November 24, 2025 • 34 mins
In episode 211 of Your Child is Normal, Abdullah, Emaad, Zain, and Qasim Ansari (Brothers spaning the ages of 10 to 17) hosts of the Holistic Kids Show podcast, share their journey of creating a podcast focused on health and wellness for teens. They discuss the importance of hydration, the impact of technology and social media, and effective parenting strategies. The conversation emphasizes the need for independence in children while maintaining a balance with guidance. The Ansari brothers also highlight the significance of healthy eating habits and spending time in nature. Their insights are backed by their experiences and the knowledge gained from interviewing experts in the field. They conclude by promoting their upcoming book, which aims to educate teens and parents alike on health and wellness.
Follow: The Holistic Kids Show to listen to "kids empowering kids".
Book The Teen Health Revolution, coming out Dec 11th! https://theteenhealthrevolution.com/
Your Child is Normal is the trusted podcast for parents, pediatricians, and child health experts who want smart, nuanced conversations about raising healthy, resilient kids. Hosted by Dr. Jessica Hochman — a board-certified practicing pediatrician — the show combines evidence-based medicine, expert interviews, and real-world parenting advice to help listeners navigate everything from sleep struggles to mental health, nutrition, screen time, and more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Hi everyone, and welcome back to your child is
(00:02):
normal. I'm your host. DrJessica Hochman, so today's
episode is a little bitdifferent, but in the best way.
Instead of interviewing anotheradult expert, I'm talking to
four kids who become their ownkind of health experts. The
brothers behind the holistickids show podcast, they've
recorded almost 200 episodesinterviewing New York Times,
best selling authors and topdoctors all about how to live a
(00:23):
healthy, happy life naturally.
And now they've turned whatthey've learned into a new book,
The teen health revolution, andit's coming out December 11. I
wanted to have them on becauseas parents, we spend so much
time talking about teens, sotoday we're talking to teens
directly about the challengesthey're facing with phones,
food, friends and everything inbetween. They share simple,
thoughtful ideas, and I reallyloved hearing their perspective.
(00:45):
And if you can please leave afive star review for your child
as normal. It helps the podcastreach more families, and all the
reviews are greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for joiningyour child as normal.
It's really been out. Yeah, youdon't understand how honored we
are for this.
That's so nice of you guys. Nowwill you tell everybody your
(01:06):
names and how oldyou are? So I'm Abdullah, I'm
17, I'mImad, I'm 12, and I'm Zane, I'm
14, and I'm Casa and I'm 10.
So I have to tell you, I've beenreally looking forward to this
conversation. A little bit ofthis is self serving for me,
because I'm a mom of three kidsthat are your ages, and so I'm
(01:26):
hoping to learn from you guyshow I can better parent my own
children.
And we're excited to share thisinformation, because right now,
so many teens and even parentsare uneducated on certain
topics, especially when it comesto living a good life,
naturally.
Okay, so you have your ownpodcast, and you guys have
recorded almost 200 episodes.
Tell everybody about yourpodcast and maybe touch on how
(01:49):
you think you've grown by doinga podcast.
So this was back in covid time,and our mom was telling us that
you guys have so much time onyour hands, why not do something
beneficial? And so we startedthis podcast, originally, to
teach others and ask questionsthat we had on living a natural
(02:12):
wildlife. And so basically, oncewe started doing it, we started
learning so much. And this waswhen I was 12, and then he was
nine, and so as kids,interviewing adults and asking
the questions that were burningin our head, we were able to
actually better ourselves. Fromthere on out, 200 podcasts
(02:34):
later, we have a book, and it'sbeen an amazing journey, and
we've learned so muchthat's amazing. And do you feel
like you've learned a lot abouthealth by doing these podcasts
a lot? Yeah, yes, especiallyinterviewing all of these
experts, just learning more indepth of each of these subjects,
really let us learn and let ouraudience learn more about each
(02:56):
of these topics.
Plus, these were New York Timesbestsellers. These were renowned
experts, best selling authors,and the list just goes on and on
and on and like, how can you notlearn something spending half an
hour each week with someoneamazing like that? And so as
kids, it helped with our schoollife. It helps with our personal
life, emotionally, mentally, andanytime we had a question, we
(03:19):
were able to ask it, and so it'sbeen amazing.
Now I'd love to ask each of you,can you give an example of an
interview that you had where theadvice that you were given
actually has been implemented inyour life and changed it and
improved it for the better,a big and important one. I mean,
there's been plenty, but onethat I remember specifically
talks more about hydration backthen, especially me, I didn't
(03:44):
drink as much water, but as Istarted becoming more of a
teenager, the podcast helped merealize how water is so
important for the body, and howmuch I should really start
implementing it into mylifestyle. So now I drink lots
of glasses of water per day, andI'm very passionate about just
(04:05):
drinking water. And if youraudience
is interested in what that exacttip was, whenever you are
sitting down somewhere, or whenyou're going to work or anytime,
just bring a water bottle withyou. It'll always remind you to
drink water. And I know,especially for me as well, that
tip helped benefit me so much,because, let's be honest, we
(04:26):
don't really remember to drinkwater until we're thirsty. So
just having the water bottlethere, it's like a game changer.
There's another one about natureto like, get get outside and
like, go play and like, go innature for vitamin D.
Do you think you go outside moresince hearing that advice? Yeah,
(04:47):
I get morning sunshine. Morningsunshine is also good,
beautiful.
Then Abdullah. Do you have afavorite podcast that you feel
like has changed your life forthe better?
So obviously, there's been so.
Many favorite podcasts, 200plus. But I think, honestly, one
of the ones that's probablychanged me and helped me the
most was when it came to techlimits, because we interviewed
(05:10):
somebody, and they werebasically saying, when you go to
sleep, instead of keeping yourphone next to your bed, where
you might pick it up and check amessage, and then two hours
later, you're doing scrolling,and you don't even know what
time it is anymore, and you'regoing to sleep at 3am they said,
Keep the phone in likedownstairs on the counter, or
put it on gray screen, anythingthat can help you protect
(05:33):
yourself from your addiction toyour phone. And I think just
hearing that, and then lookingat the world around me and
looking at in high school howaddicted kids are to technology
and how especially iPhones andsocial media, just hearing
something as simple as that andrealizing how much of a change
that could be for teens, itreally blew my mind how nobody
(05:53):
is taught that information rightnow, nobody is really saying to
keep social Media before 16,that no one should have a
smartphone before high school.
And this should be commonknowledge. The kids literally
have phones in elementary middleschool.
I see people like phones at sixyears old, which is crazy.
(06:13):
What I'm loving hearing aboutyour interviews and the podcast
interviews you've done is I feellike as a parent, I'm telling my
kids information, and I hopethat they're listening, but I
sometimes feel like I'mlecturing or nagging, and I want
them to come to this knowledgeand understanding on their own.
And where I feel like your momis really smart is she's having
(06:34):
other people talk to you aboutthis very wise information, and
so you're learning it, andyou're seeking it and doing it
without your parents tellingyou, so maybe all of us should
have our kids start a podcast.
Maybe that's the answer.
I think, yeah, you're completelyright. Teens hate listening to
adults, and so for us, what ourmom used to do that helped,
(06:54):
especially when I was younger,and like 1516, you know, a
little bit more hormonal. Whatreally helped me, what our mom
used to do, what she used toteach us, why? What are the
effects of going on your phoneand doom scrolling? She's just
like, Don't you feel bad? Anddon't you feel groggy after you
waste all that time, after yourealize that you've just been
(07:15):
sitting there doing nothing theentire time as a teenager, just
reflecting on that and beinglike, Oh yeah, that's 100%
right. It was if we were able tochange our life. One pearl of
wisdom I'll drop from our mom isthat she used to always tell me,
when I first got my phone,always go on your phone with a
purpose, and from there on, nowit's completely changed the way
(07:36):
I've seen my phone.
I think that's fantastic advice,to go on your phone with a
purpose. I like that. I'm goingto use that. Okay. So, Abdullah,
I love that you said that youknow that social media should be
reserved for 16 and later, andthat you feel okay with that
recommendation, becausesometimes I feel like that can
be a battle between parents andkids. So teen to teen talk. How
(07:59):
would you explain to a teenthat's good for them?
Teens, they're addicted, andit'll be so much more helpful
when they can break free of thisaddiction, and when they spend
all this time on the device,they lose their hobbies, and
(08:19):
they stop doing a lot of thethings that they used to do that
they love because of thisaddiction. And when you're
addicted to social media, youstart losing so much time that
could have been used for so muchbetter things. So I just think
that if teens can understand,just get off because they're
(08:40):
addicted and to do somethingbetter with their life. And
plus, we have to realize thatright now, teens are living on a
leash. 96% of Gen Z ers say thatthey can't go to the bathroom
without their phones. It's a bigproblem. And right now, 91% of
teens own a smartphone by 14.
And so, you know, we have anentire universe of information
(09:01):
in pockets. And honestly, we'rejust overexposed. As a teen, a
14 year old, having all thatinformation at once, a lot of
teens don't know how to managethat, and then they start, you
know, experimenting with stuff,and they start going down
different paths. And so that'swhy teaching your teen to manage
this smartphone, you know, putlimits on it. Keep it away from
(09:22):
their bed when they go to sleep.
Teach them that actually, mentalhealth issues are on the rise,
depression, anxiety. Threefourths of adolescents right now
are facing depression andanxiety, and a lot of these are
directly connected to socialmedia and cell phone use. And
I'm just curious if you guys arefacing this challenge, but what
(09:43):
I hear as a pediatrician from alot of my teenage patients is
that they want to be off socialmedia, but the way all of their
friends communicate is onSnapchat, for example. You know
I heard today, oh, my friendsdon't text anymore. Everything's
on Snapchat, and they don't wantto be a part. From their
friends. They want to be part ofthings, but Snapchat is social
(10:04):
media, and they can see whereall their friends are. They can
see the location of theirfriends, and they'll feel bad if
their friends are all togetherand they're not part of what's
happening. And I think it's hardfor a lot of teens, because they
know on one hand that it canmake them feel bad, but on the
other hand, that's the way alltheir friends are talking. So
what's your advice for teensthat are in this situation?
(10:26):
So honestly, like seeing ourfriends, I 100% see with my
friends as well. And just likeany addiction, you were not
telling people to changeovernight. And so honestly, for
them, take it step by step. Whenyou go on to Snapchat and you
text them, do what you need todo on Snapchat. Go on there for
a purpose, but as soon as you'redone doing that, put the phone
(10:47):
down. And so the best way forany of these teens to do it
would just be going step bystep. Maybe go on the phone 30
minutes for doing your socialmedia, whatever, or an hour if
you want to do that, and thenslowly but surely cut that down.
And then eventually you'll startfeeling yourself not needing or
(11:07):
wanting to be on your phone asmuch. So basically, all the kids
in my school, or like a lot ofmy friends, they're all talking
on, let's just say, Snapchat ortext or something like or on
these different types of socialmedia platforms, but I'm not
really a part of them, but I'mstill their friend, because I
can find the time away from thephone and just talk to them in
(11:28):
person, instead of always havingto constantly go on the phone
and talk to them through that.
That way I find the time and Italk to them in person.
I think day ailing back littleby little, I think is great
advice. I also think just notstarting in the first place is
(11:50):
really advantageous, because youdon't have a bad habit to break,
right? You're not addicted. AndI think the more that parents
can delay having kids have easyaccess to the internet, have
easy access to social mediabeing on their phone all the
time. I think that's also reallyhelpful.
I just want to put this outthere that these phones were
designed to keep you stuck onthem. They were basically
(12:10):
designed to manipulate you inorder to make you keep wanting
to stay on their product, keepwanting to scroll and scroll and
use their apps and use theirdevices, because in the future,
what's going to happen if all ofa sudden, because they've been
doing that, it's affecting theirmental health, their physical
health. So make the decisionnow. Don't wait until they're
adults and as a teen, we have tostart now.
(12:33):
It's true that a lot ofaddictive habits are formed in
your teenage years. If you wantto be a good piano player,
practicing when you're ateenager is a great time. If you
want to have good habits withhabits with eating, practicing
that when you're a teenager is agood time if you want to get
addicted to video games andscreen time or bad habits like
smoking, these habits getestablished in those teenage
years. So I think delaying badaddictive habits is really
(12:56):
smart. So what about the flipside? Are there any good sides
of technology that maybe parentsoverlook or don't quite
understand that they can behelpful for
kids. We'd be crazy to say thatsocial media and all this kind
of stuff hasn't done goodthings. It's been something
that's helped so many peoplearound the world. I mean, both
of us are on social media.
That's what we have to focus on,using social media for good and
(13:18):
and with a purpose, yeah, and ifyou're not, that's where things
need to change. And I'mso appreciative that you brought
that up, because sometimes Ifeel hypocritical because I'm on
social media, I'm promoting mypodcast, I'm talking about
health and children, but at thesame time, I don't want my kids
on social media. And I think thedistinction you're right is that
you want to use it for good. Youwant to use it for purpose. And
(13:40):
I think if you do it for it forgood reason, then I think it can
be beneficial.
Definitely. We just don't wantto be stuck on it. Because just
ask yourself, when you're goingthrough it, do you feel stuck?
Do you feel like it'scontrolling you? And if the
answer is yes, do somethingabout it.
I can see that video games, forexample, in my house, we don't
(14:01):
have video games, and my sonsometimes feels left out of
social gatherings. You know, alot of his friends will play on
video games over the internet,and they socialize that way.
What I feel is, I don't mind ifhe plays them at his friend's
house, like, if they're togetherin person and they're playing a
game and they're actuallysocially interacting, that feels
better to me than doing it notphysically in the same room. Do
(14:25):
you have any feelings aboutgetting together with friends
and being on media as well?
Yeah, definitely, especiallybecause I saw this study or
something and it said, like 70%of the conversations that
teenage boys are about or onvideo games, which is kind of
crazy to think, because it'smainly about video games, and I
(14:46):
can see this too, especiallywhen you're alone in your rooms,
just talking through that way,you don't feel the sense of real
connection. Instead, it's justthrough the video game or
through your avatar you. So whenyou're in the same room
together, there's a sense ofmore connection. And instead,
you're still going to be on thegame, but have a person there.
(15:11):
Just say, if you need if youtake a break, then you have
someone to talk to.
And the thing is, we don't havean Xbox or a PS five or any or
Nintendo or anything like that.
But when you do go to a cousin'shouse, which is maybe once a
month, or once every two months,they have one we do love
interacting with them, and it'sa way for us to bond, especially
with our cousin. Obviously,there's limits where you don't
(15:31):
want to spend six, seven hoursin your basement alone, just
staying on a video game,isolated in a dark room. That,
on the other hand, that's aproblem. Yeah,
that's exactly the kind ofscreen time that I would
encourage for families. If itfeels social, it feels like it's
fun, okay, you know? Butobviously, if it's too many
hours, the kids eyes arehurting, they're seeing blurry
(15:53):
that point that seems like toomuch.
Like we don't eat so much Ultraprocessed foods, because we know
the harmful effects that it willdo. So why would we want to put
it into her? Put it into ourbody, and that we also for
screens. We know why we're notgoing to be doing eight hours of
screen time, because it'sdestructive for our brain. And
(16:14):
when you know why you yourselfare motivated to help yourself,
we don't want to become likepeople who do spend eight hours
and we see them at school, andwe've seen what it does, and so
we don't want to go down thatpath as well. So we don't ever
go overboard. They're not yourrole models, exactly,
yes. And so we have, we've hadgood role models. Our mom has
(16:35):
been amazing, and we've seen herput restrictions on their self
when it comes to devices, and Ithink that also helps a lot for
any parent out there. Honestly,one of the biggest things and
best things you can do is be agood role, role model for your
teen or your kid, because wedon't listen to you, but we do
see what you do. And so ifyou're constantly playing video
(16:55):
games or you're constantly onyour phone, then we're going to
start to be like, okay, my daddoes it, or my mom does it, it
might be good for us. Or ifyou're constantly eating the
wrong kinds of foods, then we'redefinitely going to notice that,
and it's definitely going tohave an effect
on us. So I like that youmentioned Ultra processed foods,
and that you're self motivatedto avoid them. I'd love to talk
(17:15):
more about this, because I knowa lot of families where they
battle about that. Can youdescribe to parents listening,
what did you learn about howthese foods affect your body and
mood? Because I love that youyou on your own want to avoid
them.
So first of all, I used to have,you know, my favorite food,
believe it or not, was FlamingHot Cheetos and Fanta. 10 years
(17:35):
ago. Those are my absolutefavorites. And then 10 years
later, now it's, I don't missany of that. And all it took was
me recognizing how I felt when Ihad those foods. And we've
learned that, first of all,ultra processed foods, they are
directly linked to chronicdisease. They're directly linked
to hurting our gut bugs, leadingto sickness and disease mental
(17:59):
illnesses on the rise because ofultra processed foods, and we
know last thing we want 20 yearsdown the line, even 10 years
down the line, to be living withpre diabetes, to be living with
a chronic disease, to haveeczema, to have sinus issues all
the time, to live in a body thatwe don't want to live in. And so
well, that's especially for me,that's one of the biggest
(18:20):
motivators. And I think any kid,any teen, nobody wants to live
without health. Nobody wants tolive addicted to something.
Nobody wants to live like that.
And for us, we feel free. Ithink it
takes a lot of maturity tounderstand that eating healthy
will lead to a healthier lifefor the years and years and
(18:41):
years ahead of you, I think isgood advice. Now, speaking of
advice, one place that I havetrouble with is convincing my
kids to try some fruits andvegetables to make healthier
choices. So if you could giveparents one tip to make healthy
eating easier at home, whatwould it be?
Honestly, my mom told us to godown the list and we're hungry,
right? So we're like, Oh, she'llbe like, oh, did you have your
(19:04):
vegetables? And like, No. Andshe's like, Oh, do you have your
protein? I'm like, Oh no, yourcarb? And then like, Oh no, she
had to go down the list. So Iwould have vegetable first, then
protein as, like, the mainsource. And then we also would
have had carb for me, like alittle treat. You can make food
like fun, like, you can put likefruits into a very fun thing.
(19:30):
Like our mom, she used to makesmoothies out of fruits. And,
like, she used to make it sothat, because a lot of people,
when they think about eatinggood, real food, they think, Oh,
my God, they're you're punishingme by giving me vegetables and
stuff. In reality, there's somany different good vegetables
besides the classic broccoli andBrussels sprouts and carrots,
and there's tons of vegetablesthat we thought that we might
(19:53):
never enjoy, but we actuallyended up enjoying a lot.
So just making food fun like we.
To leave realize that, you know,our mom's putting mushrooms and
dandelion greens and, like, allthese different types of
supplements and all thesedifferent types of vegetables
into the delicious smoothies shemakes. And it's like, hidden,
right? Like we're getting allthese nutrients without really
(20:16):
tasting all of these vegetables.
So, yeah, I guess smoothies is agood way of hiding things.
I agree. I think smoothies are ahit. That's a good way to get a
lot of nutrients into one meal.
Yeah, I also think, like, whatgossip was talking about? Like
you having fun with it, becauseeverybody just thinks about
(20:38):
broccoli and broccoli sprouts.
Now, that's all right, but it isso much more like there's fruits
and vegetables, but each fruitsand vegetable, with their color,
helps a different way. So like,you can have fun with eating
while still getting thosenutrients. Like red lowers
inflammation. Orange helpsreproductive and eye health.
Yellow actually helps digestivehealth, green with
(21:00):
detoxification, blue and blackwith the brain
health. That sounds amazing. SoI guess my question is to follow
up on your point about making itfun and now knowing all the
benefits that come fromdifferent colors in your diet,
how would you suggest making itmore fun at mealtime, like
having a competition? Who couldhave one of each. Or what would
(21:21):
you suggestyou could do that, but talk to
someone the podcast, like themainland talking about rainbow
stuff. And then she was, like,you can try to jot down, did you
have this? Did you have that?
And make a race and like, whocan have all the colors in one
day? I just really thought thatwas kind of fun way to put it.
Yeah.
So some sort of competition orcontest, I could see how that
(21:41):
would be fun. Okay, this isgreat, so I will definitely take
this advice. And what I'm reallylearning from you guys is that
education has really helped yoube motivated to make good
choices. So that's fantastic.
Now, okay, big question I have,where I struggle as a parent,
where I want to help my kids?
I'd love to hear from you what'sthe best way for parents to tell
their kids and give themfeedback that they want to see
(22:04):
different behavior. For example,let's say you guys fight. How do
you want your parents to helpyou out in that situation?
Honestly, we're not perfect.
We're brothers. It's four orfive of us. We've definitely
fought sometimes. We've wrestledeach other. We've gotten some
stuff, and honestly, I don'tthink siblings can live with
each other and not fight. That'sjust something that it's
ingrained in every singlefamily.
(22:26):
When I see puppies get together,they're always rough housing and
playing. And I think, look,that's like my children one
time, my daughter even admittedto me that's their way of having
fun. They actually enjoy it alittle bit. So I agree with you.
It's bound to happen, but let'ssay it gets to a level that the
fighting is not fun anymore.
It's more than wrestling, andyour parents intervene as a kid.
How would you want your parentsto talk to you?
(22:48):
So our momtold us, like when we were
younger, because me and Zaneused to fight a lot, and she
said, treat the ways that youwant to be treated. So if I hit
Zan in the face, like, I don'twant to be him in the face
myself.
And she would also say, like,how do you think Zane feels
(23:10):
about that? So if something, if,like, a word, comes out that
something you know that wasn'tsupposed to come out, like, how
do you think they felt aboutthat? And that builds that
empathy, and now we're able tolike, feel and know when it gets
too far, and just like you mightsay, treat others the way you
want to be treated. And that wasour golden rule.
It sounds like your mom talkingto you about it after the fact
(23:32):
and sharing some good wisdom.
Did stick with you?
Yes, definitely. And especially,I mean, personally, as a
teenager and a kid, when yourparent can just listen to also
your emotions and how you feelabout something, and they can
advise on your emotions insteadof just thinking about
themselves and say, Oh, youshouldn't have done this,
(23:53):
because you know what, he mighthave gotten hurt, but maybe
instead understand why ateenager did This in the first
place, and how an adult couldmaybe help the situation. So I
think that would be helpful to akid or a teenager.
So what I heard you say is, ifyou're feeling feelings, you're
frustrated, you're sad, you haveemotions, and you want to talk
(24:14):
it out with your parent, whatyou like is, you want to hear
that your parent gets whereyou're coming from. Yeah, I
think that makes sense. I lovefeeling understood and heard. So
that makes a lot of sense to me,that it that a child would want
the same thing. That'swhy, for parents out there that
are listening to this, alwayswhen you're listening to a
teenager, listen to learn. Don'tlisten to a pop fly. And if we
(24:35):
can just learn to do that, therelationship between teens and
parents can becomes even morestronger,
and I think a lot of teenagers,they don't necessarily don't
like an adult. It's just thatthey just feel a little
overwhelmed, and they maybesometimes feel the need to rebel
(24:56):
because they don't fullyunderstand. So when, when the.
Parent and the teenager can justcome together and really just
talk and get on the same level,then a teenager and the parent
will have a much betterrelationship.
Plus, I'll add into that, asteenagers, we don't want our
parents just lecturing us. Wewant them there. We want them to
(25:18):
have their presence, not forthem to come and lecture us over
and over and over again, butjust to be there for us, be
there with us, and just tolisten to us and understand us.
So it sounds like in a lot ofsituations, you want to feel
like your parents support you bybeing present, by listening and
giving advice when you ask forit, but not necessarily
lecturing at you. Exactly, yes,yeah, parents tend to lecture,
(25:41):
right? I guess that's somethingthat we tend to do, yeah, yeah.
And then what about I'm curious,because there's a lot of parents
that I meet that have differentthoughts on how to discipline
kids. You know, some parents doa lot of grounding and taking
the phone away for a long timeand really doing a lot of
negative consequences. And thensome parents are really hands
off. They let their kids do alot, and they never discipline.
(26:03):
Thinking about how you guyswould want to be as parents now
that your children, what do youthink would be good advice for
parents when they want todiscipline their kids?
Honestly, you can't have anextreme on either side, and you
always want to have balance. Andif I think anytime you have
balance, you can never really gowrong.
Yes, I agree. Isn't that thetruth with life? Moderation
tends to be the answer to a lotof things. I think. Okay. Now,
(26:27):
earlier on the podcast, you weretalking about how some helpful
advice that you got from apodcast interview you did was
teaching you the benefit ofgoing outside into nature. I
agree with this completely, andI think my kids know this, but
sometimes the struggle I have asa parent is getting my kids out
the door as children. Do youhave any advice for kids to
(26:47):
encourage them to spend moretime outside? Is there something
fun or something that you thinkabout that makes it more fun and
enticing to spend time innature?
Honestly, I think for me, whenwe're younger, nature, like all
of us, we play games, like withsticks and like that makes it
more fun,yeah, and especially making it a
habit. So really, justscheduling at least, like,
(27:10):
couple hours that we can justspend in nature for a little bit
would definitely create abetter, easier way to ease a
teenager or a family into natureroutines.
I think scheduling would be goodfor my kids, because sometimes
if I tell them, Hey guys, let'sgo on a hike. We're going to
(27:31):
leave in 10 minutes, sometimesthat throws them off. But if I
give them advance warning, thisis what we're going to do on
Sunday. We're going to have anice family hike. We're going to
be joined by our cousins.
They're much more likely, Ithink, to be agreeable to do it.
So that's good advice.
Also, I feel like, like evensmall time is still good.
Doesn't need to be a five hourhike.
(27:52):
I completely agree. I thinksometimes in our heads, we think
it has to be this big, hugeadventure where we're gone for
hours and hours, but you'reright, just a little bit of time
goes a long way. You know? WhatI also find helps my kids is if
we do an adventure outdoors withtheir friends, then they are
much more motivated and excitedto have to spend time outdoors.
(28:13):
Yeah, I think because one of themain things is letting kids be
more free when they go outside,and having that freedom
definitely helps. It's superboring. If you're just gonna
walk in a straight line andyou're gonna go down the hike
like no kid wants to do that,I agree. And honestly, I think
feeling that freedom of beingwithout your parents is
important. So along those lines,do you feel like parents
(28:35):
nowadays worry too much, youknow, or try to control what
their kids do too much. Youknow, I grew up in the 80s and
the 90s, and parents didn'talways know where we were. And
now it seems like there's a lotmore that parents worry about,
that they try to control. Do youthink that's true, and do you
think that kids need moreindependence in general?
Honestly, I think independencewill always be good for kids,
(28:59):
but obviously, like we said,there's always a healthy
balance. Like our mom, sheisn't, she's not like a
helicopter parent, where she'slike, where are you what are you
doing at this time? What are youdoing at Winding with your
friends? Like, she'll ask,because, well, she's her mom,
but she's never, like, forcefulabout it. And if we're not able
to have some level of healthybalance with independence, how
(29:20):
can we be leaders in the world?
Because we all need to learn howto do things ourselves. I mean,
just having that healthybalance.
Okay, so now what I'd like to dois a quick lightning round of
questions. If you don't mindtaking turns, I'm going to ask
you some questions and then justgive me a quick, quick answer.
Okay, worst technologyadvancement for kids that's
available today, iPad kids,iPads, iPad kids, you said,
(29:44):
Yeah, because, honestly, theiPad, when I think about iPad,
because a lot of kids now, like,I see a lot of the young kids,
especially in Roblox, it is onthese the iPads, like, when
they're very young, and it'svery annoying to me.
You. Yes, it's true. And likeyou said, you can take the iPad.
The iPad can go anywhere. It'salways with kids at restaurants.
(30:06):
I see them all the time, andespecially from a very young
age. So I like that answer, allright. Favorite podcast guest,
you've interviewed our mom. Weinterviewed
our mom. One small healthy habitthat actually sticks,
drink hydration. Just wheneveryou wake up, just drink a glass
(30:30):
of water. Let's say, if you'rein a classroom the entire day,
like you're in a desk all day,just have a water bottle right
there so you can just drink atany time.
And also, one more reallyimportant thing that we love to
stress is gratitude. US teens,we're the most negative people
ever. I hate my life, I hateschool, I hate homework. Like,
we're pretty negative. And sogratitude helps us shift our
(30:52):
mindset from negative topositive. And let's be honest,
if we could have that mindset,we can do anything. So just
waking up saying, like, maybe ifyou have a few minutes, like,
when I go to onto the bus, justI'm grateful for my eyes, I'm
grateful for my ears, I'mgrateful for my parents. I'm
grateful for what happenedyesterday, even writing it down.
I know some people likeimplementing that into your
(31:14):
life. It's a life changer. Iagree, and I think that's true
for so many things in life, likethe bus, for example, you could
say, I have to go to the busagain. You know, I don't like
the bus. I have to wait for thebus. But if you can say, I'm so
grateful I get to relax on thebus. I'm so lucky. I'm on my way
to school. Anything you can turninto a positive because you're
right. Being stuck in thenegative, that's just not a
(31:36):
healthy way to exist.
You can't achieve anything whenyou're negative. Let's be
completely honest here. And noone wants one wants to be around
it. I find that the morepositive you are, you're gonna
attract that same energy intoyour life, and it's only gonna
make things better. It's greatthat you've learned that from
such a young age. Okay, mostoverrated health trend,
anything that they say that youknow what? This is gonna work
(31:58):
like, super fast. You know, ifyou just like, Take this, do
this, every day, you'll becomelike the most like, amazing
person. Like, that's notactually gonna
happen, no? So you don't likeany quick fixes,
yeah, especially if it's notexpert back, like you go on
Tiktok, there's a bunch ofrandom stuff. If it's the expert
back, it's just a waste of time.
(32:19):
One message you want everyparent to hear. Listen to teens.
Listen to us, listen to listenand understand. Don't listen to
reply.
One message you want every teento hear. Every
teen should invest in theirbody. It's the biggest
investment, because when yougrow up, you're going to regret
(32:40):
so much that you should havetaken more care of your body.
And when you start this habit,have these habits at a young
age, you can really grow yourfuture on from there.
And if you want to achieve atrue potential, that all starts
by taking care of your mentaland physical
health. And lastly, telleverybody, where can they find
(33:00):
your book?
So right now you can pre order.
It's coming out December 11, sodefinitely go check that out.
You can find it on the teenhealth revolution.com pre order
it. We have bonuses as well.
Barnes and Nobles, Amazon,everywhere, the
teen health revolution.com. Ilove it. And tell everybody who
is the book geared towards, isit for parents? Is it for teens?
(33:22):
Is it for kids, or is it foreverybody? It's for everybody,
but it's mainly targeting theteens. But also, parents can
also use itto educate their teens. This
book does not exclude any age,yeah.
Also with jokes. I had thejokes,
yeah. And we have some reallygood illustrations by
me, and it's all expert backed.
And at the end of each chapterwe have, what do the holistic
(33:46):
kids do? So it's all practicalthings anybody can really do.
I'm very happy for you guys. I'mreally happy for your mom and
your family, and I love thatyou've created something so
meaningful that you're gonna putout there. So congratulations,
and I can't waitto read it. We're so honored.
Yeah, we had so much fun on thispodcast. Thank you so much.
Thankyou for listening, and I hope
(34:06):
you enjoyed this week's episodeof your child is normal. Also,
if you could take a moment andleave a five star review,
wherever it is you listen topodcasts, I would greatly
appreciate it. It really makes adifference to help this podcast
grow.
Hi everyone, and welcome back to your child is
(00:02):
normal. I'm your host. DrJessica Hochman, so today's
episode is a little bitdifferent, but in the best way.
Instead of interviewing anotheradult expert, I'm talking to
four kids who become their ownkind of health experts. The
brothers behind the holistickids show podcast, they've
recorded almost 200 episodesinterviewing New York Times,
best selling authors and topdoctors all about how to live a
(00:23):
healthy, happy life naturally.
And now they've turned whatthey've learned into a new book,
The teen health revolution, andit's coming out December 11. I
wanted to have them on becauseas parents, we spend so much
time talking about teens, sotoday we're talking to teens
directly about the challengesthey're facing with phones,
food, friends and everything inbetween. They share simple,
thoughtful ideas, and I reallyloved hearing their perspective.
(00:45):
And if you can please leave afive star review for your child
as normal. It helps the podcastreach more families, and all the
reviews are greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for joiningyour child as normal.
It's really been out. Yeah, youdon't understand how honored we
are for this.
That's so nice of you guys. Nowwill you tell everybody your
(01:06):
names and how oldyou are? So I'm Abdullah, I'm
17, I'mImad, I'm 12, and I'm Zane, I'm
14, and I'm Casa and I'm 10.
So I have to tell you, I've beenreally looking forward to this
conversation. A little bit ofthis is self serving for me,
because I'm a mom of three kidsthat are your ages, and so I'm
(01:26):
hoping to learn from you guyshow I can better parent my own
children.
And we're excited to share thisinformation, because right now,
so many teens and even parentsare uneducated on certain
topics, especially when it comesto living a good life,
naturally.
Okay, so you have your ownpodcast, and you guys have
recorded almost 200 episodes.
Tell everybody about yourpodcast and maybe touch on how
(01:49):
you think you've grown by doinga podcast.
So this was back in covid time,and our mom was telling us that
you guys have so much time onyour hands, why not do something
beneficial? And so we startedthis podcast, originally, to
teach others and ask questionsthat we had on living a natural
(02:12):
wildlife. And so basically, oncewe started doing it, we started
learning so much. And this waswhen I was 12, and then he was
nine, and so as kids,interviewing adults and asking
the questions that were burningin our head, we were able to
actually better ourselves. Fromthere on out, 200 podcasts
(02:34):
later, we have a book, and it'sbeen an amazing journey, and
we've learned so muchthat's amazing. And do you feel
like you've learned a lot abouthealth by doing these podcasts
a lot? Yeah, yes, especiallyinterviewing all of these
experts, just learning more indepth of each of these subjects,
really let us learn and let ouraudience learn more about each
(02:56):
of these topics.
Plus, these were New York Timesbestsellers. These were renowned
experts, best selling authors,and the list just goes on and on
and on and like, how can you notlearn something spending half an
hour each week with someoneamazing like that? And so as
kids, it helped with our schoollife. It helps with our personal
life, emotionally, mentally, andanytime we had a question, we
(03:19):
were able to ask it, and so it'sbeen amazing.
Now I'd love to ask each of you,can you give an example of an
interview that you had where theadvice that you were given
actually has been implemented inyour life and changed it and
improved it for the better,a big and important one. I mean,
there's been plenty, but onethat I remember specifically
talks more about hydration backthen, especially me, I didn't
(03:44):
drink as much water, but as Istarted becoming more of a
teenager, the podcast helped merealize how water is so
important for the body, and howmuch I should really start
implementing it into mylifestyle. So now I drink lots
of glasses of water per day, andI'm very passionate about just
(04:05):
drinking water. And if youraudience
is interested in what that exacttip was, whenever you are
sitting down somewhere, or whenyou're going to work or anytime,
just bring a water bottle withyou. It'll always remind you to
drink water. And I know,especially for me as well, that
tip helped benefit me so much,because, let's be honest, we
(04:26):
don't really remember to drinkwater until we're thirsty. So
just having the water bottlethere, it's like a game changer.
There's another one about natureto like, get get outside and
like, go play and like, go innature for vitamin D.
Do you think you go outside moresince hearing that advice? Yeah,
(04:47):
I get morning sunshine. Morningsunshine is also good,
beautiful.
Then Abdullah. Do you have afavorite podcast that you feel
like has changed your life forthe better?
So obviously, there's been so.
Many favorite podcasts, 200plus. But I think, honestly, one
of the ones that's probablychanged me and helped me the
most was when it came to techlimits, because we interviewed
(05:10):
somebody, and they werebasically saying, when you go to
sleep, instead of keeping yourphone next to your bed, where
you might pick it up and check amessage, and then two hours
later, you're doing scrolling,and you don't even know what
time it is anymore, and you'regoing to sleep at 3am they said,
Keep the phone in likedownstairs on the counter, or
put it on gray screen, anythingthat can help you protect
(05:33):
yourself from your addiction toyour phone. And I think just
hearing that, and then lookingat the world around me and
looking at in high school howaddicted kids are to technology
and how especially iPhones andsocial media, just hearing
something as simple as that andrealizing how much of a change
that could be for teens, itreally blew my mind how nobody
(05:53):
is taught that information rightnow, nobody is really saying to
keep social Media before 16,that no one should have a
smartphone before high school.
And this should be commonknowledge. The kids literally
have phones in elementary middleschool.
I see people like phones at sixyears old, which is crazy.
(06:13):
What I'm loving hearing aboutyour interviews and the podcast
interviews you've done is I feellike as a parent, I'm telling my
kids information, and I hopethat they're listening, but I
sometimes feel like I'mlecturing or nagging, and I want
them to come to this knowledgeand understanding on their own.
And where I feel like your momis really smart is she's having
(06:34):
other people talk to you aboutthis very wise information, and
so you're learning it, andyou're seeking it and doing it
without your parents tellingyou, so maybe all of us should
have our kids start a podcast.
Maybe that's the answer.
I think, yeah, you're completelyright. Teens hate listening to
adults, and so for us, what ourmom used to do that helped,
(06:54):
especially when I was younger,and like 1516, you know, a
little bit more hormonal. Whatreally helped me, what our mom
used to do, what she used toteach us, why? What are the
effects of going on your phoneand doom scrolling? She's just
like, Don't you feel bad? Anddon't you feel groggy after you
waste all that time, after yourealize that you've just been
(07:15):
sitting there doing nothing theentire time as a teenager, just
reflecting on that and beinglike, Oh yeah, that's 100%
right. It was if we were able tochange our life. One pearl of
wisdom I'll drop from our mom isthat she used to always tell me,
when I first got my phone,always go on your phone with a
purpose, and from there on, nowit's completely changed the way
(07:36):
I've seen my phone.
I think that's fantastic advice,to go on your phone with a
purpose. I like that. I'm goingto use that. Okay. So, Abdullah,
I love that you said that youknow that social media should be
reserved for 16 and later, andthat you feel okay with that
recommendation, becausesometimes I feel like that can
be a battle between parents andkids. So teen to teen talk. How
(07:59):
would you explain to a teenthat's good for them?
Teens, they're addicted, andit'll be so much more helpful
when they can break free of thisaddiction, and when they spend
all this time on the device,they lose their hobbies, and
(08:19):
they stop doing a lot of thethings that they used to do that
they love because of thisaddiction. And when you're
addicted to social media, youstart losing so much time that
could have been used for so muchbetter things. So I just think
that if teens can understand,just get off because they're
(08:40):
addicted and to do somethingbetter with their life. And
plus, we have to realize thatright now, teens are living on a
leash. 96% of Gen Z ers say thatthey can't go to the bathroom
without their phones. It's a bigproblem. And right now, 91% of
teens own a smartphone by 14.
And so, you know, we have anentire universe of information
(09:01):
in pockets. And honestly, we'rejust overexposed. As a teen, a
14 year old, having all thatinformation at once, a lot of
teens don't know how to managethat, and then they start, you
know, experimenting with stuff,and they start going down
different paths. And so that'swhy teaching your teen to manage
this smartphone, you know, putlimits on it. Keep it away from
(09:22):
their bed when they go to sleep.
Teach them that actually, mentalhealth issues are on the rise,
depression, anxiety. Threefourths of adolescents right now
are facing depression andanxiety, and a lot of these are
directly connected to socialmedia and cell phone use. And
I'm just curious if you guys arefacing this challenge, but what
(09:43):
I hear as a pediatrician from alot of my teenage patients is
that they want to be off socialmedia, but the way all of their
friends communicate is onSnapchat, for example. You know
I heard today, oh, my friendsdon't text anymore. Everything's
on Snapchat, and they don't wantto be a part. From their
friends. They want to be part ofthings, but Snapchat is social
(10:04):
media, and they can see whereall their friends are. They can
see the location of theirfriends, and they'll feel bad if
their friends are all togetherand they're not part of what's
happening. And I think it's hardfor a lot of teens, because they
know on one hand that it canmake them feel bad, but on the
other hand, that's the way alltheir friends are talking. So
what's your advice for teensthat are in this situation?
(10:26):
So honestly, like seeing ourfriends, I 100% see with my
friends as well. And just likeany addiction, you were not
telling people to changeovernight. And so honestly, for
them, take it step by step. Whenyou go on to Snapchat and you
text them, do what you need todo on Snapchat. Go on there for
a purpose, but as soon as you'redone doing that, put the phone
(10:47):
down. And so the best way forany of these teens to do it
would just be going step bystep. Maybe go on the phone 30
minutes for doing your socialmedia, whatever, or an hour if
you want to do that, and thenslowly but surely cut that down.
And then eventually you'll startfeeling yourself not needing or
(11:07):
wanting to be on your phone asmuch. So basically, all the kids
in my school, or like a lot ofmy friends, they're all talking
on, let's just say, Snapchat ortext or something like or on
these different types of socialmedia platforms, but I'm not
really a part of them, but I'mstill their friend, because I
can find the time away from thephone and just talk to them in
(11:28):
person, instead of always havingto constantly go on the phone
and talk to them through that.
That way I find the time and Italk to them in person.
I think day ailing back littleby little, I think is great
advice. I also think just notstarting in the first place is
(11:50):
really advantageous, because youdon't have a bad habit to break,
right? You're not addicted. AndI think the more that parents
can delay having kids have easyaccess to the internet, have
easy access to social mediabeing on their phone all the
time. I think that's also reallyhelpful.
I just want to put this outthere that these phones were
designed to keep you stuck onthem. They were basically
(12:10):
designed to manipulate you inorder to make you keep wanting
to stay on their product, keepwanting to scroll and scroll and
use their apps and use theirdevices, because in the future,
what's going to happen if all ofa sudden, because they've been
doing that, it's affecting theirmental health, their physical
health. So make the decisionnow. Don't wait until they're
adults and as a teen, we have tostart now.
(12:33):
It's true that a lot ofaddictive habits are formed in
your teenage years. If you wantto be a good piano player,
practicing when you're ateenager is a great time. If you
want to have good habits withhabits with eating, practicing
that when you're a teenager is agood time if you want to get
addicted to video games andscreen time or bad habits like
smoking, these habits getestablished in those teenage
years. So I think delaying badaddictive habits is really
(12:56):
smart. So what about the flipside? Are there any good sides
of technology that maybe parentsoverlook or don't quite
understand that they can behelpful for
kids. We'd be crazy to say thatsocial media and all this kind
of stuff hasn't done goodthings. It's been something
that's helped so many peoplearound the world. I mean, both
of us are on social media.
That's what we have to focus on,using social media for good and
(13:18):
and with a purpose, yeah, and ifyou're not, that's where things
need to change. And I'mso appreciative that you brought
that up, because sometimes Ifeel hypocritical because I'm on
social media, I'm promoting mypodcast, I'm talking about
health and children, but at thesame time, I don't want my kids
on social media. And I think thedistinction you're right is that
you want to use it for good. Youwant to use it for purpose. And
(13:40):
I think if you do it for it forgood reason, then I think it can
be beneficial.
Definitely. We just don't wantto be stuck on it. Because just
ask yourself, when you're goingthrough it, do you feel stuck?
Do you feel like it'scontrolling you? And if the
answer is yes, do somethingabout it.
I can see that video games, forexample, in my house, we don't
(14:01):
have video games, and my sonsometimes feels left out of
social gatherings. You know, alot of his friends will play on
video games over the internet,and they socialize that way.
What I feel is, I don't mind ifhe plays them at his friend's
house, like, if they're togetherin person and they're playing a
game and they're actuallysocially interacting, that feels
better to me than doing it notphysically in the same room. Do
(14:25):
you have any feelings aboutgetting together with friends
and being on media as well?
Yeah, definitely, especiallybecause I saw this study or
something and it said, like 70%of the conversations that
teenage boys are about or onvideo games, which is kind of
crazy to think, because it'smainly about video games, and I
(14:46):
can see this too, especiallywhen you're alone in your rooms,
just talking through that way,you don't feel the sense of real
connection. Instead, it's justthrough the video game or
through your avatar you. So whenyou're in the same room
together, there's a sense ofmore connection. And instead,
you're still going to be on thegame, but have a person there.
(15:11):
Just say, if you need if youtake a break, then you have
someone to talk to.
And the thing is, we don't havean Xbox or a PS five or any or
Nintendo or anything like that.
But when you do go to a cousin'shouse, which is maybe once a
month, or once every two months,they have one we do love
interacting with them, and it'sa way for us to bond, especially
with our cousin. Obviously,there's limits where you don't
(15:31):
want to spend six, seven hoursin your basement alone, just
staying on a video game,isolated in a dark room. That,
on the other hand, that's aproblem. Yeah,
that's exactly the kind ofscreen time that I would
encourage for families. If itfeels social, it feels like it's
fun, okay, you know? Butobviously, if it's too many
hours, the kids eyes arehurting, they're seeing blurry
(15:53):
that point that seems like toomuch.
Like we don't eat so much Ultraprocessed foods, because we know
the harmful effects that it willdo. So why would we want to put
it into her? Put it into ourbody, and that we also for
screens. We know why we're notgoing to be doing eight hours of
screen time, because it'sdestructive for our brain. And
(16:14):
when you know why you yourselfare motivated to help yourself,
we don't want to become likepeople who do spend eight hours
and we see them at school, andwe've seen what it does, and so
we don't want to go down thatpath as well. So we don't ever
go overboard. They're not yourrole models, exactly,
yes. And so we have, we've hadgood role models. Our mom has
(16:35):
been amazing, and we've seen herput restrictions on their self
when it comes to devices, and Ithink that also helps a lot for
any parent out there. Honestly,one of the biggest things and
best things you can do is be agood role, role model for your
teen or your kid, because wedon't listen to you, but we do
see what you do. And so ifyou're constantly playing video
(16:55):
games or you're constantly onyour phone, then we're going to
start to be like, okay, my daddoes it, or my mom does it, it
might be good for us. Or ifyou're constantly eating the
wrong kinds of foods, then we'redefinitely going to notice that,
and it's definitely going tohave an effect
on us. So I like that youmentioned Ultra processed foods,
and that you're self motivatedto avoid them. I'd love to talk
(17:15):
more about this, because I knowa lot of families where they
battle about that. Can youdescribe to parents listening,
what did you learn about howthese foods affect your body and
mood? Because I love that youyou on your own want to avoid
them.
So first of all, I used to have,you know, my favorite food,
believe it or not, was FlamingHot Cheetos and Fanta. 10 years
(17:35):
ago. Those are my absolutefavorites. And then 10 years
later, now it's, I don't missany of that. And all it took was
me recognizing how I felt when Ihad those foods. And we've
learned that, first of all,ultra processed foods, they are
directly linked to chronicdisease. They're directly linked
to hurting our gut bugs, leadingto sickness and disease mental
(17:59):
illnesses on the rise because ofultra processed foods, and we
know last thing we want 20 yearsdown the line, even 10 years
down the line, to be living withpre diabetes, to be living with
a chronic disease, to haveeczema, to have sinus issues all
the time, to live in a body thatwe don't want to live in. And so
well, that's especially for me,that's one of the biggest
(18:20):
motivators. And I think any kid,any teen, nobody wants to live
without health. Nobody wants tolive addicted to something.
Nobody wants to live like that.
And for us, we feel free. Ithink it
takes a lot of maturity tounderstand that eating healthy
will lead to a healthier lifefor the years and years and
(18:41):
years ahead of you, I think isgood advice. Now, speaking of
advice, one place that I havetrouble with is convincing my
kids to try some fruits andvegetables to make healthier
choices. So if you could giveparents one tip to make healthy
eating easier at home, whatwould it be?
Honestly, my mom told us to godown the list and we're hungry,
right? So we're like, Oh, she'llbe like, oh, did you have your
(19:04):
vegetables? And like, No. Andshe's like, Oh, do you have your
protein? I'm like, Oh no, yourcarb? And then like, Oh no, she
had to go down the list. So Iwould have vegetable first, then
protein as, like, the mainsource. And then we also would
have had carb for me, like alittle treat. You can make food
like fun, like, you can put likefruits into a very fun thing.
(19:30):
Like our mom, she used to makesmoothies out of fruits. And,
like, she used to make it sothat, because a lot of people,
when they think about eatinggood, real food, they think, Oh,
my God, they're you're punishingme by giving me vegetables and
stuff. In reality, there's somany different good vegetables
besides the classic broccoli andBrussels sprouts and carrots,
and there's tons of vegetablesthat we thought that we might
(19:53):
never enjoy, but we actuallyended up enjoying a lot.
So just making food fun like we.
To leave realize that, you know,our mom's putting mushrooms and
dandelion greens and, like, allthese different types of
supplements and all thesedifferent types of vegetables
into the delicious smoothies shemakes. And it's like, hidden,
right? Like we're getting allthese nutrients without really
(20:16):
tasting all of these vegetables.
So, yeah, I guess smoothies is agood way of hiding things.
I agree. I think smoothies are ahit. That's a good way to get a
lot of nutrients into one meal.
Yeah, I also think, like, whatgossip was talking about? Like
you having fun with it, becauseeverybody just thinks about
(20:38):
broccoli and broccoli sprouts.
Now, that's all right, but it isso much more like there's fruits
and vegetables, but each fruitsand vegetable, with their color,
helps a different way. So like,you can have fun with eating
while still getting thosenutrients. Like red lowers
inflammation. Orange helpsreproductive and eye health.
Yellow actually helps digestivehealth, green with
(21:00):
detoxification, blue and blackwith the brain
health. That sounds amazing. SoI guess my question is to follow
up on your point about making itfun and now knowing all the
benefits that come fromdifferent colors in your diet,
how would you suggest making itmore fun at mealtime, like
having a competition? Who couldhave one of each. Or what would
(21:21):
you suggestyou could do that, but talk to
someone the podcast, like themainland talking about rainbow
stuff. And then she was, like,you can try to jot down, did you
have this? Did you have that?
And make a race and like, whocan have all the colors in one
day? I just really thought thatwas kind of fun way to put it.
Yeah.
So some sort of competition orcontest, I could see how that
(21:41):
would be fun. Okay, this isgreat, so I will definitely take
this advice. And what I'm reallylearning from you guys is that
education has really helped yoube motivated to make good
choices. So that's fantastic.
Now, okay, big question I have,where I struggle as a parent,
where I want to help my kids?
I'd love to hear from you what'sthe best way for parents to tell
their kids and give themfeedback that they want to see
(22:04):
different behavior. For example,let's say you guys fight. How do
you want your parents to helpyou out in that situation?
Honestly, we're not perfect.
We're brothers. It's four orfive of us. We've definitely
fought sometimes. We've wrestledeach other. We've gotten some
stuff, and honestly, I don'tthink siblings can live with
each other and not fight. That'sjust something that it's
ingrained in every singlefamily.
(22:26):
When I see puppies get together,they're always rough housing and
playing. And I think, look,that's like my children one
time, my daughter even admittedto me that's their way of having
fun. They actually enjoy it alittle bit. So I agree with you.
It's bound to happen, but let'ssay it gets to a level that the
fighting is not fun anymore.
It's more than wrestling, andyour parents intervene as a kid.
How would you want your parentsto talk to you?
(22:48):
So our momtold us, like when we were
younger, because me and Zaneused to fight a lot, and she
said, treat the ways that youwant to be treated. So if I hit
Zan in the face, like, I don'twant to be him in the face
myself.
And she would also say, like,how do you think Zane feels
(23:10):
about that? So if something, if,like, a word, comes out that
something you know that wasn'tsupposed to come out, like, how
do you think they felt aboutthat? And that builds that
empathy, and now we're able tolike, feel and know when it gets
too far, and just like you mightsay, treat others the way you
want to be treated. And that wasour golden rule.
It sounds like your mom talkingto you about it after the fact
(23:32):
and sharing some good wisdom.
Did stick with you?
Yes, definitely. And especially,I mean, personally, as a
teenager and a kid, when yourparent can just listen to also
your emotions and how you feelabout something, and they can
advise on your emotions insteadof just thinking about
themselves and say, Oh, youshouldn't have done this,
(23:53):
because you know what, he mighthave gotten hurt, but maybe
instead understand why ateenager did This in the first
place, and how an adult couldmaybe help the situation. So I
think that would be helpful to akid or a teenager.
So what I heard you say is, ifyou're feeling feelings, you're
frustrated, you're sad, you haveemotions, and you want to talk
(24:14):
it out with your parent, whatyou like is, you want to hear
that your parent gets whereyou're coming from. Yeah, I
think that makes sense. I lovefeeling understood and heard. So
that makes a lot of sense to me,that it that a child would want
the same thing. That'swhy, for parents out there that
are listening to this, alwayswhen you're listening to a
teenager, listen to learn. Don'tlisten to a pop fly. And if we
(24:35):
can just learn to do that, therelationship between teens and
parents can becomes even morestronger,
and I think a lot of teenagers,they don't necessarily don't
like an adult. It's just thatthey just feel a little
overwhelmed, and they maybesometimes feel the need to rebel
(24:56):
because they don't fullyunderstand. So when, when the.
Parent and the teenager can justcome together and really just
talk and get on the same level,then a teenager and the parent
will have a much betterrelationship.
Plus, I'll add into that, asteenagers, we don't want our
parents just lecturing us. Wewant them there. We want them to
(25:18):
have their presence, not forthem to come and lecture us over
and over and over again, butjust to be there for us, be
there with us, and just tolisten to us and understand us.
So it sounds like in a lot ofsituations, you want to feel
like your parents support you bybeing present, by listening and
giving advice when you ask forit, but not necessarily
lecturing at you. Exactly, yes,yeah, parents tend to lecture,
(25:41):
right? I guess that's somethingthat we tend to do, yeah, yeah.
And then what about I'm curious,because there's a lot of parents
that I meet that have differentthoughts on how to discipline
kids. You know, some parents doa lot of grounding and taking
the phone away for a long timeand really doing a lot of
negative consequences. And thensome parents are really hands
off. They let their kids do alot, and they never discipline.
(26:03):
Thinking about how you guyswould want to be as parents now
that your children, what do youthink would be good advice for
parents when they want todiscipline their kids?
Honestly, you can't have anextreme on either side, and you
always want to have balance. Andif I think anytime you have
balance, you can never really gowrong.
Yes, I agree. Isn't that thetruth with life? Moderation
tends to be the answer to a lotof things. I think. Okay. Now,
(26:27):
earlier on the podcast, you weretalking about how some helpful
advice that you got from apodcast interview you did was
teaching you the benefit ofgoing outside into nature. I
agree with this completely, andI think my kids know this, but
sometimes the struggle I have asa parent is getting my kids out
the door as children. Do youhave any advice for kids to
(26:47):
encourage them to spend moretime outside? Is there something
fun or something that you thinkabout that makes it more fun and
enticing to spend time innature?
Honestly, I think for me, whenwe're younger, nature, like all
of us, we play games, like withsticks and like that makes it
more fun,yeah, and especially making it a
habit. So really, justscheduling at least, like,
(27:10):
couple hours that we can justspend in nature for a little bit
would definitely create abetter, easier way to ease a
teenager or a family into natureroutines.
I think scheduling would be goodfor my kids, because sometimes
if I tell them, Hey guys, let'sgo on a hike. We're going to
(27:31):
leave in 10 minutes, sometimesthat throws them off. But if I
give them advance warning, thisis what we're going to do on
Sunday. We're going to have anice family hike. We're going to
be joined by our cousins.
They're much more likely, Ithink, to be agreeable to do it.
So that's good advice.
Also, I feel like, like evensmall time is still good.
Doesn't need to be a five hourhike.
(27:52):
I completely agree. I thinksometimes in our heads, we think
it has to be this big, hugeadventure where we're gone for
hours and hours, but you'reright, just a little bit of time
goes a long way. You know? WhatI also find helps my kids is if
we do an adventure outdoors withtheir friends, then they are
much more motivated and excitedto have to spend time outdoors.
(28:13):
Yeah, I think because one of themain things is letting kids be
more free when they go outside,and having that freedom
definitely helps. It's superboring. If you're just gonna
walk in a straight line andyou're gonna go down the hike
like no kid wants to do that,I agree. And honestly, I think
feeling that freedom of beingwithout your parents is
important. So along those lines,do you feel like parents
(28:35):
nowadays worry too much, youknow, or try to control what
their kids do too much. Youknow, I grew up in the 80s and
the 90s, and parents didn'talways know where we were. And
now it seems like there's a lotmore that parents worry about,
that they try to control. Do youthink that's true, and do you
think that kids need moreindependence in general?
Honestly, I think independencewill always be good for kids,
(28:59):
but obviously, like we said,there's always a healthy
balance. Like our mom, sheisn't, she's not like a
helicopter parent, where she'slike, where are you what are you
doing at this time? What are youdoing at Winding with your
friends? Like, she'll ask,because, well, she's her mom,
but she's never, like, forcefulabout it. And if we're not able
to have some level of healthybalance with independence, how
(29:20):
can we be leaders in the world?
Because we all need to learn howto do things ourselves. I mean,
just having that healthybalance.
Okay, so now what I'd like to dois a quick lightning round of
questions. If you don't mindtaking turns, I'm going to ask
you some questions and then justgive me a quick, quick answer.
Okay, worst technologyadvancement for kids that's
available today, iPad kids,iPads, iPad kids, you said,
(29:44):
Yeah, because, honestly, theiPad, when I think about iPad,
because a lot of kids now, like,I see a lot of the young kids,
especially in Roblox, it is onthese the iPads, like, when
they're very young, and it'svery annoying to me.
You. Yes, it's true. And likeyou said, you can take the iPad.
The iPad can go anywhere. It'salways with kids at restaurants.
(30:06):
I see them all the time, andespecially from a very young
age. So I like that answer, allright. Favorite podcast guest,
you've interviewed our mom. Weinterviewed
our mom. One small healthy habitthat actually sticks,
drink hydration. Just wheneveryou wake up, just drink a glass
(30:30):
of water. Let's say, if you'rein a classroom the entire day,
like you're in a desk all day,just have a water bottle right
there so you can just drink atany time.
And also, one more reallyimportant thing that we love to
stress is gratitude. US teens,we're the most negative people
ever. I hate my life, I hateschool, I hate homework. Like,
we're pretty negative. And sogratitude helps us shift our
(30:52):
mindset from negative topositive. And let's be honest,
if we could have that mindset,we can do anything. So just
waking up saying, like, maybe ifyou have a few minutes, like,
when I go to onto the bus, justI'm grateful for my eyes, I'm
grateful for my ears, I'mgrateful for my parents. I'm
grateful for what happenedyesterday, even writing it down.
I know some people likeimplementing that into your
(31:14):
life. It's a life changer. Iagree, and I think that's true
for so many things in life, likethe bus, for example, you could
say, I have to go to the busagain. You know, I don't like
the bus. I have to wait for thebus. But if you can say, I'm so
grateful I get to relax on thebus. I'm so lucky. I'm on my way
to school. Anything you can turninto a positive because you're
right. Being stuck in thenegative, that's just not a
(31:36):
healthy way to exist.
You can't achieve anything whenyou're negative. Let's be
completely honest here. And noone wants one wants to be around
it. I find that the morepositive you are, you're gonna
attract that same energy intoyour life, and it's only gonna
make things better. It's greatthat you've learned that from
such a young age. Okay, mostoverrated health trend,
anything that they say that youknow what? This is gonna work
(31:58):
like, super fast. You know, ifyou just like, Take this, do
this, every day, you'll becomelike the most like, amazing
person. Like, that's notactually gonna
happen, no? So you don't likeany quick fixes,
yeah, especially if it's notexpert back, like you go on
Tiktok, there's a bunch ofrandom stuff. If it's the expert
back, it's just a waste of time.
(32:19):
One message you want everyparent to hear. Listen to teens.
Listen to us, listen to listenand understand. Don't listen to
reply.
One message you want every teento hear. Every
teen should invest in theirbody. It's the biggest
investment, because when yougrow up, you're going to regret
(32:40):
so much that you should havetaken more care of your body.
And when you start this habit,have these habits at a young
age, you can really grow yourfuture on from there.
And if you want to achieve atrue potential, that all starts
by taking care of your mentaland physical
health. And lastly, telleverybody, where can they find
(33:00):
your book?
So right now you can pre order.
It's coming out December 11, sodefinitely go check that out.
You can find it on the teenhealth revolution.com pre order
it. We have bonuses as well.
Barnes and Nobles, Amazon,everywhere, the
teen health revolution.com. Ilove it. And tell everybody who
is the book geared towards, isit for parents? Is it for teens?
(33:22):
Is it for kids, or is it foreverybody? It's for everybody,
but it's mainly targeting theteens. But also, parents can
also use itto educate their teens. This
book does not exclude any age,yeah.
Also with jokes. I had thejokes,
yeah. And we have some reallygood illustrations by
me, and it's all expert backed.
And at the end of each chapterwe have, what do the holistic
(33:46):
kids do? So it's all practicalthings anybody can really do.
I'm very happy for you guys. I'mreally happy for your mom and
your family, and I love thatyou've created something so
meaningful that you're gonna putout there. So congratulations,
and I can't waitto read it. We're so honored.
Yeah, we had so much fun on thispodcast. Thank you so much.
Thankyou for listening, and I hope
(34:06):
you enjoyed this week's episodeof your child is normal. Also,
if you could take a moment andleave a five star review,
wherever it is you listen topodcasts, I would greatly
appreciate it. It really makes adifference to help this podcast
grow.
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