[00:00:00] Hey, you are listening to Parenting in the first three years, the place where we explore the strategies and soul of parenting from pregnancy through the first three years of life. I’m your host, Anne McKitrick. Thank you so much for joining me.
Hey there, and welcome. I’m so glad that you’ve joined me for this episode. I have a very special guest today. His name is Michael Gonzalez. Michael and I have worked alongside each other on the board of directors for the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children, which is Early Childhood Professional Development Organization.
He is just a delightful guy who not only loves children, but he’s a really wonderful stepfather and I’ve asked him to come on the podcast and we are gonna talk about how families can create community with each other. How beneficial this is for children. And then at the end of the episode, [00:01:00] Micah really opens up about his own experience as a father of four kids, three of which are stepchildren, and how he has navigated.
This relationship with his children and how this was modeled for him as a child himself. And just the really, the importance of modeling for children, how to get along with other people and how to manage relationships. I think it’s something that will be really insightful for you, and I think you’re gonna love to hear this dad’s perspective.
So here we go. Enjoy this conversation with Michael Gonzalez. Michael, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. I’m really looking forward to talking about how parents can connect with each other and help their kids connect in the community. So thanks for being here. Oh, thank you and appreciate it.
It was, uh, exciting to be a part of this. So yeah. I’m so glad to have you. I know that you work in and around young children and have [00:02:00] for your whole career, you’ve, you know, you’ve just seen a lot of families. Your work. So what I hear from, from moms, especially when I talk to them, is that they just feel, they get to where they’re missing adult conversation.
They feel like, you know, they are just missing out on the other things of life because parenting is so all consuming, you know, especially a full-time working parent. It’s just so all consuming and so, I really wanna ask you about how, how families can connect with each other so that they, even though they are still parenting, they’re also doing other fun things too.
No, and you have to, I mean, you have to be able to have fun times. You have to be able to take that little break, that little breather, even if the kids are around you. Um, yes, being a parent is a full-time job on top of a full-time job, and, and so, you know, hats off to everybody who does that. I mean, yes. Uh, we are a family of four and we had the same situations and same things where we were the, the quiet bunch, you know, you know, [00:03:00] growing up too as well, where it wasn’t, we really didn’t hang out with our neighbors.
We just kind of did our own thing. You need to have that time just to reflect, to talk to an adult Once in a while, I, I mean, I cannot see myself talking to my kids, telling ’em what bills I gotta pay. I don’t think they could, they would understand and they would probably hand me a couple of quarters from their piggy bank or something like that to say, let me help you pay for these bills.
So you really need to have that opportunity to speak to others. And not just families, but not, I’m sorry, not just your own personal families, but neighbors around you. And that’s one of the things that’s been difficult for people. It’s trying to make that first conversation to give it as the first date, you know, your first date you had.
How hard it was to even have that conversation, you know, with your, with your partner there to even say hi. And so, I mean, that’s what it really begins with. It starts off as just something as simple as a greeting and understand that greetings are different for everybody. I mean, basically a hand wave is a great gesture, a handshake could happen to as well, and maybe you don’t feel comfortable shaking somebody’s hand, but you’ve gotta be able to meet somewhere in the middle just to be able to say hello to somebody and get to know them.
And [00:04:00] reach out. You know, if you see, you know around you, whether it’s at home, you know, your home is a house or apartment, whatever the case may be, look out for the kids out there. Find a park. If children are playing, you know, the kids are usually the very first ones to get it started for you. You know, the kids will go out there and start playing and they have no problem making friends.
They’ll go out there and say, hi, do you wanna play? Or they see one child run and they go running after them too. They don’t even know their name. Mm-hmm. Even after the play, after they’re done playing with each other, I call it a play date. After the play date’s over, they still don’t know their names.
Let’s say I had a great time, I’ll see you later. What a great opening for you to just go say hello to that other person, the other parent, the other guardian, and just say hi, you know, my child’s the one playing with your child, and, and really get to know them. Get that part open up again. You’ll see them the following day at the park, maybe the next week.
Uh, but it gives you a chance to get to know people and just kind of break the ice. And really the kids can do it for you. That’s the best part is that children will do it for you. It happened for us moving into our home, which was a new home for us because we were [00:05:00] having a four child. We needed a bigger place to move to.
And when we moved to this house, um, we really didn’t know anybody. And then a hurricane hit here in Houston, and when that happened, we were really. Alone, honestly, I mean, my parents lived an hour away. Her, my wife’s parents lived four hours away from there. And no power, nothing was going on. Hotels were, you know, crammed and you know, things were just really going crazy and, and even in this new house, we thought like, oh, everything’s fine.
Houston’s Houston. We’re still going through the bad weather right now with this 105. It was humid that timeframe and we’re just sweating. And honestly, if it wasn’t for the kind gestures of our neighbors, I don’t know what we’d have done. We’d probably have to go travel out of town to go meet somebody or do something.
But the kind gestures of neighbors brought that out. And after that, you know, it wasn’t every neighbor in the neighborhood, but there was at least a good eight of us that would have holiday gatherings to going outside and letting the kids play. And once you finally build that relationship, then you start to [00:06:00] figure out the strengths and weaknesses, just like you do with your.
You know, with your partner, you figure out what you’re great at, what you’re not. I am not the best financial manager in the world. My wife takes care of the bills, and I am perfectly fine with that. Tell me what I can spend this week and I’m good to go. But you know, I’m one of those ones that if I see money in the bank account, green is good, then I must be okay.
That is not always the case. And so luckily I have that support from her to help me with that part there. ’cause she really does keep me in line with that part. But you gotta know something with the neighbors too, with your, you know, with your friends that you end up making and they become friends.
They’re not just neighbors, they’re not just acquaintances. They become your friend. They become your, your family, your friend, family, and you know, you get to know them. And for us, some of their weaknesses were, they weren’t fans of being outside with the kids all the time, like maybe just all too many kids around.
They’re just really kinda. Irked them a little bit and so, well, I’m, my background’s early childhood, so guess who was outside with all the kids all the time playing baseball, football, kickball, tag, Nerf, gun wars, whatever. That was me, because that’s what I do on a day-to-day basis. I can handle that. [00:07:00] And then when it’s time to go in, okay, kids, everybody go to their house and I’ll see y’all later to, you know, Hey, something’s, you know, the lights aren’t working in my house.
Oh, I’m an electrician. Let me come over. Right? And, and help each other out. I mean, it’s really just getting to know the strengths and weaknesses of everybody and once you build that relationship, but it all begins with just something as simple as a greeting. Just really getting out there and just making that first step.
Sometimes it has to be you. Mm-hmm. Somewhat vocal. I don’t, you know, it could be gesture, but it has to be vocal too as well. Like I can tell people here where I work, if I could text everybody all the time, it would be great. But you want, you don’t have that person’s phone number, you can’t text them. Hello?
Mm-hmm. You’ve gotta actually go up there and wave and say hello to people. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And your kids do give you a, a bit of an icebreaker. You know, you can always ask about the children and you know, what, what they like, what they don’t like, and you know how things are going in parenting, especially with infants and toddlers.
You know, this, you know, the, this audience is typically, parents are very young children, and so their kids might not be [00:08:00] necessarily playing out on the playground so much, but they are getting out and about and walking and, you know, Getting out among, amongst other people is a great lead in for conversation.
Oh yeah. I mean, going to the, here in Houston area, we have a ch, I mean, in everywhere, everybody has a children’s museum. In pretty much every city you go to somewhere, whether it’s big or small, and they have areas for infants and toddlers. What a great place indoors. Here in Houston, we have the Children’s Museum, and the third floor is for infants and toddlers, places to climb, crawl, touch, feel.
And all the parents just stand around the area. It’s kinda like, here go play. You’re just watching them, but you also all these other adults around you. What a great time just to say hi, right? And, and make that small introduction, especially if the kids even just laugh and smile at each other, or the other child looks at you and smile.
What a great way to say hey. Nice to meet you. Right. And you come here often, you know, you’re almost like, it’s almost like a dating game, except you’re not dating, you’re just, you’re just meeting your friends. You’re just meeting new friends and, and meeting them the following week or two days to back at [00:09:00] the museum again.
So, I mean, definitely age group, it can happen anywhere, you know? Right. Basically that part. And of course, now social media’s big too. I mean, you can find Facebook pages out there. Mm-hmm. For parents that are just trying to find places to vent. I mean, again, I know it’s not as fun as meeting people face to face, but I mean, just to at least be able to talk to each other on social media is a great way too.
Just at least be able to vent, ask questions, get opinions, you know, what would you do in this situation? My child’s not feeling well. How do you handle this? Right? Yeah. Yeah, as well. I leaned heavily on other parents when I was in that, you know, in that stage. And we like, what do I do? This is happening and stuff.
So in your work, I know that you have worked in, um, early childhood programs for your career. What are some ways that you have seen connections happen between parents in the talk care setting? How, how have y’all supported that and also what have you hap seen happen kind of organically? So, I mean, for the, for support from the childcare center, it really is the childcare center [00:10:00] needs to support the families providing events, providing things for the program.
It’s not just about. Dropping off your child at 6:00 AM or 6:30 AM and then picking ’em up at four or five or 6:00 PM it’s really about the school venturing out to make that community happen. I mean, again, the the, the old saying it takes a village, you know, to, to raise a child. I mean, it’s so true. You really do need a village to raise the child, and, and so the childcare programs need to really invest if they don’t really need to invest in opportunities for parents to meet.
Right. Get to them, but I mean, again, it really does help if the program does stuff out there, I mean, that should be one of the questions that parents ask when they’re looking for a program for their children is what do you provide for us? Mm-hmm. Again, it’s not just the, oh, we provide nurturing quality care for your children.
That is the responsibility, that is the number one job responsibility of the teacher in the classroom. But what do you do for me as the adult? Mm-hmm. Right. How can you help me? Right. And you know, maybe it is resources, but it should also be [00:11:00] those opportunities for meet and greets for parents too as well, because mm-hmm.
That’s how you get the community going. So I mean, for here, like where I’m at right now, my current role in, in the Montessori field, I mean, they do have a parent appreciation night. You know, the classrooms are open in the evening. Teachers are with the children, but the parents get to mix and mingle with each other.
That’s even better once you see them, that part, it’s like, oh yeah, they’re gonna start hanging out more often. Right. So if you, um, are a parent and you really are wanting to kind of, in a sense get to know some new people, people who are also parents of kids around this same age and you know, they come to this meet and greet and they meet and they say, Hey, let’s.
Meet at, you know, such and such park on this weekend. What are some of the benefits of that kind of getting together for children? What do, what do kids get out of it? Oh, well, I mean, the kids get the opportunity for socialization again. We talked about how it’s hard for adults to even socialize with each other.
This is the best way to get it started young, started early, get the social [00:12:00] social networking going. Now forget social networking being, you know, social media. It used to be just saying hello to somebody and talking and, and so what a great way to start it. But at an early age, not only do they get to interact with peers or make new friends, but they also get to see the difference in the environment.
All of us are different in some form or fashion, you know? Yes, we all have biases in our lives. I get that part, but I mean, what a great way to help, you know, get rid of those biases by exposing ourselves to that. And when you do it at a young age, There really is no judgment. Mm-hmm. It’s, you’re my friend, I wanna play, you know, you hit me, but you know what?
In a little bit I’m gonna cry and then I’m gonna be okay and we’re gonna go right back to what we were doing again, you know, it doesn’t have that long-term effect like it does with adults. And I mean, again, children learn to forget. When people hit me, I don’t wanna play with them anymore. Yeah. No. Yeah, I’m done.
Kids don’t care. Upset on Saturday, don’t talk to me ever again. And that’s not the case. And children, they’re like, Two minutes later, it’s like, what did you do? Alright, let’s, yeah, I forgot. Yeah, I forgot. And they just go right to it. I mean, [00:13:00] great opportunities. The younger, the better. Yeah. I mean basically being able to provide that, it gives the opportunity for interactions, you know, social emotional skills, which is great.
And then of course, just individualization, getting to know each child individually. Right. Perfect opportunities for that. Yeah. Yeah. So for. Having another child that’s not a member of your family come to your house and be in your space, maybe even in your room, playing with your toys and learning how to navigate that.
That’s, that’s a totally different experience than going to school and sharing toys there, or going, you know, to another space where you’re, it’s all neutral, but if it’s mine and you wanna play with it, then I have to figure this out. You know, as a two year old, three-year-old, four year old. I mean, in that situation like that, I mean, that’s more, that becomes more involved where a little bit more supervision is involved in that.
Mm-hmm. In that sense where, you know, the parents are close by to be able to model those situations. Right. And again, I mean, children are sponges. They [00:14:00] learn exactly everything that we do. They repeat everything that we say, and it doesn’t matter if they’re 18 months or even if they’re, you know, young infants.
I mean, infants will wave their hand like this. They watch somebody wave their hand. Mm-hmm. That’s the best way they could do it to you. Stuck out your tongue. Uh, they’re gonna do the exact same thing. They’re just mimicking everything you do. And as you get older, it’s the same thing. So especially in somebody’s home, this is where the modeling becomes a big deal.
Right. Other spaces, you’re not out in the open and. If there’s gonna be raised voices in the room, then you can’t get upset when the children have their raised voices as well. If you’re exactly doing what you don’t want them to do, then don’t do it yourself. Right. Um, you know, I, I like to tell people all the time, you know, people raise their voice and they tell, they’re telling a child, stop yelling.
And they’re yelling and it’s like, why is it okay for you to yell, but not for them? Right. Model exactly what you want. So if you see that opportunity for sharing and it’s not being done, the two adults can work together. The adults with the children can work together. Mm-hmm. It doesn’t have to be a teacher, you.[00:15:00]
You don’t have to be a teacher to do these things. I mean, everybody’s a teacher and the parent is the first teacher before anything else, and. Literally, it should be modeling what we want done. If you want them to share, then let’s practice sharing, make that opportunity to doing it again, vice versa, to even just when there is an issue, how to resolve it.
Mm-hmm. You know? And it’s not just let me take the toy away because this is gonna solve everything. It’s how can we make it work, right. Can we try this instead? Can we do that? So, I mean, again, a lot of it is. Not just the kids having the opportunity, but it’s also the parents using it as a great opportunity to teach children too.
Right? Yeah. And you know, I think it, as a parent, you can do things to prepare your child in advance if they’re old enough, right? Right. If they’re, you know, three or older, then you could, you know, you could talk about before the friends come over, are there any toys that you would rather not share that we can put away in the closet so that it won’t, you know, You can feel protective of this special thing or you know, maybe even putting special activities out or making sure that [00:16:00] you have.
Similar or duplicates of toys, I think is always really helpful, especially the younger child, children, um, to, to not have it to where there’s only one good thing and everybody wants to play with it. Oh, yeah. And even with the infants, I mean, even if it’s just, again, it, it takes time and it’s not gonna happen overnight or even the same day.
But, you know, if they start pulling on each other, and again, it’s not meant to really pull on purpose. I mean, again, it’s all. Learning their environment. So they’re grasping and they’re pinching. And anybody that’s has babies right now, their, their hairs half the time being pulled, or their ear or nose or shirts being tugged on, uh, or the mouth is getting close to it and, you know, pressuring their mouth against it, it doesn’t mean they’re trying to bite somebody.
It doesn’t mean they’re trying to hurt somebody. It’s all about. Getting to know their environment, you know, getting to know the world they’re in. And you can use it as teaching opportunities though. I mean you can find, you know, some kind of stuff, animal, some kind of thing in there. Just talk about soft touches.
Just have them, you grab their hand and show it. Model soft touching it doesn’t mean they’re gonna actually do that right away, that next time. [00:17:00] You start that early and you continue on as they get older and older and older, and it’s going to eventually, you know, sit there and sit in and go, okay, I’m not supposed to pull somebody.
I’m not supposed to hit somebody. I’m supposed to do soft touches or talk. Instead, a lot of times we wanna sit there and just, oh, tell your, tell your friend, sorry. And we have to make sure that sorry means something. Mm-hmm. You know? And then it, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s just a word that just comes out because that was what was told to say after I did something incorrect.
Yeah. And then, you know, then later it’s, you know, oh, I hit a friend and oh, I’m sorry. And then all of a sudden they still have some consequences and it’s like, but I said I was sorry. Yeah. Now it’s not. Okay. And so again, it’s. Not to say apologies aren’t, you know, aren’t okay to work with. Yes they are, but making sure other ways to handle those situations, but then also teaching them ahead of time.
You’ve got plenty of time to teach children things. Mm-hmm. Um, even when they’re 21 years old. I mean, I’ve got some older kids too older, my chil some my children are over the age of 21 and even they still have to be taught so. Right. Yeah. [00:18:00] As a dad of four, how have you seen your children grow through the family friendships, you know, that you all have, you know, like how, how have you seen them grow and develop in that way?
Socially, a lot of prayer really. ’cause, I mean, and for us, we’re a blended family, so, I mean, I married into a family of three that had its obstacles at the beginning. You know, you’re the stepdad, we don’t like you and everything else too. One. You know, we have one child together. Our, you know, the, the youngest one is our child together, but they’re all my children.
You know, basically what it, what it comes down to is when I tell people, I always tell ’em I have four. I don’t say, these are my step kids. He said, no, I have four. But I also had to understand personally that it was gonna take time for them to make that adjustment, and they still are making adjustments.
Again, it’s how I react and how I model afterwards. So, I mean, again, it even comes down to when they introduced me to people. At first I was just Michael. This is Michael, my mom’s husband, and since then it’s actually graduated. You know, when I introduced them to them, I say, these are my kids. These are my sons.
This is that, you know, And now it’s finally getting there. I mean, yes, it’s taken for one, he’s now [00:19:00] 27. It’s taken, you know, 10 years and, oops, I lied. See 15, I’m not saying I gotta know my anniversary. See, we go, yeah. So 15 years that, that he finally sits there and tells people he is gone to that next step.
This is my stepdad, you know, and I mean, I, and I, and I take that, I mean, I’m like, you know, I’ll, I’ll take that any day of the week that I know that I’ve made an, you know, an impression on him to. Understand that I am somebody that’s there. I mean, the answer to that question is be loving, be the model.
Doesn’t matter how the kids are gonna react to you. Yeah, they’re, they’re still learning how to handle their own emotions and it’s really just how you turn around and do it. Now have I made mistakes? Sure. There was times I just got really frustrated. I probably got outta line a little bit and I had to go back and apologize.
And it’s okay to apologize to kids. There’s no, there should be no difference. The same respect you expect children for you should be the exact vice versa, the respect you have for children and, and really just, and just really focus on that part and apologize. I’m sorry I even raised my voice at you. I was really upset.
Here’s how we can work on it. What made it harder for [00:20:00] me was even with the blended family part, like, okay, I’m the stepdad. If I do that, then they’re gonna tell their dad and what’s gonna happen next? I don’t wanna make this family an issue, but I would still make mistakes. I’d still put that aside and still be like, no, I am, you know, one of their parents just like everybody else.
I’m an adult who’s caring for children. I. I’m gonna make sure I, you know, address this correctly. And, and we did. I mean, you know, are, are kids perfect? No. Am I perfect? No. You know, but again, you find those opportunities to teach those lessons and you know, they will learn them from us. You know, again, they got to see the exposure of us hand, you know, working with other adults to even making sure that they’re a part of everything that we do.
You know, we expose them to. Meeting other people, different people in their neighborhood. You know, when I helped our oldest one move, I was the first one to wave at that neighbor, like, Hey. And he was like, what are you doing? I’m like, introducing you to a neighbor. And after that, then they become, now I see them, they’re going out on weekends together.
I’m like, yeah, you, you’ve gotta, you know, sometimes you’ve gotta be that adult and be like, I’m gonna help you. But I mean, again, it’s all really, it really has been just modeling. It’s just really just trying [00:21:00] to show the way to go. But I, I mean, again, I don’t want people to think, oh, you know, he’s done nothing wrong.
Oh no, I’ve done plenty wrong. I could give you a book on things that I’ve done wrong, you know? But I mean, it’s just knowing that you can apologize and you can fix it, you know? Just because the answer’s no, it doesn’t mean like, No, it’s not. It’s like next opportunity, you get into the chance to fix this and you take those opportunities and fix that, that portion there.
But yeah, it’s been the B blend. The family part was really interesting at the, the first few years and even now, like, okay, how’s the blood? The family work with the, you know, biological father, we’re friends. I. We’ve gone fishing together, we hang out together. And maybe past experiences had something to do with that too, because my parents separated at a young age when I was six, they separated and that first impression of my stepfather was not always the best impression given by my biological father.
I mean, he set up the stage to make sure it wasn’t right. Um, but my bi, my stepfather never let that get to them when he saw me, you know, he didn’t shower me with gifts to make him love him. He. Basically made sure that he understood that, you know, no matter [00:22:00] what, you’re my child too. I love you. Um, I’ll help you, I’ll help you understand things.
I’ll help you learn things to become a, a, an adult, a responsible adult, doing that part. And I’m glad he did because my biological father disappeared for like years and has now come back. And I let that part, you know, we don’t try to focus on the past. We’re like, you know what, we’ve only got so much time now, so let’s just focus on the future and let you get involved with my current family and, and understand that part.
And here’s your grandkids. Get to meet them, get to know them. And, and things are working out fine, but if it, you know, again, if it wasn’t for him, just taking that spot, and maybe it is just the past experiences of having that exposure to somebody who did not care that he was biologically like, you know, his his son or not.
He took me in under his wing. Right. And, and I think that’s really what it boils down to too. Even when it comes to friends socializations with other people, it’s. You know, finding those folks out there that are going to be those guides. I’m not saying that you would be agreement to sign the paperwork over if something happened to you.
You give your kid to that person, [00:23:00] but at the same time it’s like, I trust you enough to take care of my kids. And if you have that, you need to hold onto those folks. Mm-hmm. If you’ve got the ones that are just draining you emotionally, physically, you’ve gotta find somebody else and then that’s not the person that you out with.
Right. So, I mean, definitely. So I mean, past experiences helped too, but I mean, past experiences also help you know which direction to go as well, not just relive it. I just got very fortunate that I had a stepfather who became my dad. Yeah. And, and basically, uh, helped me understand that part, which is probably why had no problem marrying to bled the family afterwards.
I was like, you know, it’s doesn’t bother me any, and the fact that he was so kind to my biological father that I. My step kids, you know, again, my kids, but the step kids part, the older kids with their dad, I had no problem being his friend. Like, yeah, we can be friends, and now we’re invited to everything.
We do everything together. So it’s like, okay. Yeah, we’re, it’s a very interesting conversation. We talk to people like, oh, this is a kid’s dad on the stepdad. They’re like, you guys are hanging out together. Like, yeah, yeah. We fish together, we go shopping, we buy the kids things. We figure out a, you know, a, a, a trip, a [00:24:00] vacation trip where everybody’s all together and yeah, no problem.
Yeah. That must feel so safe for your kids. It does even, well, even for the youngest one who’s technically not, you know, technically not biologically to that family. He goes to their house, he calls, he calls it ’cause my, the, their father’s remarried. So their stepmom, he actually calls her his stepmom too, even though, and she’s great.
She loves it. She’s like, oh yeah, you’re my kid too. It’s great. And he has no ties to that family at all, except for the brothers and sisters. And it, it, it’s great to, to have them do that. The fact that we are able to, Put all those things aside and know that we are all one common goal. Mm-hmm. To raise that village, to take care of those people.
Right. Yeah. So what I hear you saying is that modeling for children from the time they’re babies, all the way till they’re young adults, modeling how to, um, interact with others and how to live around and with other people in a positive [00:25:00] is. The way to help children learn to do that themselves. Agree.
Definitely. It is the, the best way to do it. Yeah. So as we wrap this up, do you have any, uh, words of, um, encouragement for parents who are just getting started out? Yeah, I mean, my, the words of encouragement really is just keep trying. Again, as I said earlier, you’re gonna make mistakes. It’s okay. Mm-hmm.
Talk it out, write it down, journal it down, type it in your phone, whatever the case may be, whatever it makes you feel better about getting it out of your system, you know? But if you can find those friends, you can also vent to them too as well. Right. That’s the value you, yeah. You, you find, you find a friend group on, on the groups on Facebook or whatever that are family groups or you know, people with kids groups.
Again, they’re all out there. You name it, it’s there, and you feel like it’s okay just to vent then. That makes you feel better to just go back and try again. Mm-hmm. But what works right now may not work next week. Yeah. But you know, didn’t work today is gonna work later. Right. [00:26:00] And so it’s really just don’t give up.
Don’t give up on the kids. Don’t give up on your children. And it’s okay to make mistakes. Yeah. But again, just think of Noah’s next opportunity. We’re just going to have another chance to do it again. Right. And we had that opportunity to do it over again. Right. And surprise another day. Tara’s definitely another day.
For sure. But yeah, my advice is that you’re gonna make mistakes. Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s gonna happen and it’s just overcoming them and just setting ’em aside knowing that it happened. You can’t fix it. You can only change it tomorrow. Yeah. That’s right. Well, thank you so much for being on this, um, episode with me and, and sharing your heart.
I so appreciate you. Ah, thank you. And I enjoyed it too. I almost threw it up just a little bit there when I started talking. My stepdad.
If you love today’s episode, take a minute and subscribe to our podcast. And one last thing, I’d love to pray for you and your baby. If you’d like for me to. You can email [00:27:00] me at ask@nurturednoggins.com. Your request can be as simple as just one word. Or it can include an explanation. Either way, you can trust that I will pray for you.
It’s a quiet, simple way that I can connect with you and your family and in your parenting.