Coffee Talk With The Cajun Mamas

Your Kids Behave Because They Know Who’s Watching

• Chris Logan Media • Season 3 • Episode 53

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One question can pull up a whole childhood: what would happen if your mama watched your kids for a week? We go straight to the heart of that thought and laugh about the “grandma standards” we grew up with, then get honest about what those rules gave us and what they cost us.

We talk about the feeling of mama’s house, the smells and the quiet routines, and the tiny details that never leave you, like Sunday cooking after church and the shock of seeing someone dice a hot potato right in their hand like it’s nothing. That leads to a bigger conversation about Cajun family traditions, comfort food, and the way something as simple as jarred melatons with rice and gravy can bring a whole kitchen back to life in your mind.

From there, we connect the past to modern motherhood and parenting: why it’s hard to stay on top of mess, how discipline really works day to day, and why kids can behave perfectly for grandparents but unravel the moment they’re back with us. We dig into the “safe space” idea, after-school exhaustion, and the complicated emotions that come with being the person your child trusts most.

We also touch on the grief that shows up when you can’t go back, when the old house is gone, and the memory becomes the place you protect. If you’ve ever missed a grandparent’s home, questioned your parenting, or just wanted a warm, real conversation with Louisiana flavor, press play. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas.

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Knife Skills And A Warning

SPEAKER_02

Don't know how she did it. A fresh potato the and it was peeled, okay. In her hand she had a long skinny knife and she would uh cut, cut, cut, uh uh turn the potato, I cut, I cut, cut, then go this way.

SPEAKER_04

In her hand.

SPEAKER_02

In her hand, dicing it in her hand, and then in the in the bowl.

SPEAKER_04

That says, do not mess with meat.

Welcome And Sponsor Shoutout

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's dive into real conversations about life, motherhood, and a little inspiration to brighten your day.

SPEAKER_02

Welcome back to Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. Today, um, we're gonna be talking about what it was like being at your mama's house. I know we've done one similar to this, but it's gonna be like, okay, what would it be like if you mama watched your kids for a week? So would that go? How would that go? I don't know.

SPEAKER_04

I'm interested to see where this conversation goes.

SPEAKER_02

First, we're gonna thank our sponsor, the Best Stop in Carn Crow. The Best Stop offers boudin, crackling. That's probably what they're most famous for. Um, but they also offer breakfast items, like a whole breakfast platter of your dreams, I'ma say. I love breakfast food. Like any time of day. I'll eat some breakfast. I know. I smell it. Do you have French toast like your mama used to make it? I want to try that because I love me some French toast. And cinnamon rolls too, like homemade fresh cinnamon rolls they got over there. They got wraps, quesadillas, salads, and po' boys, hamburger, homemade hamburger so served on toasted sourdough. I feel like we need to go try this. I I agree. Because we've had the boudin and it's delicious. And if you go on our YouTube channel right now, you will see. You can see we have a whole platter. Well, it's half a platter. Well, we ate some in the between.

SPEAKER_04

It's half a platter now. But the crackling and the boudin right there. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02

Nice and fresh.

SPEAKER_04

The best stop in Carn Crow. The best stop anywhere.

SPEAKER_02

There's several locations, yes.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But um, the one in Carrancrow is off the service road I-49. It's next to Prejon's restaurant, um, which most people know about where that's at. But they have a drive-thru too, if you ain't about to get out. You can drive through, get your food. You can order ahead. Um, we'll share the links to the um like the ordering and delivery. We'll share the links to that in our YouTube video. You can even use them to cater your event if you're around here. Like, you know, you go roll up at the wedding um reception and they got a big hot chafing dish full of boudin. Call call it a day. I'm happy.

SPEAKER_04

Call it a day. Or like you gotta go somewhere, just call them ahead and pick up a little boudin or a little porti platter. Yeah, some little boudin balls or some crackling to bring. You know, what if you know, like, you know, the old people they used to have those nuts on the table? Like, what if you just brought like a candy dish or crackling? You probably be the best. You don't even need a candy dish. If somebody comes with that little bag, yeah, you know what's in it.

SPEAKER_02

That brown little bag.

SPEAKER_04

Don't worry about it. Put your hand in it, whatever, grab one. You can be so happy, and you can be the favorite person at the party. You will be best stop and caron crow.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, it's a local family-owned business uh through several generations. So we love to support them. Thank y'all so much for being our sponsor for May. Mm-hmm.

Tasting Jarred Melatons And Traditions

SPEAKER_04

Now, this Jorah Meloton is staring at me, and I have never oh uh tried this, so I'm gonna go ahead. It's a little tiffle. Smells good.

SPEAKER_02

Mm-hmm. It's like it's kind of like a little spicy cucumbere type thing.

SPEAKER_04

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02

What you would eat that with? I don't know. It's spicy. You eat that with rice and gravy. Okay. This is how my mama would do it. Um when you're having a little like, oh, Chris, I'll come back with that. What? Uh-oh. You need something? I'm gonna make it. Um, like a rice and gravy, meat, like uh even like a roast or something. You cut the melatons up so you get a little bite with your meat and stuff. That's how my mama would eat it. So I'm gonna go cook the rice and gravy.

SPEAKER_04

Well, I'm vinegar rice, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, a little vinegar bite to it.

SPEAKER_04

It is yeah, it smells so good.

SPEAKER_02

Oh tradition of faith, family, and good Cajun food. I like that.

SPEAKER_04

That's good. We gotta make us a gravy to go with that.

SPEAKER_02

To go with the jar of melatons. Yeah, I'm about it.

What Mama’s House Felt Like

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so tell me what do you think like how it would go? I think, well, let me say this first. Both of our grandmothers are gone. They they have passed on, they are with Jesus, we would hope. Um and so our children didn't get to experience what it's like to go to grandma's not my grandma's, it would be their great-grandma's house. Um, but I can tell you how I things that I remember about going to my mama's house. And my my m dad's parents well, my dad's dad passed when he was young. My dad's mom, my grandma Gidry, she passed when I was a baby, so I didn't really get to know their side. Um, my mom's mom and dad live next door to us, so that was back and forth all the time. Okay. But my mama, I love her. She was not the most nurturing woman, and that is just, you know, part of her story. She gave what she could, and you know, that's just how it is sometimes. You can't give what you don't have. Um, there's a whole like, you know, upbringing, not saying she had a horrible childhood or anything like that. I'm just saying that now as an adult, I know the full picture of her life, and I'm like, that makes sense. That's how my mama was. And yet, she did love, she loved the best she could. Um, but she was a hard, she was hard, you know, and she would slap you with the same hand and the same breath, she would hold your hand. You know, it was just that's what she was.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, you knew that too, don't you? And you knew that I didn't mess with her though.

SPEAKER_02

No, you knew that. Um, she would see about you, take care of you. And uh when my parents had things to do, uh or my mom, my mom stopped working when I was little, but uh I still remember there were times where she maybe went and go help out here and there some people or businesses or whatever, little odd and end things, and I'd have to go over there before I started school. And I remember memories like when I was smaller. Um, you know, and we talked about this before in one of our episodes when my mom's stories were on the soaps, you bet, but sh you can sit in the living room, but you best be quiet, okay? Or that was your nap time, like because she can't rewind it like now. No, can you imagine if you missed a good part in the show and you just you missed it because you can't go back and rewind it.

SPEAKER_04

I gotta sit and watch everything with the closed captions on. And even my kids too. Like, I thought it was just a generation, like you know, right now I just can't hear everything. The kids too, they will put on the closed captions because they're like, Oh, I don't want to miss it. Yes, especially the kids, and then they can rewind it. So I don't know, maybe they're just so used to watching the closed captions with me.

SPEAKER_01

You training them, like I think maybe is what it is.

SPEAKER_04

I don't know. Because mine don't do that, but mine do, I don't know, but yeah, ever since they're little too.

SPEAKER_02

She um she and and and like you don't really she had little glass things everywhere, like little knickknacks and things, and you don't touch Mama's things because you might break them, okay? Um what else? But she would cook just about every Sunday after church. That was such a treat. She would cook for us. I loved going over there to eat after church. Um and I remember this is completely I don't know where this conversation is going, but I'm back in my mama's kitchen right now. Um when she would make she made potato salad for whatever. She had she would cut dice the potatoes in her hand, okay, bald and scalding hot. Don't know how she did it. Fresh potato that and it was peeled, okay. In her hand, she had a long skinny knife, and she would cut, cut, cut, turn the potato, cut, cut, cut, then go this way.

SPEAKER_04

Uh in her hand.

SPEAKER_02

In her hand. Dicing it in her hand, and then in the in the bowl.

SPEAKER_04

That says, do not mess with me. She was skilled with that little knife, let me tell you. Oh my goodness. That reminds me of my nanny who is, you know, she she was kind of like a grandparent to me because I lost my my mama's mama passed away when I was really little. And um, so my nanny was like that, but she did that with onions. Like she would like she dice them in her hands. In her hand, like one sliver, like if she'd cut a sliver to cut, she'd cut it one sliver at a time. And I'm like, I am not even. Uh-huh. I use a big old chopping knife, like I know what I'm doing, like I'm chef, whatever. Okay. And I'm getting that onion cut in no time. If I even cut the onions, because Gidry's my best friend. You like a tub of Gidri's now. So I like, I just was like, man, but they didn't have really nothing else to do. Making the meal was, you know, an all-day I. Right. You know, preparing that. Yeah. I I I just

Hard Love And Learning To Clean

SPEAKER_04

love that. I have good memories of nothing to do at my nanny's house. And we like, I was like, man, she takes all day to cook. But that was it. Like, what else are you gonna do? Mm-hmm. You know? We'd go check the pumps in the morning, and then we, you know, she'd kind of fold clothes a little bit, and that's what we did. But my mama, now that was I spent a lot of time at my mama's house. So I know if my kids would go over there. Um Do you think I wonder how that would go?

SPEAKER_02

Do you think we parenting kind of like them or nothing like them?

SPEAKER_04

I think I don't I mean my mama was a hard woman on them kids. She had nine kids. All in um, like uh maybe a two-bedroom house, but I doubt it. Yes. There was a lot of kids and not a lot of room. Wow. So yeah, they um like she always says when their first house, you could see the chickens running underneath the house. It was so like and it was cold all the time. Between the boards, there were spaces and so my mama had all those kids in a tiny house, and my papa was always working, so she had to do it, and they didn't live like in town. So if they needed anything, you know, my daddy would always tell stories about how they had to get on the bus or they had to do the, you know. It was it was kind of like when they say I had to walk to school and da da da. You know, it was not very close to town. And my mama, you know, she wasn't dealing with it, she had to put her foot down, and I mean that's all I'm gonna say about that. So, um, as far as raising my kids, like she raised my my daddy and them. I don't know, but like when I would go to her house, I noticed some of the things that I do to show my kids exactly how I was raised with her. I want them to know these basic things of being a human, how to cook, how to clean. You know, um we in the morning be in a routine and we'd get up, we clean the house. By noon we were done. We could watch the not noon, eleven o'clock, because uh God and our Bowden the Beautiful came on and young and the rest of us. Okay. So we better be done by 11 o'clock and have our lunch with us, or hey, we ate our lunch already. Yeah. Okay. So but I learned how to clean and cook and do a lot of things with her.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. See, I feel like uh and my mama would have been the same way, like her house was always picked up, like nothing, she had things, but everything was in its place, you know. Um I feel like my kids would be shocked in in a in the way that like she would have demanded that they pick up after themselves immediately. And I'm trying, y'all. I'm not the best at it, and I I let them slack weights more than I should. Um, because I have I w I it's like I don't realize it until there's a mess everywhere. Like my br my mind is um just on a million other things. So like by the time I realize, like, there's clothes all over the floor in the bathroom. Like I have maybe I haven't been in their bathroom in several days or a day or two. And then I'm like, how y'all gonna just leave all the towels on the floor? Like the the basket is right there, and when the basket gets full, drag it to the laundry room because I don't come check y'all's basket every day. Like we just had this talk, if you can't tell. Yeah, but I'm like it takes some it's prime example, it takes some discipline, it takes self-discipline to stay on top of that. But I'm also like, y'all are eight and eleven, like it's time. Y'all could be picking up after y'all sell. When you finish doing something, just pick it up right then and there. And she would have demanded that, you know.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, listen, with her and my aunts and all of them, they would you can't have a dish in the sink. You can't have a dish in the sink. See, I'm not that strict. And I'm like, listen, if it doesn't fit in the dishwasher, it's waiting until the next load. I am not, not, not washing by hand. No, 100% no. And listen, I I just I remember that's what I did. I just cleaned all day long. And I tell my mama this all the time. I'm like, man, you are grandparents and wrong. Uh-huh. Your house could be so clean right now.

SPEAKER_02

Get the kids where we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_04

If only you got, you know, and that's with anybody. You know, my my mother-in-law, she did too, you know. She'd get them to pick up and you know, help her out a little bit. I said, Mama, you you you have to do this all on your own. Get the kids to go help you. You know, that's that's grandparents and win-on-one. That's where I learned everything. No, the grandparents are soft. They too soft. I was underneath the tables getting the bottoms of it with the pledge and dusting it and moving everything. You gotta take everything off. All them little knick-knack shells. But take all that off. I did that at my house too, though. My mama made me do that, but probably because I she knew I was doing it at my mama's. Mm-hmm. You know. You know how to do it so good at your mama's house. Well, go ahead. Mm-hmm. Anyway, that's what I did over

Kids Shocked By Grandma Standards

SPEAKER_04

there. So I'm wondering. And and I know my kids would go help. I know they would. They'd do a good job.

SPEAKER_02

Kids are smart in the way that they know what's expected of them with certain people.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_02

So, you know, like my my brother's oldest, like, he would cut up, okay, when he was little. And my uh, you know, his ex-wife at the time was like, He I can't, like, he's out of control. And my mom's like, we don't have a problem when he comes over here. Oh my gosh. I know that's not what you want to hear. But it's like they are the kids know. And my mom likes to tell this story too. Like, when she was, when my brother was little, she was still working. So my mom would watch my brother. And soon she said, as soon as I'd walk through the door, he would start this and that. And she'd like, she said, I have to stay on his butt. And my mama would be like, He don't do that while you're not here. You know, like we don't have a lick of trouble with him when you gone. And my mom's like, Of course it made me feel like the worst mom ever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But but it's the same exact thing. Yeah. Like, I I tell my sister that he don't act like that, you know, whenever you're not here, makes they already know.

SPEAKER_02

Makes you feel like trash, but at the same time, they say, Well, that's because you're their safe or safe. Their safe space, they can be themselves, or like you pick them up. So you just naturally a little jackass, you know? You get to be a jerk to me. We bathe you and clothe you and wipe your butt, you know. Or when you pick them up from school, then and it would be, I mean, we homeschool now, but like when the girls were in public school, pick them up from school, and they were like just exhausted and cranky and crying and this and that. And I'm like, man, I know you didn't act like that at school all day. And my mom was like, No, they had to hold it together all day, and now they're home with you and they can let it all out.

SPEAKER_04

And I'm like, Precious little children.

SPEAKER_02

It's true, but at the same time, it's not fun when you're going through it.

SPEAKER_04

Uh-uh. No, but uh, or they'll say, the grandparents will say, and my mom more did that too. You're not gonna act like you do with your mom and your daddy with me. Yeah, you know, gee, thanks. Well, that makes me feel like, oh god, well, I'm doing it all wrong. Wrong, you know? You're not acting like that over here. Your mama might let you talk like that, but you ain't gonna talk like that over here. Oh, what is that? In front of you, too. Yeah, we'll no, no worries, we'll do. And I'm just like, oh, okay. Well, but I remember them doing that to my mama, you know, like it's not gonna be like that over here. Uh-uh. You know, like we just have free reign. It's a whole ranger over here. Everybody, have a beer with me. You know, I smoke a cigarette. Come take a sip. Oh, come on.

The Safe Space Behavior Question

SPEAKER_04

But anyway, I just, you know, that, and that's a whole nother conversation of a grandparent, you know, dynamic. Yeah. But I do think um, I do have my papa still. And so do you. Me too. So my kids know who my papa is, my papolio, papalio. And um, they're like, oh, papalio, you know, like that's your grandpa, you know, like that's but that's just the generation, and you know, but my aunts and all that, they can see him, but they don't we don't really spend a whole lot of time with them. Yeah, but we can go down that path and you know.

SPEAKER_02

My uh my grandpa is he lives with my mom and daddy now. He's he'll be 97 in June. Um, and so my kids know him as Opaw. And he don't mind that. Oh, I was about to ask you, I knew they had a name for it. Yeah, Opaw. Um, and they go in and out and they'll hug him in his room and what whatnot. But um yeah, it it's a different time, a different feeling. Like when you think back to your your your grandparents' house, and I think that's why what like that was one of our most popular episodes we've ever done, is like what it was like at my mom's house. Um, just because my mom's house is a feeling so special.

SPEAKER_04

It's a smell, it's a feeling.

SPEAKER_02

It's just it's and I lived in my grandparents' house for a while. I didn't know if I if I if you knew that. Like after they moved to Lafayette to be closer to doctors and hospitals and stuff, my mom when my mom's health was kind of failing. But um, so the house was empty, and I was I just graduated high school and I was starting college and like kind of wanted a little independence, but not to be too far from home. So I lived in their house next to mom and daddy's, and I would still go like walk over, eat supper, but then go back home to my own bed and my own little watch what I want on TV. It was like the perfect setup.

SPEAKER_04

I would have loved that. Yeah, I would have loved that. That was good memories. See, my mom, my papa still lives, but my mama passed away and their

When The House Is Gone

SPEAKER_04

house where it was, their house burned down. And so I'll never get to go back there. But my papa like builds a house on that property. It's not a house, like a little shop house.

SPEAKER_02

Well, my and it's so their house burned down too.

SPEAKER_04

I wonder what that's all about. Yeah. They had a old heat on or something.

SPEAKER_02

No, it was something uh electrical. Like uh they had a somebody was renting it and um they said they heard like a pop and then smoke and oh man. Yeah, I know we can't we can't talk about it too much. Like it my papa, like he he told my mama the other day, like, I think I would like to go back to the old house to the old place and and see and my mama was like, No, daddy, you don't you don't want to see that. Yeah, because then mom and even me, I don't really want to go back either because uh it's not gonna be the same. And there where the house was, there's nothing now. Yeah, probably overgrown. I don't know. Yeah, but in my mind it's there, yeah, and it's gonna stay there.

SPEAKER_04

So yeah. I can I can just still smell everything in the house and see everything, and but he still lives there, he still lives on the property. It's just I mean, you know, it's not the same, but he's still all right. He'll be 90. Be 90 years old in May. So he's at the county is 90th. At the count. We're having a birthday party for him. So good. But it's nice to take a stroll down memory lane. It

Share Your Stories And Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_04

is. I would love to see how my kids and my mama would get along because she was just so good with us.

SPEAKER_02

Um, if you have any stories you want to share in the comments uh as you listen into this, maybe this brought up some fond memories or maybe some not so fond, like Mamma was Mamma cracked that whip or something. You know, pick your switch. Yeah. Go pick your switch. My daddy likes to tell that story. Like my that his mama would be like that. Go take off the tree, take your switch and come back.

SPEAKER_04

Come back with oh, I'm about to do that with my kids. Just kidding.

SPEAKER_02

But yeah, we would love to hear any stories you want to share. Um, and in the comments and tell us about your mama's house. Mm-hmm. What was it like? All right, let's close out this episode by thanking our sponsors, the Best Stop in Carn Crow, Louisiana. You can get your everything from breakfast to lunch. You can bring home something for dinner over there. You can have some specialty meats like some stuffed chickens.

SPEAKER_04

So don't worry about it tonight. Let the best stop handle it.

SPEAKER_02

That's right. Um, I am interested in these buttery golden biscuits, loaded, plain or loaded. And I just want to know what comes on a loaded biscuit. Maybe boudin. I bet you they do like a boudin biscuit. Maybe a little steens, steen syrup on that.

SPEAKER_04

Maybe a little bacon.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I'm hungry now.

SPEAKER_04

I want it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I want it.

SPEAKER_02

Um, the best stop, it they have several locations and it's all family owned. Okay. Um the Owner of the Caram Crow location is Danae Deville. She's actually the granddaughter of the original owners in Scott. We met her earlier today. Wonderful person and uh just a good family-owned business to to support. So if you in the area, go give them go give them a um a visit and get you some good boudin, crackling, and deliciousness. They are located at three 3470 Northeast Evangeline Thruway in Lafayette. It's on the service road of I-49, right next to Prejon's restaurant. So um, and the phone number is 337-520-7090. And we will share some links in the comments to their um like ordering and delivery service link. Okay, because you can order ahead of time and you can go pick up there or you can have it delivered if you live around this area. And they cater too. So they have a lot to offer. So thank y'all so much, Best Stop in Canada.

SPEAKER_04

Thank y'all so much for being our sponsor for being our sponsor of Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas for the month of May. We'll see y'all next time.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks for joining us on Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. We hope you enjoyed your cup of coffee and our chat. Don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends. Until next time, keep the coffee brewing and the conversation flowing.