Grief, Signs, and Hope: Helping Kids Navigate Loss with Jenny Robinson Clark

In this episode of Adventure Nannies on Air, our marketing director, Reagan, sits down for a heart-to-heart with children's book author Jenny Robinson Clark and her husband, Travis Clark, the lead singer of We The Kings.

They dive deep into the kind of conversations we often want to protect kids from, but that are so vital for their growth and healing. Reagan shares a vulnerable "learning edge" of her own: just three days after recording this interview, her grandmother passed away, making this conversation a timely anchor during her own season of grief. We’re dedicating this episode to Jenny’s mom, Gigi, and Reagan’s grandmother, Bridget Katherine Tierney.

What We’re Chatting About:

• Shifting the Narrative: How Jenny moved from a lifelong fear of death to a "celebration of life" mindset after losing her mother in 2018.
• The Song That Started It All: Hear how Travis turned Jenny’s experience into a beautiful message of hope. (Listen to the song here.) Prompting Jenny to write a children’s book. 
• Signs From Beyond: A look at how ladybugs, butterflies, and bluebirds help us stay connected to those we’ve lost.
• Planting Seeds: Why transparency is key. We talk about how to plant gentle "seeds" of conversation with kids rather than forcing heavy, scary talks.
• The Power of Creativity: How a message from Jenny’s mom inspired a healing children's book illustrated by Elizabeth Fanon.

Grief comes in waves, but you don't have to navigate them alone. Whether you're a nanny supporting a family through a loss or a parent looking for the right words, this episode offers a supportive bridge toward hope.

Listen in to hear how we can model creativity, resilience, and hope for the little ones in our care—and ourselves. 

Resources & Links:

• Jenny Robinson Clark: jennyrobinsonclark.com
• Follow Jenny on Instagram: @jennyrobinsonclark
• We The Kings: Official Website

Jenny’s new book releases March 17, 2026!

Episode Timestamps:

• 00:00 Welcome + Why we’re talking about the heavy stuff
• 01:06 Reagan’s serendipitous (and heartbreaking) story
• 03:42 Meet Jenny and Travis
• 08:50 Real talk: Grief comes in waves
• 10:01 Turning a song into a children's book
• 13:55 Adopting a "Celebration of Life" mindset
• 18:11 Looking for signs: How we stay connected
• 24:40 Parenting through grief: Guidance for the tricky moments
• 42:19 Release date and how to pre-order

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Transcript

Setting The Stage: Grief And Caregiving

SPEAKER_05 1:27

Hi everybody. We have a very special episode of Adventure Nannies on Air today. That is a conversation that our fabulous marketing director, Raken, had pretty recently. Today we're going to be talking about grief and loss. It has been an incredibly difficult year so far. And I know as nannies, you often end up helping families and especially the kiddos in your care transition through grief and sometimes learn about grief and loss and death for the first time. And that you also have to balance your work life with your own experiences of grief and loss in your personal life and find the right way to show up to your job while still navigating all of that and deciding how much you're going to share with your nanny family or what's appropriate or what's professional. And every family will have their own boundaries around that. And each one of you will have their own boundaries around that. But I'm going to pass the mic over to Reagan to tell us a little story about how this episode came to be. Enjoy.

Meet Jenny And Travis: Music, Memory, Meaning

SPEAKER_06 2:33

A couple months ago, I got an email from Jenny's team asking if we were interested in having on the podcast. I thought it was such a cool topic because I was reading through and about halfway through the email, I saw this name of a band that supposedly Jenny's husband is the lead singer of. And all of a sudden I was transported back to like 2008, 2009. And one of my favorite bands, We the Kings. This job here at Adventure Nannies has taken me on so many incredible journeys. And I really could not have anticipated how important and special this episode would end up being to me. Exactly two weeks ago, as I record this, I got to have a conversation with Jenny and Travis, and you'll get to hear that conversation in just a minute. And it was beautiful, and you know, so much insight on grief and healing and processing death, both with children and ourselves as adults. And three days later, after we recorded that episode, my own grandmother passed away. I cannot express how serendipitous this recording was and how much it helped me be prepared for that moment I got that phone call because the words that Jenny shared with me and Travis shared with me, and the things we talked about have really already helped me to be able to see my grandmother's death in a much more hopeful and healing way. So I really just wanted to share that story and share that I hope that everyone listening to this episode also gets something from it. And whether you know it or not, take the lessons that are learned here with you, and please read the book. It's so beautiful. Just thank you, Jenny. Thank you, Travis, for unknowingly helping me through my own grief. This episode is dedicated to Gigi, Jenny's mom, and to my grandmother, Bridget Catherine Thierry. I love you, Grandma Bridget. Wella loca. Forever your wild woman. And I'm gonna have a little bit of a fangirl moment in my intro when I first got the email from Jenny's team. I was reading through it and I was like, oh, this sounds like a really, really cool book. I'd love to bring this author up. And then I got to this part of the intro where it talked about a song related to the book, and we'll get more into this, but and then her husband wrote this song, and her husband is the lead singer of this band, We the Kings. And we just had a little chat before we started recording and said something about, you know, we're not the Jonas brothers, or we're not. I think for me, We the Kings was the Jonas brothers when I was in high school in junior high.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Oh man, I love that.

SPEAKER_06 5:59

You know, I was a huge favor and so, you know, so happy to not only have Jenny or gonna talk about her incredible bugs also her husband traveled on with us. So welcome to the show, guys.

SPEAKER_04 6:10

It's such a small world, right? What is I love?

SPEAKER_06 6:14

I like instantly had flashbacks when I was reading reading the email, like, oh my gosh, and and now I've been uh spending the weeks since introducing my eight-year-old son to the music, and we've we've been jamming to some well, we I will say I'm a little outdated on the newer albums. I I love them, Gavin. I've listened to them, but I had to go through a box of light.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

And same with like books too. Like you can read a book that you really connected with, you know, in your childhood, even, or you know, in early adult life, or whatever, or you can hear a song and it can really put you right back in that moment of when you heard that song or who you were with or the smells you were smelling. Like it's it's really beautiful how music can do that and how how books can do that, just like lyrics and poems and and and authorship. It's it's such a cool creative art that is almost like a time machine in ways.

From Fear Of Death To A Message Of Hope

SPEAKER_06 7:09

Absolutely. And that is such a just beautiful poetic introduction into the topic of the book, too, because it's kind of what it's all about, right? Is it if there's a moment. So, Jenny, will you give us just a little brief intro to what the ballot in your own words and a little bit about the story?

SPEAKER_04 7:27

Sure. I mean, this book to me so much. There's there's been so many synchronicities that have brought this book to fruition, but I my mom passed away in 2018 and as a little girl, you know, I was deathly afraid of dying. I would sit in my room and just think about blackness and darkness, and I would cry. I remember like specific moments of just being in the car with my mom and dad and crying, looking out the window, thinking there was like nothing after we passed. And so that really stuck with me for so many years and you know instilled this fear in me that did not serve me in any way. And so, you know, once I actually had to face death, my grandma passed first actually a couple of years before my mom. And, you know, I decided in that moment to show up and face it, right? A lot of parents also tell their kids not to come to the funeral because they're nervous about how it's gonna affect them. And so when my grandma passed, you know, I was in my twenties and I was like, no, I'm gonna I was in California, I was like, I'm gonna fly to Georgia and I'm gonna be there and be present. And you know, I think that actually was the moment that I was like, okay, death it does not have to be this thing that I've created in my head. And I was I was so grateful for that moment because obviously, you know, my mom was sick and she was passing and we knew that. And so it helped me, I think, in that sense. But I a couple of years after she passed, I had this beautiful message sent to me, and I know it was from my mom, telling me that, you know, everything is gonna be okay. I'm still with you, I'm right here. And it was these beautiful words that just kept flowing through me. And so in the morning, you know, I showed Travis and he turned them into this beautiful song. But it was such a big moment in my healing with the fear of uh around death and dying. And so, you know, we had this beautiful song that Travis wrote, which, you know, when he showed me, I was bawling on the couch, just more healing was being done throughout my body.

SPEAKER_06 9:41

I didn't even be seen in loved, right? Wow.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Dragonflies they have a by waiting till I catch their eye. Rainbows falling without a storm, showing them the morn.

SPEAKER_04 10:04

Oh my gosh, when he came down and just sat on the couch with me and said, I turned this into a song for you. I was I you know, I was blown away, and obviously, yeah, the water works were just going for days. I was crying for days, and I didn't even know I had this inside of me because grief is so funny too, right? It's not like all over the place. It comes and goes, and so I didn't know that I needed the healing, but I needed the healing.

SPEAKER_03 10:26

And this is this is years after her mom had passed. So this wasn't it. Yeah, it wasn't like, you know, initial one year of just like that that that that immediate grief. You know, that that had kind of like she said, it kind of not fizzled out, that's kind of the wrong word because you're always wrong, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:50

But like Yeah, it wanes and it comes and goes in waves.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Yeah, and with the with a song that just you know, in a in a healing way just really brought out this beautiful healing that she probably was like I I've gone through it, like I've gone through the thing. Yeah, it's not linear and things like that, but I've the the the brunt of it, like the the heavy this the the heaviest that it could be.

SPEAKER_04 11:17

It always happens when you least expect it, yeah, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Like expect it.

SPEAKER_04 11:21

I'm like, because I was so connected with God and everything in that moment of my life that wow, it was just a a a beautiful time. And we sat on this song for a year and I just kept going back to I would be doing a disservice to humanity if I didn't try and do something with this. And so one morning I had a thought of what if I turned it into a children's book because of my, you know, experience with death as a kid and how it did not serve me, and I don't want that for my kids. Like I would hate for them to live that way that I lived. So I was like, What if I turned it into a children's book? And so I just put it on my voice memo, just read it out loud to see like what it would sound like, and I brought my kids in and I'm like, Do you think I could turn this into a children's book? They said, Yes, oh my gosh, that would be awesome, mommy. And so I was like, Okay, that's what we're gonna do. And then, you know, synchronicities again, and here it is. It's it's a beautiful book that I really hope can be a tool for families that I wish I had when I was a child, and now 100%.

SPEAKER_06 12:25

I mean, so my son is eight, and I I feel like you're just telling the story of you know your mother, my grandfather passed to 2019, so in the similar time frame, and I myself have gone through similar waves, and even just reading the book, I cried when I read because I'm like sitting there and like crying over my grandfather and you know, the people in my life, and it's it's just it's so beautiful, and it's so it's it is because it's so you did such a beautiful job, really. And this is such a hard thing when people write such personal stories. I think I mean it is you it is so personal, obviously, to you, but it is relatable to anyone reading it.

SPEAKER_04 13:09

I hope so, you know.

SPEAKER_06 13:11

So instead of heartbreak, right?

SPEAKER_04 13:13

Like I know it brought emotion.

SPEAKER_06 13:15

But that was solid. Yeah, that is exactly it was like the most healing, beautiful. I can't wait to read it with my son. I've been holding it in my office hostage. And that's and then what I do with books is I send them on to his school and donate them to the classroom. So it's gonna go into uh the public school system and go be past room there afterwards.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

That's literally Jenny's dream is to like to be in these these grief communities, these these schools, these hospitals, you know, to to be used as a tool, like of like, hey, if if this can help in any way possible, please let let it let it help. I'll g I'll she'll gift you the book, like you know, just she wants she just wants people to have a a different, you know, perspective of of death. Yeah, doesn't lead to trauma later in the future when when we all realize that death does come for everybody, you know.

Reading, Weeping, And Gentle Healing

SPEAKER_06 14:09

It's yeah, that's what I put. I was so excited when I was like, oh my gosh, I can't wait to get this to the classroom. There's so many, you know, we actually live in a pretty underserved community, and there are a lot of kids dealing with grief and dealing with honestly, like it's so beautiful that you know. Even outside of death, separation and and even just relationships, whether it's moving, whether it's what's happening today with separations of families, unfortunately, or whether it's I was thinking of like I want to make sure my son reads the point. I'm in the Philippines in the coming weeks, I'm gonna be gone for 10 days. Like, even that, like I'm still near baby, like you know, it's such a reliable and such a moving and hopeful story.

SPEAKER_04 14:48

Thank you for saying that, because I do feel like it could be that too, right? Like I wrote it out of my own grief, but also right, if a friend moves away and you miss them terribly and you're like, Oh, but here's a little butterfly coming to say hi, it must be them from Colorado, you know, telling me that they're still here with me.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Yeah, that there's you can you can very much, I think, grieve a person that's not with you at that moment that that hasn't passed, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

Especially, especially kids with their parents, like they're that's their first true love, you know. Yeah, unless when they're when they're separated, you you you have that. But but something that came to me when Jenny was talking, and I I really think that this is probably a a a beautiful thing that we should probably keep saying because every time that we talk about the book, you know, and and and that people read the book, it it does bring a lot of emotions, but but there's like this beauty, there's excuse me, there's this element that that leaves you feeling like uplifting and happy. And I think it's the difference. A good analogy is like when people pass, they have either a funeral or a celebration of life. And I I want this book, and I know that you do too, because we've talked about it so much, but I don't want people to read this book like they're at a funeral. I want people to read this book like they're at a celebration of life. That they're that they're that it's opening their their minds and and to see just the beauty around everything and not the sadness. It's okay to to to to sit with your sadness, but not to live in it. So just wanted to say that.

SPEAKER_06 16:24

That's incredible. That that's yeah, sit with your sadness, but not to live in it. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 16:28

I wonder if it's a cultural thing, you know. I don't know, just growing up, like maybe it was a generational thing too. Like, I know that they were trying to protect me, my parents were trying to protect me, but really it was actually doing the opposite. And but I know that they were doing the best that they could with the knowledge that they have, and so it's an evolution of uh learning about grief and death and how we can change in our definition around it, you know, because I you know, you said it's a cultural thing.

Broadening Grief: Separation, Moving, And Change

SPEAKER_06 16:56

You know, it's crazy is the when I was in the last spring, I was in Paris for the first time. And my big thing is I wanted to go see all the graves of all of the artists and people in Paris that was like my face. So and we went to Montmar Cemetery and walking around Montmar Cemetery, I I looked at my my boss actually was with me and said, This doesn't feel scary like it does in cemeteries at home. Like, you know how like when you go to a cemetery, it's just there's something off it's dark, yeah, it's dark, you know. And you know, when we talked about it, I kind of dug into like okay, you know, and and the Parisian people really French people really revere death and don't don't don't see it as something scary to see it as part and yeah, and I was like, and it was in that just like honoring the dead and that they are still here, still, you know, like that just was so beautiful. I think you're I think you're so right, it's a cultural thing.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

Yeah, and in Mexico, like you just mentioned, like the day of the dead is the most colorful, celebrated, yeah, loud music, just beauty, and it's it's celebrating their ancestors and what a we're yeah, we're all gonna pass, but like when I pass, like I want to be like celebrated. I don't, you know, I I I don't want to be looking down from heaven and just see that I just made a bunch of people so sad, like that would break my heart, you know. But like to see, and and I know that happens, and it's it's okay again to be sad that that you're not physically with that person, but seeing the other cultures and how they how they experience death, a lot of the the native tribes, it's it's a it's a beautiful, loud celebration, and they know in their hearts that those people that passed are reunited with all of their loved ones and all of their ancestors, and they believe it to their core. And it's romantic in a lot of ways. Be and and we're we're you're never taught as a kid that death is romantic, you're never taught that death is a celebration, you know. Graveyards, for example, Hollywood has made them this place of fear and and you know, thriller or horror because of how they portray well, graveyards, but then you see this sweet person with flowers sitting, you know, just talking to their loved one. It's like, well, that's like the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. So yeah, it's shifting that perspective is a is a really, I think, important task that you maybe unknowingly have taken on. And I have so much faith that you can help people. I really do.

Celebration Of Life Versus Funeral Framing

SPEAKER_04 19:38

I always try and catch myself when I say I lost my mom because I didn't lose her. I know exactly where she is, you know. So everybody's saying I lost this person and it's so sad, but you, you know, again change the definition of grief into not being someone that's lost, but someone that's just really right here, not physically anymore, but you know, like in it, he's they're just in another room, and we can still talk to them and honor them and speak to them and and also like a a synonym of of loss is disconnected.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

You know, and when when somebody passes, a lot of times you can, you know, you feel like boom, you're cut off, you're disconnected. But that that doesn't have to be true. How many times have you there's a thread, have you thought about somebody and they call you on the phone? And how many times have you seen somebody and you're just I I I was just thinking about you or or all this? We are connected so much deeper.

SPEAKER_06 20:36

I had a friend text me two minutes after my son was born, hadn't talked to me for like three, like we talked every day, hadn't spoken for a few days. She knew she knew I was like spoke, you know, in labor kind of, but like was keeping distance. Two minutes after he was born, she texted me. How beautiful that that's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 20:54

That chills because yeah, and from the other side, they they want us to to live our life and to be happy and joyful. And you know, I was gifted this book called Maybe by Kobe Yamada. It's a really beautiful book.

SPEAKER_06 21:07

Well, I've seen that one. That is gorgeous, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:10

A big inspiration of my book, but I just I met this woman who gifted me this, and I thought it was for my kids. And so I brought it home to read to them. But going through it, anyway, this is another story, and it's very fun. But I had asked for a sign of an owl, and when I was reading this book, there's owls all throughout this book, and an owl hat on, and it's a story about the endless potential in all of us. And it's, you know, my mom telling me, like, don't sit in your sadness of the grief. There's God place something in your heart, you know, God placed something in your heart, and we want you to share it with the world. And, you know, I that was a couple days before I got the message for Are You Here? And so I just I really believe that they really want us to just be happy and they're guiding us and they're with us always. And that's the message really that I want to portray to anyone that, you know, picks up the book and reads it. Yeah.

Culture Shift: Cemeteries, Día De Muertos, Perspective

SPEAKER_06 22:01

I think you did such a beautiful job of that. And I wanna ask you about the illustrator because the visuals in it really reflect that. Like I as I like it is some beautiful screen. We'll show some I'll show some screens. And just like there's nothing dark about it, even when she's in the forest, yeah, and she's and she can see you know, coming across it's it's beautiful and it's light. You said the owl. I see the owl in here. Cinematic song. There you go. There we go. Yeah, it's not like if it's but it's light in the room. Oh, it's just it's so beautiful and the colors and the leaves, you know, the visuals aren't dark and scary when talking about even when she is scared and she, you know, not scared, but when she's looking, even within you know, the darker parts, there's light around her in joy, and she sees the whole.

SPEAKER_04 23:06

I had so many visions on these illustrations, and you know, she brought them to life. You should see my sketchbook of what I, you know, envisioned for the book.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

She had this little like owl thing that I had given her. It was like a kind of kind of like a journal, like a a a daily, you know, journal that you put next to your bed and it's a little owl. And she was she is. artist trying my best to draw as far as an authorship but like you know none of us are are very good at at drawing myself included and she made the most beautiful little little things and like you know they weren't to scale and one eye is bigger than they but but they were beautiful they were so beautiful and then to see so the illustrator elisabetta fentone is is a such a good friend of Jenny's and w when Jenny had these the these kind of like mocked up versions of these illustrations that she could see in her book obviously you know in her head she has this this vision that that physically she can't draw out but she sees it so I imagine that giving that to somebody is something that you have to trust highly in them to bring to life.

SPEAKER_04 24:16

Yeah I always knew in my heart that she was going to be the illustrator we met on a commercial chute in Miami for Rooms to go. When was that that was 2010 2019 2020 and so when this idea came to me I knew I knew in my heart that I wanted to ask her but I knew that she had been going through some challenging moments with a a preemie and so I wasn't sure she had the capacity to do it but I still asked her and she said yes she would love to she had lost her dad six months prior to the illustration so this I think if she was on the call with us would she would say that it was so healing for her and that she had so many dreams and visions of her dad during this process and and she also was very like minded with Jenny like it it it wasn't she was she she was sad but didn't want to sit in the sadness. She wanted to celebrate her father and the signs that he sends her all the time. So I'm so grateful.

SPEAKER_03 25:10

It really was a match made in heaven for you guys to get together and to put together I obviously unbiased I will I will preface always by saying I'm biased but no my mom was guiding this whole thing.

SPEAKER_04 25:22

Like all the synchronicities that like I know my mom was in and that's why it was so divinely guided that I have this knowing in my heart that it's going to reach the people that it's supposed to reach, you know and I think it'll be through word of mouth and people you know that maybe are touched by it, you know, gifting it to someone that they know could be hurting or going through something similar. And so that's I I just have this knowing you know that it's gonna be something that can can really help.

Staying Connected: Signs, Synchronicity, Faith

SPEAKER_06 25:50

100% and that's what I'm super excited you know because a lot of our audience is nannies and so some of them don't even have their own children but you know we've I've even spoken to nannies who nanny for children who have lost parents you know so folks like that like there are so many ways and so I I would love to hear a little bit about how is this experience with grief and like as parents because how many kids do you guys have four yes four as parents how has your your journey with this grief in the book and kind of you know coming around to this feeling how does that affect the way you parent and the way you teach your kids about grief?

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Oh it's such a beautiful question. You know it's made me very present in the way that I parent and travel and transparent and open. Yeah yes we you know when we had kids I think I always knew that I wanted to do the conscious parenting tactic. Yeah this is where we're we're super present with them. And so even after my mom passed it made me even that much more and really appreciate the simple moments that I have with my kids. And if they ever ask me do you want to play mommy or do you want to do this? I really try to say yes and not like oh I will in a little bit after I'm done with this like to stop what I'm doing and really give them my presence. Does that happen all the time? No. But I think that you know when you're you're faced with lease not losing someone but someone that you love passing you realize how precious time is right it is so precious.

Illustration Vision And Collaborative Healing

SPEAKER_03 27:28

And I also think you know Jenny and I we we've never had or or sorry I I should say we've had babysitters but we really never had had nannies but nannies in my experience play such a beautiful role that a lot of times they are with the exception of having that you know baby born through you or adopted to you or however you know you you brought in like you very much are the parental figure. And I I don't think that nannies get enough credit um but you can you can see it with the kids when they look up at their nanny when they when they fall and they're hurt and they like they re who do they reach up for and a lot of times they reach up for the nanny because they feel connected and loved and and and held and seen and all these different things. And the reason I bring that up is because well one your your viewership I I think that they would relate to that but Jenny's mom to to our kids was G G and she made the very intentional just the the the the try she just she just wanted to be there and she was she was always there like if if we ever had a nanny it was Jenny's mom. Like she loved she absolutely loved being around these kids she loved that they knew her she loved that they that they really what what they would ask for her and and and she would make them laugh and it was just so beautiful to see our kids have a relationship with their grandparents and and with other people that we love deeply. And and in my childhood I I didn't really have that like I loved my grandparents but they they weren't really there a lot for for for many reasons but that you know I knew that when I had kids I wanted to change that and so my parents are very much a part of my kids' lives my Jenny's parents were are were and are very much a part of their lives even now that that Gigi has passed like we talk about her almost daily you know that there's a a ladybug that will fly and the girls will be like there's Gigi Gigi's here and I just love that they keep her in spirit and in that memory all the time and that's you know they have love for us as a parent but but Gigi was very much they she had that Gigi that mama bear energy but she also had that nanny energy where she just loved these kids unconditionally and it it's just so beautiful to see our kids have this relationship with somebody even after death. So as far as your question goes of like how are we doing it from our parents and into our kids is is we are being transparent. We are we are talking about death and like this book is as helpful for us with our kids as it as we hope that it could be for other parents and and other nannies and their kids because death is a hard thing. It really is a hard thing and this book can make it a little less hard.

SPEAKER_04 30:38

And Travis and I talked too like you know it's just planting a seed too right like we don't have to be like sit down like okay we're gonna talk about death and we're gonna read this book, right? You're just reading the book and then subconsciously they're getting the message that oh my gosh like if I look outside and go on a walk and I see a bluebird flying high like that could be maybe you know like totally you know a friend in another city but like it doesn't have to be this like okay you know on the nose conversation about death. And so that's another thing that I think is really beautiful is that you just open it and you read it and it's just planting little seeds that like everything is beautiful and it's all gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_03 31:14

I mean not everything is beautiful all the time but you know yeah and anybody that that has kids or watches over kids knows that their minds are like sponges. They can see one obscure thing from months and months and months ago and bring it up and remember that time when you know this and you're just like oh my gosh you remember that that's that is wild. So so what what if we filled our kids with this little seed of like hey like death yeah death is a thing it's beautiful you know here let's talk about it let's not hide from it and and here's here's how we think about death here's you know a little butterfly or a ladybug or a bluebird or or the just a feeling sometimes that you just feel held and you know you plant those seeds and then one day later on whenever they do have those grieving feelings they don't go to the sad dark corner where they cut themselves off.

How Nannies And Grandparents Hold Space

SPEAKER_06 32:12

They just they can you just hope that you give them the tools to to get through those hard moments that's amazing yeah so well in such an incredible way that's just like a parenting the Elsa where they now like what have your kids thought about the process I mean obviously they've grown up Travis you've been an artist since before the kids were born and it's like you know and Jenny I don't know as much about your history I know you you're an actress but you know this is you know a new you know writing a children's book is a totally new form of art what what has it been like like your kids you know did you already said you shared the memo with them you know you you're you know they were some of your earliest collaborators and you know feedback people what has it been like for them to watch you do this and you know have you seen them you know have go on their own creative journeys you know how how does creativity and just you know the way you're modeling using your gifts creatively create that was a weird way to say that word cre creatively I like that yeah how does that you know infuse into your kids and your parenting life as well gosh Reagan thank you because I had this moment where I was like if this if I just have this book in my hand like that's enough having my kids see me have an idea and then bring it to life pursue it yeah is all I want to give them to show them to inspire them to to know to not be fearful of failure right because I feel like so many people live in that failure that they don't even try anything because they're scared.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

So I'm so grateful that I actually had the courage to take an idea and follow through with it because I do want to inspire them to to reach their full potential and whatever that is if they have a passion that they know that they can go for it, I will support them 100% just like they have supported me my second child Kaya I think she's my biggest supporter I think they all support me but you could just see in her eyes we did like a little luncheon where I spoke and signed some books but she was just so proud of me and you could just see it like hugging me and asking if I needed any help with anything you know and I really And as like the line like Jenny was signing some books it was it was a a charity called Together at Peace which is a beautiful organization if if anybody gets a chance to check it out.

Parenting With Presence And Planting Seeds

SPEAKER_03 34:45

But they a Jenny Jenny spoke we played the song and there was a line of people that wanted to get the the book signed by Jenny and Kaya was just like handing out the bookmarks that went with every and like right next to Jenny the whole time just watching her and like yeah that's my mom. Yeah she was so really sweet so sweet and uh and I think that's like in our house obviously you know Jenny is a dancer she was an actress she does yoga which is like a you know body creative you know flow she's she's now authoring she's she's written songs like I come from a world of like I was a musician and I was you know I I didn't want to go to college I wanted to be the lead singer of a band which which to most people sounds like an insane idea. It might sound insane to to for Jenny to be like I'm gonna be a dancer and go be an actress in in LA and and then I'm gonna write a book like you're like okay I think a lot of people sadly might have parents or guardians or nannies or or or that that are like okay but but but but college and this and this and that and there's like a very social norm thing of of how you're supposed to go so but but in our house you have the lead singer and songwriter of a of a band and you have an actress author writer and and and the other partner and that's what our kids are that's what lives in our house there's every music instrument in our house there's every paintbrush crayon marker you know notebook that some are writing little stories like our our six year old is she's learning how to read and write and and she's writing these like really funny stories. She's like this is my nighttime story and this is my morning story because it's a little funny because it talks about you know and and they all have things they they go to bed they're they're reading and it's just you know I I I'm a firm believer that with when you're with kids they because their minds are like sponges they when they see you do something that that that clocks for them like that that registers and and and so when they see Jenny doodle in her little owl journal and make these drawings and then you know make this little voice memo and read her book and then you know so it it felt like it felt like it happened so fast and and took so many years at the same time but like to actually hold this physical thing and look at it and see the words and it's it's so thoughtful and and intentional and then to see that she did that because she had this beautiful connection with her mom and to see that I write songs and I work on them and the kids this is at my studio and the kids sit on the couch and watch me do what I do they are just they they it would be impossible for them to not be inspired in some way to do something. And we see it literally every single day. Like the yesterday we were spray painting a little art projects because they wanted to that all their names start with K. So they wanted to put you know K on their doors and they wanted different colors and we're learning how to do that and it's every day it's something new that has something to do with creative.

SPEAKER_04 38:09

Now the other side of the coin we might not be doing the English and math and science and history that well but academics is not our forte but you know what they are going to be passionate exactly creative and you know I also want to say that my most important job is being a mom. And so I hope that they you know see that first and foremost is that like right like if we choose to have a child into this world especially these days that we should have the intention of raising them in a way that is the highest consciousness so that they can change the world for the better. And it's more that's what we mean more now than ever, you know and so that's like my most important job and I'm just I was praying to God to use me in it in a bigger way, you know and so I'm grateful that this idea came to me and that I was able to follow through with it so they could see that as well. But I'll I want them to know too if they decided to have children and wanted to be a mom and stay at home like that is a very important job as well.

SPEAKER_06 39:12

Just wanted to say that I don't know why but yes yeah but then but yeah but they it's so beautiful that they've been able to see you do both. Yes and be this intentional mother and follow your dreams and be a dancer and be a you know and be an intentional father and be a lead singer of a band and you know and and that you know we're not limited and that's gonna you know have such a beautiful mindset for your kids growing up that they can do anything as well.

Creativity At Home: Modeling Courage

SPEAKER_03 39:41

I really you know I I don't think that we would be able to to to do this if our kids weren't like also giving us the kindness and the loving and the service and the energy that that they have we we've just been so blessed to have you know just such a beautiful family connection. There are challenges there yeah of course but with this book for example like since Jenny met me I was on tour I was putting out records I was and she supported me every single day from the moment we met she wanted me to to to continue to live my dream she she saw the passion and the conviction and the and everything that she saw and that she believed in and she really believed in me to to go and to continue doing it. And a lot of the times that meant me leaving home and leaving her with four kids or three kids or two kids you know and selfishly yeah it was tough on me but at the same time I was still able to to do this and and then she at times would get in this thing of like man I'm just a mom like is that not enough and then she overcame that was like oh my god I'm I get to be a mom like what a beautiful thing. Now that she has this book like I'm personally and maybe even selfishly so excited to okay like go go on tour go you know go go put share her with the world right yeah go on tour go do this thing and and and let me let me support you in the way that you've supported me all these years and it's it's such a special honor that I have right now to just to to put my foot in the other shoe. You know and now I get to be the stay at home dad. Yeah honestly like I I would I would do that in a heartbeat. I think I think me being a dad is the most important job that I'll ever have in my life and I couldn't do that without you know my amazing wife and I just I'm very excited for for this book because I see you know there are challenges again yes but I see the light that it can bring to so many people and I know from my experience when I've put out music that it just really touched somebody and really been like hey you meet somebody and they're like hey that I just want to let you know that like this song got me through a really hard time this song you know saved my life this song was everything to me. When you hear that you're like oh my God I feel almost responsible I need to keep doing this so that I can help people and I know that those exact words are going to come and be said to Jenny instead of me and it's gonna just inspire her to just keep doing this thing and I love that I'm gonna just be able to support you.

SPEAKER_04 42:34

Thank you. That's very sweet that was very sweet.

SPEAKER_06 42:38

I love it. And that's what like yeah you're the the joy that you guys exude as a couple and I think just like you know I mean like the you know like I said I was a huge fan of high school like and your music even is that same like it is not it doesn't shy away from hard topics but it is joyful and hopeful both in the sound of it and in the in the content of it. Like it it is it has always been something that I've I've literally like like I said I've been sharing it with my son the past few weeks. And I just feel like as we've been listening like it's just happy it's just beautiful happy joy lifting music. So and that is exactly what what is gonna come from this book as well.

SPEAKER_04 43:20

So wait for his new music is fire.

SPEAKER_06 43:25

Oh he's got some stuff going on yeah a lot of oh I can't wait I can't wait amazing I feel like we have you you know and so many questions and as like I was looking through them I'm like we really talked about all of these things without even having to ask the questions so I love it.

SPEAKER_03 43:42

That's the best podcast it's perfect.

SPEAKER_06 43:47

So before we wrap up let us know a little bit when does the book come out where is the best place to get it assume for you but I also assume it's gonna be in every bookstore because it's so amazing.

Support, Roles, And Switching The Spotlight

SPEAKER_04 44:00

I hope to work how to connect with you on it and more okay awesome yeah thank you so much I my website is jenny robinsonclark.com and you can sign up for a newsletter which we'll send out and it'll give you information on what we have coming up. The book comes out on March 17th 2026 so just around the corner and my Instagram is Jenny Robinson Clark where I'll post some more info about the book but yes I'm hoping for it to get into as many indie bookstores as possible because I love to support them you know but you can yes and schools and libraries and hospitals and greeting absolutely I was saying I mean in our local bookstore they they they access our book that we have to and we're gonna be taking it down making sure that they get us in their bookstore.

SPEAKER_03 44:52

Perfectly thank you for your support thank you guys for being here it's been so amazing I think that's yeah oh I oh sorry sorry no I was just gonna say I I think yeah the the the book can be pre ordered now from your website maybe even from Amazon but it's really it's kind of available where where anybody gets their books and we're just um yeah just so grateful to anybody that takes it the next step it's one thing to listen to a podcast. Thank you to everybody to everybody that listens. It's another thing to go and actively pursue and look for this book and and it's another thing to click on, you know, the pre-order or to the buy. So you know I I just feel very grateful for for everybody.

SPEAKER_06 45:42

Absolutely we'll make sure we get all the links and the show notes and everything so that way it's easy for people to find and yeah wait for everybody to read the book.

Book Launch Details And How To Preorder

Closing Song: Are You Here

SPEAKER_00 45:50

Thank you Reagan Dragonflies they hover by waiting till I catch their eye rainbows form without a storm showing up now as I mourn are you here? Are you here? Are you here? Did you hear my prayer? Are you in everything and everywhere? I am here I heard your prayer I am in everything and everywhere an hour who's up in a tree reminding me that you are free see a deer just laying still then I start to get the chills Are you here? Are you here Are you here? Did you hear my prayer? Are you in everything and everywhere? I am here I heard your prayer I am in everything and everywhere then I do fly waves closely by knocking up but start to cry Bluebird flying in the sky as I sit and wonder why are you Are you my thing and everywhere I am in every state I am in every state I am in everything in everywhere as the light shines on my face you begin to fill this space in my heart in all I do hope my love you feel it too you can