June 26, 2025 • 24 mins
In this episode of The Family of One, I'm taking you along on three tasty field trip adventures: a pizza place, an ice cream stop, and a pretzel shop. How my Jumpstart Field Trip Template helped turn them into memory-making moments for moms and their kids. From foodie fun to real-life planning tips for myself and my only child, I’m sharing how this simple tool I've used has helped me create fun and lasting connections. This one is for you.
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✨Get your free Jumpstart Field Trip Template, a simple, joyful tool to help you plan meaningful outings and connect with your child.
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By Foa Comment. “Spring Children Story” (WeVideo). Contact: joyfulgathersco@hotmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey amazing only child mums, I'm 4 Comment, your
part-time working mum friend wholoves Yahweh, family and fun.
Welcome to the family of onewhere we share joys and
adventures of raising an onlychild.
(00:21):
Expect relatable stories,parenting laughs and faithful
tips.
Let's make small family lifeenjoyable.
Woohoo! Welcome back.
Well, today's topic is aboutpizza, pretzels and ice cream.
And why are those three topics?
It's because I am going to soexcited to share how those three
(00:47):
topics.
I, when I did my little localventures group, when I organized
my little field trip groups, wewent to go and visit.
a pizza place, a restaurant, anice cream restaurant, a shop,
and a pretzel place.
So, well, one, it's really hotoutside.
(01:10):
It's summer right now where Ilive in the United States.
And if you're a person who is abit of a foodie, or you like
eating pizza, maybe a pretzel,or maybe just some ice cream,
and you have a bunch of friends,and you're like, you know what,
we're going to visit this placequite a bit.
Maybe I can take my child, andmaybe I can have a group of
(01:35):
friends, and we can go and maybehave a tour of the shop.
So this is what I did.
I made a list of local placesthat I asked myself, what would
be fun for myself and Olivia togo and visit and learn about?
And that is how I came.
I came up with at least about20.
(01:57):
This is before chat GP or AI oranything.
I wrote it all down.
And then I also went on theirwebsite.
I mean, not my website.
I also, I Googled local shops inthe area.
So after I had my list, I made alist of what fun places would I
(02:19):
like to go and visit for myselfand for my daughter to learn
that would be fun for the bothof us.
And then after that, Next door,I wrote down, why would this
place feel like a good fit rightnow?
Well, and I asked myself thatbecause once I have those
places, maybe depending on whatit is, it might be too far to
(02:42):
visit.
When I pick local places for meand Olivia to go and learn and
see, and if I'm taking friends,I really do not want to be
traveling more than 10 or 15minutes because sometimes As a
tip, when I'm organizing theseplaces for myself and a group of
friends, I don't want to be morethan one hour.
(03:05):
So that's a tip.
I mean, it's up to you.
You might like to stay therelonger, three or four hours or
longer.
But with my group, when Istarted Little Local Ventures
and we're going on a field tripat least once, Two times a
month.
Sometimes I'll be going likethree times a month, one each
week.
(03:26):
And I had quite a few families.
There was a lot of people comingfrom different places and I
didn't want them.
I was just mindful of how longit would be for them to travel
as well.
But in general, myself, I didn'twant to be traveling that long.
And so I thought 10, 15 minutes.
If it's 15 minutes, it's got tobe pretty good for me to get in
(03:48):
that car because you've got todrive back home.
And depending if you have, Idon't know, you've got a lot of
laundry, you've got anappointment and your child has a
routine, you know, a nap time,all of that.
So you just want to be inconsideration.
But first, you want to work theschedule around you first,
because when I'm organizingthese trips back in the day, I
(04:11):
wanted to make sure it fit myschedule.
schedule as well because thelast thing you want to do is
organize an event and it justinterrupts your schedule all the
time if you are organizingevents it's okay to work around
your schedule because you're theone that's organizing it you're
the one that's settingeverything up you're doing the
phone calls and everything butonce you have your team get
(04:34):
other people to help you I justwant to make it less stressful
on myself and child so that isit so that's how I got the pizza
and and the pretzel and the icecream place.
And then I ask myself, what canI learn and discover about
myself here?
So when I'm picking theseplaces, I'm asking, oh, you know
(04:57):
what?
What's something about thispizza place that I don't know
that maybe I can learn aboutmyself that I haven't learned
before?
When I'm at home, And her and I,for example, she likes to do
painting.
So I would bring my easel, easelboard.
(05:18):
We had a large painting easelboard.
And then I would put it in thekitchen.
I would put her paper and I puta towel on the floor and I'll
get her water-based paint so shecan paint.
now in the kitchen and I didn'tmind if she made a mess and the
paint was running because we hadthe floor I could just mop it up
(05:40):
the paint and it was all rightit was she did not make that
much of a mess so it was fine sowith these places I was
interesting to learn how theyteach children and families
about their product for examplethe pizza place they had already
established a schools coming into learn about their products.
(06:03):
So what they would do is theywould give each child a pizza
dough the size of your palm,just a very small pizza dough
that It's already been rolledup.
And then they will give eachchild a plate, every
participant.
And so you would flatten thatdough out with your hand.
And then on the side, they'llgive a cup of cheese and a small
(06:27):
cup of sauce.
And that was it.
If you wanted to bring your owntopping, you could bring your
own topping.
Now, I was always curious, like,okay, so there was about 15 of
us.
And if everyone brought hand andyou touched it, right, you're
thinking, which one's pizza.
What they did was when they putit on the tray, they had like a
(06:47):
paper, parchment paper, wherethey would write the name of the
child.
So next to their pizza.
So you knew exactly whose pizzait was.
Some parents mark their pizzawith like their name or put two
like little dents or somethingto clearly indicate that was my
pizza.
So it was things like that.
It was very interesting.
(07:08):
And the conversations, likeOlivia really really enjoyed it
because it was hands on.
And also it was lovely becausethey explained the history of
the restaurant.
And I loved it that when theybrought the dough out, each
child, like you're using allyour senses and they gave one to
each one.
(07:28):
Even if your child was like ayear old, a little bit younger,
they still ask, would you liketo make a pizza for your child
to take home?
Or would you like to take thatSo they're very accommodating.
And also when I'm going to theseplaces, I'm asking, you know,
(07:50):
I'm telling the host or therestaurant owner or the manager
what our group is about.
And I'm also telling the purposeof our visit.
So when I thought about theseplaces and asking, hmm, what is
it I want to learn about?
Is this a good way to fit?
And what do I want my child todiscover about these places as
(08:10):
well?
Will it be fun for them?
Is it right up their alley?
Like they just love this sort ofplace.
Like I am thinking before I callthe restaurant owner or the
business.
And once I had that experience,I'm asking questions like, okay,
what are the hours?
Is there any cost?
(08:31):
Some of the things we did wasfree and some had costs to it.
Now, I always try when I'morganizing groups, when I did my
group, I really did my best andI did not want the cost to be
high.
Now, for me, it was like$2 to$3.
If it was more than that, it wasbecause it was...
(08:54):
Like, for example, I don't know,going to an event.
But I preferred to make the costas affordable as possible
because one guest and someparents that I invited, I just
felt with everything going on,you know, the cost of raising a
(09:16):
child, it's going to beexpensive.
And because if you're savingmoney for the event, And then if
their products there, theparents are going to spend money
because they're like, oh, I havea lot of experience.
So, for example, when we madethis pizza, we had our own
individualized small pizza, avery small pizza, like the size
(09:39):
of your palm.
I mean, your hand, very small.
And then they gave us, I thinkit was about 15 of us.
And then they gave us like threelarge pizzas for free on the
house.
And they said, here, this is onthe house.
And the event itself, it didn'tcost us anything.
(10:01):
They said, oh, no, this is whatwe do.
We give back to the community.
So the event itself was free.
But they did ask for donations.
And not only did...
the group kindly gave, but theyalso bought pizzas to take home
because it was so yummy and thestaff was just so excellent.
(10:22):
So that's what I mean.
If you have a good experience,you might buy, most likely for
my group, I saw a lot of myfamilies either bought products
on that day to take home or theyreturned back to that store and
they bought family products.
And that's a good thing as well,because you are bringing in new
customers.
(10:43):
So I, from my experience, thefamilies that I took to a
variety of businesses, you know,they just, they brought in more
customers for them.
And another thing too, when I'mvisiting these places, I'm
asking them, are there anyrestrooms?
(11:04):
Are there any bathroomsavailable?
That is very, very important.
And what's the parking like?
Because the parking, is it free?
Is it parking on the street?
Do they have to walk a long way?
Is it safe for parents to get tothe location?
(11:24):
Because they have little ones.
And these are all these thingsI'm thinking about.
So I'm ticking and I have a tickbox and, you know, how early can
I book for our group to go andvisit?
So that was what I'm thinkingabout all these questions.
And so the next one is thepretzels.
(11:45):
And this is a wonderful, we hadtwo different experience at two
different places.
pretzel places.
One was called Jojo Pretzels,and they were lovely.
It's a local pretzel store.
They're still here in my localtown.
And the owner, the owner's wife,and she led the group.
(12:09):
Now, once again, each group,each participant had a pretzel
dough.
Now, what's lovely about this,they prepare everything for you.
All you've got to do in theseactivities, the ones that we
went to, they had everything setup, came out and she gave each
person a pretzel doll.
(12:29):
And then she told us a storyabout Christ and how that
related to how they made thisparticular shape of the pretzel.
And it was so lovely and easy tofollow.
What was wonderful about it thatmany of my group that was their
(12:50):
first time making their ownpretzels at the store like we
would buy the pretzel but we didnot make our own pretzels um in
this particular store they havelike a They make the pretzels in
front of you so you can see howthey make it.
But it was really awesome whenyou see your child, like you go
(13:13):
and buy the product at thestore, you can see how they make
it.
But when your child is makingit, there's like a connection.
Like, you know, Olivia loved toshare this experience with her
father, with her grandmother,with her friends.
Her and a lot of friends wouldtalk about it.
UNKNOWN (13:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:34):
It was so good.
And so because she starts theconversation, oh, we made
pretzels.
And just hearing from her ownperspective what she enjoyed
about it again, hearing herheart, how she enjoyed it.
And some of those trips, hergrandparent, her grandma came or
(13:55):
invited grandma, grandpa, andher dad would come if he could
come with some of those trips.
And it was just so lovelybecause she got to learn from
them as they are learning fromher.
And then they are connecting andsharing what they're all
learning.
Now, when you're learning andexploring together, on an
(14:18):
activity, it really, for me, Inotice it's just amazing because
you're excited.
There's a language.
There's a laughter.
I mean, and then you get toshare those experiences and you
get to listen and you get tocommunicate over dinner for us
(14:41):
because at that time, Before Ihad Olivia, I was working and I
was going to school.
My husband, you know, he had afull-time job.
And we seemed like we hardlydidn't really talk that much.
We thought we did.
But when we had Olivia, and aswe're going to these field
(15:02):
trips, I really wanted us tocontinue to engage with the
learning.
But I wanted her to have...
a conversation where she feelsthat she can share on the things
that's bringing excitement toher, what she's seeing, what
she's hearing, using all hersenses.
(15:23):
And that's why I wanted to sharejust some of the things The
stories, when I was creatingthese groups, these field trips,
I wanted to let you know theremay be local restaurants in your
area.
There might be an ice creamplace.
It could even be a candy place.
(15:44):
Just by using, I've created likea, just a field trip template,
just a jump start, justsomething basic.
If you're wanting to know, well,where do I start?
What do I do?
Well, first one is what localplaces sound fun for you to
visit?
Could be like the library.
(16:04):
Could be like a park.
But my one, I picked everythingfrom food to cars dealership to
the park.
I mean, to the fire station.
I went knocking on my local townfrom one area and I walked all
the way to the end.
I just knocked on each area.
(16:25):
business asking hello my name isfour and i have a a group of
families and we would love tolearn about your business so i
will start from there and thenthe next one another place we
went to go and visit is the icecream shop you're thinking ice
cream shop i don't know they'renot gonna let us well here's the
(16:49):
thing you don't know until youask so this one ice cream place
is It was a little bit of adrive.
One of our parents, they hadconnections and they knew the
owners.
So they asked, could we go tothis and visit the store?
And so we went to this ice creamplace and they showed us how
(17:09):
they make their ice cream, whattype of flavors and why they
make their ice cream that way.
And then they gave us samples.
And then they also let us justsee how they store their
products.
where they store their products.
So it was really good to justsee how your local store makes
(17:32):
certain products and why ittastes so yummy and what their
favorite flavor is.
And they took questions fromchildren.
I mean, it was really good.
And for me personally, When Iwent to restaurants, I made sure
like I didn't have too manyfamilies.
So you might think, well, what'stoo many?
I didn't like to have more than10 or 15 per field trip.
(17:56):
Now, depending on where thestore is or what business it is,
it's because I want each childor adult to have the time to ask
their question because it Ifyou're going to a store and say,
for example, there's 40 peopleyou take, but the store can
really only accommodate 20 or 15at the most, you're not really
(18:20):
going to have time.
And if everyone has questionsand you only have 40 minutes to
an hour, you don't want to rushthings.
that process.
I like to give people space andtime and even for children, no
matter what the question is.
And so that's why I like to makemy groups small.
(18:40):
And for me, I found the magicnumber was always 10 or 15.
And then it just gave everyonetime to ask questions, learn
without feeling rushed.
And also when you have hands-on,with the owner or the manager
coming to teach you or whoever'sleading the field trip, they can
(19:03):
have more of an engagementinstead of like, whoa, this is a
large group.
And so I always encourage mygroup too.
And my parents were veryhands-on.
And that's what I love about agroup.
If you're organizing or you wantto organize your group, I
prepared my parents to remindthem this is not a babysitting
(19:26):
group.
You'll be surprised.
I spoke to many owners andthey'll say, oh my goodness, we
had people come before and theyjust drop off their children or
they're not taking care of them.
They're just like letting themrun around and not paying
attention and they're notstaying where they're supposed
to stay in the store.
So I would always say to myparents, when I am organizing a
(19:50):
field trip for you or anactivity and we're visiting
businesses, I tell them that mygroup, my parents are very aware
and they understand this is nota babysitting time.
They are there because they alsowant to learn and engage with
their child.
So I just want you to know thisis a good tip.
(20:15):
If you have a group or you'rethinking of creating a group for
you and your child and you wantto explore and get to know your
community, you want to set thatup.
earliest as possible and letyour parents know, I am not
going to mind your child.
You are going to take care ofyour own because I'm here to
(20:35):
learn too.
My heart was to learn withOlivia, have fun, grow, explore,
discover things together.
And I did not want that to betaken away from her because I
was going to Because I'm yellingat another, you know, I'm
telling our child, don't gothere.
Where's your mom?
Oh, my goodness.
Where's your father?
Where's your grandpa?
You know, stop running.
(20:55):
Put that down.
No.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Please, no.
And so if you make it very clearto your friends and family, you
know, it's just going to be somuch easier.
Because why?
It takes time.
But once you do enough of thesefield trips, you know you have a
(21:17):
good flow and you know who tobring and who maybe let them
know it's not available becausethey did not take care of the
child but yeah so that was thepizza and the pretzel and the
ice cream place so there onceagain if you're thinking
(21:37):
seriously I don't know what Idon't have a restaurant close by
or maybe the owners you ask thembut they didn't say yes you know
and maybe sometimes you get a noI got quite a few no's and that
was okay I just said okay thankyou I'll just go to the next one
(21:58):
but you want to have fun andthink of fun places and they may
do discounts so That is good.
There's so many to learn.
And why do you want to go andvisit these places?
Well, one, for me, when I wasbuilding these communities, this
(22:18):
group, I wanted Olivia to havefriends her age.
And also, I wanted to meet othermoms.
And I met other moms that onlyhad an only child as well.
If you're wondering, oh, I don'tknow anyone yet.
Well, just maybe find the localplaces just for you and your
(22:38):
child.
I mean, you don't have to take awhole group.
You can just you and your childgo and see.
And that way, you know, you canget to know your community more.
So I just want to encourage youbecause you are doing the best
you can with the time that'sgiven, with the resources you
have.
You are amazing.
(23:00):
And you are the best mom foryour child.
You are the best wife for yourhusband.
And I hope you say that toyourself.
Be kind to yourself.
Okay, I just want to say thankyou very much for listening to
my podcast to the family of one.
(23:23):
I just want to give a shout outto the listeners who are
listening to the last episode.
They're from Channel View,Texas, New Britain, Connecticut
and Alka, Indiana.
I say thank you very much forlistening and supporting this
podcast.
(23:43):
You are are amazing and iappreciate it now you're
wondering what is this templatethat she was talking about i
have a free resource if you'rewanting a resource to help you
just jump start your field tripyou're wondering what kind of
questions um how do i go aboutit maybe i need a little help
(24:05):
okay there'll be a link and youcan click on to the link and
then you can get the freeresource If you're curious about
the Mom and Daughter miniseries,the Icebreaker miniseries, and
you're wondering, I wonder, andyou're interested and want to
find more information, justclick on there.
There's a link to it.
(24:26):
And just fill out thequestionnaire.
There's five questions, justsomething very simple if you're
interested.
And you can see if that issomething for you or not.
I want to thank you so much forlistening.
And remember, you are doing thebest you can with the time
that's given, with the resourcesyou have.
Do something nice for yourself.
(24:48):
And remember, you are amazing.
This is for your friend.
Thanks for listening.
to the Family of One podcast.
Bye.
Hey amazing only child mums, I'm 4 Comment, your
part-time working mum friend wholoves Yahweh, family and fun.
Welcome to the family of onewhere we share joys and
adventures of raising an onlychild.
(00:21):
Expect relatable stories,parenting laughs and faithful
tips.
Let's make small family lifeenjoyable.
Woohoo! Welcome back.
Well, today's topic is aboutpizza, pretzels and ice cream.
And why are those three topics?
It's because I am going to soexcited to share how those three
(00:47):
topics.
I, when I did my little localventures group, when I organized
my little field trip groups, wewent to go and visit.
a pizza place, a restaurant, anice cream restaurant, a shop,
and a pretzel place.
So, well, one, it's really hotoutside.
(01:10):
It's summer right now where Ilive in the United States.
And if you're a person who is abit of a foodie, or you like
eating pizza, maybe a pretzel,or maybe just some ice cream,
and you have a bunch of friends,and you're like, you know what,
we're going to visit this placequite a bit.
Maybe I can take my child, andmaybe I can have a group of
(01:35):
friends, and we can go and maybehave a tour of the shop.
So this is what I did.
I made a list of local placesthat I asked myself, what would
be fun for myself and Olivia togo and visit and learn about?
And that is how I came.
I came up with at least about20.
(01:57):
This is before chat GP or AI oranything.
I wrote it all down.
And then I also went on theirwebsite.
I mean, not my website.
I also, I Googled local shops inthe area.
So after I had my list, I made alist of what fun places would I
(02:19):
like to go and visit for myselfand for my daughter to learn
that would be fun for the bothof us.
And then after that, Next door,I wrote down, why would this
place feel like a good fit rightnow?
Well, and I asked myself thatbecause once I have those
places, maybe depending on whatit is, it might be too far to
(02:42):
visit.
When I pick local places for meand Olivia to go and learn and
see, and if I'm taking friends,I really do not want to be
traveling more than 10 or 15minutes because sometimes As a
tip, when I'm organizing theseplaces for myself and a group of
friends, I don't want to be morethan one hour.
(03:05):
So that's a tip.
I mean, it's up to you.
You might like to stay therelonger, three or four hours or
longer.
But with my group, when Istarted Little Local Ventures
and we're going on a field tripat least once, Two times a
month.
Sometimes I'll be going likethree times a month, one each
week.
(03:26):
And I had quite a few families.
There was a lot of people comingfrom different places and I
didn't want them.
I was just mindful of how longit would be for them to travel
as well.
But in general, myself, I didn'twant to be traveling that long.
And so I thought 10, 15 minutes.
If it's 15 minutes, it's got tobe pretty good for me to get in
(03:48):
that car because you've got todrive back home.
And depending if you have, Idon't know, you've got a lot of
laundry, you've got anappointment and your child has a
routine, you know, a nap time,all of that.
So you just want to be inconsideration.
But first, you want to work theschedule around you first,
because when I'm organizingthese trips back in the day, I
(04:11):
wanted to make sure it fit myschedule.
schedule as well because thelast thing you want to do is
organize an event and it justinterrupts your schedule all the
time if you are organizingevents it's okay to work around
your schedule because you're theone that's organizing it you're
the one that's settingeverything up you're doing the
phone calls and everything butonce you have your team get
(04:34):
other people to help you I justwant to make it less stressful
on myself and child so that isit so that's how I got the pizza
and and the pretzel and the icecream place.
And then I ask myself, what canI learn and discover about
myself here?
So when I'm picking theseplaces, I'm asking, oh, you know
(04:57):
what?
What's something about thispizza place that I don't know
that maybe I can learn aboutmyself that I haven't learned
before?
When I'm at home, And her and I,for example, she likes to do
painting.
So I would bring my easel, easelboard.
(05:18):
We had a large painting easelboard.
And then I would put it in thekitchen.
I would put her paper and I puta towel on the floor and I'll
get her water-based paint so shecan paint.
now in the kitchen and I didn'tmind if she made a mess and the
paint was running because we hadthe floor I could just mop it up
(05:40):
the paint and it was all rightit was she did not make that
much of a mess so it was fine sowith these places I was
interesting to learn how theyteach children and families
about their product for examplethe pizza place they had already
established a schools coming into learn about their products.
(06:03):
So what they would do is theywould give each child a pizza
dough the size of your palm,just a very small pizza dough
that It's already been rolledup.
And then they will give eachchild a plate, every
participant.
And so you would flatten thatdough out with your hand.
And then on the side, they'llgive a cup of cheese and a small
(06:27):
cup of sauce.
And that was it.
If you wanted to bring your owntopping, you could bring your
own topping.
Now, I was always curious, like,okay, so there was about 15 of
us.
And if everyone brought hand andyou touched it, right, you're
thinking, which one's pizza.
What they did was when they putit on the tray, they had like a
(06:47):
paper, parchment paper, wherethey would write the name of the
child.
So next to their pizza.
So you knew exactly whose pizzait was.
Some parents mark their pizzawith like their name or put two
like little dents or somethingto clearly indicate that was my
pizza.
So it was things like that.
It was very interesting.
(07:08):
And the conversations, likeOlivia really really enjoyed it
because it was hands on.
And also it was lovely becausethey explained the history of
the restaurant.
And I loved it that when theybrought the dough out, each
child, like you're using allyour senses and they gave one to
each one.
(07:28):
Even if your child was like ayear old, a little bit younger,
they still ask, would you liketo make a pizza for your child
to take home?
Or would you like to take thatSo they're very accommodating.
And also when I'm going to theseplaces, I'm asking, you know,
(07:50):
I'm telling the host or therestaurant owner or the manager
what our group is about.
And I'm also telling the purposeof our visit.
So when I thought about theseplaces and asking, hmm, what is
it I want to learn about?
Is this a good way to fit?
And what do I want my child todiscover about these places as
(08:10):
well?
Will it be fun for them?
Is it right up their alley?
Like they just love this sort ofplace.
Like I am thinking before I callthe restaurant owner or the
business.
And once I had that experience,I'm asking questions like, okay,
what are the hours?
Is there any cost?
(08:31):
Some of the things we did wasfree and some had costs to it.
Now, I always try when I'morganizing groups, when I did my
group, I really did my best andI did not want the cost to be
high.
Now, for me, it was like$2 to$3.
If it was more than that, it wasbecause it was...
(08:54):
Like, for example, I don't know,going to an event.
But I preferred to make the costas affordable as possible
because one guest and someparents that I invited, I just
felt with everything going on,you know, the cost of raising a
(09:16):
child, it's going to beexpensive.
And because if you're savingmoney for the event, And then if
their products there, theparents are going to spend money
because they're like, oh, I havea lot of experience.
So, for example, when we madethis pizza, we had our own
individualized small pizza, avery small pizza, like the size
(09:39):
of your palm.
I mean, your hand, very small.
And then they gave us, I thinkit was about 15 of us.
And then they gave us like threelarge pizzas for free on the
house.
And they said, here, this is onthe house.
And the event itself, it didn'tcost us anything.
(10:01):
They said, oh, no, this is whatwe do.
We give back to the community.
So the event itself was free.
But they did ask for donations.
And not only did...
the group kindly gave, but theyalso bought pizzas to take home
because it was so yummy and thestaff was just so excellent.
(10:22):
So that's what I mean.
If you have a good experience,you might buy, most likely for
my group, I saw a lot of myfamilies either bought products
on that day to take home or theyreturned back to that store and
they bought family products.
And that's a good thing as well,because you are bringing in new
customers.
(10:43):
So I, from my experience, thefamilies that I took to a
variety of businesses, you know,they just, they brought in more
customers for them.
And another thing too, when I'mvisiting these places, I'm
asking them, are there anyrestrooms?
(11:04):
Are there any bathroomsavailable?
That is very, very important.
And what's the parking like?
Because the parking, is it free?
Is it parking on the street?
Do they have to walk a long way?
Is it safe for parents to get tothe location?
(11:24):
Because they have little ones.
And these are all these thingsI'm thinking about.
So I'm ticking and I have a tickbox and, you know, how early can
I book for our group to go andvisit?
So that was what I'm thinkingabout all these questions.
And so the next one is thepretzels.
(11:45):
And this is a wonderful, we hadtwo different experience at two
different places.
pretzel places.
One was called Jojo Pretzels,and they were lovely.
It's a local pretzel store.
They're still here in my localtown.
And the owner, the owner's wife,and she led the group.
(12:09):
Now, once again, each group,each participant had a pretzel
dough.
Now, what's lovely about this,they prepare everything for you.
All you've got to do in theseactivities, the ones that we
went to, they had everything setup, came out and she gave each
person a pretzel doll.
(12:29):
And then she told us a storyabout Christ and how that
related to how they made thisparticular shape of the pretzel.
And it was so lovely and easy tofollow.
What was wonderful about it thatmany of my group that was their
(12:50):
first time making their ownpretzels at the store like we
would buy the pretzel but we didnot make our own pretzels um in
this particular store they havelike a They make the pretzels in
front of you so you can see howthey make it.
But it was really awesome whenyou see your child, like you go
(13:13):
and buy the product at thestore, you can see how they make
it.
But when your child is makingit, there's like a connection.
Like, you know, Olivia loved toshare this experience with her
father, with her grandmother,with her friends.
Her and a lot of friends wouldtalk about it.
UNKNOWN (13:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:34):
It was so good.
And so because she starts theconversation, oh, we made
pretzels.
And just hearing from her ownperspective what she enjoyed
about it again, hearing herheart, how she enjoyed it.
And some of those trips, hergrandparent, her grandma came or
(13:55):
invited grandma, grandpa, andher dad would come if he could
come with some of those trips.
And it was just so lovelybecause she got to learn from
them as they are learning fromher.
And then they are connecting andsharing what they're all
learning.
Now, when you're learning andexploring together, on an
(14:18):
activity, it really, for me, Inotice it's just amazing because
you're excited.
There's a language.
There's a laughter.
I mean, and then you get toshare those experiences and you
get to listen and you get tocommunicate over dinner for us
(14:41):
because at that time, Before Ihad Olivia, I was working and I
was going to school.
My husband, you know, he had afull-time job.
And we seemed like we hardlydidn't really talk that much.
We thought we did.
But when we had Olivia, and aswe're going to these field
(15:02):
trips, I really wanted us tocontinue to engage with the
learning.
But I wanted her to have...
a conversation where she feelsthat she can share on the things
that's bringing excitement toher, what she's seeing, what
she's hearing, using all hersenses.
(15:23):
And that's why I wanted to sharejust some of the things The
stories, when I was creatingthese groups, these field trips,
I wanted to let you know theremay be local restaurants in your
area.
There might be an ice creamplace.
It could even be a candy place.
(15:44):
Just by using, I've created likea, just a field trip template,
just a jump start, justsomething basic.
If you're wanting to know, well,where do I start?
What do I do?
Well, first one is what localplaces sound fun for you to
visit?
Could be like the library.
(16:04):
Could be like a park.
But my one, I picked everythingfrom food to cars dealership to
the park.
I mean, to the fire station.
I went knocking on my local townfrom one area and I walked all
the way to the end.
I just knocked on each area.
(16:25):
business asking hello my name isfour and i have a a group of
families and we would love tolearn about your business so i
will start from there and thenthe next one another place we
went to go and visit is the icecream shop you're thinking ice
cream shop i don't know they'renot gonna let us well here's the
(16:49):
thing you don't know until youask so this one ice cream place
is It was a little bit of adrive.
One of our parents, they hadconnections and they knew the
owners.
So they asked, could we go tothis and visit the store?
And so we went to this ice creamplace and they showed us how
(17:09):
they make their ice cream, whattype of flavors and why they
make their ice cream that way.
And then they gave us samples.
And then they also let us justsee how they store their
products.
where they store their products.
So it was really good to justsee how your local store makes
(17:32):
certain products and why ittastes so yummy and what their
favorite flavor is.
And they took questions fromchildren.
I mean, it was really good.
And for me personally, When Iwent to restaurants, I made sure
like I didn't have too manyfamilies.
So you might think, well, what'stoo many?
I didn't like to have more than10 or 15 per field trip.
(17:56):
Now, depending on where thestore is or what business it is,
it's because I want each childor adult to have the time to ask
their question because it Ifyou're going to a store and say,
for example, there's 40 peopleyou take, but the store can
really only accommodate 20 or 15at the most, you're not really
(18:20):
going to have time.
And if everyone has questionsand you only have 40 minutes to
an hour, you don't want to rushthings.
that process.
I like to give people space andtime and even for children, no
matter what the question is.
And so that's why I like to makemy groups small.
(18:40):
And for me, I found the magicnumber was always 10 or 15.
And then it just gave everyonetime to ask questions, learn
without feeling rushed.
And also when you have hands-on,with the owner or the manager
coming to teach you or whoever'sleading the field trip, they can
(19:03):
have more of an engagementinstead of like, whoa, this is a
large group.
And so I always encourage mygroup too.
And my parents were veryhands-on.
And that's what I love about agroup.
If you're organizing or you wantto organize your group, I
prepared my parents to remindthem this is not a babysitting
(19:26):
group.
You'll be surprised.
I spoke to many owners andthey'll say, oh my goodness, we
had people come before and theyjust drop off their children or
they're not taking care of them.
They're just like letting themrun around and not paying
attention and they're notstaying where they're supposed
to stay in the store.
So I would always say to myparents, when I am organizing a
(19:50):
field trip for you or anactivity and we're visiting
businesses, I tell them that mygroup, my parents are very aware
and they understand this is nota babysitting time.
They are there because they alsowant to learn and engage with
their child.
So I just want you to know thisis a good tip.
(20:15):
If you have a group or you'rethinking of creating a group for
you and your child and you wantto explore and get to know your
community, you want to set thatup.
earliest as possible and letyour parents know, I am not
going to mind your child.
You are going to take care ofyour own because I'm here to
(20:35):
learn too.
My heart was to learn withOlivia, have fun, grow, explore,
discover things together.
And I did not want that to betaken away from her because I
was going to Because I'm yellingat another, you know, I'm
telling our child, don't gothere.
Where's your mom?
Oh, my goodness.
Where's your father?
Where's your grandpa?
You know, stop running.
(20:55):
Put that down.
No.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Please, no.
And so if you make it very clearto your friends and family, you
know, it's just going to be somuch easier.
Because why?
It takes time.
But once you do enough of thesefield trips, you know you have a
(21:17):
good flow and you know who tobring and who maybe let them
know it's not available becausethey did not take care of the
child but yeah so that was thepizza and the pretzel and the
ice cream place so there onceagain if you're thinking
(21:37):
seriously I don't know what Idon't have a restaurant close by
or maybe the owners you ask thembut they didn't say yes you know
and maybe sometimes you get a noI got quite a few no's and that
was okay I just said okay thankyou I'll just go to the next one
(21:58):
but you want to have fun andthink of fun places and they may
do discounts so That is good.
There's so many to learn.
And why do you want to go andvisit these places?
Well, one, for me, when I wasbuilding these communities, this
(22:18):
group, I wanted Olivia to havefriends her age.
And also, I wanted to meet othermoms.
And I met other moms that onlyhad an only child as well.
If you're wondering, oh, I don'tknow anyone yet.
Well, just maybe find the localplaces just for you and your
(22:38):
child.
I mean, you don't have to take awhole group.
You can just you and your childgo and see.
And that way, you know, you canget to know your community more.
So I just want to encourage youbecause you are doing the best
you can with the time that'sgiven, with the resources you
have.
You are amazing.
(23:00):
And you are the best mom foryour child.
You are the best wife for yourhusband.
And I hope you say that toyourself.
Be kind to yourself.
Okay, I just want to say thankyou very much for listening to
my podcast to the family of one.
(23:23):
I just want to give a shout outto the listeners who are
listening to the last episode.
They're from Channel View,Texas, New Britain, Connecticut
and Alka, Indiana.
I say thank you very much forlistening and supporting this
podcast.
(23:43):
You are are amazing and iappreciate it now you're
wondering what is this templatethat she was talking about i
have a free resource if you'rewanting a resource to help you
just jump start your field tripyou're wondering what kind of
questions um how do i go aboutit maybe i need a little help
(24:05):
okay there'll be a link and youcan click on to the link and
then you can get the freeresource If you're curious about
the Mom and Daughter miniseries,the Icebreaker miniseries, and
you're wondering, I wonder, andyou're interested and want to
find more information, justclick on there.
There's a link to it.
(24:26):
And just fill out thequestionnaire.
There's five questions, justsomething very simple if you're
interested.
And you can see if that issomething for you or not.
I want to thank you so much forlistening.
And remember, you are doing thebest you can with the time
that's given, with the resourcesyou have.
Do something nice for yourself.
(24:48):
And remember, you are amazing.
This is for your friend.
Thanks for listening.
to the Family of One podcast.
Bye.
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