On our second episode of Let’s Talk, Amanda Chavez and Karlene Grabner are joined by Siri Smits and Kate Salzsieder to talk about enjoying the outdoors and meals together, as well as how to encourage healthy movement and eating. What are some ways to enjoy the outdoors together? How do we manage everyone’s preferences around dinners and encourage kids to eat their lunches? We tackle these questions and more with help from our guests.

Family Resources mentioned in this episode >

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Kate Salzsieder-Wendrick RD, CEDRD 
Registered Dietitian, Food and Nutrition Services
Aurora Medical Center – Oshkosh

Kate is an Oshkosh native living in Neenah with her newly blended family of her husband and their four daughters. Kate received her education from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities and has been a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist since 2005. Kate currently can be found at Advocate Aurora Health in both the hospital setting and the Oncology center. In her free time, she enjoys reading and working on puzzles. 

Siri Smits
Member and Community Engagement Director
Oshkosh Community YMCA

Oshkosh native, Siri has been supporting the YMCA professionally for over seven years but growing up on the swim team, the Oshkosh YMCA has always been part of her life. In her role as the Community Engagement Director, she educates the community and Y members about all the wonderful things they do at the YMCA and Oshkosh.

Amanda Chavez, Owner & Creative Director, WiscoFam / Go Valley Kids / Go Oshkosh Kids
Born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, Amanda Chavez has a deep love for her community. As a busy mom of 2 little girls, she and her husband are always on the lookout for fun things to do and share with others. Her work combines all of her passions – motherhood, design, and community. Some of her other interests also peak through as well, including baking, photography, and sewing!

Karlene Grabner, Executive Director, Women’s Fund of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation
Karlene Grabner is a graduate of Lourdes Academy and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where she studied finance and economics. She has shared her knowledge and passion for improving the Oshkosh community for the past 20 years through her work at the Oshkosh Community Foundation and Women’s Fund of Oshkosh. Karlene loves playing board games with her family, and when the weather is right, you’ll find them enjoying boating, wakeboarding, and kayaking with their dog, Bago.

Liz Schultz, Producer, WiscoFam / Go Valley Kids / Go Oshkosh Kids

Marlo Ambas, Audio & Video Engineer, Ambas Creative

Brandy Hankey, Resources, Support & Planning, Oshkosh Community YMCA

Amanda Chavez  00:00

Hello and welcome to Let’s Talk, the show that connects families in Oshkosh with local experts to talk about your parenting questions. I’m Amanda Chavez here with my co-host, Karlene Grabner. And today we’re talking about getting outdoors as the seasons transition in the impact on emotional and physical wellness. We’ll be talking about fun things to do with our families outdoors, and how to encourage kids and ourselves to bust through the seasonal blues, and to get out for movement and adventures. We’re also looking forward to talking about ideas for meals for busy families and picky eaters.

Karlene Grabner  00:31

Thanks, Amanda. And today we will have with us two guests series Smith’s from the ash cash. Why MCA and Kate cells eater from Aurora. Kate, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?

Kate Salzsieder  00:43

Absolutely. So I’ve been a registered dietician for over 15 years. And right now I work at Aurora hospital here in Oshkosh in the oncology center and the inpatient center, and I love it.

Karlene Grabner  00:56

And Kate, are you a parent as well?

Kate Salzsieder  00:59

Yes, we are a beautifully blended family. I have two daughters. And they right now are 10 and 12. I have to really think about that. 10 and a half, and 12. And then my husband’s daughters are about to be nine and 11. So if you line them all up, they are all girls, and it’s third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade.

Karlene Grabner  01:22

Wow, that’s a lot of girl time.

Kate Salzsieder  01:26

Yep.

Karlene Grabner  01:27

And Siri, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Siri Smits  01:29

Yes, absolutely. So I am Siri, I’m with the Oshkosh YMCA. I’ve been with the Y for over seven years, but I actually grew up at the Oshkosh YMCA. Similar to Kate’s daughters, I grew up on the swim team. And now I’m the Community Engagement Director. So I have a really awesome job about educating the community as well as our members about all the wonderful things we do at the Y and outside of our four walls of the Y as well.

Amanda Chavez  01:53

We’ll take a quick break and we’ll be back to talk with Kate and Siri.

Karlene Grabner  01:58

Let’s Talk is brought to you through Go Oshkosh Kids partnership with the Women’s Fund of Oshkosh. The Women’s Fund of Oshkosh works to improve the lives of women, girls and families of the communities in Winnebago County through philanthropy grant making and education.  

Karlene Grabner  02:13

Thank you both for being with us today. And as we’ve talked about, you know, this, this podcast stemmed from 15 to 20 different focus groups that we did with parents, and understanding what some of their struggles are, and how can we as a community support our parent community better. And one of the I say fun topics that came up a lot was food and health. And how do with our, you know, all in family lifestyles of two individuals working or one-parent family households? How do we eat appropriately? How do we get the right amount of outdoor time or exercise? So Kate, I’ll start with you. There was a lot of fun conversations on how can we prepare crockpot meals that will last a week? How do we not eat something besides tacos one night? Italian the next night girl cheese the next night and then Culvers? Four days in a row? So can you help the parents out there? Think through? Are there different things that we can try and do for our families?

Kate Salzsieder  03:09

Yes, absolutely. So I will speak first as a mother. Like Siri said, I am at the swim team, I work full time, all four of my girls are on the swim team. So we are very much gone from the house. So as a dietitian, you would think that I have it completely together and do it perfectly. So I’m going to assure you all that I do not. However, being a dietitian for over 15 years and having a passion for just a healthy lifestyle and healthy living. I 100% follow some rules in my mind. So my very first rule is to stop comparing because Comparison is the thief of joy. If I see that some family is doing X, Y, or Z or some kid is eating X, Y or Z, I am just going to take a breath and know that I’m doing my very best that day. So if you are anything like a normal human, you do get caught up in that. So I urge you to just let that go. And then think about your day what can you actually realistically do. So sometimes it’s as simple as just keeping it colorful with fruits and vegetables, I might not have the other stuff down. It’s not going to be some home-cooked protein or some beautiful crockpot meal. But I try to increase the color, you know in their day. And just really think that through and I do a lot of what I refer to as the three P’s. So I plan it out. I prep it as much as I possibly can and then I pack it up. So I’m almost always making food that we don’t eat immediately, which sounds counterintuitive, but it’s it really really works for For me personally, and I know a lot of people have been have really enjoyed these tips. So if you have the ability to get freezer space in your house, I highly encourage it. I have canning jars like you wouldn’t believe so that I can actually see what it is I have in there. But I have if I visualize my freezer downstairs, I have pre-made taco meat, spaghetti sauce, meatballs, smoothies, soup, and sauce, I have stir fry sauce as well. So I have that all prepped so that if I come home and it’s, you know, four o’clock and we have to leave in an hour, I have the ability to give them something other than you know air fried chicken tenders and you know, french fries, which we also have in our freezer. But yeah, the three P’s have really gotten me very far. And my fridge is also full of those jars too, because I will spend time making like pre-made salads or fruits and packaging those up as well. So my kids benefit probably from the frozen sauces and meals but I personally benefit from more of the salads and the cut-up fruit and veggies.

Amanda Chavez  06:05

I’ve noticed with my kiddos I think they’re pretty picky eaters. But I spend a lot of time packing lunches. And that comes kind of naturally for me. And then sometimes those lunches come home and half the food is still in there. And it’s usually the stuff that I really wanted them to eat. But sometimes the benefit is, is when we’re running from school to after school activities. That’s their snacks. They’re eating those carrots that they didn’t want to eat at lunch, but it’s all they have in the car. So they’re still getting that and agrees what they have. Yeah, I have said that before pantry in the car,

Kate Salzsieder  06:39

I’ll pick them up and they’ll be like, “I’m hungry.” What do you have left in your lunch?

Karlene Grabner  06:46

Well, and I like how you said too, to make it more colorful, which is what I’m trying to do now. Because I think it was last night we had white chicken, white rice and corn. So there was it was a lot of yellow. Yep, I’m like we’re eating a lot of yellow again. But I try to be conscious to have that, like—can we get some color in here? And I think my kids are starting to understand, you know, color means not nutritious, necessarily, but it’s, well, you could probably tell me.

Kate Salzsieder  07:11

Oh yeah, my kids are very familiar with a sentence, “If you fuel better, you feel better.” And being swimmers and just being a very active family, we all understand how good it feels, you know, and another thing that my kids do really well is they just drink water. So it’ll be milk, maybe with a meal. But literally, it’s just water. And they’re okay with that. And I personally feel from a scientific perspective, that that allows for accurate hunger cues. Because when you think about it, if your child is consistently drinking milk or juice or something in between meals, then that’s essentially a snack, because it’s feeding their body as well as hydrating their body, throwing off their hunger cues. So I’m regularly checking in with my child’s hunger cues. And they’ll get it spot on most of the time. And drinking water in between really helps with that.

Karlene Grabner  08:06

Yeah, that’s great advice.

Siri Smits  08:07

And that some kids are like big water drinkers like one of my nephew’s he wanted a water bottle for Christmas because he loves drinking water at school. Whereas I feel like some kids aren’t as much as they’re like a way to encourage kids that aren’t big water drinkers, you know, that don’t always have a water bottle with them. Like do you have any tips?

Kate Salzsieder  08:24

Yeah, I mean, I’m kind of a science nerd. So my kids are overwhelmed probably when I tell them specifics on hydration and muscle function. But, but it gets through to them. I just say well, you like to have the energy to run around and swim fast, right? I mean, like if your urine—and we’ll literally do pee checks. Sounds kind of gross, but I’ll say hey, if you’ve got apple juice in the toilet, after you go to the bathroom, instead of lemonade, you know, you’re going to be four to 10% behind all of your kids that you’re swimming with or running with. That’s how big of a deal water is. And there’s nothing else that’s going to do it for you but water, you know, so they’ve kind of grown-up without a choice and a role model. We’re talking to parents today and don’t dismiss how major your role is in influencing them. You can’t preach without practicing what you preach. So I’m very careful to make sure that what it is I’m asking my kids to do is exactly what I already do.

Karlene Grabner  09:29

So I think I’m I equate water with that’s the only healthy thing I tried to do and can consistently do because I drink a ton of water. But can you explain to me exactly why water is so important? Is it literally flushing your system is there just not triggering your is it not triggering you so that you’re not triggered to be more hungry? Or do you know is there like…?

Kate Salzsieder  9:55

It’s, there’s so many different reasons why water is so vital. I mean, we are majority, the majority of our body is water. And yes, it is absolutely flushing out toxins, it’s helping your organs, everything is happier when you’re fully hydrated. Everything is. As she grabs her water. 

Siri Smitts  10:13

Like, you think about exercise, and when kids are physically active, even gym class, you know, if you’re sweating, you got to refuel with that water. So, I mean,

Kate Salzsieder  10:23

Yeah, I don’t know the statistics anymore. I mean, I would have to go look them up. But I know that there is percentages of deficit as far as your muscles’ ability to function when you’re not hydrated properly. And it’s, it’s very quick to happen. You know, we all I’m in the habit of checking, you know, I call it paychecks because I’m in the habit of making sure that I’m hydrated. And it’s amazing how fast it happens. So I have one kid, that’s a good water drinker. And one that’s not the best. But you know, she’ll justify it in toilet. She’s like, “See, Mom, I don’t need that.” Sounds silly. But I think, scientifically, if kids can get to know their bodies in that way, it’s more believable than me just harping on them and nagging on them. If I give them reasons and show them proof of what their bodies do, it’s cool for them to see their urine get lighter. 

Karlene Grabner 11:15

Yeah, that’s fascinating.

Amanda Chavez  11:18

What about like, I mean, little kids, like some of those little kids, are going to be less interested on the scientific part of it. Right? Like how do we, after a busy day at work, we sit down, I always have this like vision of sitting down for dinner and talking about the day. And the last thing I want to do is fight with my kids to eat their dinner on their plate. And sometimes the easy thing is right, like make two different meals, one meal for my husband and I, and one meal for my kids. So how do we, or what’s an easy tip, like we can do to make dinner easier and healthier.

Kate Salzsieder  11:56

So my very first recommendation is going to be to look up Ellyn Satter. She is a world-renowned dietician. I believe she also has a therapist, but she has these beautiful books, a Definition of Normal Eating, it’s, it’s gorgeous because I love the mindfulness that she puts into it. And she created what’s called the “division of responsibility.” So as a parent, speaking more of the younger kids, I think it still sticks with the older ones. But for younger kids, the division of responsibility means that the parent decides what are we going to eat and when and even where are we going to eat, but the child decides how much so the theory is, is that you really don’t fight. You don’t. And I’ll use this perfect example, because when I was a younger mom knew with the kids, my oldest daughter, straight up, sugar is what she’d always pick. And then my other daughter would constantly be the protein and the fruit. So I would put out this breakfast of white milk, cinnamon rolls, strawberries, and scrambled eggs. And at a would sit down and she would just eat the cinnamon rolls and walk away and maybe have a glass of milk. Whereas Rosie would pound the entire bowl of strawberries that it would put in front of her and then the eggs and not even touch a cinnamon roll. My tongue pretty much bled that that first few months of trying this division of responsibility. But I am telling you it worked. We had really great energy at the table eating together, I let it go completely. But I also stuck with the watch and the win. So if she came back to me and said, “Mommy, I’m hungry.” One hour later, it wasn’t snack time the kitchen was closed. So I was able to say to her, “Rosie next time, honey, you should probably also have this because then your tummy won’t be hungry. But right now the kitchen is closed and I’ll open it for snack time.” And she just had to wait. So she had to learn that balance of eating at that time and she had to make her own choices. And it has worked really well now that they’re older, because now they understand that they can’t just eat a plain hot dog and feel fine. You know, two hours later, they have to have the balance.

Amanda Chavez  14:23

And I think like when it comes to time and how to figure that out. I mean, I remember as a kid we couldn’t leave the table until our plate was gone, right? So like, I mean that getting over eating fast and finishing everything and like passing that on to our kids, but I like how you shared that.

Kate Salzsieder  14:44

Yeah, Ellyn Satter’s theories are beautiful, they create a really wonderful relationship with food. So food doesn’t become a reward, it’s not a punishment, and there’s no good or bad food, there’s just food. And around food is when we enjoy, you know, these family meals and, and this nourishment and that’s all it is. So I feel like it’s a way of eliminating those unhealthy connections to food. And ultimately, you know, your body. And it also really gets you in tuned with your body and your hunger cues, which is where the power comes in. You know, when you can take charge, because from a young age, my kids were in charge of their tummies. It wasn’t you have to finish this.

Amanda Chavez  15:30

And making sure you’re on the same page with your partner, right?

Kate Salzsieder  15:35

Yeah, I think just my degree. And I mean, Siri, you know, me personally. So I can be a little strong. So my backbone was very firm in this. And it was one of those don’t, and I struggled a little bit with who cared for my children when I was working, because I do work full time. So I had to really speak carefully to those people and try to get them to help. And it wasn’t perfect. But it was good enough, because at home, we modeled it, I enforced it. And they still learn from that, even if it wasn’t exactly that way in their daycare. So that black and white thinking of it has to be perfect for them in every environment. I feel like again, you can let that go. You know, be gentle, just try to focus on peace to get through your, you know, rough days, and it’s still really shine through. They have, they’ve impressed me with how their views of view food are different.

Karlene Grabner  16:29

So Kate, you’re talking about eating the right foods to fuel your body and things like that. And now we’re coming off of a long winter, another long winter, where we don’t see enough sunshine and all of that. And Siri like, do you have any thoughts on the the positivity of getting outdoors or the positivity of getting your bodies moving? And how that, you know, fuel fits into that puzzle as well for parents?

Siri Smitts  16:51

Yeah, absolutely. It’s obviously important for kids to be doing things in the winter months. And luckily, you know, living in Wisconsin, we’ve got some indoor sports for kids to do, whether it’s at the Y or through school. And obviously, as Kate mentioned, that the fuel is important, the water is important for those activities. But when now that the days are starting to get longer, it’s so nice for families, you know, after school, encouraging family walks, you know, there, I think, obviously, it depends how old your kids are. But you know, it’s so nice to be outside the why we have a lot of sidewalks in the community and to see families with little ones walking in strollers, you know, teaching kids from a young age, that it’s important to get outside, it’s important to not to be stuck inside all the time throughout this, you know, this time of year. And seasonal affective disorder is a real thing. And it’s not just a real thing for parents. And for people that are older that, you know, might not travel as much, it’s a real thing for kids too. They miss that sunshine, they need that vitamin D as well. And of course, there’s ways to supplement vitamin D with, you know, vitamins that you can take orally there’s ways with, you know, things you can eat and drink, but just to get a little bit of sunlight at some point of the day. And you know, it’s really cool to see people no matter how cold it is, they still get outside even for a little bit of time. So as I mentioned, obviously, that’s hard depending on how old your kids are, but it’s just to teach them from a young age that it’s important to spend some time outside I think is huge.

Amanda Chavez  18:23

One valuable thing, since our kids were little, when we picked them up from kindergarten, they always played at the park after school and it seemed kind of I don’t know, to like, retrain your brain a little bit. So it’s like, well, they’re at school, but that ending of the day was a lot of focus. And for them to just spend some time at the playground running around after school made our dinner time and our routine, better when we got home. And they still asked to run around after school even though they’re tired. It is just something they really look forward to.

Kate Salzsieder  18:56

Yeah, I’ve heard that the there’s like three parts of the day that are most important to your kid. And it’s three minutes when they wake up three minutes after school and three minutes before bed. And I’ve tried to think about that and kind of my kids are older than we know kind of what we’re talking about. But you’re right, letting them speak as to what they kind of feel that they need. Whether it’s talking or activity it’s been it’s been good for our family too.

Karlene Grabner  19:20

It’s interesting because my friends call me the forced Fun Mom or the forced everything mom because I forced my family to do things that I think are important. But I, it’s mandatory in our household to have five moments during the week that we sit down together. And usually, it’s around eating, it can’t always be dinner, because my daughter is on a traveling team too. And so it’s either a breakfast or dinner or a Sunday, something like that. And I feel and I think there’s evidence to the fact that sitting down together as a unit, a full family unit is super important. And and so I push that in my household, but I don’t know if you can add to are there any benefits to doing that? Or? Absolutely,

Kate Salzsieder  20:00

Yeah, I know that there’s good research that isn’t in a file that I can access right now in my brain. But 100%, and I think it goes down to connection, and just being heard and having a voice. So breakfast counts, and our family and it sets the tone for the day. And the kids really, they’ll ask me, “Aren’t you gonna sit down?” You know, so it means something to them to sit down and make eye contact where no one has any electronics. And we always do highlight low light. So so we’ll ask, Hey, what are your highlights? Or what are you hoping? You know, your highlights are today? Where do you kind of worried about, you know, if it’s the beginning of the day, but if it’s the end of the day, then it’s highlight/lowlight. And it’s really, it’s really a good time for us to kind of take care of each other’s feelings. That’s awesome.

Amanda Chavez  20:46

We do the same thing. My kids call it the wow from the day and their pow from the day and it’s their favorite thing. I can’t get them to talk about their day, sometimes any other time, except for at the dinner table.

Siri Smitts  20:59

I love that. My nephew’s learned the same thing in school, but there’s a name, million different names for it. I guess my nephews call it their pit and their peak? Oh, yeah, it’s just cute that there’s all these different things. But same with them. And even if you know, one day, my nephew just asked me, “What was your pit and your peak today.” It was the most adorable thing. He was like four at the time four or five. And so it is nice when you ask them. And even if it’s a one-word answer, it still gets them to kind of think about what it was. And I think that’s cute.

Kate Salzsieder  21:26

Yeah, gets engaged in other people, I think we’re, we’re, unfortunately a tunnel vision to society. So I think doing the family things, making the eye contact, and considering someone else’s day and how they feel. It’s just good practice, you know, for empathy and in hopefully, launching them successfully into adulthood and, and they’re going to be good co-workers and good employees.

Karlene Grabner  21:50

Well, it’s funny because my daughter is she’s older. She’s 14. And we have a big age gap between our two children. But she’s always like, why why are you negative? You’re why are we doing the low of the day because we coincidentally all of us are doing this at this table, which is crazy. But we do it too. And I said it’s not a negative, it’s to me, there’s a lot of teachable moments in what was not so great in your day. And so you can learn from that, like you said, the connection and in the teachable moments. And because we do have the age gap, we do fun things like I make my family play, hide and go seek, and the weekends or tag, and my husband sometimes doesn’t love it. But it’s a way for me to force like a game or an activity that we can all play. And it’s funny, because every time we do we just did this last Sunday, everybody ends up laughing either at how, like embarrassed, they are that I’m making them do this, or just how much fun they’re having together running around. And for five minutes.

Siri Smitts  22:44

I think the reality is that as your kids get older, you know if they’re in different sports, you might not be home at night to be able to have dinner together and just take advantage of that. The other things that you can do, obviously, there’s a lot of facts with having, you know, dinner table conversations, but just to enjoy that time together. In other ways. It’s so great to and you know, there’s so many things you can do other titan seek or playing a game that you know, with cards or something great.

Kate Salzsieder  23:12

Yeah, and we take advantage of our car rides to down and those are some of the best conversations.

Siri Smitts  23:17

I think that’s huge too honestly, I think that would be like a regret of mine thinking back to when I was a kid that I didn’t take advantage of that time that I could have talked to my mom in the car. So I think that’s a great one for parents to definitely consider if it’s not necessarily a long car ride, but those shorter car rides, you know, make your kids really talk to you.

Kate Salzsieder  23:35

Engage, right?

Karlene Grabner  23:35

So Kate and Siri, how when we look at the subject about eating mental or not mental health, that’s where I’m leading to but eating and fueling your body but then also getting exercise. What does that do for your, I guess, brain and how do we get our kiddos to think wholeheartedly about themselves and how all of this comes together? Do either of you have thoughts on that?

Kate Salzsieder  24:04

So, again, being the science nerd that I am, I really do feel like my kids understand things better when they do know why I’m saying something because boy are they curious, so they know they’ve heard it before. Time and time again that their brains are not fully mature until they are 25 years old. So although they might think about something or want to do something, or kind of have it be a certain way, I remind them that we’re going to do it this way. And here’s why. Give them the explanation, remind them that their brain doesn’t think like mine, I’m thinking 20 more steps ahead. And they’re just thinking right now, you know, when we describe like the pruning of the branches in their brain, so that when they have the ability to make the choice themselves, they will make the successful choice. So when it comes to what would be easiest for their, their bodies to do right now, what would be easiest to eat right now? And how would that choice affect how they feel? How would that choice affect how they function, they don’t really care right at the moment, they just want to sit their butt down and finish their show, and, you know, have our dog, you know, that’s kind of how they think. But we’ve we’ve talked and kind of over talked, how we really need to think it through and take care of, you know, the bodies that we have, and the brains that we have, so that we can be successful for decades to come.

Siri Smitts  25:28

I think, you know, mental health as a whole is just everyone comes from a different in a different angle, depending on where you’re at in your life, how old you are. And one of the really great ways to, to incorporate that mental health conversation with your kids is something that will lacrosse YMCA, offers these Dinner Table Resiliency videos. And so they’re great tools for parents to watch at home. They’re very short LaCrosse, YMCA is one of the only YMCAs in the country. They might even be the only YMCA that has a mental health director, which How cool is that they have somebody that’s able to work with children on their mental health on a daily basis. So very innovative. And these videos are great tools for, like I said, parents to incorporate, you know that conversation while at the dinner table.

Amanda Chavez  26:14

Who would have thought like this topic about picky eaters and getting outside. It’s such a huge topic. And I think it’s just I’m appreciative that you both we’re here to talk about it like and open our mind and how to have those conversations at home, or with our friends and bringing that all full circle. And I’m excited that we’re able to do that with this podcast. Another resource will share the resource that Siri was talking about as well. But another cool resource that was shared with us is from the University of Wisconsin Extension they have virtual monthly, keep calm and click on series is completely free and happens once per month, they’ll share a recipe demonstration and talk about the challenges around feeding children, and how to support them in making healthy choices. Love information about how to register and lots of other great resources and videos with recipes and more and discussion about encouraging kids to try new foods and staying active. And Kate, you have some resources for us to share with families as well. And we’ll have that all in the podcast notes.

Karlene Grabner  27:20

I guess my biggest takeaway from today, and maybe we can all share, maybe not our highs and lows, but maybe take away. So Kate, why don’t you share with us one of your like tidbits or piece of information, like something really small that parents can take from this whole entire podcast.

Kate Salzsieder  27:39

This is going to be so random. A scene from Pretty Woman just flashed in my mind where Julia Roberts tells Kit or whatever her name is, what is her name Kit? She says take care Kit, whatever her name is. Yeah. But she says take care of you. And I’m like, if I could just get people to take care of themselves. Like I am such a better mother when I take care of me. So I would honestly say, Yes, we all know this stuff. It’s not rocket science. But knowing and doing are two different things. And you really can’t do better until you feel better and take and take care of yourself. So it’s not selfish. And it is so worth it. It is absolutely priceless. But please take care of you. And you and your family will be healthier because of it.

Karlene Grabner  28:29

It was interesting when you said in the beginning like to not judge and not shame yourself as a parent because I just did that this weekend when I pack your snacks and everybody else has these little beautiful things and nuts and string cheese and I think I had goldfish and I don’t know something else and left that day feeling kind of down on myself that I didn’t prepare better, but also, it’s a good reminder that next time I can do different but I don’t need to shame myself every single time something like that happens. It’s just kind of life.

Kate Salzsieder  29:01

Absolutely.

Siri Smitts  29:03

I think my takeaway from more of that activity standpoint too would be even if you only have a 10-minute window, you know, do something in that 10-minute window, don’t just let your those time those minutes pass you by, you know, letting the kids be on the phone or even if it’s getting outside, go play outside with your kids model those behaviors and actually do it with them. But you know, even five minutes, you can make memories in five minutes that your kids might remember for five years or 50 years. So, you know, just just take advantage of every minute that you have between sports in between prepping meals, and all the other things that you know, we do in our busy lives.

Amanda Chavez  29:41

I’m gonna look up that book you said Kate and I am going to close my kitchen after dinner and turn down and not worry about my kids and starving to death.

Kate Salzsieder  29:51

So it’s hard. Yeah, because kids say the most horrible things to you. Yeah, yeah. But it comes down to science. And that’s what I bank my money on you know, so you can close the kitchen my dear. Well, force.

Karlene Grabner  30:08

Well and Siri I like how you said model that behavior too. We should remember to run around with them. Yeah. And enjoy those moments with them. And, and I mean, life’s short, so.

Amanda Chavez  30:19

And not worry about them getting dirty. We dug out the bikes yesterday from the back of the garage and their shirts were all muddy up the back, right because they ran they plowed through every puddle that was in the road but they were happy and they’re outside and they were excited and capture the flag thing. It can be more organic or it could be picking up litter or garbage right now that stuff is showing up or shoveling your yucky snow into the driveway to melt or making puddles. Just getting outside.

Kate Salzsieder  30:55

Simple. Simple is always good.

Siri Smitts  30:58

And the sunshine makes it easier.

Karlene Grabner  31:00

Oh, it absolutely does, it mood changer for sure.

Kate Salzsieder  31:03

Oh yeah, absolutely.

Amanda Chavez  31:08

Visit gooshkoshkids.com to continue this conversation. Thank you again to our guests, Siri and Kate for joining us, and thanks to our producer Liz Schultz, audio and video engineer Marlo Ambus. And of course my co-host Karlene Grabner and the support from the Women’s Fund of Oshkosh. Let’s talk again next month!

Karlene Grabner  31:27

Let’s Talk is brought to you through Go Oshkosh Kids partnership with the Women’s Fund of Oshkosh. The Women’s Fund of Oshkosh works to improve the lives of women, girls, and families in Winnebago County through philanthropy, grant-making, and education.

The post Episode 02: Let’s Talk About Family Wellness & Connection appeared first on Wisco Fam.