April 15, 2025 • 34 mins
Craig Parks transforms our understanding of connection with autistic children through the profound language of music. Drawing from his dual expertise as both a professional musician and father to an autistic son, Craig reveals how music became the bridge that helped his non-verbal toddler communicate and eventually thrive as a drummer with perfect pitch.
The conversation takes us through Craig's personal journey of receiving his son's autism diagnosis at just 16 months old, facing the uncertainty of whether he'd ever hear his child say "Daddy," and discovering how melody and rhythm created pathways of connection where words couldn't reach. "When he is playing music with other musicians," Craig shares, "in that moment there is no neurotypical, there is no autistic—there's just humans creating energy together."
This revelation led Craig to develop his groundbreaking "Parenting A to E" course, teaching parents to master their "affect"—the physical manifestations of emotions through facial expressions, body positioning, and vocal tone—to better connect with children across neurological differences. Through specially crafted songs that transform daily routines like bedtime and hand-washing into meaningful moments of connection, Craig demonstrates how parents can create lasting memories and stronger bonds with their children.
Beyond parenting techniques, our conversation explores the creation of truly inclusive spaces where neurodivergent children can be celebrated for exactly who they are. Drawing from his 27 years directing summer camps, Craig shares how compassionate communities can be built where differences aren't just accommodated but embraced. Whether you're a parent, educator, or someone who values human connection across differences, this episode offers practical wisdom for using music to bridge neurological divides and foster relationships built on acceptance and joy.
Ready to transform your connection with the children in your life? Email Craig at craigparks@parentingharmony.com for special access to his Parenting A to E course.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The SJ Childs Show is Backford's 13th season.
Join Sarah Brafford and the SJChilds Show team as they explore
the world of autism and sharestories of hope and inspiration.
This season we're excited tobring you more autism summits
featuring experts and advocatesfrom around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Go to sjchildsorg hey everyone.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I wanted to take a second to talk to you about the
International Autism Summitcoming up in April April 25th
and 26th.
It's going to be streaming freefrom all of my channels.
If you haven't already gone tofollow me, go to sjchildsorg.
Click on any of the socialmedia icons and go follow me so
that you can be with us at theInternational Autism Summit 2025
(01:02):
, autism Summit 2025, april 25thand 26th.
Can't wait to see you then.
Hi, I'm SG Childs.
Join me in building a communityof inclusion.
I'm holding a silent auctionwhere you can bid on unique
items and experiences for autismawareness and our International
Autism Summit 2025.
(01:24):
Every bid helps supportautistic individuals and
families worldwide.
Find out more atsjchildsbetterworldorg.
Hello, thank you so much forjoining the SJ Child Show today.
I promise this will be anengaging, fantastic conversation
(01:46):
.
As always.
I have a wonderful guest thatI've been waiting to catch up
with, and sometimes thatanticipation makes those
conversations really exciting,because you're just like yes,
come on, I want to get to this,I want to learn more about this.
Today I have Craig Parks and heis coming from sunny San Diego.
Oh, so lucky.
(02:07):
I mean, it's sunny here in saltlake city today, so I'm gonna
get out there later thisafternoon and take advantage of
that craig.
Thank you so much for being heretoday I'm honored to be with
you, sarah, thanks for having meyeah, it's so, it's so great
and I I love the work thatyou're doing and I'm excited of
our conversation today to shareit with my audience and tell us
(02:31):
a little bit about yourself andwhat kind of got you started on
this journey.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Well, you know, I've always been fascinated by
childhood and working with kidsand you know, my whole adult
life I've pretty much beenworking with kids.
I've created two summer camps,I've done teen development, and
so I have a lot of experience.
I'm also a professionalmusician who has done a lot of
music with kids as well.
(02:57):
But then you know that momentyou become a parent, the whole
world changes dramatically andit's like whoa, mind and heart
blown Right.
And um, and my son who, I can'tbelieve it, he turned 21 last
January Um, it, just it changedmy whole life to become a dad.
(03:18):
And um, and the journey of ithas been interesting because my
son is on the autism spectrum.
And you know when, when my wifeand I were expecting you know
this was over 21 years ago it itwasn't as prevalent back then,
like it wasn't in the news, itwasn't, you know, and so it
(03:38):
wasn't in our consciousness.
You know we just thought, ohcool, we're pregnant, we'll have
a kid, we'll raise it, it'll be, and we'll have our.
You know, we just thought, ohcool, we're pregnant, we'll have
a kid, we'll raise it, it'll be, and we'll have our.
You know, we'll have our kids,it'll, we'll have our family.
It'll be wonderful and and Ithink it's a little bit of a
shock to the system we're like,oh whoa, this is going to be a
(04:07):
different journey than what weanticipated.
And and so we ended up and andmy son Jonah got his diagnosis
very, very early and he got anat-risk diagnosis when he was
around 16 months old.
So you know, we started workingwith OTs and PTs and ABA and
floor time and RDI like veryearly.
So I got to work with a lot ofvery, very talented and skilled
people and also my ownexperience of working with and
training a lot of people how towork with kids.
I ended up, you know, a fewyears ago.
(04:30):
I was like you know what I want,to have my influence go beyond
San Diego and so I put togethera course called Parenting A to E
, from Stress to Smiles, and theA stands for affect.
And you know, to get into myson's world when he was young
and you know he didn't talkuntil he was well past the age
of two.
So when he got diagnosed Ididn't know if I would ever hear
(04:51):
my child say, daddy, or I loveyou.
And I know for a lot of parentsthey have kids on the spectrum
who are nonverbal and they don'tget to hear that, and these are
hard things and these are realthings, but the affect part of
it was really huge for me.
I realized, oh, there are waysthat we can get into our kids'
(05:12):
world and ways that we canreally be connected and they can
feel connected to us if welearn to actually master our
affect.
So our affect actually is thephysical manifestations of our
emotions, so it's how weactually use our facial
expressions, where we actuallyput our bodies in space, and our
vocal affect too.
(05:33):
You know, are we talking softly, loudly?
So when we learn how toactually master and understand
how to use our vocal and bodyaffect, it opens up a whole new
world of connection andsweetness with our kids.
And so I put together thiscourse called A to E, and the E
is for effect, the effectivenesswe want in connecting in that
(05:56):
sweet, loving, trustingrelationship with our kids.
And so I put together thiscourse and it teaches affect,
how to use your body and yourvoice.
And then also music has been areally, really profound
connector for me with all kids Iwork with, but especially with
my son.
In fact, before he spoke heactually sang a melody.
(06:17):
My son is an incrediblemusician, he has perfect pitch
and he's an amazing drummer andhe's also a DJ, so he's got
music is where his gifts one ofhis gifts lies, and and so
there's a whole section on musicand songs that take the
everyday part of parenting um,you know, bedtime, waking kids
(06:39):
up, um, playing with them, likewashing hands, all this kind of
stuff that you just do every dayand and turns it into memorable
, connecting events, becausemost days of parenting are not
taking our kids to disneyland,right, most of the days are the
everyday slog.
So I was, I was reallyinterested in how do we create
that as the joyful, memorablemoments, and so, and then
(07:03):
there's 10 activities as well,in the course that people do.
They're screen-free and allowsfor really beautiful connection,
and so the songs and theactivities allow us to actually
practice our affect and diveinto joyful connection with our
kids.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
That's incredible and so many things of your story
and mine resonate the age ofdiagnosis for both of our sons
um.
my son's name is dj and he ismusically inclined as well, and
so I think that's hilarious um,yeah, he um, same kind of he
(07:40):
wasn't speaking till after four,right around four, and it was.
I wish that I had known aboutthis course, you know, and it
probably may or may not havebeen out by then.
You know, our journey startedin about 2010.
(08:01):
So it's been quite some timetoo, and and I understand
exactly what you're saying isthat there wasn't so much
information.
Um, I was lucky that my husband, uh, had a sister with down
syndrome and so he had thisinner experience with this
(08:22):
beautiful part of the specialneeds community and he had this
just patience about life and hissister and our son that he
taught me so much in thatprocess.
And, just like you, I'm sure myson taught me so much in this
(08:43):
process and really taught me howto see things differently.
And it is a shocking experiencewhen you have to redefine those
ideas.
And you know it got me thinkingwhen you had mentioned that
that where do these and this isway deep for this conversation,
this is way deep for thisconversation but where do these
(09:03):
ideas and where are they bredfrom?
In, you know, are they inthings we see in media, the
things that churches or ourfamilies teach us?
That, you know, when we have achild, we're going to, you know,
play baseball and do all theseother things then maybe it's
smart that we start to redefinewhat raising a child looks like,
(09:27):
so that when our kids have kids, that their experience is just
going into parenting rather thanshock or anything like that.
I think that that is a reallyinteresting topic that might
need to be more, you know, moreheavily worked on with those
smaller kids.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yeah, I mean it is a deep conversation, but it's a,
it's a worthy conversationbecause, you know I, I think
when we come in with, withexpectations, you know I mean,
being a parent is a humbling,humbling experience.
You know I, I've never had anyjob that's been harder and I've
never had any job that's beenmore rewarding.
In my own growth, and I thinkcertainly the media, you know,
(10:15):
and I think our own childhoodsalso, you know, inform us and
you know it may not be realisticto like be a complete blank
slate when you go into parenting, but I think if the goal is to,
if the goal, instead of like,oh, we're going to play baseball
or we're going to do this orthat, it's the oh, I can't wait
to meet this human and discoverwho they are and learn about
(10:36):
them and just come in every daywith curiosity, I think you know
, and get in the practice ofvalidating their experience, so
that you know we were talkingearlier.
I think we all just want to beunderstood, not even always
agreed with, but like, oh, I see, I hear where you're coming
from, I get you you know, justfor who we are and and not
(10:58):
intended.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
We don't want people to want us to be different, we
want to just be show up.
Oh, that's Sarah, there she iswith her, whatever you know her
pale skin.
No, just joking.
But no, we just want to show upand be accepted for who we are
and teaching our kids thatthat's what is supposed to be
(11:22):
the case, you know, is like areally important thing, but also
being realistic as to what'sout in the world and getting
them ready for that, and youknow some of our kiddos have.
You know, my son doesn'tnecessarily understand those
(11:44):
social problems or situations,as my daughter is straight in
the middle of it, right in it,understanding it, confused by it
as we all were, and it's givenme a different chance to take
(12:06):
the lead, yet follow, if thatmakes sense, and really just
understand like, okay, I lovewhat you said too.
They just want to.
You want to show up withcuriosity as much as possible,
because I think that that isfueled with, like a positive
(12:27):
energy behind it, with curiosity.
So, and one of our quotes thatI love to say is you know,
knowledge turns fear intounderstanding and when we allow
ourselves to accept theknowledge, it melts those fears
away.
You're able to see, with a newperception, oh, there's, there's
(12:49):
a chance, there's a light,there's options, there's, you
know, strategies, there's all ofthese different therapies I can
try and and you really justlike make your way.
But music is, I, like you said,such an important and such a
universal way to be able toexpress yourself, receive
(13:14):
expressions from someone else.
I think it's so beautiful andit definitely changed the way
our son's ability to communicatewith us.
You know it was through music,the same way, so I love that
(13:35):
yeah, it's, it's huge.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Um, you know, my son got his first drum set, uh,
shortly before he turned threeyears old and, um, he sat at
this little little kid drum setand I couldn't believe it.
He's like boom, bop, boom.
I'm like, oh, wow, that's abeat, my son's playing a beat.
And you know, it turned out hejust was a phenomenal,
phenomenal drummer and when hewas, I don't know, maybe around
(14:00):
14 years old or so, like I said,I'm a professional musician, so
I know a lot of musicians.
I started this thing with him,them, and we didn't go all the
way, but it's called Parks andPals, where the concept was to
do a number one hit song, covera number one hit song from 1958
to the modern times we went upto like 1963, but it's on
YouTube and if you look at Parksand Pals and you can see my son
(14:21):
drumming and it was just thegreat thing about music too,
especially as I see my sondrumming, and it was just the
the great thing about music too,especially as I see my son, you
know, and look, he's gotstruggles because of his
neurology.
There's things that are hardfor, really hard for him, but
when he is playing music in themoment of actually playing music
(14:42):
and and he's playing with othermusicians.
In that moment there is thereis no neurotypical, there is no
autistic, there is.
There's just humans creatingenergy together and and I can
tell like his anxiety goes downbecause he's confident, he feels
it and music is just.
It's a magical, magicalexperience.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
It is so magical.
You know, I grew up not as inmy voice, as my instrument.
I was a singer, and so, for me,I remember saying to my husband
once you know, there's notoften times in your life that
you can find yourself in amoment where you feel in perfect
(15:26):
harmony with yourself, with theuniverse, with the people
around you, with nature, witheverything, with source, with
whatever you want to call it.
And it's in singing that whenI'm just like so deep into that
song and I'm right there, youknow just it's that moment that
I feel those things, that I justfeel like in perfect harmony,
(15:49):
and there's not a lot of like.
Obviously, life isn't aboutperfection, there's nothing
perfect about it, but thatmoment when you're just like
locked in and the zone, you knowthat it is, it's perfect.
I love that moment.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yeah, and what's great.
So to this day I still have aband where my son is the drummer
in this band and so you know, Iget to, I get to rehearse with
him once a week.
I get you know, we talk oftenand he gets to share all sorts
of music that he's into, andI'll tell you this too.
You know you were mentioningearlier, sarah, that we learn a
lot from our kids.
My son has expanded my musicaltaste a lot.
(16:28):
He'll turn me on to all sortsof music that maybe I was either
close to or didn't really quiteever got exposed to or didn't
like.
And he's like, dad, check thisout, and all of a sudden like
wow, my son is teaching me to bemore open-minded, you know, and
more open-hearted.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I can definitely see.
I don't know.
I'll have to ask DJ like whathis kind of music he listens to
classical all day long, everyday.
It's on a radio on the side ofhis room Wow.
And so that's always going.
But he also likes to createmusic on his computer, on his
(17:06):
apps or whatever he's doing.
And then my daughter,interestingly enough being you
know 13, like she would havebeen my best friend in the 90s,
Like we would have been bestbest friends Excuse me, and I've
never, you know, with my oldestlike our music, like we can
(17:30):
never get on the same page.
There was no music interestsand you know alike.
But this one man, she loves allof my music.
She has it on her playlist.
We get in the car and I'm like,how are you playing Smashing
Pumpkins right now?
Like all of these things, youknow, she just like lights me up
so much.
But the same thing, she has herown music interests.
(17:52):
She shares her playlist, herSpotify playlist, with me and it
has such different types ofmusic that I would have never
known about that.
Then I'm like, oh, I love this,you know, and I've never like
had such a better experience, um, to be able to share that with
her.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
And sometimes we'll just go for drives together and
turn up the radio to all ourboth of our favorite musics and
just, you know, roll down thewindows and blast it, and it's
such a great experience yeah,those and those memories that
she's going to have with you, oflike being in the car and
listen to those tunes, like whenyou know, when she's older, and
(18:32):
those same songs come up, it'slike she's going to be brought
right back to those sweet, happy, joyful moments with you.
You know, and yeah, and, andthat's what I really wanted to
leverage with music.
I was like you know what, if Iknow that music is one of the
most powerful memory makers wehave as humans, like I'm going
to leverage this.
And so, you know, when my sonwas young, I wrote a lullaby for
(18:55):
him and and so every night,every night, at bedtime, I would
sing this really, really sweetsong and to this day, you know
he, he knows it and it's just avery sweet memory and embedded
in the lyrics are like snuggle,kiss on the, on the, on the face
there, and it's like if, if weparents can use that and
(19:18):
ritualistically use music forsweet connection, and and that's
what these songs in my coursedo.
It's like, yeah, you know whatWaking up can have a song,
washing hands can have a song.
So, if you, you know, for anyparents, like, if you really are
conscious about how you'regoing to use music.
You can use it to really,really make a huge difference
(19:40):
and have childhood memories thatwill last forever.
I was thinking about, like, myfirst grade year.
I had a first grade teacher whoand I don't remember all the
day to day of first grade, likeI don't know what I did in the
classroom, you know, in firstgrade, but I do have a memory
because at the end of every dayshe would sing the same song
Goodbye everybody.
(20:01):
Yes, indeed, yes, indeed, youknow, she'd sing the song and
decades later, like I stillremember this song from when I
was six years old, because thesweet teacher, every day saying
the same tune in a ritualisticway, like the end of the day, we
ended with this musicalsweetness.
I'm like, wow, I could do thatwith my own kids, with with all
(20:26):
sorts of things.
You know, I wrote a song calleddancing on daddy's shoulders.
That is so fun that, you know,pop up your little ones up on
your shoulders and it's reallysweet melody and um.
So I know that my kids aregoing to have these really
strong, beautiful memories andwe have such joyful experiences
associated with music andmovement.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
It's so important.
And yeah, it's like we livelike this parallel lives in
different places and differentexperiences.
I swear I always made up songstoo, and it probably is because
you and I were both justmusically inclined throughout
our lives and unfortunately Inever did anything professional
(21:09):
with it.
But I surely love it, it's oneof my favorites.
But throughout DJ's life, whenhe was really young, maybe in
the three to five age, I foundthese dvds called rock and learn
.
I don't know if you've everheard about those.
(21:30):
I even ended up after years,years later, after dj had
learned more than I could haveever imagined, I reached out to
the creator of these and justkind of shared our experience
and how they just changed ourlife and changed the trajectory
and enhanced our kiddosexperience by tenfold.
(21:53):
Through these he learned thebasically education from
preschool to high school andbefore he was, you know, eight
years old he had alreadymastered like high school math
through music and you know, likeall of these incredible things
I mean he, he learned theperiodic table of elements when
(22:16):
he was four or five and he has aphotographic memory and so we
would go places and he would askpeople like, how old are you?
And they would tell him, andthen he would tell them what
element they were on theperiodic table.
I think that the oldest lady weever found was a little gal in
the grocery store and she waslike 92 or 95, you know, so I
(22:37):
think that was the highest onehe ever got to say.
But so fascinating what musiccan do.
And I see that you know hislittle sister sees that as well
and so I can hear her memorizingher states to the music song or
you know, kind of those things.
It's just so powerful and youknow I love that you're using it
(23:00):
in a space where parents areconfused and concerned and
unsure of how to really reachtheir child and sometimes you
just, like you said, the childwill actually communicate
through the music before evenyou know physically or any
(23:24):
verbally.
So yeah, it can be such a greattool.
What a smart way to put thatinto, into something to share
with people.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Yeah, and I want to actually offer your audience,
you know, a special deal.
So if they if they're, ifthey're interested in the
parenting ATE course, they canwrite to me at Craig parts, at
parenting harmonycom, and I, youknow, I want this to be
accessible to whoever, whoeverwants it.
I know a lot of parents havereally, really benefited from
(23:54):
this course and from the musicand mastering their affect.
And, you know, especially inthe special needs community, I
know there's so many parentsstruggle and a lot of parents
feel very isolated in theirjourney and and I know that
that's a very, very commonexperience I actually have led
support groups for parents whohave kids with special needs and
and you get in a room withother parents who have kids with
(24:17):
special needs and there's thisgreat exhale of like, oh,
finally, other people who justkind of get it and understand
you know what, what I'm goingthrough, yeah definitely is that
right parentingharmonycom yeahspelling is correct at the
moment oh, that's great.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I love that.
What um are you doing?
Do you have any plans coming up?
Are you working on projects,kind of what's in the works?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Yeah, well, actually what I'm working on now.
So I, so I, you know I have abook called how to Stress Less
and have More Fun with your Kids.
Oh that's fun, yeah.
And then I put together this,this course, which took a lot of
years.
You know it's 14 songs and youknow and and these and there's,
there's videos and there's allthis stuff to put together the
course.
But I wanted it to be verysimple, very easy.
(25:09):
Parents could watch like athree minute video and be like,
oh, I can go do that with my kidnow, you know.
And so the thing I'm working onright now is when the pandemic
hit, I started a show with mydaughter, who was five years old
at the time and called ParksParty Central.
It was an interactive live show.
It was music and games andactivities and just silliness
(25:31):
and comedy so that people couldcome and just have some joy
during a very, very difficulttime.
And I'm going back, we did.
We ended up doing 70 episodes,but I'm I'm going back now and
looking back at these episodesbecause every episode we my
daughter and I did activitiesthat they were just really silly
but super fun, activities thatparents could do with their kids
(25:54):
.
So I'm I'm in the process ofwriting a book called the Park
to Party Central Activity Bookthat parents can do these things
with their kids.
So they'll get to read aboutwhat the activities are.
They'll be able to click on alink and it'll be the little
clip from the show of mydaughter and I doing these
really fun, silly activities.
So that's something I'm workingon right now.
(26:14):
I just, you know, I'm just.
I think the world getstransformed when there's more
love and connection in it, youknow, and the world needs more
love and connection, and and sothat's, you know, I know, like
my gift was not to cure canceror anything like that.
My gift is to work with kidsand work with parents, and I'm
leaning all the way into itthrough the music and through my
(26:35):
own experiences as a coach ofparents as well.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I love that and thank you so much for your work as
well, because it is it is suchan important part of, and when
people see the value that it canbring to their lives, it's just
it's priceless, really Gosh.
I like totally had something,and then you know.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Well, I wanted to thank you, too, for the work
that you're doing because youknow it, it is really important
that parents who have kids ofspecial needs have a place where
they can again like realizethey're not alone.
You know, and and I just thinkit's it's a very common
experience as a as a long-timecamp director.
I just ended my camp directorcareer just about a year ago but
(27:21):
.
But I directed summer camps for27 summers and you know there
were a lot of kids who came tomy camp who were on the spectrum
or had special needs, and youknow we were talking earlier
about places where you can go,where you can just be yourself
and be accepted, and that wasone thing that I really prided
myself on.
(27:41):
My camp's focus was on creatingcommunities where that could
happen.
You know, I remember I had onekid on the spectrum who he used
to come to camp every daywearing a bow tie and a Home
Depot apron, right, and you canimagine in other spaces a kid
like that would get bullied,would get teased, and one of the
things I'm most proud of is tocreate spaces where a kid like
(28:04):
that can come to camp like thatand be treated well, with
respect and be celebrated, andso I want to encourage parents I
know we're going to be comingup on summer months soon that
talk to camp.
If you're going to send yourkids to camp, you know it's
(28:26):
really important that our kidscan have spaces where they are
celebrated and they're cared forand there's a culture of
kindness.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
I couldn't agree more, andthat's what I was.
My my brain came back into playthere and I wanted to just
challenge my audience.
I want to challenge theteachers and the afterschool
teacher programs and the coachesand outside of parenting to use
(28:55):
this program as well.
Why not?
Why not be able to reach yourstudents in a new way that would
be engaging and fun andcreative?
So not only for you parents outthere listening, but also
professionals that you knowmight work with children, or, if
you not even the children, Imean even the young adults and
(29:18):
the, you know, autistic adults.
I don't think that there's anage that music can't be
effective for a person.
So one to 99, go ahead and giveit a try.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
I agree, I think people who are, you know,
teachers or even grandparents oranybody who's working with kids
, will will benefit from this alot.
And you know, one of the songsthat um that I wrote is called
give and get and um, and it's.
I'm also a firm believer ineducation, you know, and I would
often like, at the camp that Iused to run, we would, we had a
(29:55):
lot of kids on the spectrum andI'd bring parents in or um, we'd
even have autistic kidsthemselves talk about what it's
like to be autistic and reallyeducate, so that these kids then
they were, they were known,they were seen and they were,
they were cared for, and so ifthey did behaviors that were a
little bit out of the norm, theother campers had an
understanding and they, they'dbe kind about it.
(30:18):
But this song give and get, youknow one, you know, one of the
lines in there is that we allhave special needs, right,
because and we all do somepeople need more sleep or less
sleep, some people have peanutallergies, some people need, you
know, have sensory stuff goingon, like, we all have stuff that
make us a little bit different,a little bit unique, and when
we could dig into that commonhumanity.
(30:39):
I think it makes a big, bigdifference.
But that that song is also partof the part of the course too
and it was just great hearing awhole community, you know,
singing the song of really ofcompassion, understanding isn't
that the truth?
Speaker 1 (30:56):
I'm so grateful for that and I look forward to going
and following on those YouTubechannels and everything and
checking it out.
So I'll be doing that.
Please go and do that as well.
If you're listening, if you'rewatching, you can see the
website I just put up,parentingharmonycom.
You can go there to get Craig'sinformation, to go see all of
(31:22):
his projects and services thathe has available.
So don't miss out.
You know, make theseconnections with your kiddos as
quickly as you can, becausereally fostering connections
with your child is so important.
(31:43):
Connections with your child isso important and your child will
be so grateful when they'reolder and they realize that you
took the time to form thismeaningful connection with them.
So please take the time to dothat.
Parents, craig, thank you somuch for your time today.
This has been a wonderful,wonderful half hour to spend
with you and I hope we can stayin touch.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
I hope so too.
Thank you, Sarah.
It's been a real pleasure beingwith you.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
In the heart of a city.
She's shining bright.
Oh yeah, stories of love andcourage All throughout the night
, her voice resonating An anthemfor all.
Through trials and trials, sheanswers the call.
A mother and a fighter,breaking barriers and strife,
(32:43):
with love as her guide.
She'll never hide.
She's changing the world foryou With her heart and speech
and strong Empathies and melody.
In her journey we all belong.
Followers gather Like stars inthe night.
(33:04):
So bright, 44,000 voicessharing in the light.
She stands for family,advocates for more Movement of
compassion, ways we'll soarPodcasts together, symphony of
support In life change andrapport.
She's changing the world foryou With her heart.
(33:29):
That's fierce and strong.
Hypothese and melody A journeywe all belong Through her eyes,
a vision clear.
Together we rise, sheddingfears In every heart.
She plants the seed Ofunderstanding and love for
dearly me.
She changed the world for you,thank you.
The SJ Childs Show is Backford's 13th season.
Join Sarah Brafford and the SJChilds Show team as they explore
the world of autism and sharestories of hope and inspiration.
This season we're excited tobring you more autism summits
featuring experts and advocatesfrom around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Go to sjchildsorg hey everyone.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I wanted to take a second to talk to you about the
International Autism Summitcoming up in April April 25th
and 26th.
It's going to be streaming freefrom all of my channels.
If you haven't already gone tofollow me, go to sjchildsorg.
Click on any of the socialmedia icons and go follow me so
that you can be with us at theInternational Autism Summit 2025
(01:02):
, autism Summit 2025, april 25thand 26th.
Can't wait to see you then.
Hi, I'm SG Childs.
Join me in building a communityof inclusion.
I'm holding a silent auctionwhere you can bid on unique
items and experiences for autismawareness and our International
Autism Summit 2025.
(01:24):
Every bid helps supportautistic individuals and
families worldwide.
Find out more atsjchildsbetterworldorg.
Hello, thank you so much forjoining the SJ Child Show today.
I promise this will be anengaging, fantastic conversation
(01:46):
.
As always.
I have a wonderful guest thatI've been waiting to catch up
with, and sometimes thatanticipation makes those
conversations really exciting,because you're just like yes,
come on, I want to get to this,I want to learn more about this.
Today I have Craig Parks and heis coming from sunny San Diego.
Oh, so lucky.
(02:07):
I mean, it's sunny here in saltlake city today, so I'm gonna
get out there later thisafternoon and take advantage of
that craig.
Thank you so much for being heretoday I'm honored to be with
you, sarah, thanks for having meyeah, it's so, it's so great
and I I love the work thatyou're doing and I'm excited of
our conversation today to shareit with my audience and tell us
(02:31):
a little bit about yourself andwhat kind of got you started on
this journey.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Well, you know, I've always been fascinated by
childhood and working with kidsand you know, my whole adult
life I've pretty much beenworking with kids.
I've created two summer camps,I've done teen development, and
so I have a lot of experience.
I'm also a professionalmusician who has done a lot of
music with kids as well.
(02:57):
But then you know that momentyou become a parent, the whole
world changes dramatically andit's like whoa, mind and heart
blown Right.
And um, and my son who, I can'tbelieve it, he turned 21 last
January Um, it, just it changedmy whole life to become a dad.
(03:18):
And um, and the journey of ithas been interesting because my
son is on the autism spectrum.
And you know when, when my wifeand I were expecting you know
this was over 21 years ago it itwasn't as prevalent back then,
like it wasn't in the news, itwasn't, you know, and so it
(03:38):
wasn't in our consciousness.
You know we just thought, ohcool, we're pregnant, we'll have
a kid, we'll raise it, it'll be, and we'll have our.
You know, we just thought, ohcool, we're pregnant, we'll have
a kid, we'll raise it, it'll be, and we'll have our.
You know, we'll have our kids,it'll, we'll have our family.
It'll be wonderful and and Ithink it's a little bit of a
shock to the system we're like,oh whoa, this is going to be a
(04:07):
different journey than what weanticipated.
And and so we ended up and andmy son Jonah got his diagnosis
very, very early and he got anat-risk diagnosis when he was
around 16 months old.
So you know, we started workingwith OTs and PTs and ABA and
floor time and RDI like veryearly.
So I got to work with a lot ofvery, very talented and skilled
people and also my ownexperience of working with and
training a lot of people how towork with kids.
I ended up, you know, a fewyears ago.
(04:30):
I was like you know what I want,to have my influence go beyond
San Diego and so I put togethera course called Parenting A to E
, from Stress to Smiles, and theA stands for affect.
And you know, to get into myson's world when he was young
and you know he didn't talkuntil he was well past the age
of two.
So when he got diagnosed Ididn't know if I would ever hear
(04:51):
my child say, daddy, or I loveyou.
And I know for a lot of parentsthey have kids on the spectrum
who are nonverbal and they don'tget to hear that, and these are
hard things and these are realthings, but the affect part of
it was really huge for me.
I realized, oh, there are waysthat we can get into our kids'
(05:12):
world and ways that we canreally be connected and they can
feel connected to us if welearn to actually master our
affect.
So our affect actually is thephysical manifestations of our
emotions, so it's how weactually use our facial
expressions, where we actuallyput our bodies in space, and our
vocal affect too.
(05:33):
You know, are we talking softly, loudly?
So when we learn how toactually master and understand
how to use our vocal and bodyaffect, it opens up a whole new
world of connection andsweetness with our kids.
And so I put together thiscourse called A to E, and the E
is for effect, the effectivenesswe want in connecting in that
(05:56):
sweet, loving, trustingrelationship with our kids.
And so I put together thiscourse and it teaches affect,
how to use your body and yourvoice.
And then also music has been areally, really profound
connector for me with all kids Iwork with, but especially with
my son.
In fact, before he spoke heactually sang a melody.
(06:17):
My son is an incrediblemusician, he has perfect pitch
and he's an amazing drummer andhe's also a DJ, so he's got
music is where his gifts one ofhis gifts lies, and and so
there's a whole section on musicand songs that take the
everyday part of parenting um,you know, bedtime, waking kids
(06:39):
up, um, playing with them, likewashing hands, all this kind of
stuff that you just do every dayand and turns it into memorable
, connecting events, becausemost days of parenting are not
taking our kids to disneyland,right, most of the days are the
everyday slog.
So I was, I was reallyinterested in how do we create
that as the joyful, memorablemoments, and so, and then
(07:03):
there's 10 activities as well,in the course that people do.
They're screen-free and allowsfor really beautiful connection,
and so the songs and theactivities allow us to actually
practice our affect and diveinto joyful connection with our
kids.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
That's incredible and so many things of your story
and mine resonate the age ofdiagnosis for both of our sons
um.
my son's name is dj and he ismusically inclined as well, and
so I think that's hilarious um,yeah, he um, same kind of he
(07:40):
wasn't speaking till after four,right around four, and it was.
I wish that I had known aboutthis course, you know, and it
probably may or may not havebeen out by then.
You know, our journey startedin about 2010.
(08:01):
So it's been quite some timetoo, and and I understand
exactly what you're saying isthat there wasn't so much
information.
Um, I was lucky that my husband, uh, had a sister with down
syndrome and so he had thisinner experience with this
(08:22):
beautiful part of the specialneeds community and he had this
just patience about life and hissister and our son that he
taught me so much in thatprocess.
And, just like you, I'm sure myson taught me so much in this
(08:43):
process and really taught me howto see things differently.
And it is a shocking experiencewhen you have to redefine those
ideas.
And you know it got me thinkingwhen you had mentioned that
that where do these and this isway deep for this conversation,
this is way deep for thisconversation but where do these
(09:03):
ideas and where are they bredfrom?
In, you know, are they inthings we see in media, the
things that churches or ourfamilies teach us?
That, you know, when we have achild, we're going to, you know,
play baseball and do all theseother things then maybe it's
smart that we start to redefinewhat raising a child looks like,
(09:27):
so that when our kids have kids, that their experience is just
going into parenting rather thanshock or anything like that.
I think that that is a reallyinteresting topic that might
need to be more, you know, moreheavily worked on with those
smaller kids.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yeah, I mean it is a deep conversation, but it's a,
it's a worthy conversationbecause, you know I, I think
when we come in with, withexpectations, you know I mean,
being a parent is a humbling,humbling experience.
You know I, I've never had anyjob that's been harder and I've
never had any job that's beenmore rewarding.
In my own growth, and I thinkcertainly the media, you know,
(10:15):
and I think our own childhoodsalso, you know, inform us and
you know it may not be realisticto like be a complete blank
slate when you go into parenting, but I think if the goal is to,
if the goal, instead of like,oh, we're going to play baseball
or we're going to do this orthat, it's the oh, I can't wait
to meet this human and discoverwho they are and learn about
(10:36):
them and just come in every daywith curiosity, I think you know
, and get in the practice ofvalidating their experience, so
that you know we were talkingearlier.
I think we all just want to beunderstood, not even always
agreed with, but like, oh, I see, I hear where you're coming
from, I get you you know, justfor who we are and and not
(10:58):
intended.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
We don't want people to want us to be different, we
want to just be show up.
Oh, that's Sarah, there she iswith her, whatever you know her
pale skin.
No, just joking.
But no, we just want to show upand be accepted for who we are
and teaching our kids thatthat's what is supposed to be
(11:22):
the case, you know, is like areally important thing, but also
being realistic as to what'sout in the world and getting
them ready for that, and youknow some of our kiddos have.
You know, my son doesn'tnecessarily understand those
(11:44):
social problems or situations,as my daughter is straight in
the middle of it, right in it,understanding it, confused by it
as we all were, and it's givenme a different chance to take
(12:06):
the lead, yet follow, if thatmakes sense, and really just
understand like, okay, I lovewhat you said too.
They just want to.
You want to show up withcuriosity as much as possible,
because I think that that isfueled with, like a positive
(12:27):
energy behind it, with curiosity.
So, and one of our quotes thatI love to say is you know,
knowledge turns fear intounderstanding and when we allow
ourselves to accept theknowledge, it melts those fears
away.
You're able to see, with a newperception, oh, there's, there's
(12:49):
a chance, there's a light,there's options, there's, you
know, strategies, there's all ofthese different therapies I can
try and and you really justlike make your way.
But music is, I, like you said,such an important and such a
universal way to be able toexpress yourself, receive
(13:14):
expressions from someone else.
I think it's so beautiful andit definitely changed the way
our son's ability to communicatewith us.
You know it was through music,the same way, so I love that
(13:35):
yeah, it's, it's huge.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Um, you know, my son got his first drum set, uh,
shortly before he turned threeyears old and, um, he sat at
this little little kid drum setand I couldn't believe it.
He's like boom, bop, boom.
I'm like, oh, wow, that's abeat, my son's playing a beat.
And you know, it turned out hejust was a phenomenal,
phenomenal drummer and when hewas, I don't know, maybe around
(14:00):
14 years old or so, like I said,I'm a professional musician, so
I know a lot of musicians.
I started this thing with him,them, and we didn't go all the
way, but it's called Parks andPals, where the concept was to
do a number one hit song, covera number one hit song from 1958
to the modern times we went upto like 1963, but it's on
YouTube and if you look at Parksand Pals and you can see my son
(14:21):
drumming and it was just thegreat thing about music too,
especially as I see my sondrumming, and it was just the
the great thing about music too,especially as I see my son, you
know, and look, he's gotstruggles because of his
neurology.
There's things that are hardfor, really hard for him, but
when he is playing music in themoment of actually playing music
(14:42):
and and he's playing with othermusicians.
In that moment there is thereis no neurotypical, there is no
autistic, there is.
There's just humans creatingenergy together and and I can
tell like his anxiety goes downbecause he's confident, he feels
it and music is just.
It's a magical, magicalexperience.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
It is so magical.
You know, I grew up not as inmy voice, as my instrument.
I was a singer, and so, for me,I remember saying to my husband
once you know, there's notoften times in your life that
you can find yourself in amoment where you feel in perfect
(15:26):
harmony with yourself, with theuniverse, with the people
around you, with nature, witheverything, with source, with
whatever you want to call it.
And it's in singing that whenI'm just like so deep into that
song and I'm right there, youknow just it's that moment that
I feel those things, that I justfeel like in perfect harmony,
(15:49):
and there's not a lot of like.
Obviously, life isn't aboutperfection, there's nothing
perfect about it, but thatmoment when you're just like
locked in and the zone, you knowthat it is, it's perfect.
I love that moment.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yeah, and what's great.
So to this day I still have aband where my son is the drummer
in this band and so you know, Iget to, I get to rehearse with
him once a week.
I get you know, we talk oftenand he gets to share all sorts
of music that he's into, andI'll tell you this too.
You know you were mentioningearlier, sarah, that we learn a
lot from our kids.
My son has expanded my musicaltaste a lot.
(16:28):
He'll turn me on to all sortsof music that maybe I was either
close to or didn't really quiteever got exposed to or didn't
like.
And he's like, dad, check thisout, and all of a sudden like
wow, my son is teaching me to bemore open-minded, you know, and
more open-hearted.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I can definitely see.
I don't know.
I'll have to ask DJ like whathis kind of music he listens to
classical all day long, everyday.
It's on a radio on the side ofhis room Wow.
And so that's always going.
But he also likes to createmusic on his computer, on his
(17:06):
apps or whatever he's doing.
And then my daughter,interestingly enough being you
know 13, like she would havebeen my best friend in the 90s,
Like we would have been bestbest friends Excuse me, and I've
never, you know, with my oldestlike our music, like we can
(17:30):
never get on the same page.
There was no music interestsand you know alike.
But this one man, she loves allof my music.
She has it on her playlist.
We get in the car and I'm like,how are you playing Smashing
Pumpkins right now?
Like all of these things, youknow, she just like lights me up
so much.
But the same thing, she has herown music interests.
(17:52):
She shares her playlist, herSpotify playlist, with me and it
has such different types ofmusic that I would have never
known about that.
Then I'm like, oh, I love this,you know, and I've never like
had such a better experience, um, to be able to share that with
her.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
And sometimes we'll just go for drives together and
turn up the radio to all ourboth of our favorite musics and
just, you know, roll down thewindows and blast it, and it's
such a great experience yeah,those and those memories that
she's going to have with you, oflike being in the car and
listen to those tunes, like whenyou know, when she's older, and
(18:32):
those same songs come up, it'slike she's going to be brought
right back to those sweet, happy, joyful moments with you.
You know, and yeah, and, andthat's what I really wanted to
leverage with music.
I was like you know what, if Iknow that music is one of the
most powerful memory makers wehave as humans, like I'm going
to leverage this.
And so, you know, when my sonwas young, I wrote a lullaby for
(18:55):
him and and so every night,every night, at bedtime, I would
sing this really, really sweetsong and to this day, you know
he, he knows it and it's just avery sweet memory and embedded
in the lyrics are like snuggle,kiss on the, on the, on the face
there, and it's like if, if weparents can use that and
(19:18):
ritualistically use music forsweet connection, and and that's
what these songs in my coursedo.
It's like, yeah, you know whatWaking up can have a song,
washing hands can have a song.
So, if you, you know, for anyparents, like, if you really are
conscious about how you'regoing to use music.
You can use it to really,really make a huge difference
(19:40):
and have childhood memories thatwill last forever.
I was thinking about, like, myfirst grade year.
I had a first grade teacher whoand I don't remember all the
day to day of first grade, likeI don't know what I did in the
classroom, you know, in firstgrade, but I do have a memory
because at the end of every dayshe would sing the same song
Goodbye everybody.
(20:01):
Yes, indeed, yes, indeed, youknow, she'd sing the song and
decades later, like I stillremember this song from when I
was six years old, because thesweet teacher, every day saying
the same tune in a ritualisticway, like the end of the day, we
ended with this musicalsweetness.
I'm like, wow, I could do thatwith my own kids, with with all
(20:26):
sorts of things.
You know, I wrote a song calleddancing on daddy's shoulders.
That is so fun that, you know,pop up your little ones up on
your shoulders and it's reallysweet melody and um.
So I know that my kids aregoing to have these really
strong, beautiful memories andwe have such joyful experiences
associated with music andmovement.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
It's so important.
And yeah, it's like we livelike this parallel lives in
different places and differentexperiences.
I swear I always made up songstoo, and it probably is because
you and I were both justmusically inclined throughout
our lives and unfortunately Inever did anything professional
(21:09):
with it.
But I surely love it, it's oneof my favorites.
But throughout DJ's life, whenhe was really young, maybe in
the three to five age, I foundthese dvds called rock and learn
.
I don't know if you've everheard about those.
(21:30):
I even ended up after years,years later, after dj had
learned more than I could haveever imagined, I reached out to
the creator of these and justkind of shared our experience
and how they just changed ourlife and changed the trajectory
and enhanced our kiddosexperience by tenfold.
(21:53):
Through these he learned thebasically education from
preschool to high school andbefore he was, you know, eight
years old he had alreadymastered like high school math
through music and you know, likeall of these incredible things
I mean he, he learned theperiodic table of elements when
(22:16):
he was four or five and he has aphotographic memory and so we
would go places and he would askpeople like, how old are you?
And they would tell him, andthen he would tell them what
element they were on theperiodic table.
I think that the oldest lady weever found was a little gal in
the grocery store and she waslike 92 or 95, you know, so I
(22:37):
think that was the highest onehe ever got to say.
But so fascinating what musiccan do.
And I see that you know hislittle sister sees that as well
and so I can hear her memorizingher states to the music song or
you know, kind of those things.
It's just so powerful and youknow I love that you're using it
(23:00):
in a space where parents areconfused and concerned and
unsure of how to really reachtheir child and sometimes you
just, like you said, the childwill actually communicate
through the music before evenyou know physically or any
(23:24):
verbally.
So yeah, it can be such a greattool.
What a smart way to put thatinto, into something to share
with people.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Yeah, and I want to actually offer your audience,
you know, a special deal.
So if they if they're, ifthey're interested in the
parenting ATE course, they canwrite to me at Craig parts, at
parenting harmonycom, and I, youknow, I want this to be
accessible to whoever, whoeverwants it.
I know a lot of parents havereally, really benefited from
(23:54):
this course and from the musicand mastering their affect.
And, you know, especially inthe special needs community, I
know there's so many parentsstruggle and a lot of parents
feel very isolated in theirjourney and and I know that
that's a very, very commonexperience I actually have led
support groups for parents whohave kids with special needs and
and you get in a room withother parents who have kids with
(24:17):
special needs and there's thisgreat exhale of like, oh,
finally, other people who justkind of get it and understand
you know what, what I'm goingthrough, yeah definitely is that
right parentingharmonycom yeahspelling is correct at the
moment oh, that's great.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I love that.
What um are you doing?
Do you have any plans coming up?
Are you working on projects,kind of what's in the works?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Yeah, well, actually what I'm working on now.
So I, so I, you know I have abook called how to Stress Less
and have More Fun with your Kids.
Oh that's fun, yeah.
And then I put together this,this course, which took a lot of
years.
You know it's 14 songs and youknow and and these and there's,
there's videos and there's allthis stuff to put together the
course.
But I wanted it to be verysimple, very easy.
(25:09):
Parents could watch like athree minute video and be like,
oh, I can go do that with my kidnow, you know.
And so the thing I'm working onright now is when the pandemic
hit, I started a show with mydaughter, who was five years old
at the time and called ParksParty Central.
It was an interactive live show.
It was music and games andactivities and just silliness
(25:31):
and comedy so that people couldcome and just have some joy
during a very, very difficulttime.
And I'm going back, we did.
We ended up doing 70 episodes,but I'm I'm going back now and
looking back at these episodesbecause every episode we my
daughter and I did activitiesthat they were just really silly
but super fun, activities thatparents could do with their kids
(25:54):
.
So I'm I'm in the process ofwriting a book called the Park
to Party Central Activity Bookthat parents can do these things
with their kids.
So they'll get to read aboutwhat the activities are.
They'll be able to click on alink and it'll be the little
clip from the show of mydaughter and I doing these
really fun, silly activities.
So that's something I'm workingon right now.
(26:14):
I just, you know, I'm just.
I think the world getstransformed when there's more
love and connection in it, youknow, and the world needs more
love and connection, and and sothat's, you know, I know, like
my gift was not to cure canceror anything like that.
My gift is to work with kidsand work with parents, and I'm
leaning all the way into itthrough the music and through my
(26:35):
own experiences as a coach ofparents as well.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I love that and thank you so much for your work as
well, because it is it is suchan important part of, and when
people see the value that it canbring to their lives, it's just
it's priceless, really Gosh.
I like totally had something,and then you know.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Well, I wanted to thank you, too, for the work
that you're doing because youknow it, it is really important
that parents who have kids ofspecial needs have a place where
they can again like realizethey're not alone.
You know, and and I just thinkit's it's a very common
experience as a as a long-timecamp director.
I just ended my camp directorcareer just about a year ago but
(27:21):
.
But I directed summer camps for27 summers and you know there
were a lot of kids who came tomy camp who were on the spectrum
or had special needs, and youknow we were talking earlier
about places where you can go,where you can just be yourself
and be accepted, and that wasone thing that I really prided
myself on.
(27:41):
My camp's focus was on creatingcommunities where that could
happen.
You know, I remember I had onekid on the spectrum who he used
to come to camp every daywearing a bow tie and a Home
Depot apron, right, and you canimagine in other spaces a kid
like that would get bullied,would get teased, and one of the
things I'm most proud of is tocreate spaces where a kid like
(28:04):
that can come to camp like thatand be treated well, with
respect and be celebrated, andso I want to encourage parents I
know we're going to be comingup on summer months soon that
talk to camp.
If you're going to send yourkids to camp, you know it's
(28:26):
really important that our kidscan have spaces where they are
celebrated and they're cared forand there's a culture of
kindness.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
I couldn't agree more, andthat's what I was.
My my brain came back into playthere and I wanted to just
challenge my audience.
I want to challenge theteachers and the afterschool
teacher programs and the coachesand outside of parenting to use
(28:55):
this program as well.
Why not?
Why not be able to reach yourstudents in a new way that would
be engaging and fun andcreative?
So not only for you parents outthere listening, but also
professionals that you knowmight work with children, or, if
you not even the children, Imean even the young adults and
(29:18):
the, you know, autistic adults.
I don't think that there's anage that music can't be
effective for a person.
So one to 99, go ahead and giveit a try.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
I agree, I think people who are, you know,
teachers or even grandparents oranybody who's working with kids
, will will benefit from this alot.
And you know, one of the songsthat um that I wrote is called
give and get and um, and it's.
I'm also a firm believer ineducation, you know, and I would
often like, at the camp that Iused to run, we would, we had a
(29:55):
lot of kids on the spectrum andI'd bring parents in or um, we'd
even have autistic kidsthemselves talk about what it's
like to be autistic and reallyeducate, so that these kids then
they were, they were known,they were seen and they were,
they were cared for, and so ifthey did behaviors that were a
little bit out of the norm, theother campers had an
understanding and they, they'dbe kind about it.
(30:18):
But this song give and get, youknow one, you know, one of the
lines in there is that we allhave special needs, right,
because and we all do somepeople need more sleep or less
sleep, some people have peanutallergies, some people need, you
know, have sensory stuff goingon, like, we all have stuff that
make us a little bit different,a little bit unique, and when
we could dig into that commonhumanity.
(30:39):
I think it makes a big, bigdifference.
But that that song is also partof the part of the course too
and it was just great hearing awhole community, you know,
singing the song of really ofcompassion, understanding isn't
that the truth?
Speaker 1 (30:56):
I'm so grateful for that and I look forward to going
and following on those YouTubechannels and everything and
checking it out.
So I'll be doing that.
Please go and do that as well.
If you're listening, if you'rewatching, you can see the
website I just put up,parentingharmonycom.
You can go there to get Craig'sinformation, to go see all of
(31:22):
his projects and services thathe has available.
So don't miss out.
You know, make theseconnections with your kiddos as
quickly as you can, becausereally fostering connections
with your child is so important.
(31:43):
Connections with your child isso important and your child will
be so grateful when they'reolder and they realize that you
took the time to form thismeaningful connection with them.
So please take the time to dothat.
Parents, craig, thank you somuch for your time today.
This has been a wonderful,wonderful half hour to spend
with you and I hope we can stayin touch.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
I hope so too.
Thank you, Sarah.
It's been a real pleasure beingwith you.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
In the heart of a city.
She's shining bright.
Oh yeah, stories of love andcourage All throughout the night
, her voice resonating An anthemfor all.
Through trials and trials, sheanswers the call.
A mother and a fighter,breaking barriers and strife,
(32:43):
with love as her guide.
She'll never hide.
She's changing the world foryou With her heart and speech
and strong Empathies and melody.
In her journey we all belong.
Followers gather Like stars inthe night.
(33:04):
So bright, 44,000 voicessharing in the light.
She stands for family,advocates for more Movement of
compassion, ways we'll soarPodcasts together, symphony of
support In life change andrapport.
She's changing the world foryou With her heart.
(33:29):
That's fierce and strong.
Hypothese and melody A journeywe all belong Through her eyes,
a vision clear.
Together we rise, sheddingfears In every heart.
She plants the seed Ofunderstanding and love for
dearly me.
She changed the world for you,thank you.
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