Field Trips & Flavor: How a Simple Template Sparked Big Joy

In this episode of The Family of One, I'm taking you along on three tasty field trip adventures: a pizza place, an ice cream stop, and a pretzel shop. How my Jumpstart Field Trip Template helped turn them into memory-making moments for moms and their kids. From foodie fun to real-life planning tips for myself and my only child, I’m sharing how this simple tool I've used has helped me create fun and lasting connections. This one is for you. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hey amazing only child mums, I'm 4 Comment, your part-time working mum friend who loves Yahweh, family and fun. Welcome to the family of one where we share joys and adventures of raising an only child. Expect relatable stories, parenting laughs and faithful tips. Let's make small family life enjoyable. Woohoo! Welcome back. Well, today's topic is about pizza, pretzels and ice cream. And why are those three topics? It's because I am going to so excited to share how those three topics. I, when I did my little local ventures group, when I organized my little field trip groups, we went to go and visit. a pizza place, a restaurant, an ice cream restaurant, a shop, and a pretzel place. So, well, one, it's really hot outside. It's summer right now where I live in the United States. And if you're a person who is a bit of a foodie, or you like eating pizza, maybe a pretzel, or maybe just some ice cream, and you have a bunch of friends, and you're like, you know what, we're going to visit this place quite a bit. Maybe I can take my child, and maybe I can have a group of friends, and we can go and maybe have a tour of the shop. So this is what I did. I made a list of local places that I asked myself, what would be fun for myself and Olivia to go and visit and learn about? And that is how I came. I came up with at least about 20. This is before chat GP or AI or anything. I wrote it all down. And then I also went on their website. I mean, not my website. I also, I Googled local shops in the area. So after I had my list, I made a list of what fun places would I like to go and visit for myself and for my daughter to learn that would be fun for the both of us. And then after that, Next door, I wrote down, why would this place feel like a good fit right now? Well, and I asked myself that because once I have those places, maybe depending on what it is, it might be too far to visit. When I pick local places for me and Olivia to go and learn and see, and if I'm taking friends, I really do not want to be traveling more than 10 or 15 minutes because sometimes As a tip, when I'm organizing these places for myself and a group of friends, I don't want to be more than one hour. So that's a tip. I mean, it's up to you. You might like to stay there longer, three or four hours or longer. But with my group, when I started Little Local Ventures and we're going on a field trip at least once, Two times a month. Sometimes I'll be going like three times a month, one each week. And I had quite a few families. There was a lot of people coming from different places and I didn't want them. I was just mindful of how long it would be for them to travel as well. But in general, myself, I didn't want to be traveling that long. And so I thought 10, 15 minutes. If it's 15 minutes, it's got to be pretty good for me to get in that car because you've got to drive back home. And depending if you have, I don't know, you've got a lot of laundry, you've got an appointment and your child has a routine, you know, a nap time, all of that. So you just want to be in consideration. But first, you want to work the schedule around you first, because when I'm organizing these trips back in the day, I wanted to make sure it fit my schedule. schedule as well because the last thing you want to do is organize an event and it just interrupts your schedule all the time if you are organizing events it's okay to work around your schedule because you're the one that's organizing it you're the one that's setting everything up you're doing the phone calls and everything but once you have your team get other people to help you I just want to make it less stressful on myself and child so that is it so that's how I got the pizza and and the pretzel and the ice cream place. And then I ask myself, what can I learn and discover about myself here? So when I'm picking these places, I'm asking, oh, you know what? What's something about this pizza place that I don't know that maybe I can learn about myself that I haven't learned before? When I'm at home, And her and I, for example, she likes to do painting. So I would bring my easel, easel board. We had a large painting easel board. And then I would put it in the kitchen. I would put her paper and I put a towel on the floor and I'll get her water-based paint so she can paint. now in the kitchen and I didn't mind if she made a mess and the paint was running because we had the floor I could just mop it up the paint and it was all right it was she did not make that much of a mess so it was fine so with these places I was interesting to learn how they teach children and families about their product for example the pizza place they had already established a schools coming in to learn about their products. So what they would do is they would give each child a pizza dough the size of your palm, just a very small pizza dough that It's already been rolled up. And then they will give each child a plate, every participant. And so you would flatten that dough out with your hand. And then on the side, they'll give a cup of cheese and a small cup of sauce. And that was it. If you wanted to bring your own topping, you could bring your own topping. Now, I was always curious, like, okay, so there was about 15 of us. And if everyone brought hand and you touched it, right, you're thinking, which one's pizza. What they did was when they put it on the tray, they had like a paper, parchment paper, where they would write the name of the child. So next to their pizza. So you knew exactly whose pizza it was. Some parents mark their pizza with like their name or put two like little dents or something to clearly indicate that was my pizza. So it was things like that. It was very interesting. And the conversations, like Olivia really really enjoyed it because it was hands on. And also it was lovely because they explained the history of the restaurant. And I loved it that when they brought the dough out, each child, like you're using all your senses and they gave one to each one. Even if your child was like a year old, a little bit younger, they still ask, would you like to make a pizza for your child to take home? Or would you like to take that So they're very accommodating. And also when I'm going to these places, I'm asking, you know, I'm telling the host or the restaurant owner or the manager what our group is about. And I'm also telling the purpose of our visit. So when I thought about these places and asking, hmm, what is it I want to learn about? Is this a good way to fit? And what do I want my child to discover about these places as well? Will it be fun for them? Is it right up their alley? Like they just love this sort of place. Like I am thinking before I call the restaurant owner or the business. And once I had that experience, I'm asking questions like, okay, what are the hours? Is there any cost? Some of the things we did was free and some had costs to it. Now, I always try when I'm organizing groups, when I did my group, I really did my best and I did not want the cost to be high. Now, for me, it was like$2 to$3. If it was more than that, it was because it was... Like, for example, I don't know, going to an event. But I preferred to make the cost as affordable as possible because one guest and some parents that I invited, I just felt with everything going on, you know, the cost of raising a child, it's going to be expensive. And because if you're saving money for the event, And then if their products there, the parents are going to spend money because they're like, oh, I have a lot of experience. So, for example, when we made this pizza, we had our own individualized small pizza, a very small pizza, like the size of your palm. I mean, your hand, very small. And then they gave us, I think it was about 15 of us. And then they gave us like three large pizzas for free on the house. And they said, here, this is on the house. And the event itself, it didn't cost us anything. They said, oh, no, this is what we do. We give back to the community. So the event itself was free. But they did ask for donations. And not only did... the group kindly gave, but they also bought pizzas to take home because it was so yummy and the staff was just so excellent. So that's what I mean. If you have a good experience, you might buy, most likely for my group, I saw a lot of my families either bought products on that day to take home or they returned back to that store and they bought family products. And that's a good thing as well, because you are bringing in new customers. So I, from my experience, the families that I took to a variety of businesses, you know, they just, they brought in more customers for them. And another thing too, when I'm visiting these places, I'm asking them, are there any restrooms? Are there any bathrooms available? That is very, very important. And what's the parking like? Because the parking, is it free? Is it parking on the street? Do they have to walk a long way? Is it safe for parents to get to the location? Because they have little ones. And these are all these things I'm thinking about. So I'm ticking and I have a tick box and, you know, how early can I book for our group to go and visit? So that was what I'm thinking about all these questions. And so the next one is the pretzels. And this is a wonderful, we had two different experience at two different places. pretzel places. One was called Jojo Pretzels, and they were lovely. It's a local pretzel store. They're still here in my local town. And the owner, the owner's wife, and she led the group. Now, once again, each group, each participant had a pretzel dough. Now, what's lovely about this, they prepare everything for you. All you've got to do in these activities, the ones that we went to, they had everything set up, came out and she gave each person a pretzel doll. And then she told us a story about Christ and how that related to how they made this particular shape of the pretzel. And it was so lovely and easy to follow. What was wonderful about it that many of my group that was their first time making their own pretzels at the store like we would buy the pretzel but we did not make our own pretzels um in this particular store they have like a They make the pretzels in front of you so you can see how they make it. But it was really awesome when you see your child, like you go and buy the product at the store, you can see how they make it. But when your child is making it, there's like a connection. Like, you know, Olivia loved to share this experience with her father, with her grandmother, with her friends. Her and a lot of friends would talk about it.

UNKNOWN: 13:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 13:34

It was so good. And so because she starts the conversation, oh, we made pretzels. And just hearing from her own perspective what she enjoyed about it again, hearing her heart, how she enjoyed it. And some of those trips, her grandparent, her grandma came or invited grandma, grandpa, and her dad would come if he could come with some of those trips. And it was just so lovely because she got to learn from them as they are learning from her. And then they are connecting and sharing what they're all learning. Now, when you're learning and exploring together, on an activity, it really, for me, I notice it's just amazing because you're excited. There's a language. There's a laughter. I mean, and then you get to share those experiences and you get to listen and you get to communicate over dinner for us because at that time, Before I had Olivia, I was working and I was going to school. My husband, you know, he had a full-time job. And we seemed like we hardly didn't really talk that much. We thought we did. But when we had Olivia, and as we're going to these field trips, I really wanted us to continue to engage with the learning. But I wanted her to have... a conversation where she feels that she can share on the things that's bringing excitement to her, what she's seeing, what she's hearing, using all her senses. And that's why I wanted to share just some of the things The stories, when I was creating these groups, these field trips, I wanted to let you know there may be local restaurants in your area. There might be an ice cream place. It could even be a candy place. Just by using, I've created like a, just a field trip template, just a jump start, just something basic. If you're wanting to know, well, where do I start? What do I do? Well, first one is what local places sound fun for you to visit? Could be like the library. Could be like a park. But my one, I picked everything from food to cars dealership to the park. I mean, to the fire station. I went knocking on my local town from one area and I walked all the way to the end. I just knocked on each area. business asking hello my name is four and i have a a group of families and we would love to learn about your business so i will start from there and then the next one another place we went to go and visit is the ice cream shop you're thinking ice cream shop i don't know they're not gonna let us well here's the thing you don't know until you ask so this one ice cream place is It was a little bit of a drive. One of our parents, they had connections and they knew the owners. So they asked, could we go to this and visit the store? And so we went to this ice cream place and they showed us how they make their ice cream, what type of flavors and why they make their ice cream that way. And then they gave us samples. And then they also let us just see how they store their products. where they store their products. So it was really good to just see how your local store makes certain products and why it tastes so yummy and what their favorite flavor is. And they took questions from children. I mean, it was really good. And for me personally, When I went to restaurants, I made sure like I didn't have too many families. So you might think, well, what's too many? I didn't like to have more than 10 or 15 per field trip. Now, depending on where the store is or what business it is, it's because I want each child or adult to have the time to ask their question because it If you're going to a store and say, for example, there's 40 people you take, but the store can really only accommodate 20 or 15 at the most, you're not really going to have time. And if everyone has questions and you only have 40 minutes to an hour, you don't want to rush things. that process. I like to give people space and time and even for children, no matter what the question is. And so that's why I like to make my groups small. And for me, I found the magic number was always 10 or 15. And then it just gave everyone time to ask questions, learn without feeling rushed. And also when you have hands-on, with the owner or the manager coming to teach you or whoever's leading the field trip, they can have more of an engagement instead of like, whoa, this is a large group. And so I always encourage my group too. And my parents were very hands-on. And that's what I love about a group. If you're organizing or you want to organize your group, I prepared my parents to remind them this is not a babysitting group. You'll be surprised. I spoke to many owners and they'll say, oh my goodness, we had people come before and they just drop off their children or they're not taking care of them. They're just like letting them run around and not paying attention and they're not staying where they're supposed to stay in the store. So I would always say to my parents, when I am organizing a field trip for you or an activity and we're visiting businesses, I tell them that my group, my parents are very aware and they understand this is not a babysitting time. They are there because they also want to learn and engage with their child. So I just want you to know this is a good tip. If you have a group or you're thinking of creating a group for you and your child and you want to explore and get to know your community, you want to set that up. earliest as possible and let your parents know, I am not going to mind your child. You are going to take care of your own because I'm here to learn too. My heart was to learn with Olivia, have fun, grow, explore, discover things together. And I did not want that to be taken away from her because I was going to Because I'm yelling at another, you know, I'm telling our child, don't go there. Where's your mom? Oh, my goodness. Where's your father? Where's your grandpa? You know, stop running. Put that down. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Please, no. And so if you make it very clear to your friends and family, you know, it's just going to be so much easier. Because why? It takes time. But once you do enough of these field trips, you know you have a good flow and you know who to bring and who maybe let them know it's not available because they did not take care of the child but yeah so that was the pizza and the pretzel and the ice cream place so there once again if you're thinking seriously I don't know what I don't have a restaurant close by or maybe the owners you ask them but they didn't say yes you know and maybe sometimes you get a no I got quite a few no's and that was okay I just said okay thank you I'll just go to the next one but you want to have fun and think of fun places and they may do discounts so That is good. There's so many to learn. And why do you want to go and visit these places? Well, one, for me, when I was building these communities, this group, I wanted Olivia to have friends her age. And also, I wanted to meet other moms. And I met other moms that only had an only child as well. If you're wondering, oh, I don't know anyone yet. Well, just maybe find the local places just for you and your child. I mean, you don't have to take a whole group. You can just you and your child go and see. And that way, you know, you can get to know your community more. So I just want to encourage you because you are doing the best you can with the time that's given, with the resources you have. You are amazing. And you are the best mom for your child. You are the best wife for your husband. And I hope you say that to yourself. Be kind to yourself. Okay, I just want to say thank you very much for listening to my podcast to the family of one. I just want to give a shout out to the listeners who are listening to the last episode. They're from Channel View, Texas, New Britain, Connecticut and Alka, Indiana. I say thank you very much for listening and supporting this podcast. You are are amazing and i appreciate it now you're wondering what is this template that she was talking about i have a free resource if you're wanting a resource to help you just jump start your field trip you're wondering what kind of questions um how do i go about it maybe i need a little help okay there'll be a link and you can click on to the link and then you can get the free resource If you're curious about the Mom and Daughter miniseries, the Icebreaker miniseries, and you're wondering, I wonder, and you're interested and want to find more information, just click on there. There's a link to it. And just fill out the questionnaire. There's five questions, just something very simple if you're interested. And you can see if that is something for you or not. I want to thank you so much for listening. And remember, you are doing the best you can with the time that's given, with the resources you have. Do something nice for yourself. And remember, you are amazing. This is for your friend. Thanks for listening. to the Family of One podcast. Bye.