Education & Family with Tony & Ariana Guajardo

In this episode of The Ashley B. Cash Show, Ashley sits down with Tony and Ariana Guajardo for a thoughtful conversation on education, parenting, family life, and the values that help children thrive. Together, they explore the importance of strong family foundations, parental involvement, and the role families play in shaping future generations.

Drawing from both personal and professional experiences, the discussion offers insight into the challenges and opportunities facing families today, while highlighting the lasting impact of intentional parenting and education.

Tune in for an engaging conversation filled with practical wisdom, personal stories, and meaningful perspectives on family, education, and the future of our communities.

About The Ashley B. Cash Show: The Ashley B. Cash Show features conversations with education leaders, policy experts, parents, teachers and reform advocates who are working to transform K-12 education. Host Ashley B. Cash brings her perspective as both a parent and business owner to explore systemic education issues and practical solutions for creating better outcomes for students, families, and communities.

About Ashley:  As both a mother and business owner, Ashley brings a unique dual perspective to education reform advocacy, driven by her desire for better educational outcomes for future generations and informed by her firsthand experience with the skills gap facing employers today. Her passion for transforming K-12 education stems from witnessing the real-world consequences of educational failures and recognizing the critical need for a system that prepares students for diverse career pathways, not just college. Through this podcast, Ashley champions solutions including aptitude-based education tracks, expanded school choice, practical skills integration, and alternative career pathways that align with students' individual strengths and interests.

Follow @AshleyBCashOfficial on Instagram & @Ashley Bowes Cash on Facebook.
Visit www.AshleyBCashOfficial.com for more content and features.

About The Ashley B. Cash Show: The Ashley B. Cash Show features conversations with education leaders, policy experts, parents, teachers and reform advocates who are working to transform K-12 education. Host Ashley B. Cash brings her perspective as both a parent and business owner to explore systemic education issues and practical solutions for creating better outcomes for students, families, and communities.

About Ashley:  As both a mother and business owner, Ashley brings a unique dual perspective to education reform advocacy, driven by her desire for better educational outcomes for future generations and informed by her firsthand experience with the skills gap facing employers today. Her passion for transforming K-12 education stems from witnessing the real-world consequences of educational failures and recognizing the critical need for a system that prepares students for diverse career pathways, not just college. Through this podcast, Ashley champions solutions including aptitude-based education tracks, expanded school choice, practical skills integration, and alternative career pathways that align with students' individual strengths and interests.

Follow @AshleyBCashOfficial on Instagram & @Ashley Bowes Cash on Facebook.

Visit www.AshleyBCashOfficial.com for more content and features. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the Ashley B. Cash Show. I'm Ashley Cash. And today I am super excited. We're going to be talking about all things education, family, and I have an amazing couple with me today. First, I have Tony Guardo. He's the Texas director for the Freedom Foundation with a political career that kicked off in 2012 in Washington, D.C. with the office of Congressman Charlie Gonzalez. From there, he made his way through the Leadership Institute, Young Americans for Liberty, and First Liberty Institute, organizations that still hold a special place in his heart. He's a board member for Student Rights Inc. and a proud Texas AM alum. And the better half, Miss Ariana Guajardo. She's my better half, yeah. She's the production manager for the film team at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and host of the Sweet Tea Series, a video podcast where pop culture meets policy. A UT grad in radio, television, and film. She spent her career using video and storytelling to reclaim the culture and reach of younger generations. Tony and Ariana, thank you so much for joining me today.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Thank you so much for having us here.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Yes, thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Well, when we first discussed this, we discussed like talking, obviously, we've got a hit on education, but just talking about you guys are a young family, you but you've been mired in policy for a long time, and you're on the cusp of having your first child. And you know, that makes a lot of things stick differently and mean differently when you are looking at that next generation being on the ground.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

It actually is pretty fun that we both have um well, we're both invested in Texas politics. Um you would think that you'd get bored of like talking about the same thing all the time, but we're such nerds.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

So it's nice having that similarity. And I think you and your husband like having those shared values and like caring about education and stuff, I'm sure that that ties you two together. Absolutely. But we've been joking about like baby's first words and stuff. The attorneys at TBPF have a um a word that they like to use to describe stuff and they call it freedomy. So, like, is this freedomy or not? And if it's not freedomy, we need to fix it. So my guess is that's gonna be her first word.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

So I'm guessing her first word's gonna be dada, but of course.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Top three. No, no, no, not mama, freedom-y.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah, yeah. I love that. You know, and I've been around Texas Policy Foundation and and America First Policy Institute a lot. And I think that's the first time I ever heard freedom-y, but I like it. I'm gonna have to start using it. I think we need a mainstream.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

I'm glad that they're that it's reaching other places.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Yeah, freedomy. I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to adopt that into my start spreading it. I like that word.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Right, and if something feels wrong, like there's like a little bit too much government involved, you you know, you get that sense of it. Exactly. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

And shout out to Chance.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Isn't Chance the one who Oh probably Chance Welding, yeah, attorney at TPPF. He oversees our uh CAF Center for the American Future Department. Great. I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

All right, so Tony, we can't we cannot not talk about education.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

And you're with the Freedom Foundation, but it's part of the Texas Freedom Alliance, and you guys have your big Teachers Freedom Summit coming up in July. I think it's the 14th and 15th.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Five weeks from today, something like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Yeah. Apparently I'm going to be on the docket talking about personal financial literacy. A little nervous about that. I'm like a whole bunch of teachers staring at.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

You've been like training for this for a while. Like, isn't that like your your like one of your favorite topics to talk about? I mean, I love talking about personal financial literacy.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

It's the audience that's going to be like a bunch of teachers, and they're going to be like grading me on how well I'm doing my presentation. Um it's gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

It's they're gonna have a setup well, yeah. Like we'll pretend the audience is in the dark, like it's just you know, a few of your best friends that you're chatting with. Like, it'll be great. Yeah, it'll be great.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Well, tell people a little bit about the Teacher uh Freedom Alliance and the Freedom Foundation and what you do there. I know that you're an advocate for teachers.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Yes, ma'am. So uh the Freedom Foundation uh started as a West Coast think tank, uh, started in 1991, but after about a decade or two just seeing the writing on the wall there uh on the left coast, as some people like to call it, just realizing that like, yeah, you know, if we we can print as many white pages and white papers as we want, so we're blue in the face, but it's probably not gonna do a whole lot of good. So just decide, like, okay, what's one thing we can focus on? And so they decided, well, the the powers would be decide, well, let's let's go after the unions. They seem to have their hand in just about all the corrupt areas of government inside and out. So uh we started going after their um getting people to leave their unions, just educating their members about their right to leave, their right to opt out, and uh we've been very successful in that work, so successful that one and now two different blue states are trying to uh outlaw our work completely. There's a there's a bill that was already passed in Oregon, uh, and there's litigation pending there. There's uh a bill that as of today looks like it's headed to the governor's desk in New York, so barring some sort of miracle or last-minute Hail Mary, it looks like that's gonna pass.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

And that's to prevent y'all from working to educate people on what a union really is and just giving being advocates for them.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Essentially, yes. Not crazy. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

We live in a world where that's what's happening.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Doesn't that tell you that it's working though, if they have to use like move the legislative bodies that be to be able to fight back against one organization?

SPEAKER_02 5:34

And I feel like it's it's typical what the left likes to do best, which is to redefine words. And so they're redefining uh in in the bill, they essentially redefined what the term fraud means. And so, anyways, that's uh that's more of a legal discussion. But uh yeah, very blessed to be working for the Freedom Foundation, and then our Teacher Freedom Alliance launched as a separate C3, but sort of under our banner just last year. And you know, originally we only had like two, maybe three staffers working on the Teacher Freedom Alliance, so we thought, okay, if in you know six months we can get a thousand people to join this thing, an alternative to the teachers' unions, a place for those right of center teachers, or maybe those who at least aren't buying into all the super left-wing stuff, a home for them. We thought if we can get a thousand teachers in you know six months, that's a huge win. Uh instead, by the six-month mark, we had I think somewhere between five and six thousand teachers. At the year mark, we had uh well over ten thousand. And as of today, I think the last time I saw the counter was somewhere around 15, maybe 16,000 teachers that we have signed up. And we're very blessed to have some campaigns going right now, actually in near your neck of the woods in Lubbock. So, you know, thank you for um helping us with that testing ground. And uh uh that campaign seems to be going off really well. I mean, Lubbock's not a really huge city, but there and in the surrounding areas we're getting in new members uh each day. So thanks be to God for that. And thank you.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Well, and like for all the teachers that are watching out there, um, and and Texas has not historically been a super union heavy state.

SPEAKER_03 7:12

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

However, this is a gr also a great resource for teachers to know about policy, to find out what their rights are. I mean, that's the other thing. Like, you don't have to look at it as a union or a union alternative, but more as a resource for teachers.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, from the get-go, we wanted this to be a peer-to-peer empowerment network for the teachers. And I know last year was my first year to attend our Teacher Freedom Summit, and uh some of the stories that teachers in both red and blue states were sharing, I mean, it was just uh heart-wrenching, you know, a lot of it. So just for these teachers to know that they're not alone in the fight. And obviously, I mean, we have, you know, we're just starting our family. Uh, God willing, you know, this is the first of many, you know, little girls or you know, little children to um enter our family. So we care very deeply about education, and we want, you know, good teachers to not be burnt out and to stay in the classroom. So the resources that we offer really um geared towards that, just being of use and of service to the teachers. And in fact, one of the keynote speakers at the Teacher Freedom Summit, her whole speech, her whole lecture is going to be about how to avoid burnout. Uh, because uh as a professor. Yes, yes. And she's encountered so many people who, you know, obviously felt a real devotion, a real vocation, a real calling towards education and towards teaching. But um uh yeah, a lot of you know, men and women just have felt like you know, they don't have support from their administration. Um they just feel like discipline issues are you know going crazy. And so um, anyways, we're just doing whatever little things we can to give them backup back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Well that and then other alternative groups um like the quote unquote not teachers' unions, but teachers unions that we have in Texas. Um I mean, a lot of what they're teaching doesn't align with these teachers' values. So this is providing an alternative, you're knowing that you're getting resources that are not gonna be filled with woke stuff, and even in some uh places help in some ways help you to combat um the stuff either from your own administration or from those other groups that just want to push woke agendas or like multiple genders. I think um last year you were we ran into a teacher who was showing us a badge that was being handed out to teachers at a um one of the union events that she had gone to, and it said um basically it had like it was a badge you'd wear around your neck, and it had the you know like the new um LGBT flag, like not the one with like the regular colors, like all the extra new ones. And it said, I am a safe space. And so all the teachers who are safe spaces were wearing teacher. Oh, I'm a safe teacher. Sorry, I'm a safe teacher. So they're um the teachers who are wearing that are saying, Oh, well, I'm the safe teacher. But that's implying if you're not one of the teachers and all the other teachers are wearing these, settling you're not a safe teacher.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

If you're a teacher with Judeo-Christian values and you don't uh yeah, you don't attend that training or that diversity equity stuff, then all of a sudden you're unsafe.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

And instead of just asking teachers like, hey, like get out of this thing that gives you resources or even things like liability insurance, uh, you guys have done a great job of providing an alternative to that. Yes and including the liability insurance project.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Yes, yes. Our members um at least in year one, uh year two, we'll see if our generous benefactors, if uh how big the pocketbook is. But at least year one, we're offering free liability insurance to our educators, and uh it's uh two million dollar policy, which is uh twice, if I'm not mistaken, the amount that the unions typically offer. And uh unlike you know, the unions uh have essentially a very mafioso sort of dynamic where you know if I'm a teacher and I'm signing up with them, uh the liability insurance is under their name. So then it's a very much sort of like, okay, well we'll tell you who to talk to and when and for how long, you know. Uh I feel like it's similar to a scene from Goodfellas or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Versus you guys are putting it in the teacher's name and the teacher gets to make the decision and be in charge. I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

I like how you're using the mafia kind of language. So this is where you were talking about us as a couple and how we like doing this kind of work together at CBPF. Um you've spoken with Mandy Drogan, had her on your show, and vice versa. Um we are going on f the full attack of the teacher cartels, of the education cartels that are holding everything together. And yes, using the word cartel at this point. Yeah. So anyway, you're like soon, right? I love when we build coalitions and we're sharing language now.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

And we both love mob movies, so yeah. There's that too. I guess we're going to do that. And now it's just real life.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Maybe that's why we're so interested in politics.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

It's just all the mob that's we're going to get it. Yeah, yeah, that's all right. Yeah. It all comes back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Well, now, so let's go into a little bit about your relationship. How long have you been married? Two years. Yeah, just over two years now.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Going on three years, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

And having a little baby girl soon.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yes. So she's going to be due November 27th, which is important for three reasons. One, it's the day after Thanksgiving. Two, it is my birthday. So I'm hoping that we get a share of birthday. I was on time, so I have high expectations of her being on time. But maybe more importantly.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

But maybe more importantly, three.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Oh yeah. And three, it is a UT A and M game. I'm a proud Longhorn.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

I'm a proud Aggie. Oh, like she's supposed to be an Aggie.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

House divided. Oh yeah. And I was supposed to be a third generation Aggie. I betrayed my whole family. It was a whole thing. My grandpa was told the parents.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

So do you go and sit with their family on one side of the her family on one side of the couch and put her down at the couch by herself?

SPEAKER_02 12:36

If I can get away with it, I wouldn't be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

We basically did that last year, actually. Because we were at like a family friends house with my like with my side of the family.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Yeah, the YouTube fans are outside. The anime. Right, because they were like two separate TV things.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

That's exactly how it happened. But this year we decided whoever wins the game, that's the color swaddle the baby's going home in. And remember, for like an Agie and a Longhorn, especially for the Aggies, this is gonna be a big deal if uh becomes my biggest.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Have we found these two colors of swaddles? That's what I want to know. Uh no, but I mean Are we gonna dye them just to make sure?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Like, what are we gonna 100% exist? I'm not sure. This is Texas. You're telling me someone in Texas hasn't made well, especially you're telling me the Aggies haven't made a baby swaddle as an Aggie one.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

So as soon as she showed me how to work like the baby registry and He started looking. Yes, yes. Well, talking to Zach, who's uh the HR guy here, uh he's also a girl dad and a proud Aggie. He was like, oh, like he he name-dropped this website, and he's like, Oh yeah, you got check them out for all the stuff for the little girl, all the Aggie stuff. So I found these little be like toddler, like zero to six months like AM boots for my gosh, and then I have this total visual.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Whoever gets up in the morning dresses the baby, and then the next parent comes along and it's diaper change time, and the baby comes out. This baby's gonna be changing outfits like eight times a day. U T An, U T An M, U T.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

That's like probably the best description of our relationship.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

I mean, yeah. And for sure, around football season, yeah, that's definitely gonna be the case. Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

I mean, I was even joking with him. Um, I'm not sure if you've seen this. It's like the new thing to um instead of using like a hospital gown that they give you, um, there's now like these um maternity gowns and stuff that look just look prettier but still work for hospitals. And I'm trying to find a burnt orange one now. Oh my gosh. No. I don't think I've told him that. Oh my gosh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Okay, well, grandma and I will submit our complaints later.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

But all that to say, our um relationship, we agree on a lot of policy focused stuff, and then this is our one little fun area of disagreement.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Yeah, but it seems like a friendly competition. So that's that I think it's always good. My husband and I have little things we compete on, and I think that just brings a little spice to the the relationship. Yeah, no, it does.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

I mean, the first day, uh the yeah, the first time AM and UT played each other again was during our like we hadn't even been married a year, right? Like that was we were like at the sixth month mark, something like that. And so uh the 24 hours after that game, it it took 24 hours to me to like look her in the eye again. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

That was like our first and biggest uh that was the biggest rough patch.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

Yes, that was the big biggest rough patch.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Did she do the did she do the like dance like they won and she did the dance and like shoved it in your face?

SPEAKER_00 15:16

And that was like from my point of view, I think I was very respectful and not bringing it up.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Okay, no. She's okay. For context, she like never watches sports. Like occasionally, if there's a game I really want to see, she's like, oh well, I'll go with you to like Chili's or something. But this game, all of a sudden, like, so games are over, like, okay, good game, babe. Like, you know, congrats, y'all won. So getting ready to have she's like, oh, I want to I wanna stay and see like the fight song and watch see what the coach is gonna say and like the post-game cover code.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

She's doing the dance. She's doing the dance.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

See, she that's another thing. When it comes to like Yeah, let's just air it all out. When it comes to like even just like board games or stuff like that, and uh even your sister would agree.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

I'm a sore winner. He's a sore loser when you lose. Whenever you win, you win very graciously. When I lose, I lose graciously. But whenever I win and he loses.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

It's a bad combo. Yeah, we're both we're both uh, I won!

SPEAKER_03 16:15

And it's like Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Clay and I are also very competitive. Are you into board games or anything? Or how do you guys get in a couple of things?

SPEAKER_01 16:23

We play cards. Okay. And he is not allowed to sit next to me because I say he cheats. And um, so he must be several people away from me because I don't want to be following that that. And he doesn't really, it's just a thing. But um, and so yeah, very competitive. And we both grew up playing sports, and then even though we are both originally from Texas, we both grew up ski racing.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

And so, like, we had known each other for two years and we're already engaged the first time we went skiing, and like for two years there was all this trash talk, I'm gonna kick your ass the first time we go skiing. I'm like, bring it. You know. Sorry, I cursed. And um, and I'm like, bring it. And um he had grown up skiing the Stein Erickson style, which is like your ski's really close together and there's a lot of hips and whatever. I so I was like, I skied like majorly competitive snow skiing, like downhill's my specialty. So if anybody saw Lindsay Vaughn in the Olympics, that's like what I used to do. Not quite as good as her, but and um clocked at 76 miles an hour once. And um that's and I'm like, okay, sure, you're gonna be good. I mean, I've seen Stein Erickson ski, and I'm like, oh anyway, so we get off on the mountain and there's all this trash talk, and we're getting our skis, and so you want to go. We go up the lift and I see him get off and I see the way he's skiing. I'm like, oh, this is gonna be bad, you know. And and like I love him, right? And we're not we're still in the honeymoon, we're already in the honeymoon stage yet, because we're not married yet, we're just engaged. And he's with his dad, and they take off down the mountain, and I'm like, I'm gonna have to wait up here for a minute. And uh so they ski and they stop and they turn around and stop, and I'm still standing at the top of the mountain. And I don't know how to ski slow, so I just take off and I'm just like and I get down to them and I stop and my the snow sprays out and I stop and he goes, Oh like, oh like you're you really are a ski racer, and I'm like Yes, yes. So now my son has taken over that role. He's like, Mom, I'm gonna beat you this year. And I'm like, Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

And since then, do you guys stick to card games instead? Yeah, totally. It's much safer.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

It's much safer. Actually, Clay is now like he's like, Clay's like, I can ski better than 90% on the mountain, but there's like only a handful of people that can ski better than her on the mountain. So like just and it like my son went up to him, he's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna beat mom this year, and he's like, You don't stand a chance. Don't even like don't even worry about it. You remember last time when you skied with mom and she waited at the top of the mountain until you were halfway down and then she beat you by three minutes to the bottom and she sprayed you on her way past? Yeah, no. So anyway, it's really funny.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

So the Olympics should or the uh Olympians should be happy that uh you chose some other careers instead of the show. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

They definitely I I was I that was my goal. I was I wanted to go to the Olympics, I'd qualified for the US development team. Wow. And I blew out two knees within two months of each other. Oh, yeah. And um and I was 17 years old. And um, so the second knee injury was a career-ending injury. And uh I used to ski race with Peekaboo Street. She was in my age, she was a year older than me, and so every other year we'd be in the same group. And there was there was a bunch of really good I skied in out of Vale, Colorado, and um a bunch of good girls, and we'd all take turns kind of winning or being out on the podium and whatever, and uh Peekaboo was really the only one that didn't have her current ending injury and made it feel like someone gold in the downhill, and I was so proud of her. And so um it's a great time in my life, but it's also a time that I look back and I'm like, Did I really do that? Like that seems like an awful long time ago. You know, but then I get on the mountain and I go skiing and it kind of all starts coming back. And I I like we I took my family to Aspen this year, but I didn't go skiing because the snow was so bad. And they all went skiing and they're like, Mom, why aren't you going? And I go, baby, I don't know how to ski slow, and there's too many rocks, and I cannot afford to be hurt right now. Like if I hit a rock going at the speed I go, I'll be down and out. And I'm like, I cannot afford to not be up working and doing podcasts and doing this stuff right now. 54, like the well, and this is the the reality is that second knee injury, um, that knee they want to replace already. And I can't I can't replace it because I have all these uh allergies and different things, and anything I've ever put that's not of my body in my body, my body rejects. So like I can't put a fake knee in my body. And so I'm just like I just gotta be really careful and on good years I'll go and I'll cruise with my family and it'll be fun. But like this year I was just like, no, not worth the risk.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

So but it's fun. I love going skiing with my kids in spring and I was snow, it's like a mess. It's kind of it's kind of my like, you know, oh, y'all are about to be new parents. Yes. And this is for all the parents out there that you have kids who are, you know, like elementary school to teenage age. My husband and I used to give our kids um Nerf guns for Christmas.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

But we would also give ourselves Nerf guns. So we'd get the better Nerf guns, and then we'd go have a Nerf gun fight, and we would blast our kids with Nerf guns. And it was like the almost the automatic thing. Yes, yes, yes, right, yes. Oh my goodness. And um it was so much fun because it was like our like, do you remember when you said that thing to me? You know? So you get out your frustration in a really wholesome and and fun, foam dark way.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

I am very in support of this. Tony, write it down, we're doing it. I also had this uh saw something on Instagram about a pro tip for um When you're in the hospital delivering and it's bringing a nerf gun with you. So when your husband's like falling asleep.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Asleep over there on the table and you need his help and you can't scream across the baby. Yeah. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

You just shoot the nerf gun. So I need to start I need to get one to start like uh practice with my aim.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

And I always tell all new moms to take earplugs with you to the hospital because people come in and out all the time. And like when the baby's sleep, you need to try to sleep. And so the only way you can do that is to try to get earplugs in, whether it's the cleaning staff or whatever, it's the best. I can believe that. Well and if you're gonna be staying there, which you should, unless you want to be in trouble. Yeah, um, you can be staying there. Earplugs for you too.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Well, maybe no earplugs for you, just for her.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

I'll I'll unless you got the North Gun.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

I'll pack my own eye mask because I definitely need like pitch black to go to sleep, as she knows.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

And there is no pitch black in hospitals.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Well, we were also talking earlier about um like we're the kind of people that work at night and you're up late doing it. Um I so I'm so weird. I know it's bad for my back, but I'll be like in bed with my laptop hunched over and stuff. But as long as he has an eye mask, he'll just go out.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

So well, good, you're already used to the eye mask. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

I try to stay up with you when you have to burn the midnight old. He does, yeah. He knows he's really good.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah. Well, and I know we talked about something that we wanted to actually impart some wisdom to the um the viewers and let them know about some things. We talked about the fact that you've been investigating daycare for the baby.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Oh my goodness, yes. So I mean we were bonding earlier just over like being interested in financial literacy and planning ahead. And something I I knew daycare was expensive, but I did not look at the prices until recently where I'm like, you know, I need to figure out what's gonna happen with working and if like that what that's gonna look like. So what are our full-time options, what are part-time options? Even the daycares that I would not send my kid to are over a thousand dollars a month. And like we're we live a little bit outside the Austin area, so even in Maynard, that's like what you're looking at. And um I'm now understanding the decision of a lot of my friends to at least stay home at the beginning because it's more expensive then.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Um and then also at least until and I'm seeing that a lot. Um and you're seeing it a lot of it on social media, a resurgence of stay-at-home moms, at least when the kids are little. You're seeing a resurgence of homeschooling also in that same vein for that same reason, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Right. Well, partially price, and then partially you want someone who shares your values and has um those kinds of things in common. And then it's just a weird thing of our world of people being able to um live so far apart far apart from where they're from. So my whole family's in the Rio Grande Valley, which is uh six hour drive. So not um like you know, grandparents are gonna not gonna be um too close for our kids. And my parents are also still like way, they're like um I think a little bit older than you, so like um my dad just turned 57, my mom's fifty-six, so they're versus my parents. They're years away from retirement, basically. So yeah, versus mine. So they're not ready to be on your schedule yet. Oh no, not yet. They'll be up and visiting, and my mom um she's already being very intentional about like coming up and stuff during pregnancy.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

When we do plant seeds, like, hey, we saw because uh my mother-in-law's a not ophthalmologist, optometrist. Optometrist, thank you. And so anytime you know she sees something like an opening in like Bassdrop or Manor or round marks, like hey mom, like yeah, whenever there's like listings and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

I'm like, you can come back. And they lived in Austin for 12 years. So I kept thinking, like, they and they've both mentioned missing the hill country, but her whole family's down there. But um, but it is an interesting uh world that we're in right now. Like I think my generation in particular, Gen Z, and actually we might even be able to speak to this separately. We're so we're 10 years apart. He's a millennial I'm Gen Z. But um, I think my generation particular is really chasing tradition and wanting to find um roots in that and and community. So um yeah, it's just been an interesting thing to look at. Like that our world is not very child focused, especially in the Austin area. So there's um like you know, sidewalks and walking around and stuff is not always compatible with strollers, um, even things like that, or there's not as many child friendly environments. I realized a few years ago um while I was in college, I I forgot like why someone I'd seen someone with like a toddler and I realized oh I haven't seen a a child in a while. No, it's been a little bit. Or whenever I would see teenagers in Austin, that was always really weird because most people get out of town by by the time your kids are growing up. So um it's an interesting time for uh young people my age, and even there's like a growing a number of conservative communities in Austin, but we're trying to figure out together like how does like how do we live a life that represents our values while still being in a modern day and age and having the kinds of jobs and work that we do. Yeah. So it's a new challenge that we're that we're blazing for.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Yeah. But but it's really cool. And um like I know that you guys are also really involved with your church and you're involved with uh the teen program at your church.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Yes, yes. We uh we just got back from um taking the teens from our church to a huge youth conference. Um there's a university called the University of Steubenville, that's up in Ohio, and um they had their conference got so big now that they do like multiple ones across the country. So this was Steubenville, Lone Star, and it was um somewhere between three and four thousand young Catholics in high school all together, um worshiping together for a like a long weekend. Yeah. Um, and we were getting texts from parents the last few days thanking us and like telling us about like one of their kids who decided he's gonna start going back to church now, and just all these different great things that came out of it. But yeah, it's um talking to the youth and high schoolers in particular gives me two things. One, it reminds me that I'm definitely getting older.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Well, there's gonna be a lot of things in your future reminding you you're getting older.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Yeah, yeah. But I mean, at least for me, the thing that stood out because I I remember doing even like campus ministry stuff when I was at AM, which that was forever ago now, over ten years ago. What was that? 15 not 15 years, it's approaching the 15-year mark. But anyways, but like the difference between the like campus ministry retreat stuff with young people then versus now, like even during the in-between stuff, like the teens were like so quick to just like pull up their phones and to start looking at like TikTok or reels or YouTube shorts. And um, so that was that was a bit of a struggle over the weekend because part of me is like, okay, well, I don't want to just be you know bad cop the entire weekend and for them to just you know hate me and to just always be hounding on them, like stay off your phone, stay off your phone. Um so that was interesting, just trying to find a balance of like trying to meet them where they're at, like trying to let them at times have that.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

But that was yeah, that that at least stood out to me as something that's like, oh, I'm not sure if I like that, but obviously that's how the Yeah, it's a new challenge for parenting today, is like the amount of screens and seeing a lot of friends who've opted for giving their kid an iPad, which I mean, even if we're at dinner and stuff, um, like going out to dinner with friends, I don't mind talking to their kids. Like I don't need them to just hand their kid an iPad, I'd rather have a discussion with them. Anything their kids can be hilarious. Like I love talking to them.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

So but we are definitely um figuring out how do you raise a kid in a um screen limited right. We're wanting a screen limited environment. Um but I've also spoken to a lot of parents um through this podcast and other things who talk about the pressures of getting your teens phones because all of their friends have it in that social pressure. And thankfully there's now like a lot of new school opportunities because of school choice and other stuff popping up, so environments where more parents are not wanting that. Um but another thing that I'm really glad about living in Texas is having a um legislature that is working towards um helping parents out in that area and helping them in the classroom with that.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

So for example, um last session, whenever their um the phone the phones of school ban was passed, Representative Caroline Farrelly from Amarello passed the Angela Paxton on the Senate side.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Yes, but I mean um I've also talked to spoken to some school administrators and they were saying the teachers love it and it's already made a difference so far. So the encouraging thing is yeah, we're navigating these new things, we're navigating AI, but it does seem like we're still in a community of people who are working to try to meet these challenges and be with parents as they're figuring it out together.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Well, and I think absolutely that you know, when screens first came out, like you didn't know what the detrimental effects would be, and they were handy kind of as a babysitter. And I think what we're seeing now, and there's lots of studies to show it, that um we're seeing the detrimental effects of the screens, especially early. I believe I read a report recently that said, and I I'm hoping I'm getting the statistics right, this is close, that 80% of two-year-olds are spending more than eight hours on a screen.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

That's horrendous. Oh, I've not heard that.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

And it's really scary because there's all these studies now that's showing that the screens are rewiring the brain and that they're not thinking the way children always have. And when you rewire the brain at that early age, it can have detrimental effects for life. Right. We have no idea what that's gonna do, right? Right. But they're one of the things that they're seeing, especially when children are watching short videos, so like social media reels, um, is that it makes them where then when they go to school and they have to sit down for 45 minutes in a class that they are incapable of doing it. Right. Because they're not getting those frequent dopamine hits and they're used to their attention just being in short bursts. Right. And so, like as parents and as grandparents, we need to start if we're going to let a child have a screen. One, it should be for limited amounts of time. And number two, it should only be on long form videos. So no more short reels. And the bad thing is, even things that you think are good for your child, like their apps that teach them the ABCs and the colors and stuff, they're doing short form reels. And so you're gonna have to be so, so careful on what you do choose to let them use. Like I even in, you know, back in my day, you know, when we walked both ways to school in the snow, um, it um was what videos was I going to let them watch? Like, was I, you know, I didn't let my child watch um Spongebob because Spongebob lied, and I didn't let them watch Dora the Explorer. I got along with my parents so well. And I didn't let them watch Dora the Explorer because Dora put a neck a snake around her neck and played with snakes. And we live on a ranch with poisonous snakes I didn't want my kids making friends with. And so I was like, can't watch that, you know. And then and then at first I let them watch Disney, but then over time and as they got started getting older, Disney started changing, and I didn't want them watching Disney and its woke agenda anymore. And so now you guys have all of those same problems. Yes. Right? But you've also got additional ones.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

Well, that but the good thing is we know that these threats are out there. So like whenever my parents gave me a phone at 13 and I was having access to social media, we didn't have access to all the studies that showed how detrimental that was. Or like now tying, like, oh, maybe that's where some of my anxiety comes from because I've been on social media since I was like 12 or 13 years old. Um, but the good thing for parents now is we have access to that kind of information. Um so hopefully the ones who use it, which we definitely are, are a little bit more wary of new technologies, or even like you were saying, I'm not sure if um like some of the apps that you're talking about, the teach kid ABCs is the best way. Um, like sure it's entertaining, sure they might learn that fast, but what's the cost? So I'm glad that we're at a place now where we can say, we know that some of these things come like with a cost, we should figure out what that is.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

And as a parent who has teenagers in high college and high school, um, you know, I didn't let my kids, we were late adopters of the phone. My kids were so mad at me because I wouldn't let them. They're like, My friends have had a phone for two years. I'm like, you're not going anyplace, but I need to get a hold of you, so you're fine, you don't need it. And then finally I got them a phone, but they weren't allowed to have social media. They had to be 16 before I allowed them to have social media. And in fact, my 17-year-old still doesn't have it because he's like, by the time I let him have it, he's like, it's not worth it. Um smart man, smart man, yeah. And so um, but they play video games and like and I when they were young, I was like, only, you know, only for school on Sunday through Friday, and Fridays, Saturdays, you can have two hours, you know, in aggregate and each day. And, you know, I had those rules, and now I sit here with a 16 and 17-year-old who like I could pull in to the driveway of my house in a Lamborghini. I don't own a Lamborghini, I'm I just rent one. I'm the example, but um, I could pull into the house in front of a Lamborghini and be like, hey, y'all want to go drive it? And they'd be like, nope, we're great right here, you know, and they're just playing their games. I mean, I have a basketball court in my backyard and a swimming pool, and they do not use it because they're in their rooms on their games. Oh my god. And I'm finding, you know, that it's they're not as good a communicators, and I think we're seeing that across the board and just the detrimental effects. And you guys are getting ready to start, and I'm like, don't make the same mistakes I did, right? Um, because I we all have such high hopes for our children. But if you look out in society today and you see the fact that kids um aren't good communicators, they don't have good problem solving, they don't have good um critical thinking skills, and I think so much of it can be traced back to these screens.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

And I'm glad you're bringing up the communication because I've definitely noticed that that's um and again because we've been both involved in youth ministry for so long, the way that um people can articulate even their feelings is just different now. Um, or even the comfortability um being comfortable just speaking with someone who's just a few years older than them is also something that's going down unfortunately too. So I don't know what the solution is to that part, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

I mean like my 16 year old, like I am literally having to force him out of they do online homeschool on computers. And then I'm I once they turn 16, they get a a license, they're like, you must have a job. You need to get out of this house and go be a productive member of society. And so um they go and do their jobs, and my 17-year-old also goes and exercises, and then they come home and they just want to go straight to their rooms. And I'm like, nope, you gotta stop. You gotta sit down and we're gonna talk for a little bit because I'm like, okay, I've got to start building their social skills, their communication skills somehow.

SPEAKER_03 36:17

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

And so, and I'm not there every day, but when I am, that tries to like we we sit every Sunday we sit down for dinner as a family, and have and my older kids who are in college come back. Luckily, they're all still in Lubbock at Texas Tech. So we got the we got the trifecta going on here. We got an AM guy, a UT, and and and and the funny thing is I didn't even go to Texas Tech, but I have adopted Tex Tech. I'm actually a pony, I went to SMU. Okay, but I've adopted Tex Tech. Um, you know, so um and my husband is an avid Texas Tech thread writer. And so it's just it's just funny to watch and then to watch the kids try to interact with each other.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

And do you guys have rules around um like uh phones during mealtimes? Oh yes. See, that's something I'm really glad that I grew up with, even when we had our phones. It was like it was seen as inappropriate and rude to have your phone at the dinner table, or even if we're having lunch together, your phone shouldn't be part of that. Yeah. Right. Um, and something I r I didn't realize isn't something that every family does is just talk about your day after school and when everyone's home together. Um so I'm really glad that I grew up with that, and I think that is a component of um how we can communicate with each other.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Well, and one of the things I want to impart to you um that I think was super instrumental and important time with my kids was that time in the car on the way to and from school. And I see so many parents now who, you know, they have the screens automatically in their car, and then they're handing them an iPad or a phone. And I'm like, that was the best time that I had with my kids talking about stuff about their day and what they did, and what did little Susie do? And what was your, you know, but you have to ask them open-ended questions. But once you can get them started talking, and you've got a girl, so that always seems to be easier. Those little girls they like to talk, but with the boys, I think it's so critically important that you start them talking and you get them used to talking to you and having conversations and expressing their feelings.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Um I'm so glad you brought up the car thing. That's um well, I think you remember at at our wedding too. My dad brought up the most special times with that he and I shared where he was the one who would drive me to and from school. And um that was just such a special thing that I still look back on now. And he was noticing my sister, um, I didn't drive until I was 18, so there was like a few more years in there. My sister started at she's very she's um there's ways where she's more independent. And um, so at 16, she had her car, she would like go grocery shopping for my parents and stuff. She just did her own thing. I send mine to the grocery store too. Oh, really? So that's definitely more my sister. But um my dad was um has remarked on several times like if it's like a birthday or father's day or something, and he's more sentimental, he talks about how special those times were with just us two in the car and talking about life and what's something that's coming up, or what I'm feeling with my friends, or he would share stuff too. So that's um that's a very special thing that I have with my dad, and I hope that our daughter's able to experience with them.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

It's just a really special time to teach them communication skills, but then also to get them used to talking in the car because when they start to become teenagers and their natural ri thing is to start pulling back, they don't want to tell you all everything because you're not cool. So just heads up, someday your kids are gonna think you're not cool. Um I think I'm the dumbest person in the world. So um, but um but if they're used to talking in the car, sometimes they forget you're there, and then you hear all the stuff that you really need to hear and know about. Um, and especially if you like do carpool and that you got you can like lob a question in the backseat and then they start talking, and all of a sudden the friend's telling you everything about your daughter, and you're like, oh, that's something that's a parenting protest. I am keeping that one for sure.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

Absolutely. Yeah, we'll lead the carpool.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

Like get the friends, gather them all up, be like, we'll take them to cheerleading practice today, we'll take them to soccer practice. We got that. And like you will hear everything in the backseat. You will know who likes who, you will know who's fighting with who, you'll know about the party that's coming up that you're not supposed to know about. I mean, it will all be going down to the backseat. It's it's almost like they think there's like a glass wallet between y'all. I love that. And your mama ears are on. Of course, I also used to when my kids were little, I used to tell them that I had eyes in the back of my head and I could see because I was looking in the mirror, right? And I'm like, don't worry, I have eyes in the back of my head. And you you you do it in the car so that you have the mirror you can look at. And then you just tell them, you train them to think you have eyes in the back of your head. So then whenever they're not in the car, they're like, She's watching. It's all these little tricks that we parents need to like make sure that we can maintain psychological warfare, yeah. Yeah, yeah, a little bit. Yeah, but I mean, for their own good, right? I mean, it's such a crazy world we live in. We have to do these things, but anyway. So you had mentioned college and your college activism, and that's another thing, a resurgence that we're seeing that I'm loving is college kids getting re-engaged in politics and caring about what's happening in their country. And you you you did a lot of that.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

Yes, ma'am. Did that for gosh, I think four years, maybe five years, uh, with two different organizations, uh, both the Leadership Institute and uh Young Americans for Liberty. And um and then Ariana, I mean, all four years of college, was a very proud member of YCT Young Conservatives of Texas. So uh yeah, we've both experienced that. I think you I probably did more traveling and organizing for that type of stuff, but I feel like you lived or experienced.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

Yeah, I did like the on-the-gram, on-the-ground activism stuff.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

And it's you do have like Antifa and stuff like that. Oh yeah, doxing and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:40

Yeah, back then, um, so actually uh this is actually a big credit to the state of Texas and handling our universities. We're getting rid of a lot of the DEI in the education. Um but also it's interesting uh now, like I went to a Clarence Thomas event at UT where he was speaking, and if it had happened while I was still at school at UT, there would have been a huge protest, students would have been out there. Um now I feel like everyone's apathetic. Like even on the left, there I think maybe it's just not like some shiny, sparkly object in this idea of like leftism can fix everything. So they'd I mean it's kind of a good thing that they've stopped caring. Um but at the same time I want people to be passionate on one side or the other versus just apathetic in the middle. But I will say from while I was there, I did have so many fun, fond memories of um having well, like actually an and Antifa in one of their offshoots called um Autonomous Student Network that had doxxed me like three different times while I was there. Um we had to be like escorted out of the buildings by police whenever there were too many like more almost violent protesters, signs ripped out of our hands, smoke bombs and stuff. And it's weird that I look back on that like I missed that. That was fun.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

But yeah, um well I love um the Texas, the state legislature and the governor took and the lieutenant governor took the opportunity this last year to make sure that we were gonna have a uh TPUSA chapter in every high school and every college that wanted one. And um, Texas Tech now has a great TPUSA chapter. It's like one of the largest in the country, and um it's so fun to watch those kids being engaged. They were really involved, they were block walking for different politicians during this last election cycle, and I'm loving seeing these young people get involved again, and I'm so excited about it.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

So hopefully, well, anytime I feel like anytime young people get involved and like knock doors, it it's so energizing. I mean, especially for the older generations to see, like, you know, that these people care. Yeah. And uh I know the TFA Teacher Freedom Alliance CEO, Ryan Walters, he also has a uh huge love for Turning Point USA and um their Club for America, the high school program. Uh so they're actually going to be present at our Teacher Freedom Summit, and um we're very blessed to have them as a

SPEAKER_01 44:03

In Oklahoma, he was one of the first ones to make sure it was in every school. Yes, ma'am. And I loved that. So that's so cool. And and I'm really looking forward. We've got to come back full circle back to the Teacher Freedom Alliance and um let our our viewers know who are teachers out there that you guys need to go check out the Texas the Teachers Freedom Alliance. It is a really good advocacy for teachers and helping you guys with a lot of things that you're suffering through today, including understanding policy and um a lot of resources for teachers. And they've got their Teacher Freedom Summit coming up in Dallas on July 14th and 15th, I believe. Yes, maybe 14th through 16th. That's correct, yes. And uh so you guys should go check out their website. Yeah. And uh how how do people get a hold of the Teachers Freedom Alliance?

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Yeah, so Teacher FreedomAlliance.com, uh, feel free to follow Ryan Walters, our CEO. I know he's on X and Instagram, all the major platforms.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

And he's been on my podcast. So you can watch that too.

SPEAKER_02 45:05

Yes, yes. Check out Ashley's uh episode with Ryan. Yeah, that was a really good conversation. And I know I personally really enjoyed your conversation with Mike Marath, and that's another person who's gonna be there at the summit.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

So um who is the commissioner of the Texas Education Agency.

SPEAKER_02 45:22

Yes, and then shout out to TPPF, Texas Public Policy Foundation A for hosting us. But I know last year y'all also helped partner with us on a bill uh last session, and I know this session we're looking forward to hopefully passing that paycheck protection bill.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

Um so that way the right way the state is not basically um functioning as a debt collector for the unions anymore. Yeah, yes. That's the that's the goal. So it's been great to partner on that. And then um I had an episode of my show, The Sweet Tea Series, featuring uh Siena Rose, who is the spokesperson for uh Freedom Foundation. The Freedom Foundation. Yeah, wonderful things.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Yeah, yeah. Well, and Ariana, tell them how to get a hold of you and how to follow your podcast.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Right, on Instagram, it is at spilling sweet tea. You can follow that. Um if for some reason you're out there and you also really want to know about the US-Mexico relationship. I'm also on a show called The Hard Country with Josh Trevino, so you can uh watch it. I love Josh.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

I highly recommend that show. Like that's yeah, it's way I will say it's way more nerdy.

SPEAKER_00 46:19

The Sweet Tea series is definitely for people who are wanting to learn how to get engaged and are not policy wonks. If you want the in-depth stuff, that's where you move on to uh that's what I nerd out on. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 46:29

And Josh is such a great storyteller. Oh yes. I'm just there to ask him.

SPEAKER_00 46:33

He's the expert. I'm just there to help him be the Josh Arena that he is.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

Well, to fill in his shoes. No, no, no, Ariana, you are here to guide the conversation. He doesn't. Hopefully that's my best uh Josh impression, yes.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Um but yes, follow us on Instagram at spilling sweet tea, and for anything policy related, uh you can find us at texaspolicy.com.

SPEAKER_01 46:51

Yeah. I love uh getting information from Texas Public Policy Foundation, and it is a great um I know all the legislators really depend on it to help guide policy and different things like that. And so I've enjoyed my involvement with them as well. So um thank you guys both for being here. Any last tidbits you want to impart?

SPEAKER_00 47:14

Thank you so much for hosting us, and we will take any extra mom advice if you think of something, text or email us.

SPEAKER_03 47:19

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

All the viewers out there, send Ariana all the mom advice that you have. She's just told you how to get a hold of our own. Comment section, ask spilling sweet tea. I want to see a lot of them. Yeah, I'll take it all. Perfect. Well, thank you guys for being with us today. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 47:32

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

And thank you for being with us today. We hope you'll join us next time when we look at new ways that we can transform the K through twelve education system. See you then.