five, ten, fifteen, where I just never exhaled. I thought that, you know, this might be at any given point, you know, things could be overwhelming, you know, in terms of his mental health, his stability, his ability to cope with life. And we were really close a few times. And so it is amazing that my son is turning 18 in two days. And, you know, I'm I don't I don't want to be mistaken. I'm not bragging, but I want to share this story of hope and joy because this is not the story that I thought I would be telling.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

This kid has his driver's license. He has pretty much completed high school. He is doing early admission to college. He has been working at a vet's office. Shout out to Gregory Vett in Tampa, Florida for being the best employer ever. Shout out, Gregory Vett. He has been working there for two years. He is now working this summer as a camp counselor at Camp Idlewild, which is a camp for special needs, which is the first place he ever spent the night away from home. So love that. This is a story that I can hardly tell without crying because this is my same kid who pretty much every spring from preschool through fourth grade, we just didn't make it fourth quarter. Like we were just tired. We were burned out. This is my kid who was diagnosed with DMDD at age five. This is my kid who has a diagnosis of level two, three autism. You know, raising Ethan has been a lesson in first and foremost, love, but advocacy and growth and so much. And so I just, you know, I want to share that, not in that kind of social media, Facebook, look at my kid, he's so amazing. But I want to share it because pretty much I would say from the moment that kid was born until about six months ago, I never exhaled. And there have got to be parents who can relate to that. 100%. 100%.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

My brain is just flooding with so many things. You know, it's that I you I could have like said that exact story about how it the hardest days, and you know, I'm still in that realm of I haven't crossed over to that other side yet where I can uh maybe breathe yet. And that's okay. That's okay because that's the wonderful thing about these types of stories is what we really learn is that the limits our mind, our thoughts, other people's opinions, society's guidelines or whatever, those are the things that need to be let go and replace those limits, those you know, because just as we are now in this era of finding out more about spellers and right, it's just the capacity of a human experience, it cannot be measured at a doctor's office of a four-year-old and be able to future tell the experiences of a lifetime, and it just can't be, and it's so sad when you see these, you know, parents that are now in grief or you know constant, paralyzed, you know, analysis paralysis mode from all of the information, and feeling like, well, this doctor, this one person who gave me my child's life line of experiences now has told me there is none. Devastating.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

I remember there are two pivotal points that doctors really took away my hope. There were a thousand times when people on our team gave me hope. I mean, there were especially some special ed teachers and some therapists who gave me hope. But I remember distinctly asking our very first developmental pediatrician when Ethan was like five or six, you know, do you think he has autism? Would it make a difference, you know, in how you looked at who he is as a patient? And I remember, and this was 12 years ago. So it wasn't that long ago, but things have changed so much in the field, right? He said, no, it wouldn't make any difference in in how I treat him. And I thought, okay, I mean, you know, what do I know? A kid is five or six, we've been through hell. Doesn't matter to you. I guess, you know, it's not a question I should be thinking about. And then I remember asking a psychiatrist when Ethan was like 11 or 12, have you ever seen a child with so much anxiety and depression and emotional dysregulation ever have something close to a normal life? And the psychiatrist said no. And I remember thinking, wow, okay, then I need to be prepared. But that's not how it turned out, you know, and and sure, we're only turning 18 this week, right? We have a long way to go. I mean, you know, but I just really want to say to those parents who anytime they try to leave the house to go to preschool, much less to try to go to SeaWorld or the amusement park or the zoo or the mall, and it ended in a meltdown, and you felt like a failure. I I was there too. I was there too, and I beat myself up every day of those 17 and a half years.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Yeah, it is the hardest job to that you are given. And you know, so many of us, I think you're right, don't reach out to others, don't see that there is a community of of other moms or dads that can be their grandparents, guardians, whatever you are. That if you are a caretaker, don't be afraid, don't be ashamed. You know, like you being reaching out shows the level of compassion you have for yourself and for the individual you're caring for, because you can't pour from an empty cup, you've got to refill your own space, and and it's hard to find those balances. Sometimes it's not until it, you know, you look back and you think, oh my gosh, I just spent the whole summer watching Love Island instead of doing all of because I'm in a deep depression and I had no idea, right? And then I'm like, wait a second, wait a second, wash it away. But some days you have to just accept that like getting yourself through these years, these struggles, it doesn't have to be alone, it doesn't have to be isolated, and it's going to feel that way. Like it still feels that way. And I've done hundreds and hundreds of talks, and and I, you know, I love all my neighbors and they know me, and I can be close with them. I still feel lonely and isolated some days. It's just realistic, it's just the reality of what it's like to have a home of, you know, people who don't have the resources in the world as everyone else has access to.

unknown 13:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Yeah.

Letting Go Of Traditional Expectations

SPEAKER_01 13:46

It was so hard for me to kind of break myself loose from traditional expectations, like, okay, we are gonna go to our neighborhood public school, we are going to go to school, we are, you know, gonna complete school, we're gonna be friends with the kids in the neighborhood, we're gonna play sports at school, we're gonna be part of you know, the honor society at school. You know what? None of those things came to pass. None of them. And I really internalized that as failure as it was happening. Like I was unable to make that system work for my child. But looking back, what I can say is I found a way through that meant not necessarily being in the box of those sim uh systems, but worked for my kid and for our family. And, you know, remember how a few years ago everyone was wearing those shirts, like never thought I would be a whatever, but here I am killing it. Never thought I'd be a podcast host, but here I am killing it. That's how I feel about being a homeschool mom, right? Like, yeah, I'd be a homeschool mom, but here I am killing it. And, you know, I I hope that kind of the next generation of moms and dads and caretakers and parents feel like they can see some of the paths that people who are at the stage that you and I are at took. Because I feel like there was no one ahead of me on the path, right? There was one mom in all of Tampa Bay who I felt like, oh, her kid is kind of like my kid. What's he doing? You know? Yeah. Um, but I really hope that this next generation, you know, the caretakers of kids who right now are in preschool, in elementary school, can look to those of us who have older teenagers or young adults and say, okay, that was a path. And that was a possible path, and that was a possible path. And maybe somewhere in there, I can also create my path from learning from them because as you say, it was lonely, Sarah. It was really lonely.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Yeah. And it's sometimes feels like only the members in this household understand that they understand the complexity of the individual and the, you know, kind of like you said, I feel like, in a sense, I and I say this, I won't use that word. I'm never mind, I'm not gonna say that. But I abandoned all of society's kind of ideas of what raising kids, having an education, what's important to teach them, how to let them sleep, when to make them do things, how to not make them do things, and how to just take control of your own self and not them. All of these things that I learned that now look like a kid who sleeps two weeks in the day and two weeks in the night. Yeah, that's completely dysfunctional for the world. But guess what? He has no health problems, he has no regul, like like emotional, you know, he doesn't have anxiety, he he is very he is level two, three, so there is emotional regulation and those types of things, life skills that we'll be working on for oh, I hope not forever, but maybe. But at the same time, if I would have pushed him to sleep on the schedule they wanted him to, forced the food in his mouth that they said he had to eat or he would not live, you know, all of these things. If I would have done that, we would be talking about a completely different individual. This individual might even not be living in a house, he may have to been, you know, put in another type of a home because it would have made such an incoherent, incapable human out of who he is today and who he is able to be, and just like following biology, following like circadic rhythms, following somatic responses. People don't learn about that. That's not something that's given as an option. And when you have to just do it, and you're just forced with these, like, all right, my kid isn't welcome in school. Like, I'm not welcome there. Like, I have to do this here. This is you know, you buckle down, you put your heels in, and you figure it out. So, luckily, like you know, we've created dozens and dozens of systems that you know work here and hopefully can help others. But exactly, exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

And you know, you do feel as you're going through it, just this perpetual dark cloud of worry. And then you get to this point, kind of like you've gotten to like, you know what, we're gonna sleep on our schedule, we're gonna eat the foods that make us feel good, and we are not going to stress out over all the ways in which we are not living the traditional conventional life, you know. Just it was so hard, Sarah, because it was so wrapped up for me in wanting to be a good mom and wanting to be a good parent. And I find

The Real Weight Of Young Adulthood

SPEAKER_01 19:40

now, you know, as I'm looking to that young adult transition, I feel a whole bunch of new responsibilities. And I think it started when Ethan started Driver's Ed, and then my daughter started driver's ed. And I was like, oh, these kids are going out in the world, you know, and jobs and driving and college and finances. And I felt that heaviness again, like I did when they started high school. But it's also at this point kind of fun and exciting, but I think that there are a lot of parents out there who are like me struggling with this transition to young adulthood for their kids who have autism, ADHD, anxiety, DMDD, you know, whatever it might be. And I know, you know, I keep seeing all these programs popping up that are like transition programs after high school, you know, after getting a high school diploma. What do you do? You know, and that seems to be a lot of these, you know, six-month or one-year programs popping up, but you know, different therapy centers, different education centers. And I'm glad that they're starting, right? I'm really glad that they're starting because I think there are so many things that our kids who can be developmentally uneven need even after finishing high school, you know, that if starting these programs means that, you know, in five or 10 years, we're gonna have some really robust programs that work, that will be great. We at Russell Coaching have started a one-on-one program for young adults. We call it the Life Launch Program, and it's really designed for kids who have maybe completed high school, sometimes they haven't, but they're lost and their parents are exhausted and nobody knows what the right next step is. And in our life launch program, we work with that student to see okay, where are you at in terms of academics? Where are you at in terms of physical health? Where are you at in terms of mental health, life goals, finances, the whole program starts with let's figure out kind of where you're at and where you might want to be in six months, a year, a couple of years, and then intense work over 30 sessions with that young person to help them set and achieve goals, working one-on-one with them. And it's been so great because we've seen kids go from, you know, working a part-time retail job to being back in school or, you know, really spending their days mostly sleeping, maybe getting high, to enrolling in a certification to become a personal trainer. You know, we've seen kids apply to rigorous four-year colleges after they took a year break. And I just think we have to really be cognizant. And I know I'm extra conscious of it now because my own two are at this stage of the uneven development at this stage of 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, really anywhere between 15 and 20. And what do our kids need individually? The same way, right? The same way we had to shepherd them through you know from zero to 18. We need to individually look at what do our kids need and where can they contribute? You know, what are they good at? You know, we always start everything at Russell Coaching with two things a strengths assessment and a values exercise because we want to know what is important to that student, right? Who are they as a person? And I think that just sets the stage for a very equal collaboration and partnership between their coach, you know, and themselves and parents, therapists, medical doctors, we are very much a team approach coaching practice. And I'm proud of that. You know, we've we've grown a lot over 17 years and really figured out what works and what doesn't work and what's an approach to coaching executive functioning skills study skills and social and emotional skills.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Absolutely is this the right website to find that information is that the right one that I went to nope you're going to go to Russell Coaching.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Know where I got that that's okay. Okay. Got it. Russell Coaching Russell Coaching and then you're gonna find the life launch coaching program under services or programs. Yeah. There we go.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Yeah interesting I don't know where that came from I'm gonna erase that guy. Well make sure that you do that and I love that because I think that there are so many parents that are at the stage where you know when they hit that kind of 16 to 18 they want

Money Skills And Hard Conversations

SPEAKER_02 25:10

to know how and what's next and all of these resources are so wonderful. And I love the idea of just this year my 14 year old I want her this summer to get a debit card. We, you know, she's used the prepaid things and stuff before but I really I don't obviously I don't want to keep reloading money and paying for that because that's ridiculous. And I want her to start learning how to budget it a little bit more by herself and I think it's just it's so easy when they're at this age when it's not like oh my gosh my gas bills overdue and now how do I know this is you know I want to buy bracelet stuff. You know this is like easy to manage. And so I really want to get it practiced a lot and something I never had practice in and something I'm still not good at I even told her we might have to take this financial literacy class together so that I can help know I can know what to do I'm not gonna be able to help you unless I know what to do.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

I don't ever remember opening a banking account but I don't ever remember my parents talking to me about budgets or bills and and I think I I was a little later than you were. I think I I went with my kids and opened them when they were like maybe 15 and my son you know when he got his job well you know he gets paid every two weeks and in his mind and I don't think this is atypical he was like that's my money and I was like oh yeah some of it is your fun money but wait time to have us a little conversation about gas, about car insurance about the phone. And Sarah it's been a real struggle and it's something he works on with his coach I decided I'm not talking to you about it anymore because you can't get over with me the fact that it's in his mind your money and I cannot hold my temper any longer. So yeah you talk about it with your coach. They mapped out a budget you know what does your actual share of the phone cost? What did it cost for your parents to put you on the car insurance? What does gas cost? And we're just asking him to put a fraction of his pay cheap toward that but it has been an adjustment for him and I'm glad that we're having kind of the open honest conversation and I'm glad that he as a coach is working with him on understanding finances but he would really like to be able to spend all of that money on gaming and remote control helicopters. And hey I'd like to spend all of my paycheck on you know new clothes and massages but have to be paid don't they? Yeah so you know but I think too you know I have this conversation every day with a parent they don't want to listen to me the parent says and and the thing is they do they want to listen to you they just also want to feel adult and they want to feel competent and they don't want to feel judged or inadequate right and so there's this period of time in there where I think it's just so helpful to say let's bring in someone else who can either help with academics or help with life coaching or both so that that person, that teenager has a safe place to really talk about those things and and to have

What Coaching Is And How To Vet It

SPEAKER_01 28:55

someone who's professionally trained in them. And you know as well as I do that coaching is completely unlicensed. And so anybody can be a coach of anything I was teasing my daughter the other day she has a hard time remembering to brush her teeth I'm like we need to get you a teeth brushing coach kind of making fun of how you know you can really find a coach for anything but I'm proud of the fact that at Russell Coaching we've spent 10 years developing a method called connected coaching we surveyed our students this spring we got really great data about how effective our method is you know the integrity of our method and I I just think that's really an important message for parents of kids of any age but also as you get to this high school young adult transitional time where you think my kid is not ready for the real world my kid is not going off to college but I don't know what else to do or they don't want to listen to me. And you don't want to be that parent who's screaming and yelling and nagging and you don't want your relationship to turn into just you know just that you know and so you know I think programs like our life launch program at Russellcoaching.com and other programs that are popping up across the country can be helpful. You know I would just also say to parents be sure that you look into what the qualifications are what the program is going to do what the outcomes are going to be because you know coaching is an exploding field and there's definitely a place at the table for coaching and there should be but we've got to know you know like you said the outcome I like that that's so true. Yeah yeah I'll tell you I'm super excited to say that when we did our survey this this spring with our students 96% of our students said my coach helps me hold myself accountable for my goals okay love that 89% said my virtual meetings are successful or very successful love that 96% of our students say they are doing better academically thanks to Russell coaching. They say things like I get better grades I now know how to get my work done having someone help me plan has made the biggest difference. Coaching improved my grades and decreased procrastination I'm managing my time better and improving my study skills. I mean 96% of our students say they are doing better academically because of coaching I I was blown away I never never dreamed of such great numbers and then this is my favorite one this is my favorite before Russell coaching okay 24% of our students had never personally set a single goal for themselves 24% okay after Russell coaching 81% of our students reported success in reaching their goals since starting with Russell coaching that's amazing to go from 24% never set a goal at all ever to 81% saying they were successful at setting and achieving their goals. I'm super proud of that you know I'm really proud of the work that our coaches do.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

We work with kids from upper elementary all the way through the 20s you know and so we say Russell coaching for students but really should say and I I don't maybe I'll change it someday Sarah when I have nothing else to do students and young adults I don't know you know who knows coaching for life there you go I know so yeah that's that's where we're at at Russell coaching 17 years later largest student coaching practice in the country 96% of our students say we are helping them to be more successful at school and in life what more could you want that's exactly that's the outcome exactly the outcome that you're looking for and I really couldn't agree more when you're going to look for coaches therapists you know baseball teams doesn't matter when you're going to look look at everything look at the reviews look at the background look and see how long they've been open if they haven't been maybe find some people that have been there that you know you can get an idea of because even newer places are great too but definitely

Team Support And Unexpected Wins

SPEAKER_02 33:41

vet the people that are going to be in your child's life for sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

So no and we have been so fortunate for both my kids to have amazing people on their team and I think you know that was one of the most helpful things I ever read from the American Academy of Pediatrics about treatment guidelines for ADHD and how important a team approach was and it really solidified what we do at Russell Coaching. We're the ones who often reach out to school we're the ones who often reach out to the therapist we're the ones who will say to the psychiatrist do you want the last three months of coaching notes with of course you know signed permission and and you know absolute express permission by the student and the parent we would never do anything like that without permission but that team approach and getting the right people on your team who believe in your child is essential and it's so rewarding isn't it I mean it's just so joyful to see kids developing confidence self-esteem new skills you know dreams yeah and you know what you stay with those people it throughout your life like we have I've literally stayed in touch with every amazing therapist that we got close to and you know we're still on all the social medias and everything and following each other and staying in touch so it's something you never lose track of in fact my daughter and I were just walking on our we have a canal behind our house we were just walking on a walk the other night and someone stopped and she said oh my gosh I haven't seen you in so long I bet DJ is so big and it was one of his preschool teachers and he's 16 and just the fact that like you know you catch up with these people later in life and you can tell them like and I didn't share this with you either I'll I I'll throw this snippet out there because it's exciting you know DJ doesn't leave the house it's not like a he doesn't go go out very often he's definitely a a hermit in his room but what he has found is he's been building his own YouTube channel for so many years now I think he has close to 1300 subscribers he is monetized Noreen he's monetized and he I've set up an able account where I will just start depositing that money and you know he doesn't have that same understanding of what that means and the money but when I told him that this is like you were just monetized this is your first job his face light up in a different way than I could understand that he was even like understanding the express this it's life changing sorry to like cry at the very last second but it's so amazing to see your kid who once again was told we'll never make money we'll never have a job will never be a product of society or successful and to say they have found their community and that community supports them and that community wants to financially support them what more could a parent want so just don't you know don't hold out hope this is a wonderful episode of hope and yeah Russell coaching you need to go support them today no though you're so right and let's let's end on that message like don't give up hope right and I just so relate to where you're coming from my kid you know this these years have touched me and Ethan's 18th birthday is just really touching me and him being at the camp where he spent the night away from home for the first time and the camp director was texting me every hour he's still okay he's hanging in there we made it another hour we made it another hour and I mean Sarah he was like 11 or 12 he never spent the night away from home yeah we talk about we do what our kids need he slept with me until he got a therapy dog because that's what my kid needed and was right for him. And I don't share that I've never shared that publicly on a podcast and he went for training at the end of last week the very first campers of the summer came yesterday which was a Sunday and he texted me late last night he goes boy there was a lot of dysregulation around here just cracked up I'm like Ethan you today were someone's Mariah you were that camp counselor who got that kid through their first day away from home like you in so many ways as the human being you are have changed so many other people's lives but today you know exactly whose life you changed because whoever was dysregulated I know your heart went out to them and then he texted us today it's it's Monday today and um he's like hey you guys know my legendary lack of coordination well I had to do a three legged race with a camper today because she didn't have a partner and we won. And I was like holy cow like I was crying in the car.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

My daughter was like mom I was like you're just not gonna understand until and unless you have kids but when you have had the experience that you've had that I've had that literally tens of thousands of parents have that we just don't talk about until we're at our little conferences or in our little Facebook groups it is some powerful magic to see those moments like the YouTube monetization like his face when you say you have a job buddy you are earning money you have a job like and and so you know we've had a long rambling conversation about transitions and and what do our young you know adults need but to parents I just keep advocating keep learning keep loving because good things will come that right path will emerge even if you can't see it even if it seems dark and that there's no path and and nobody's ever been on that path because that's how I felt but you know I love I love that your son's YouTube channel put it up here put it up here okay let's do it let's do it oh my heaven we're doing because this is how we support each other yeah isn't that the truth you know and I don't it's it's so neat that he can you know we we didn't even understand that he had this type of like support you know that they were I keep going into my own channel here we go right you didn't know that was going to be his path we don't know what their paths are gonna be right how many kids do you hear say oh I want to be a YouTuber right I want to be a YouTuber I want to be a YouTuber well here's DJ's YouTube if any of you want to check it out oh my gosh and yeah right now he's literally sitting at 12800 subscribers he has like three three and a half million views or something on his like shorts and videos and wow just in like he has these conversations in the community posts that are different than he has with us different kinds of conversations so there's there's growth sometimes that we can't see as parents because they only give us what they do they give others different things

Discount Offer And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_02 41:55

we have to we have to like love and be accepting of that for sure. Yeah yeah yeah oh this has been so great catching up with you so great thank you so much for your time and for the life launch program for your young adult or you know elementary through 20s just hit it hit it and we're so glad to to support you and go to all the of your socials to support you on those as well but we'll be staying in touch for sure and Sarah for your listeners I want to let them know that they can use coupon code Sarah and get 20% off three months of coaching.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

Oh I love that we are doing special programs right now it's not too late to register for a summer coaching program 20% off summer or 20% off three months in the fall and all they need is yeah you got it right there Sarah for 20% off of coaching for your listeners.

SPEAKER_02 42:58

Thank you so so much and this episode will be airing in maybe three weeks time three four weeks time so definitely height of summertime before your kiddos get back to school check that out take advantage of that and of course reach out to me if you ever need any resources you want to connect with anyone and you want to just say hello I love just to check in so please check in with me thank you again Noreen I'm just I'm so happy we came back around four four and a half years later wow we're not gonna let it be four and a half years again before we catch up we need to do this annually much more much sooner next time definitely thank you so much