The Whole Person Parenting Podcast
Parenting content focused on relational, spiritual, and psychological well-being for parents and children. This podcast features a mother/daughter duo. Mom is a licensed mental health provider and parent-child relationship expert, hosted by her own daughter who's a young woman finding her way in the world with a passion for the next generation. Authentic, hilarious, heart-felt, and informative. We hope every parent who listens is reminded of how important they are in their child's life, and how important they are to God.
The Whole Person Parenting Podcast
Are We There Yet?: Inside the Elementary Years with Our Favorite Principal
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In this special episode, we step into the elementary years—a season full of growth, curiosity, and deepening relationships—with someone who knows it from every angle. Joined by our very first guest, a veteran educator, and our favorite elementary school principal! Listen in we bring both professional wisdom and personal insight to the table.
Together, we explore the elementary years—how children are developing academically, relationally, and spiritually—and what they need most from the adults guiding them. From the classroom to the home, we talk about fostering confidence, navigating challenges, and building strong connections that support kids as they grow in independence.
This conversation is rich with perspective, practical encouragement, and a shared heart for helping parents navigate this stage of development with their children.
CDC Milestone Tracker App: https://www.cdc.gov/act-early/milestones-app/index.html
BabySparks - Developmental Tracker & Online Learning for Parents: https://babysparks.com/
Harvard's Center for the Developing Child: Three Core Concepts in Early Development: https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/videos/three-core-concepts-in-early-development/
Building Social-Emotional Skills at Home: https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/building-social-emotional-skills-at-home
Welcome to the Whole Person Parenting Podcast. We're here to have honest conversations about how to follow Jesus and parent kids in a whole person way. For more content and encouragement as we support you on your journey, you can find us on Instagram, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcast. We're so glad you're here. Now let's jump in. Hey everyone, welcome to the Whole Person Parenting Podcast. And uh we're thankful that you guys are here. Um today's kind of a special episode um because we have a special guest.
SPEAKER_01Very special.
SPEAKER_02Um very special, and he's great. He's um someone that has known me for a long time because he's my dad. And um the daddy. Yeah, is that my father?
SPEAKER_00I guess.
SPEAKER_02And also mom's husband. So there's just a whole family here. And uh the reason that we wanted to bring him on for this specific episode is because we're still in our series called Are We There Yet? Um, talking about the stages of development. And now we are entering into elementary age. Yeah, still early um in life, but elementary. And the reason that this applies to dad is he's an elementary school principal. So how long have you been doing that now? Like nine years? Eighth year. Eighth year? Eighth year, yeah. Yeah, so he works at a public school in Tulsa and which is where we live. And um, you weren't always an elementary principal.
SPEAKER_00No, no, before that, uh I spent all of my previous education journey in secondary, so middle school and high school. Yeah. And so eight years ago made the shift um to the the better side.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because you didn't think you were gonna like it. I didn't know you didn't think you were gonna like elementary age.
SPEAKER_01Well, you didn't know.
SPEAKER_02I didn't know you were willing to try, but you had always loved you had really loved high school and middle school.
SPEAKER_00I did, yeah, yeah. The older kids.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Um, but then you made the switch to elementary and then you ended up loving it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I I told God that I would like to have a different challenge.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, still thought that that was gonna be a principal challenge, yeah. Didn't know it was gonna be an elementary principal challenge. So um, yeah, I wasn't wasn't really prepared that first year what I was gonna get myself into.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And but now, uh I mean you've made a lot of like awesome adjustments to the school and how that that's running, and just every time that I've had the you know, interaction of seeing you like with some of your kids that you either they come to church randomly or I'm at the school and I'm seeing or out in the community, they're always just like running up and they're just like Mr. Isaacs, Mr. Isaacs, yeah, and they really love you. And I've seen the random videos of uh what was the one day that they did where they was like everyone was dressing like Mr. Isaacs. Yeah, and you didn't know about it, right?
SPEAKER_00For National Principal Day, I did not know it. Um, and so that was a period of time where I had a a pretty healthy mustache, and so uh they uh they I walked into the cafeteria and all 500 kids had mustaches. And the staff in including, so they recognized me uh for that day. It was pretty awesome. That's awesome. And I got a nice gift back at basket, too. So it's awesome.
SPEAKER_02I like that. So yeah. Um so we wanted to bring dad on to kind of give us some perspective. Um, he's someone that works with this age literally every day. Um, and paired with mom's understanding of uh, you know, where they are developmentally and everything like that, I just think it'll be a cool conversation. So um I say we just get into it. What are some kind of uh things that like define this age, what's going on in this age?
SPEAKER_00Um, I think one of the first things that we have created into our school culture um is just the focus on creating a safe space. Okay. So I just really feel like a lot of our kids um come from just a a lot of different um dynamics at home. Um not all bad, but I think it's just really important that we create some environments that they feel really safe in. Yeah. Um, and so we have this core like pillar that we really focus on around care. So um kids feel loved, feel cared for. Um, you know, when I think about my purpose in being in education is not because I enjoy teaching. Yeah. Um, it was really to uh impact a kid's life by showing love um and caring. And so we want them to walk into that building feeling safe, feeling like um they can learn in that environment that is going to support them with caring adults um and caring attitudes toward them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And so, mom, would you say that uh that is like important too in the home, like for this age? I mean for all ages, yeah. But safety kind of like uh promotes learning, promotes like things like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like for for kids who are uh kids who have a place of safety, a place of belonging, then they're gonna be able to have like to be able to calm down enough in their nervous system to be able to learn. So like we can't learn very well, we can't think with uh this front part of our brain very well if we're activated a lot in the back of our brain. And that we call they call it the lizard brain um in psychology. When someone is experienced trauma or experiencing like daily what we call toxic stress, then they're not very able to access, they're actually really unable to unable to access this front part of their brain where learning and memory.
SPEAKER_02And I think we might have mentioned that on the podcast before that like when the amygdala is activated, the frontal cortex, prefrontal cortex isn't allowed to be my goodness, yes, uh isn't able to be activated at the same time, correct? So you have to like you there has to be a certain calm state, there has to be a certain comfortability in the place where they can learn, which is really cool. That dad's like incorporating that into uh the school life and making sure it's safe.
SPEAKER_00Um this regulation um is a huge, huge thing in education right now. Yeah, and so we have kids that are way past uh and you could probably speak on what the appropriate age is for fit throwing. Yeah. Um, but we see kids that are way past that, right? Um where they just kind of sit in the floor um and throw a fit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Really developmentally, you should stop seeing some of that around by like age four. Um, so like maybe into age three, some actually three twos and threes is where it predominantly is, but you're talking about kids who are in like kindergarten even older than that. Fourth grade fourth grade grade. Yeah, okay. Yeah, like so still still throwing fits and that's really interesting. Like, are they developmentally stuck in like emotionally is and then what's happening in the nervous system that they feel so dysregulated that and they don't know how to uh like mod modulate that because it's um maybe they're developmentally stuck in their social emotional learning.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So what I was thinking a second ago though is about your I know there's like such a focus on um relationship in your schools, um, in your school in particular, um, that you focus on that with your teachers and everything. And I was thinking about that, how that how do you see that fitting in with the safety aspect, like for a sense of safety and belonging for kids?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um there's research, and you could you probably know the numbers uh better than I do, but there's the you know, if if a student experiences three to five adults through their educational journey that they feel safe with and are connected with, their their ability to achieve, not just grow, but their ability to achieve um increases uh uh a lot. And so we really focus on making sure that multiple people build relationships with those kids. And we we talked about our our first core value was um the care aspect, but then we also really, really hone in and on the connection piece. Um and so not only giving kids opportunities to connect with themselves and their peers and helping them and that and that relationship building, but we need to connect with these kids, um, whether it's about uh the sports team that they like, um, soccer is really big. Yeah um and so also giving them that aspect to have that ability to play that. So we have soccer clubs, soccer is a really big focus around um RPE classes and things like that. But then just as you're walking through the hallways and you're seeing uh kids talk about things or they're uh asking you um about TikTok trends or things that are going on, um, you have to figure out that way to connect with them. And so our goal is that every kid, every 525 kids that are currently at my school, that they're having three or four adults, that we actually um have them a connection. So we do something a little bit different at our school is we are um in early childhood, we have self-contained classrooms, so one teacher. But once they get to first grade through fifth grade, they have three teachers. Okay. We want to increase the um the the amount of people that are interacting in this kids' lives, right? So you have three teachers, a reading teacher, a math teacher, and then our teacher teams teaches science, social studies, and writing. But then they also have three different enrichment teachers, so art, fitness, and pe. So those are six people um that are interacting with them. We also have TAs and paras and office staff that we motivate them and we push them to really get to know kids, to have conversations with them, have lunch duty with them, um, have recess duties. And so not just going out there and supervising, but actually sitting down and talking to kids. And so the more adults that we can get to connect with the kids, the likelihood that our kids are going to learn better and achieve more.
SPEAKER_02That's kind of reminding me of the concept of like relational equity, um, which is something I've just recently kind of been thinking about and learning about. And I've heard it a lot in like leadership terms. Um, but I think it it applies to just relationships in general, even the parent-child relationship. Thankfully, like the the parent-child relationship is more unique in that like you've been with them since the beginning. So you have like a trust built just in the fact that they've been with you as an infant.
SPEAKER_01As long as you've been meeting their needs. Yeah, as long as you've been meeting the needs. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, but then I also just think about how many times parents can forget that they need to have a balance of like how much am I taking out of every time I give correction? How much am I like if you're thinking about like your relationship as a bank? Yeah. If you're depositing uh, you know, fun moments, loving moments, caring moments, you're more likely to have a better response when you're taking out your withdrawing from your account whenever you're having to give correction or uh you make you have to say no. Yeah. Um, and maybe you can speak more on this because I'm I obviously I'm not, you know, an expert in it, but um I'm just thinking about that in just a way that I think we um I think that applies to teachers too. Um like you there's only the like the kids aren't gonna listen if they have no trust or or uh you know even respect or relationship. Yeah, a relationship. Like they have to understand uh the teacher and they have to be able to um like I feel like I've witnessed this in my own life of like I don't want to listen to the teacher that I don't I I have no connection with. I really struggle with that my senior year. I was like, I do not want to do this lady's work because I don't like her. And she had just, you know, taken out, withdrawn too many things, and she had never deposited anything. Um, and it just made me less willing to want to to work, wanting to do my assignments, um, to listen to what she said, like what she was teaching, because I was just like, Well, what she doesn't even know what she's talking about. Um, so yeah, I don't know. Maybe you guys can speak more on that too.
SPEAKER_00I could I could add the the elementary education piece of it, right? And so um we have uh things that we work on um at our school, and one of those things is to be a bucket filler.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yes, I remember that concept.
SPEAKER_00So we have actually there's a book in the city. Yeah, the bucket filling book. I had to read it in the lunch school too. So, parents, if you're looking for something that you can do with your kids, uh it's a great book to read. Are you a bucket filler? And it kind of goes through um just how we can fill the bucket. So teachers have a responsibility to fill that bucket of to deposit kindness, goodness, determination, all those things. The kind of character education of the uh you know, education system right now um is to be a buff bucket filler. And then we also really encourage our kids to show school pride by being bucket fillers. It's one of those things. So just in our aspect at the elementary level, um, we are constantly looking at kids and and rewarding kids. And so when we we have a kind of a PBIS system, a positive behavior intervention system that we use. And if we see those kids being bucket fillers, if we see kids showing kindness and doing those things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I think we talked about that on a recent episode. Yeah. So you're even doing that in schools, yes. That's cool.
SPEAKER_00Yes, huge aspect of our school when we talk of we talked about um, you know, creating that safe space is the kids gotta be able to to be able to do things too, and we gotta set them up for those kind of character traits that we want them to have. Um, and so we have all this terminology, um uh school pride pieces and things like that, a whole uh behavior intervention system that we use. Um, but the biggest thing is to recognize those kids when they do it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and to to show them off at uh weekly assemblies, talking about what they do in the hallways or at recess and how they're kind, and just um recognize those those bucket fillers in our in our building as um as as an important thing of what we should be doing, not just in schools, but in our life. So really trying to push them to do that at home, um, encouraging parents to also have that same um technique or strategy at home when you're encouraging your kids.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um I as you were speaking, and I was just reminded of um, you know, things that like you you hear a lot, um, and just like maybe the more specifics on a spiritual uh standpoint or from a spiritual sp standpoint is like what are you depositing? Well, we're depositing the fruits of the spirit. We're depositing the fruit of our relationship with the Lord into children. Um and obviously in public school that's not, you know, I mean we're not naming that. Not yeah. But if you're a Christian parent, like that, those are the things too to be depositing. And I mean, to name them, it's in Galatians 5, uh, verse 22, it says, But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And against such things there is no law. Um, and so when we're, you know, as as a parent, as a parent, you are depositing things in your child. Are you depositing the things of the flesh? Are you depositing the things of the spirit?
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02Um, and honestly, the way you'll be able to tell is ba based on what uh your child begins to deposit into others. Um are they depositing, you know, uh things of the flesh, um, like anger, you know, anger outbursts and um, you know, not l sharing with other kids and things like that. Um, or are they depositing like f love and patience and and all those? Um so yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's good. How do you see that, Jamie, with um with being um a Christian and like knowing what the fruits of the spirit are and like knowing that you're in a public school and you you're not naming Jesus, um, but you're like so how do you how do you navigate that? Because I know that you uh feel this is a calling for you, like you felt like that for a long time and went to school to become an educator specifically because you felt like God was leading you in that direction um after doing some volunteer-based work um in schools or mentoring program work. Um like how does that show up for you in your in your life as an educator?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Uh you gotta be creative. Yeah. Uh you have to figure out ways to um pull scripture and pull out the concepts, like the fruits of the spirit, yeah, without uh connecting that to saying these are the fruits of the spirit. Yeah, you um yeah, it's really hard. It's like a it's like a secret mission that you have. Um you know, you're on a a ministry uh and you you want to help kids and you want to um teach them all those fruits of the spirits and all the things that are that are biblical, things that are important, um, but you can't come out and say those. So one of the things that I felt like was really important for me to do as a leader once I got into those leadership roles was to really, really um be a person who modeled those. Yeah. Um the the actions speak louder than words, kind of thing. Is it's so I I had to be a person that my staff saw me being patient with a kid that everybody is kind of just pulling their how hair out, right? Um being gentle uh to to a kid that maybe um uh hasn't experienced that before. Uh showing love to the the kids that no one else is showing love to. You just kind of look for those opportunities and you have to like show that, and then then you get that. Uh one of the things I think it's always been great in in education is when people look at you and go, something's different. Yeah, like what you do is different, and they don't what they don't know is that I'm I'm doing it out of a ministry, not out of a paycheck. Yeah, and so when you start to like treat kids different, you treat staff different, you have to expose them to the fruits of the spirit by your actions, yeah, more than me just being able to get up there in front and preach it. And it's a Jesus, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think something that stands out to me, I don't want to like take it out of context because I I can't remember what the context was exactly, but um, when it says it says against such things there is no law, I think like that's simply put, it's like you're not gonna go wrong doing these things. No, like no one's gonna be like stop being so kind, or you know what I mean? Like they're that's it's like how God set it up too, is like these are all good things, these are all good things.
SPEAKER_02There's nobody if you do them, there's gonna be no way that you can get it wrong. Yeah, right. And so it's like a it's like a foolproof proof plan, kind of, you know. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um I've never had a parent complain that you were too nice. I was too nice or too loving or caring for their kid. You stop being nice to my kids.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think it's so like it's I think we can take what you're saying there even from even as parents and apply that to our lives of our kids because I mean I I I don't know, you know, not every kid is open to talking really. I mean, especially when they get into like a little bit older elementary, they're not as open to talking about the things of God. You know, they may be feeling like they're being drugged to church with you. They may be feeling like, you know, I don't, I don't want to have to go to Sunday school or go to, you know, whatever. Um, I just want to play football or I just want to go hang out with my friends or whatever, and and say start that like kind of opposing some of those things. But I think parents, I mean, that's one of the things that we can do as parents, and one of those powerful things you can do as parents is to is to model and those. Rather than just getting them to church, right, actually.
SPEAKER_02Showing the character of Jesus. Yeah. Right. And I mean, that's what Jesus did. Yeah. I mean, I I think we're getting into the idea of shepherding and and what it looks like to uh there's this quote I don't I don't know remember who it's from. Uh it's in a I'm pretty sure it's in a the book, Living Like Fools Praying Like Monks or something. Um, but it's basically this concept that you're so close to the person that you're following. Um, and it's this phrase that you're covered in the dust of your rabbit. Like you're so close and following um him that it's just natural that his his dust would be on you, that his character would be on you. Um and I mean the most famous you know scripture is Psalm 23, um, where it says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And so I mean, even this this concept of he leads me in paths of righteousness, but it's for his name's sake. It's not for the good of us. It's not so that our our lives would go correctly or that uh kids would have the right behavior or that they would do the right things, but it's so that his name would be glorified. Yeah. Um, and so if we're looking at it from an internal perspective, it's not just um discipline, it's not just making sure they grow up to be okay, and in this age, making sure that they do the right things. Um I don't know if you guys had any thoughts with that, but this idea of shepherding, you know, and and what does it look like to shepherd um in the way of Jesus and not in our own strength and not in our own way. Um, because like you're saying, I mean, this is the age that there's pushback, that there's I don't want to go to church, that it's not just like and there's uh you know, their own independence is coming through, yeah, um, and that they are their own individual person and they don't want to just listen to what the parent says always. Right.
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah. Um I mean I I I have uh a responsibility um for a big group of kids every day of making sure that when they walk into that school it's a it's a pasture. Yeah. That they have everything.
SPEAKER_02Like you're leading them beside still waters.
SPEAKER_00Um and then I think there's a big responsibility in me, it's like a tiered approach, right? And so there's moments in mornings and afternoons and lunch duties and recesses that I get to interact and I get to shepherd them and I get to uh show them the the care and the connection and the love that I have for them, right? But the most important thing is who they spend time with the most, right? And so hiring those right people, making sure that when I bring them in, they know that our core values are around caring for kids, connecting with kids, and letting them know like everything else is secondary to that. Um, everything is secondary to the shepherding that we are doing for these kids every day without without using that term, right? Um so we've we've created that culture there and and have hired people who want to care for kids, yeah, who love kids and want to have a positive impact on them. It it we don't really look at resumes at experience of what they they do. When they come in and we have meet and greets and interviews with them, a lot of our questions are just around what are you gonna do to impact a kid um, you know, yeah in the in the school, in the environment. How are you gonna shepherd them and how are you gonna take care of them? Um that feel I feel like that schools lost sight of that. Yeah. Um for so many years, you know, a place like a school was was a safe place. No one ever thought that anything was gonna happen at a school. And then over the last 20 years, yeah, um, it's become a place where uh parents don't trust. Yeah. Um parents worry, right? And so we have to like create that environment where we are shepherding them, we are taking care of them. Um there is, you know, you think about the shepherd and you build gates around it, and you're constantly watching it because you want to keep things out. We do the same thing at school. We are trying to make sure that not only just bad people don't come to school, but the other things don't come in, other mindsets or anything like that that comes in because those are the people that are going to be having seven hours in front of a kid, and I need to make sure they are doing exactly what I would do. Um, again, leading by example and setting that up to be a place of of care, safety, and love.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I'm thinking about parents who might be listening who maybe haven't had the best experiences with schools, and they might be hearing you talk about the school and be like, where's this magical place? Where can I how can I send my kid there? You know? Yeah. Um, but how can parents like if they if they are seeing that their kids maybe aren't being cared for, um, that they are not being shepherded appropriately? I mean, versus maybe they don't have the opportunity to pull them out of a school and put them in another school. Maybe they're kind of have to be wherever they are. Like, how can they, like, how would you recommend as a as a school leader they approach that issue?
SPEAKER_00Sure. I mean, um, when I first started at the school that I'm at now, um parents didn't feel welcomed. Um, there was uh it was almost like we put uh like we open up the a huge wall and let the kids come in every day and wouldn't let anybody in. It was not an opening, welcoming place. Um, and so we had to do that. We had to uh start to create some some committees and and build relationships. Uh one of the best things that I do, I feel like that really took a turn for our culture was I started doing dismissal every day.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and so me walking to every car around and introducing myself and meeting parents and checking on them and and telling them about, you know, their kid did this today. No, not bad stuff, right? Just all just building that relationship really got us to a point. Um, but what I I think we all had to do at the school that I was at is when we had those parents that were not trusting us because of past experiences, or just or just you just assume that uh the people at this school don't care about your kid. Um, we had to have those meetings. We had to use parent-teacher conferences to sit down and say we love your kid and we want nothing but the best for your kids. And as a leadership, I have a leadership team, we had to do that same thing. And so whether it was behavior issues, attendance issues, um suspension conversations, any of those things, we wanted it to come from a caring place. Yeah. So for a parent who um is not feeling uh like the school is caring for them, um, for a for a parent who maybe feels like their school is not the most safe or um best place for their kid, um, that you know, I feel like parents have taken a backseat of of advocacy for their kids. Yeah. Um, that's your kid, that's their education, you know, and and you might be placed in a school because of the neighborhood you live, but you have that ability to walk in, meet with those principals and those and those staff members and those teachers and um and advocate for your kid to experience that love and care that we're trying to do at my school. Um and I and I think we we can't just sit back and send our kid every day and go there and keep our fingers crossed that everything's gonna be all right. Um get involved, get involved in your school, volunteer um in those schools. Uh go and ask for a meeting with the principal, sit down and and and voice those concerns. Uh so many times I felt like there was parents who had something and uh eventually it would blow up. And and when I would I would sit them down and we would talk, I would realize it all was back here at something that was that was really minor. Yeah, and eventually blew up and it never got resolved. Um, and they had this feeling of what we were doing at our school that wasn't in line with what we were doing. And so I would, I would for a for a parent who is having maybe a tough time with the school that their kids are going to, um, set up a meeting. Yeah. Um, really sit down and say, these are the things that the school is supposed to provide, a safe environment for my kid, a kid, a place where my kids should feel welcomed and loved. Um, and if if you're not, then you have to advocate for that. Because I feel like there's a lot of parents that just kind of sit back and don't speak up. Um, and then when they do speak up, it oh it's like really big and it's really emotional. Um, and sometimes it's just connected to that small thing. So don't wait. It's like literally set up that time um and go and and speak to that teacher because what what our hope is that everybody in education, every person that's in a classroom is doing it for the kids. Yeah. We we hope that everybody is doing it for the kids. Um, and so if you get in there, um, I think you can meet with somebody and talk with somebody and eventually come to a partnership. That's what needs to be done. A more of a partnership instead of uh uh us and them. Yeah, um when it comes to parents and teachers and young people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think that's a great point. Um I feel like you guys did a great job of that too. I I mean, maybe not so much with me, but definitely with Braden and just being like an advocate for him and making sure that his best interests were at heart, mostly because I just kind of didn't really you made friends with all your teachers. I just made friends with all my teachers and sat in the teachers' lounge during lunch. So I didn't really have that many like I didn't have a need for advocacy, maybe, but that's like a such a good story for your elementary age.
SPEAKER_01I have to say very quickly. I know we're gonna wrap up in just a moment, but I just have to say that there was a period of time whenever Presley came home from elementary school to and let us know that she had been doing recess duty, recess duty, which was not a kid job, was a teacher job. And then around that same time, she came in one day and told us so-and-so from school was retiring. And we're like, oh, really? It's and then she we found out that she learned this while she was in the teacher's lounge at lunchtime having lunch with the other teachers. Yeah, with the other teachers. Uh and she also was I remember being her being stopped in like fourth grade, and somebody thought she was a substitute teacher.
SPEAKER_02That did happen many times, which was really frustrating to me because I was I mean, I didn't I I did I looked older. I didn't look like a substitute. I didn't look like a substitute teacher. Come on.
SPEAKER_00Anyways, it was uh well and I would I would say um every every school has a a Presley Yeah. When I remember her coming home, I was I'd look at uh Valerie and I'd be like, teachers should not be doing that. And now I'm a principal of those teachers, and and we have kids that still do that come in and run copies, yeah, um and and go, you know, make a cup of coffee for teachers and and are doing recess duty.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, and so you were also safety patrol captain. Yes, yeah, safety patrol.
SPEAKER_00We have those kids too. So but those are great things, those are great leadership opportunities. We try to try to turn it into a positive thing. We're you know, student council, yeah, safety patrol. Um, those are things that are really important for kids to have those opportunities. You had you had those opportunities.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So um, yeah, I feel like that was thank you for speaking on thank you for having me. Bringing in the the I'm the first guest, right? You are first guest.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, first guest of the podcast. This is why we have an interesting setup of the podcast. I know the interesting yeah. I I mean holding the microphone, but I don't know how this is gonna have a third arm. I don't know how this is gonna sound.
SPEAKER_02It could sound like me like waving the mic around the whole time when I'm talking. Potentially. So if that didn't happen, I've all time.
SPEAKER_01We're gonna try better.
SPEAKER_02We're we're gonna invest to keep it pretty steady.
SPEAKER_01But I was just like, man, we're gonna talk about elementary school kids. Like, what better person than than someone who works with elementary school kids every day? The dad himself.
SPEAKER_00I wasn't able to find the green room before the oh my gosh, we're not that busy here.
SPEAKER_02You can go down to the kitchen green imminent, you can go down to the kitchen because the pantry is a vanilla pantry. We have prunes in there right now. You can have to give you my hotel uh check for reimbursement.
SPEAKER_01We're not doing any per diem here. No per diem. Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_02No VIP track. You are the VIP, but no VIP train.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you for having me. Thank you for letting me talk about uh my kids.
SPEAKER_02We will have you again soon. We will. All right, every week. No, it's getting out.
SPEAKER_03You're rough in for a while.
SPEAKER_00Not to get with my administrative assistant to schedule me out.
SPEAKER_03Oh my goodness, whatever.
SPEAKER_02Anyways, thank you guys for watching. Um, we will be back next week talking about or listening. Or listening. Sorry, watching and listening slash listening. Or both, or neither. Wait, that doesn't work. Yeah, it doesn't work. Anyways, thank you guys for watching and listening, and we'll see you next time. All right, bye. Bye.
