This is Episode 12 of the Ask Dad Labs podcast. It was recorded on May 20 2021. It's simple you ask questions and dad's answer. When we need actual answers, we find the experts. Today from Louisville, Kentucky, we have Nick he has two kids ages six and 13. And from Austin, Texas, we have clay. In addition to a Corgi named Dave. He has three kids, one in high school, one in college and one in the Coast Guard. And I'm Ben, I'm in the Detroit River, just south of Detroit, Michigan. My boys are 11 and 13. Let's get to the show. Nick, I was looking for a new job. This is something we've talked about a few times. And they're building a mirror factory across the river from me, I could really see myself working there.
Nice.
I hope that no future employer to this podcast.
So see, we all I believe.
Speaking of that, my wife was listening to an episode and said something to me and said, No, you really shouldn't put my age out there on the air. I was like what she's like, well, if you're going to tell people not to tell it, you should realize that I'm listening. So I got in trouble for words. So I gotta I gotta watch what I say now, because there are more than there's three people listening now.
So That's right. That's right. We don't know who the other two are. But right. Yeah. Yeah, actually, Deborah is listening. And she says she's up to episode nine. Right now. We're recording Episode 12. So she's enjoying it quite a bit. She said she hasn't gotten a chance to listen, this week. Too many, too many meetings with work. So taking time off.
So our first question is sort of a speculative thing. So if there was a kid labs, what dad products would they review?
Hmm. If there was a kid labs, like so the kids are getting reviewing
parenting products, and they're like,
we need to take care. And you have some recommendations for the grownups about how they should be managing their
that could be that. Or it could be what do kids need to use to manage their parents? Hmm. So I'm thinking I'm thinking like noise cancelling headphones are probably, you know, that would just be right at the right at the beginning. Although my kids don't need noise cancelling headphones, they're built in.
Right? And maybe a chore chart, or some sort of allowance management system,
or whatever.
Actually, my kids, they just got they got those credit cards from Chase, the kids credit cards that are tied to your own and you can approve purchases and that sort of thing. Yeah, so yeah. Reviewing that, yeah.
Video games that they like that their parents either don't like or like to play with them. Penny has been watching this kids city or dad city gaming. And it's this whole family, this family before that plays it. It's got a, like a five year old, I think a nine or 10 year old and then mom and dad, and they play all the games. They play them together. And they're hilarious. I pretend I don't like it. Because it's crazy, because she just sits there and watches other people play games. But they are wholesome. As far as they have a good time together. And I get it. I get it. You know, because I tried to play video games with them. I just don't know what I'm doing. I'm a button master. I don't know how to play the games. I grew up with them. I was always a button masher.
I think it'd be I think it would be pretty funny to see teenagers doing like, hey, best phone for your teenager. iPhone 12
Oh, trental Deluxe best computer for your kid would be like the fanciest new, you know, apple, you know, laptop. I could see a lot of teenagers really coming forward to have some suggestions for their parents when it comes to technology. Only the best.
I think kid Labs is a viable idea. You know, no, not it.
I'm wondering if they would, they would also have some fashion suggestions for us like, Hey, hey, dad's. Here are some shorts that don't have side pockets. You might want to consider pants, maybe without some side pockets that you wanted. You might want some non graphic tees. that don't necessarily, you know, embarrassed me kind of idea. Like maybe they could do a whole non embarrassing dad wardrobe
dad makeover as Nick's wearing his Bon Jovi t shirt and I'm wearing a shirt that's got tears all over it.
Um, yeah, I'm going to I'm going to a Bon Jovi concert at a drive in. They're doing one of their broadcast concerts this Saturday. So,
guys, quick mini rant. So one of the things that you have to do as a parent in Austin, Texas, this is very significant, certain specific to where I live. If you are a decent parent of a teenager in Austin, Texas, you must get your child tickets to Austin City Limits the big Music Festival. Sure, you know, it's canceled last year because of the pandemic. So any good parent will get their kids, you know, a teenager, they go and it's like a whole rite of passage for an awesome teenager. There's no, it's it's something that one simply must do. Because all of one's friends go. And there is Miley Cyrus. So one must be there. So I you know, today the tickets went on sale. And by the time by 11am. By the time I got to the ACL site, the tickets were sold out.
So you're a bad parent.
I am such a bad Austin dad. This is this is like the Prime Directive of Austin dad hood, when it comes to teenagers if you don't provide that, you suck.
Well, I mean, you did include him in a conversation about a single word on a vitamin bottle label. So yeah, I mean, not everybody gets to do that. Not everybody.
Hey, he's got a Corgi named Dave
was not impressed. He does have a Korean day. And I guess he and the Corgi named Dave can like turn on the stereo system that was reviewed in kid labs and recommended and they can just jam out to some tunes there. And
I clue you in on one thing that only dads would know. And that they broadcasted on PBS. Right. That won't win any points.
That's not that's a that's a very dad explanation.
Here's what you do, is you get one of the screens and you do a backyard theater night. And you play that broadcast.
Well, they don't do it live. So
yeah, you do when they do that. They look I know I didn't get your tickets, but I'm trying to make up for
Well, you don't have a backyard screen, so maybe you should take them to Owens. Oh.
I mean, going to o ns is always more entertaining than anything.
Imagine. Yeah, right.
Oh, by the way, he's a fan of us on Facebook now. Shout out to Oh, and
we've moved past that a little segue I was about to use, but I'm gonna go back to it. Anyway. Speaking of a Corgi named Dave, and you're being adamant about not getting a dog. Well, my dog if you leave certain things in his range that he can get to. He will chew them up. Wow. Your floppy hat. My my favorite floppy hat. This is my good summer hat. That is no longer my good summer hat. Yeah,
that's tough. You know what? Father's Day is coming.
Dude, I've got a new laser. Dallas asked me he said what do you want for Mother's Day? I was like, I've already told you all holidays and birthdays this year including Christmas. are already sitting back here. No,
I don't. I think that's still wearable hat. I really think that's still a wearable. Maybe put some glitter on it or something. That's
Yeah, that's the you know,
personality. You trim that little piece off. It's now got character. Come on,
dad. Get it. Get one of those dazzlers that's that's right up there with the laser graduation task. That's right. Perfect.
So yeah, for the listeners that that hat has been mauled and was my favorite hat for the summer.
It's still wearable, though.
It's not. It's really not. I will I will find another one and it won't be. I'm 48 now I can go by my own damn hat.
You invoked to the graduation tassel which takes us to our second time. Hey, look at me.
So, so this comes we're in graduation season now we're just at the at the end of May, beginning of June. We've got college graduations high school graduations. And a friend she's she has a son who's graduating from high school has one that graduated from college last year. And what she she blogs as basil Mama, so I got her permission to share this with it but but so what she says is, this is my annual reminder that congratulations is the best thing to say to a graduate not all kids go to traditional college, some just get jobs and some are moving on to learn a very important career trade that is in much demand. There's no need to remind graduates of how hard you worked, partied hated dorm saved went without starved suffered heaped on loan after the loan made mistakes or worse made no mistakes. Not all students need a mystical college experience in order to become a functional, productive, hardworking, appreciative adult. I graduated high school in 1994. And trust me when I say that we're privileged kids then. And this didn't happen overnight. It's always been a thing. The quote kids need to suffer as we suffered, or they don't learn the value of whatever stuff is not what a young 17 to 22 year old needs to hear. Congratulations, well done. Best wishes. So happy for you. Let me know how I can support you are a few great ways you can support a graduate. So what do you think?
Well said we were Generation X was drilled into our heads that you have to go to college to get a job. And for the most part, they were kind of right. But times change technology advanced. And jobs. I'm not using I haven't used my I never used my degree, I had a business degree and a journalism degree. never used either one of them. So I got into the printing industry by working at kinkos as a button masher on the machines. And that led into print brokering and, you know, led me into actually working at a print shop. So it was a great career. I wish I had thought about it beforehand. I did didn't know anything about it. But now it's we always need plumbers, we always need tradesmen mechanics, most of the mechanics that I've ever been to they've been mechanics their entire life because they like cars. So, you know, they get to work on lots of cars and get paid for it. Find what you like, do that.
Yeah, that's, that's solid advice is a really good reminder that that we sometimes have an assumption. And it's it's kind of an awkward time for these these kids, that everybody has got their sort of college or whatever their next phase decision made. And a lot of times the kids don't, and they don't they don't know they have they've made one of these alternate kind of choices. So I think it's, it's, it's very solid, it's very solid advice. And because there are a lot of kids that are disappointed. There's a lot of kids that want had a big dream, maybe didn't get it, there's a lot of kids that are super excited. You know, and I, I think there's a way to to congratulate a kid and invite them to talk about what's next in a way that isn't necessarily going to invite disappointment instead of saying, hey, what cause you going to you can say, Hey, what's the future look like for you? what's what's the next step look like for you, right? And just say, you know, invite them to tell their story a little bit. Because even the kids that maybe it didn't sort out, they still have a storytel. So it's not like you want to shame them by just trying to sweep it under the carpet. And oh, let's not talk about what's coming up for you. Because if it's not college, it or if it is trade school, or job or whatever, you know, that is a move. It is a big moment of transition, graduating from high school and moving on to the next thing. So it's okay to say, Hey, what's what's you know, what's the future look like? What's the next step for you? And if the kid says, You know, I still don't know. Or the kid says, Oh, I'm really excited, I'm going, I'm going to go serve my country in the military. Or, you know, they're gonna say, Hey, you know, I'm still trying to assign my college. You know, it gives them an opportunity to tell their story, which is okay.
Yeah. The other thing on that is they don't owe you a story. Right. Right. You know, I think a lot of times, US older folks want to hear, you know, that unbridled passion that that these kids have going into college, they're going to change the world. And it's okay for them not to want to change the world. Yeah. And it's kind of hard for us to take that sometimes. You know, it's nothing personal. Right.
Well, I mean, stories, you know, whatever it is that I you know, I like hearing what they're, what they're up to, and you know, what their plans are. I mean, it's all very interesting, but yeah, you're not entitled to know
It's going to be really hard for me, because you know, want to get in there, he's going to be eighth grade next year, it will be really hard for me to change from the default of you need to go to college, you need to get a further education more than the basics. With that, guys,
we need to do a whole workshop on that, because that whole process is bonkers.
Yep, We absolutely do. Because I know that that's my default. I know, because that's what was drilled into my head. You know, find out what asked the open ended questions like you were saying, ask their story, open ended questions, and ask the question to find out what they want to do what what's in their head? Without the idea of asking the question, just so you can tell your story. If they ask you. Well, what did you do? You can tell your story? to do that?
You know, this is this is the problem with like old guys. Like, nobody wants to hear any of that. Nobody wants to hear about your college experience. No one cares. That's interesting to know what I mean. It's just not,
you know, a movie made about it, then we don't want to really don't want to hear about it.
Well, and you know, it sounds like, you know, three guys sitting around in their basements having a podcast, for it sound
like me? Yeah, yeah, who would listen to that? Right? When I got out of college, I started doing computer work and started doing my own companies. And I started doing, you know, promotion and marketing and social media marketing before we had Facebook and stuff. So it was on forums, or whatever. And that's when I realized that that's what I enjoyed doing most at the time. And the best way for me to have gone into that would have been to go to vocational school in high school instead of being in the college prep program, because there was a marketing program that I could have gone to at the at the vocational program. And I would have learned digital drawing, and I would have learned computer technology stuff. But it was on a completely separate campus. And you were there with the construction guys. And you were there with the secretarial school. But you know, you would have learned I would have learned business, I would have learned marketing, I would have learned all these things that I had to learn on the job. Eight years later, what I just felt to degree. My degree. Yeah, philosophy.
T. did good for life. But not No,
it's not. That's not it's not good for life.
I think it can be. It's good for law school.
It's good for being an editor, perhaps. But it's good for getting in arguments.
I'm okay, here's I'm not going to shit on your philosophy degree.
Yes, you are. But for what you're describing, you'd like to doing. It was not the degree to half and you know that and you aren't you just said, Well, no, but I wouldn't have I wouldn't have known that. When I was in college. That's what I would have wanted to do. But it's what I found myself doing later. And I wasn't tempted to do that wasn't when I was in high school. Because when we were introduced to it in high school, we we got on a bus and we drove out to it was high point JBS Bell fountain, Ohio. And we went there. And basically we were talked down to, like, if you like this, then you're not going to college is sort of the the message we were getting, we're required to show you what this is. But if you do this, you're going to be in the work program. So you're only going to go to high school half a day, and you're going to have a job. Right. And so it was not it was not given to us, I can guarantee you now, all those things that I would have taken in school are now part of the high school curriculum. Yeah, right. Yeah, you know, it's the building trades may still have their own vocational school, but it's very different now than it was in 1990.
Which it's super helpful to be reminded that, you know, there's a lot of different paths out there. Not every kid is on the same, you know, the same kind of College Track as you're approaching kids. And, you know, and there's a lot of emotion involved. And, you know, a lot of kids are elated and and a lot of kids are uncertain. So just before you wade into that, you know, taking leave the room a little bit right. And you know, some kids may be super excited to tell you that tell you the story and other kids, you know may not be but I do think that's a that's a great heads up one graduation story that happened to me this week, which is sort of semi germane, which is that you know, my son graduated from the Coast Guard Academy and the Coast Guard Academy this week. Yesterday had their graduation, the president knighted states spoke The graduates were all gathered on the field and threw their hats in the air and that you're into their parties and, and enjoyed a spectacular pomp and circumstance at graduation. And I'm absolutely thrilled for all of them. And it hurt my heart. So because I was just thinking about a year ago, when we were trying to patch together some little virtual substitute for that for, for my son, his girlfriend, and I don't know, it's, I've been thinking a lot this week about those graduates that missed their graduation, and what graduation is going to feel like for them for the next few years. Do you know what I mean? Until you're fully over it, like, if you really missed it, if you really didn't get to have a ceremony if it was really 100% virtual. And we all made the best of it, like we did the best we could. And at the time, it felt pretty good. Like, hey, we did a thing like we, we had reproduce this in some in some significant way. But really, it wasn't the same. And now that kids are having the full fledged version of that those kids that miss it, maybe now have a little bit of like, Ah,
well, you know, the, the Coast Guard I you know, because it's, it's all about that, that display, and there's a lot of pride and having gone through, you know, the Coast Guard is more than just going through school, you know, it's it's a dedication of their lives to, to service for for at least a period. my graduation, you know, this is capital University, Columbus, Ohio, I wouldn't have minded not going graduation now. I was I was sort of popular, I had people that didn't normally shake hands come out of the line to shake my hand when I got my my degree. I still wouldn't have. I don't remember it very much. But, you know, Dave Thomas spoke. I mean, he talked about how he talked about how it really, it's all about being happy that we didn't need to go to college, as long as we could find our happiness, which great, but we just spent, you know, we're gonna spend the next 15 years of our lives paying off the debt to be told, you know, you didn't really need to go to college. Yeah. You know, it was it was a lot of pomp and probably not so much circumstance, right. It was, it didn't seem like it was for us. It was for the parents it was for. For that I think we could have done more about high school kids really more. That's really it. Yeah.
What are the causes those high school kids? I mean, a service Academy is a slightly different thing, you know, yeah. But and that ceremony is so special, you know, and I feel the same way. My college graduation, take it or leave it. But High School. You know, I think a lot of a lot of schools and parents were doing their very best to put together something. And I wonder two, three years from now, like they, they're their reactions gonna be like, I don't want to see it. I don't I don't want to see your high school graduates. I don't want to see the pictures of your high school graduation. I said, my oldest son, did you know text me? It was like, a little tough today. Then we talked about it. And he sent me a photograph of his service ribbons. He now has five service ribbons because of the really good work he's been doing last year. And he was like, Yeah, well, you know, they got a fancy graduation, but I got five rivets. And it's like, okay, buddy. That's pretty good. That's pretty good.
Yeah. And we know that down the road, other things are going to eclipse that. Yeah, you know, it's a it's a big thing at the time. But, but
I think at the time, and it's an interesting and unique parenting moment, that that, you know, we get these little you get these little echo moments as we kind of close out this pandemic. There are still these moments and reminders and echoes and, and consequences of what we've lived through in the last 18 months. I think that that's going to be the interesting thing about parenting in the next year is what is the post pandemic parenting world look like? What are the challenges? What are the unique issues that this this cohort of kids has? And you know, what are we what are we talking about, you know, well, speaking
of that,
we got a message from Claude Oh, Yeah, my guess you heard from Claude, do you want to tell us about Claude?
Yeah. Claudia said, Well, he's a bit of a clueless guy. He has lots of questions for me. Really? Central Texas. Yeah, yes. It was like, yeah, questions for me, almost on an hourly basis.
Yeah. It's just certainty about everything really. So I'm just gonna forward on one of them, which was, the Claude was not sure what to think about back to school. And I know, it seems like it's just crazy that we're just closing out this year. But he was curious if other parents what they were feeling, and what their hopes and ambitions were for next year, like what it what do they want? What are they afraid of? What are they hoping for? From the fall of 2021? That's, that's what clods worried about. And if you want to just tell him to shut up, I mean, he's awesome.
Oh, Clay, I mean, Claude, you don't need to, it's gonna be I think it's gonna be pretty close to back to normal. As far as kids going to school daily. I wonder if they won't have some better online assignments, systems and things where they're not writing book reports, and printing them out and bringing them in and all of that, you know, I think there'll be a lot more technology involved in their work. they've proven that they can provide laptops for just about every child, at least our district has. So doing a lot more work. I think it sucks that they don't do cursive anymore, they don't do handwriting, my son is 13 are you
just super confident that the Fall is going to be back to normal 100%. And that the kids just gonna go to school? Is that what you're anticipating and hoping for?
It's not necessarily what I'm hoping for. But what I'm anticipating, they were pushing so hard to get the kids back into school. And I wasn't really comfortable with that. But they did make, you know, certain things, you know, they all had to wear masks, and they were not sitting all together at lunch and things like that. But I think our society just can't handle I another extension of the kids being at home. Now, again, we have been very privileged that we have been able to handle that. And if we had been able to say, No, the kids don't need to go, we'll do all virtual, we were not going to go into school at all, we could have handled that. Um, you know, we are both at home right now. So, but so many families can't they, it's, it's been a nightmare for them, because they were working two jobs are essential workers, whatever. And a big part of going to school, going to the building is the childcare aspect of it. You know, we don't send them there just for childcare. We send them there to get an education, but they are out of our control. They are out of our responsibility. We can do other things like go to work every day, while they're in school. I think our society is just America has to have the kids in school. We just don't have the we don't have the foundation of childcare said
we're not worried one way or the other. If they go back to school, it's fine. If they don't go back to school, it's fine. Like whatever will work.
It will work for me. I think. I think they'll be safe. I think we're getting to the point where enough people are vaccinated, I think the younger kids will be able to be vaccinated. My son has gotten his first shot. little side note. It was really cool, because you know, he's 13 and getting him to talk to me is is, you know, pulling teeth. When we went in was it was a drive up and you're like, is this gonna hurt? I'm like, Well, I mean, and the guy said Nah, just like a mosquito. I'm like, Yeah, really big fucking mosquito. But, so he was really worried about how bad it was gonna hurt. And so when he got his shot, he grabbed my hand and he held really tight onto my hand and I was just like, Oh, I just, it was like, a connection there that I have missed for about a year and a half now. So anyway, I think them going back to school. I think I think it'll be safe. I want the teachers to be safe first. Because having a consistent person as your teacher is very important. So if they're getting sick and having too big out and be quarantined, and then the students have to be out and be quarantine all of that shit still happening then No, they don't need to go. But I don't think that's still going to be happening to the level that it has been. And because people are getting vaccinated, so what do you think I'll get your vaccination people?
That's, that's true. And I'm gonna guess that at this point, anyone who hasn't gotten their vaccination has a reason for it. Some of them are valid, some of them aren't. But But, uh, you know, it is what it is. We're, what a week and a half after, I guess we're one week past, you know, we're recording on Thursday. So we could go the CDC released their new guidelines, which really screwed the fuck out of everything.
Right.
But but here's, here's where I'm at. So my kids have been going to school, we had a stint in December where they were at home. But since school started the Tuesday after Labor Day until, you know, the end of the school year, they've been at school five days a week, both in the same building, but one in fifth grade one in seventh grade. That's going to happen. I'm not worried about the illness. I think, from what I'm hearing from people that I trust, the vaccination for under 12 is weeks away. Folks, I know who were in the research side of that medical issue. think that that that study is almost done on the Pfizer vaccine and we will have, if not, if not six months up, two years up, we'll be vaccinated in June maybe. Right, which which changes things dramatically. You know what? So once? You know, once we're six weeks out, I guess really eight weeks, 10 weeks out from whenever the CDC says go, then schools are safe. Right, you know, for the kids that are vaccinated. That's, that's what they're telling us. Once you're vaccinated, you don't need to worry. I'm worried about all those kids that are unvaccinated. So if we can get them vaccinated before, in our case, September, doing the math here, sixth, Michigan School start the Tuesday after Labor Day no matter what. So September 6, if we've got all the kids two weeks pass their second shot, we're good. Personally, I care about my kids. I care about my kids friends, because it would hurt my kids if their friends had problems. And I care about my my, you know, relatives, but I can't, I don't have the space to care about everybody else's kids and everybody else. If they're going to choose to let this virus take them, then I can't do anything about it. I don't want it to happen. But you know, that's that's where we're at. Luckily, everybody I know has gotten the vaccination everybody I care about has gotten the vaccination that can Duncan got his first one too. Interesting thing we I took him to Sam's Club because Sam's would let me do a later appointment. Our our community appointments end at three o'clock. So I had to, I would have to take him out of school. But Sam's went until 730. So I got him an appointment. what's what's cool, I wish I got an A vaccination from there because they put a bandage on his arm first, you know, they swapped it, put a bandage on. And the bandage allows the needle to go through so they, they stick him through the bandage. And then it seals on the way out. So he didn't feel it. Because he already had something on there that was sort of you know, covering a bigger area. And so the pin she said he felt it going in but didn't feel anything else. And I'll tell you he took it like a trooper and Duncan's got autism and he's hyperactive and so that could have been really bad. And I was I was not expecting it to go particularly well. But But we did that get some Sam's Club hotdogs and went home and and we'll go back in three weeks and it'll be more of the same. Yay. Now my five foot freakin 1011 year old who is five foot freakin eight at Easter by the way. He is still I mean, he's not even. He's not even 11 and a half yet so he's not eligible. So hopefully we'll get him vaccinated or I can sneak him in somehow I'm tempted. I don't think they can't IDM so so we'll get to ask. Well
make sure he says 13
the insurance card may may give us away so but but so that's what I'm so I'm not worried about the I'm not worried about COVID in the fall clay or Claude I'm sorry. I missed you know in we're so close to Canada that I pronounced that clay.
Yeah, that's that is I think Yeah. Frequent French confusion. Yeah. So you're you're going On the assumption and you kind of feel pretty confident, it's going to be back to school, it's going to be normal, you know,
Pfizer, Pfizer vaccine for the for the 12. And out is 100%. Effective. I mean, that that, that is phenomenal. I mean, we don't have any other vaccine that's anywhere close to that. And so, yeah, if it's that way for those kids, even if it's not quite 100%, if it's 97%, if it's 99%, right, it, it may as well be. And it looks like from what I've heard, it won't be that effective for the little kids to, I think that's great. Now, what I am worried about is what this has done to our school districts. Right? I don't know, maybe you know, it, your school clay, the teachers may be a lot more supported. But we had teachers break down and quit in the middle of the year, we had, we had him screaming, the pressure was so high. They they couldn't adapt to the stuff. And so we've got had a lot of early retirements, we've had a lot of permanent substitutes come in, you know, permanent substitutes, who are like former chemists at the BASF plant, you know, that come in, to teach math? And, and that sort of stuff, because the teachers were not able to make it. Because the school districts are falling apart, that maybe it's just maybe it's just ours, but I don't think it's I don't think it's uncommon. And a lot of it is our politics. Yes, there are people going into the school board trying to make changes that are based on national politics. There's a video that's that's famous right now, it gets spread over Reddit, all over Facebook, have a teacher up the river from us in Grosse Pointe, who yells at the school board for how they've basically murdered the teachers. You know, they they didn't support them, they they forced them to go back to school when they were not vaccinations. And, and so he quit in the middle of the school board meeting, in this fiery speech. And I think that's pretty much standard, that that teachers, either they weren't up to it, or they're smart enough to know that the school is abusing their, their service. And so we're we're breaking our school districts, and it's gonna take forever to rebuild them.
I agree that it is absolutely has broken them. And it is they do need to be rebuilt. I'm kind of hoping that it goes the opposite, you know, it, that it has that has happened. And now the value of teachers and the school building and what goes on in school in the school building, not just the education, the the feeding of our children, the nutrition, the the extracurricular activities, the sports, all of that, the the value of that I hope has gone up, or at least the awareness of that value. Because they realize, well, yeah, this is childcare for people so they can go to work. You know, I never really thought of it that way before. Until, well, crap. The kids, you know, the only time you think about that is when the kids are sick and like, Oh, shit, I got to take a day off work because the kids sick and I have to stay home. Well, this is that, you know, times 100. And I hope that local administrations, and local city administrations, all are seeing the value of all of that in their own communities, and will begin to rebuild that, you know, and see that Yeah, for the longest time, we have absolutely been exploiting their service. Without it without a doubt. They should be. They should be some of the highest paid people. They shouldn't have to be buying school supplies out of their own pocket. I mean, that's just drives me nuts. I always ask the teachers, I mean, we're not rich by any means. But I asked them, What What do you need for your classroom? Not just for my kid, what do you need, you know, and if we can make it happen, we're gonna make it happen just because, again, they shouldn't have to be buying that shit out of their own pocket.
The thing that I think where I come down is that what happened in March and April in May of 2020 was there was such a collapse of leadership, that all of the decision making around the pandemic was forced down the chain, to local school districts and even principals and administrators at individual schools, having to make choices based on a patchwork of information that way is contradictory and incredibly confusing. And what that leads to is, districts having an individual school leaders having to make choices that's going to make no one happy. Right? You know, we we're so polarized and fractionated. And everyone's operating on different assumptions and fears, whether you're a faculty or a parent or student. I mean, there was it's the it's the worst no win situation in the history of sort of organizational economies. I mean, I don't know what, when was there ever a time, you know, when people had to make harder choices, based on less information in an environment that seemed like the stakes were as high as they could possibly be life and death. And, you know, my hat's off to everyone who did their best to try to make a tough decision in the best interest of their community. Given that there was total chaos in the White House, the CDC was off with offering conflicting information. And, you know, and everyone's emotions were high, whether they were teachers or parents or students. So it's left a lot of people really exhausted throughout all the systems. And that's teachers and students and administrators across the board. And what I have seen is, you know, you know, in our little world, a lot of
cool you name Dave. Cory named Dave on the sofa. Hey, there's Corgi named Dave. Well, I mean, he's the, he's the star of the show.
So my wife is off to go do dorm duty at 930. Anyway, um, so I think the point is, is that yes, we in my little corner of the educational world, given our family, I've seen a lot of exhaustion in retirement in stress among faculty, and I think it's going to it's going to create a lot of turnover and a lot of tough times for schools ahead. I'm just really, you know, I still remain curious. You know, kind of what, what parents, you know, all that's kind of behind this now. And what do you like, what's the thing? That's gonna feel really good about the fall? Like, is it really
buses?
buses is a big one. Here, like candy, the food services, the buses? Yeah. When
the bus comes to pick up my kids, and I say, Get the fuck on the bus. Well, okay, maybe I won't say it that way. But I will drink on September. What did I say it was gonna be fifth, sixth, whatever it is. I will I will get my bourbon out. And I will toast that damn bus driver.
Cuz that's hilarious. Yeah. No, I think it'll, it'll feel good. I mean, to me to, particularly with the, the little one cheat. I mean, she always comes out running, smiling, ready to tell me about her day. And she still is. She's only going 22 days a week. But she's not jaded yet. So I am looking forward to that I walk her in to the building and I walk her away from the building. And I absolutely love it. And I do get an I love you when when the boy gets out, and when the 13 year old gets out.
Okay, I'm gonna miss that. Because when I when I deliver the boys to school, we always say I love you. DFTBA. Right. And, and they repeat it back and I won't get that anymore. Because all I'll say get the fuck on the bus. means the same thing. Right? I think everybody knows that. That means same thing. Right?
Right. Just explain it to them like fuck on the bus. I mean, I love podcasts I
explained on the podcast.
Yeah, it's gonna, Claude, if you're listening, it's gonna be okay. We will we will get through this. And I'll, I'll quote our our our Andy, our governor Andy. We'll get through this together.
Right. I think it's gonna be exciting to re experience like it was brand new, right? First day of school. And I think a lot of parents, you know, we've always kind of felt a little bit of a party on the first day of school. But I wonder if this year is going to be something much bigger on you know, when
you have adult bounce houses in the neighborhood. Sounds the bus goes by,
I would say local bars and restaurants stock up. back this happy hour.
So one of the good things that I see coming out of this is that, you know, our school district, you know, they were using they were using a version of Schoology or google classroom, right? Trying to say, you know, they would say, parents, just look on google classroom and see what your kids grades are see what assignments they've missed? Well, I mean, if you've used Google Classroom, that's not how it works. You know, the parent, the parent account does not work that way. And then you'd say that they'd say, well, then you need to, you need to get their password and log on as them. And then you go, well, so shouldn't we be teaching, you know it security and doing this the proper way? And they're like, what does that mean? Because they were not prepared for that? Yeah, no, they were not. And what this has shown is that, that those systems needed to be properly used and set up, and that the teachers needed consistency between them. And so that has been a priority this year, unlike ever before. Yes. And I think we're finally going to get to a point where we can actually look on our phone to see not only you know, how many missing assignments are there, what their current grade is, but also what their cafeteria balances. And, you know, all the things that that are much easier to do now, because we've got a phone app that can do all those things for us, without having to, you know, badger the kid over what homework Are you missing because you can't be getting a D. And having turned everything in and gotten perfect scores on all your tests, right. And so I think that's going to make things a lot easier. And it had to be forced by this.
With the with Google Classroom, they there was a point where they were using it for like a week, I mean, three or four days. And if you had the password, or you had the meeting thing you could get in from anywhere in the world. So there were people in high school classrooms and middle school classrooms, sharing all kinds of stuff that people were, you know, complete strangers to the classroom, and they're like, Whoa, this is a major security issue, what's the problem? And they freaked out. And they moved to Microsoft, Microsoft's version of whatever it was, and they had to relearn everything. And after they had just spent two weeks, you know, cramming all of this knowledge into these teachers heads and like, this is how you do this, this is how you do this, this is this, oh, shit, it's got this major security flaw. And they freaked out. And instead of saying, hang on, because Google was like, Oh, shit, we gotta fix this. Google fixed it in like three days, you know, they had, they had to do some serious coding and shit. And like, don't fix it, just relax, take a day off, you know, and Google fix it, some of the teachers went back, because they had just had this, you know, two week long session, versus a two day session to learn how to use the Microsoft version. And it was this total nightmare for a week and a half. But like you said, Clay, they just everything was forced upon them. And the teachers pulled it off. As far as I'm concerned. You know, it was a struggle, that a lot of kids feel like that last three months of two, three months of school last year, was completely, completely wasted. I don't necessarily feel that I think maybe for the the sixth grader, it may or may have been, but they pull it off. They really did. And there's that technology. It's gonna it's here, you know,
yeah, the technology is here. And I think that some parents and kids love it. And I think in some ways, it's gonna be a little hard to pull kids back. I mean, I would say, part of one of my big struggles, trying to get my son to wake up in the morning, but this is just a thing that he struggles with my, my junior about to be senior in high school, cannot get himself up. He could set five alarms. I mean, there's no way to get this kid up in the morning, other than me, like pouring a glass of water on him or something. Like it's been a huge struggle. And so the one saving grace is because our school still offers online classes as a hybrid option. what he'll do is that, you know, class starts at 830 at 829. In the morning, I'm in there like, dude, you've got 30 seconds on the laptop, and he'll finally at one second with his hair like Good morning. And so he'll make it to class with one second on the clock. Yeah, virtual class. And I'm just worried like what, you know, schools gonna go back and this you know, although that's a brilliant technological option, it's a huge burden on the teachers to be able to teach a hybrid class and have some kids online, so everybody's going to have to be in the classroom. And that means you do unit up in the morning again. Yeah, get up 30 minutes before the class, and, you know, take it actual shower every once in a while Oh up, you know. And the kids gonna be a senior in high school, you know,
dude, mine's gonna be an eighth grade, and I have that exact same struggle, he did not get up until like, 1230 today. I mean, and, and it wouldn't have been then it would have been three or four o'clock before he got up.
Because you can do all his classes. He just, you know, rolls over and bed and turns on the phone. And he's,
I won't let him do that. I was like, dude, you got to sit up here in class. If you're sitting there with your laptop right here, and you're laying back and you're just watching them like that. That's not good enough for me, you're gonna fall asleep, get your ass up, at least sit up and watch, watch class. They've all said they believe in going in school two days, and the teachers are still teaching the other two days and Wednesday, everybody's virtual. They basically they have two days of instruction. And then they have the rest of the week to do their homework. And they have some office hours that they can, you know, chat with teachers and things. Which of course, he's never going to do. But he's got two assignments due tomorrow. I was on him all day today to get those two assignments done. And I told him yesterday, I'm going to be on you all day to day to get those two assignments and he finally got them done about an hour ago. So before just before we started this, and yeah, do take a shower, for fuck sake.
You guys wait, you, you, you do all this work. You can't wait for them to get out the door and go and do their own thing in college. And then all you can do is just pray for them to come back home.
That's why we've got the pool
was a big move. We finally got Riley back home from college for a little while this weekend. And it's pretty fun. It's pretty fun when they come back home. Semi grown up and still young but sort of grown up and funny and and the teenage eggs is kind of gone and it just makes for a wonderful.
Alright, now I just want these kids to go to the grandparents. That's that's really what I'm waiting for is where like the all clear is there to send them to Ohio for a week. I want that right now. I swear to God, I my parents are coming up on Monday. I'm gonna tie him to the bumper.
It's fine. All you want to do is have some time with your puppy in your pool.
Yeah, and I gotta keep Deborah away from the pool. Pool boy.
Oh, yeah, he's even going shirtless. I
hear Yeah, we got it. We got to keep the but I think he's going I think I think we've got we've got another crew in next week. So hopefully they're all ugly and not bill and not working in the sun. Shoot. That's not gonna work. Yeah. Thanks to the nickels and Dawson families for sharing their dads with us. Asked Fab Labs is produced and edited by me Ben fote and fote Media productions LLC. Like follow subscribe and share across the social media landscape wherever you find Dad Labs. Talk to you next time.
