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Season 3, Episode 16 - Jen Ballejos
137 Plays2 years ago
This week's guest is Jen Ballejos, a Kindergarten teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada. Not only does she discuss teaching in her grade level, but she has taken a unique journey with her son which she shares, and she provides information on a positive change that everyone can make for their family, yet so many do not know about it. Her son's journey is a cautionary tale, but one that we can all learn from, and gives hope that if the right people hear about it, perhaps we can make some huge changes in education that can have positive effects for all students.
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Transcript
Introduction to Jen Ballejos
00:00:09
Speaker
Good afternoon, and welcome back to another episode of It's All About Perspective. I am, of course, your host, Robert Hinchliffe. Today, I have a very special guest. She is a friend of my wife's. God bless her. She teaches kindergarten, of all things. But I wanted to have her on because she has some very interesting perspectives about a few topics, and I just thought it would be good to hear about them. So, Jen Ballejos, how are you? I am well. How are you? I am good. Thank you for being here. How was your day?
00:00:39
Speaker
It's good, you know, it's Monday it's so our kindergarteners is crazy after a three-day week as Like fifth graders. Yeah for sure. It's like, you know you partied all weekend stayed up late Birthdays It's rough to get back. Do you think it was rough when we were well, I don't know about you but like so now, you know, I'm I'm I'm
00:01:03
Speaker
I'm in my mid 40s. So I think about three day weekends, those are the time that I take to get stuff done or do things that I need. But when I was 26, rather than 46, I used to live a nut. So I wonder if it's harder on the teachers that are younger after three day weekends as well. Maybe. I don't know. I never, I was always like always the good one. I didn't go that hard. So I don't know. Probably. Probably. What do you love about kindergarten?
Jen's Teaching Journey
00:01:33
Speaker
Um, I, so I started teaching in second grade and I wanted my, my big motivator was to get close to home. Cause I was far from home and there was a kindergarten opening like around the corner from my house and all my friends and
00:01:51
Speaker
parents had always said, you would be so good at kindergarten. So it's like, what the heck, I'm going to give it a try. And I did, and I just fell in love with it. And like, that's where I'll be until this show. What did you fall in love with in particular? Because I am intermediate. Anybody's listened, I taught fourth grade.
00:02:13
Speaker
If I have to sub in kindergarten, it is an interesting time. I mean, exhausting. I always compare kindergarten to giving birth. It's like if you remember how terribly hard it is, you would like never do it again. But like a kidney stone for a guy then. Yeah, okay. Um, it's so rough that first month and a half. But once you get your
00:02:41
Speaker
everything down. It just is the best thing ever. They come to you as these little babies and they leave to you, leave the classroom as these little functioning adults. They are like the biggest hype crew in the whole wide world. Like I remember last year I had taken a half day and I came back in the afternoon and they were so thrilled that I was back and they were in the lunch room and it was like, you know, so excited that I was back.
00:03:10
Speaker
You know, they're always telling you how they love you how beautiful you are and they complement your Teaching style. I think that's pretty cool for the most part too. They don't really know how to lie yet. So that's a
00:03:23
Speaker
Yeah, they give themselves away so easily. They're a hoot, man. I laugh every time I see them. You just never know what they're going to say. What do you find as the biggest challenge of kindergarten?
Managing Diverse Classrooms
00:03:38
Speaker
Off the top of your head, what's the biggest challenge with kindergarten? Well, when I first moved to the school that I'm teaching at now, I was told when I left my school
00:03:53
Speaker
Um, Oh, you're, you know, you're going to teach in Summerlin. It's going to be so simple, so easy. And, um, I showed up and I was teaching half day at that time. So that was rough doing like two shows, you know, cause you're performing for them. Uh, and then trying to be as excited the second time around as the material you just did in the morning. But when I moved to my school, I had a student who was reading
00:04:23
Speaker
like late first grade, second grade level, but then also a student who had never really held a pencil and didn't know how to write their name. So I would say it was almost easier when I was at my other school and everybody kind of came in at the same place where at this school it was like all over the place. So you find it hard differentiating for those different levels or do you find it easy?
00:04:47
Speaker
I mean, I've figured it out, but it was in the beginning, I was like, whoa, I was not expecting all those different levels.
00:04:57
Speaker
just such a huge range. So give me your perspective on this because one of the areas that primary, I wouldn't say disagreement that we discuss about is, so I have a statement where I say, don't slow the high kids down. And a lot of people don't like that, but how do you feel about if you have a kid in kindergarten that can read, where do you draw the line between what you need to make sure they know for the foundation versus you gotta push them?
00:05:27
Speaker
Um, it, a lot of times it has to do with the parents because, you know, if they're going to, if they want them to do all the extras, you know, a lot of that support has to come from home and I'm willing to figure out how to support you in that. Um, but I also had a parent that was like, you know, she had four kids, one was a baby and she was like, you know what? We have a lot going on right now.
00:05:54
Speaker
take it easy. And I was like, yeah, that'd be awesome. Um, but I have the
Supporting Advanced Learners
00:06:00
Speaker
way like my sight words are set up. I have a way to let those kids who are ready to read kind of climb that mountain. Um, with of course the help from parents, I could never do that on my own. Um, but I've figured out a way to kind of meet all of their needs, but also, yeah, you know, like,
00:06:22
Speaker
There's only so much I can do within the classroom. But when the parents are wanting more, we always find a way to hone in on what their child is interested in, too. Last year, I had a little boy who was reading. And so he did a little report on, I think it was Eagles.
00:06:44
Speaker
and he made a slideshow at home. So then he came in and presented it to the kids and that was cool. But a lot of support from home in that particular case. So one of the hot topics this year is HMH. And judging by your face that many people can't see right now, has that been a, give me your, I mean, you're off the clock. Give me your feedback, your feedback. I feel like
00:07:12
Speaker
I'm way better than that. I agree. One of the frustrations I hear principals say, one of the things that I pointed out was I think it's going to slow some people down. Yeah. Do you feel like it's done right? When we're doing something, I'm like, I do this, but I do way better than this. I'm trying my best, but this is 23 years for me and I really feel like I've
00:07:38
Speaker
You got kindergarten down. Figured it out. There's always new things. I mean, I, we have a, I have a new coworker that joined us last year and she shared some things with me that I really like and she's a veteran teacher as well. And so I've implemented those into my classroom. I'm always open to new things, but yeah, I feel like I'm pretty good at my job and it's kind of like,
00:08:03
Speaker
I don't know. The robot teaching is tough for me. But I did do this as a young teacher. The year I came to kindergarten, it was helpful to me. They said, like, you will literally read from this script every day. And I did it because I was super young.
00:08:20
Speaker
it worked. But you needed the help. But you know, when you're starting, I think it was a great resource. But do you so you agree with me that it's slowing down the teachers who already know what they're doing is probably a great resource for new teachers. But do you agree that is slowing you down?
00:08:38
Speaker
a little bit because I feel like I have to fit all of that in, but I still have all my stuff that I do my way that's really good that I want the kids to see and get. So I've got to fit it all in with the same amount of time. So that makes it tough.
00:08:55
Speaker
How do you feel about MAP? MAP is starting to get close. And so I have the kindergarten teachers at Thompson take the fall MAP because we need a baseline. Yeah, I know some kids can't do it. I understand all that. But when you look at it nationwide, there's a lot of schools that have some kids that can't do it. So I think in the end, it averages out pretty well. How do you feel about MAP from your perspective? I just have mixed feelings with it because there's a lot of times where kids will show
00:09:25
Speaker
Um, like a dip, uh, in winter or even maybe in spring where I know that they, I mean, they came in and they couldn't do this, this, and this, and now they can do all of it. So it seems like it doesn't make sense all the time, but I mean, when you see the growth, it's great, right? Yeah. Well, you have like a little smarty who's reading and his scores went down. It's frustrating because.
00:09:54
Speaker
I don't think that's an accurate representation of what he can really do or she can really do. Do you look at percentiles at all or just the straight score? We just usually look at the score. Okay. We've kind of adjusted where, you know, if they're at the 99th percentile, if they drop to the 90th, it's okay. They're still going to be okay. I like that. I mean, I think that in my own mind anyways, and I always let my parents know so they don't start freaking out.
00:10:24
Speaker
you know, and most of them they already know so they don't need me to tell them, you know. Yeah, I think to you like, Hey, your kid can read kindergarten, they're gonna be okay. Right? Totally. Probably, probably a good thing to hear as a parent. What? So you, again, so you and my wife are very good friends. And you two have some interesting theories about some things in the world. True.
00:10:51
Speaker
And over time, I hate to say this publicly with it recorded, but over time, I tend to come to your side. Well, we're right every time, so there's that. Of course you are. Educationally speaking, what is one theory of yours that you really wish someone would take a look at and try to make some change about? Is there anything that comes off the top of your mind?
00:11:19
Speaker
Say that one more time. Educationally speaking, is there anything? Well, I'll just say this, okay? So one of the things I think that you two have taught me a lot is about the stuff that's in food. Okay. So when we look at school lunches, how do you feel about school lunches? Talk about your journey with... Now start there. Talk about with your journey about how you came to this understanding of food and ingredients and everything. Say a second, talk about.
00:11:48
Speaker
And do you think that we should take a look at the lunchroom? And is that helping or hurting kids, I guess? I mean, the lunchroom is the nightmare. You gotta expand upon that. And it's terrible. Because?
Personal Story: Son's Health Journey
00:12:02
Speaker
I will share that. I have three boys and my youngest son, he started having, they're called absence seizures when he was about three and a half. And an absence seizure is just kind of like a blank stare.
00:12:18
Speaker
Um, but they don't know what's going on. So their eyes sort of roll up and flutter and they can't, sometimes they can hear you, sometimes they can't, but they don't know what's going on in front of their face. So if you took your hand and waved it in front of his eyes, he wouldn't see your hand or he wouldn't be able to react to it. And so, um, at the age of three and a half, they would last, oh gosh, like three, four, five seconds.
00:12:48
Speaker
And as a mom, I noticed it. And I asked his teachers about it. I talked to my husband about it and my mom about it. And they were like, I think he's just thinking really hard. And if you weren't watching it, it was like done by the time I tried to grab your attention to look at it. It was over. But as time went on,
00:13:11
Speaker
they started getting longer and more frequent. And we dealt with this until the age of eight. And so this has changed my entire perspective. Absolutely, because you're a mom. We saw many doctors. We, you know, the Las Vegas doctors
00:13:34
Speaker
You know, we struggle with that. My first doctor retired. My second doctor moved to another state. My third doctor only worked two days a week. We took him to Utah to see a doctor. And it was just, it was always medicine, medicine, medicine. And the medicines that they gave him made him
00:13:58
Speaker
not himself. Um, in so many ways, we just almost like didn't recognize him at one point. And it was, it was through Instagram. You know, people always talk trash about social media or often talk trash, but I, I believe that
00:14:22
Speaker
I believe that God talked to me through Instagram. He like showed me the message through Instagram. And it wasn't like an algorithm thing. It was, I followed this one family. They had a boy too, and they hadn't even mentioned it at the time, but they were eliminating something called seed oils from their diet. And it just kept coming and coming and coming and talking to me. And I was like, well, let me look in my pantry and see what this is all about.
00:14:49
Speaker
And it was in everything. And I was like, I can't do this. This is how we eat. And we ate pretty healthy overall. But he just wouldn't stop sending me this message in such a variety of ways. So I was like, you know what? I'm going to do this with my youngest. I'm going to do this with him. And let's see what happens. And I just thought about
00:15:14
Speaker
his brain seizing and all these bad oils, seed oils, that's like canola, sunflower, vegetable, they say that they're inflammatory. So I just thought of his little brain seizing all the time and firing. And I said, let's just try this. So I just became a master of reading ingredients.
00:15:38
Speaker
And we started eating like, kind of like a whole 30, where it's just fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs, things like that. And within two weeks, his seizures stopped. And we were at a point where his seizures were impacting his life so much that like,
00:15:59
Speaker
going for a bike ride, playing on the playground. I mean, I had an eight year old, but I would follow him around like a toddler sometimes because of the safety aspect of it. We have two floors in our school and I just imagine him falling down those stairs. And so we changed the way we ate and we had tried all these medicines. None of the medicines worked and the food, it was the food.
00:16:29
Speaker
And I was like, whoa. And there was no denying it once that happened. And my husband saw it and my other kids saw it. And pretty much everybody in the family kind of, we slowly, surely switched everybody in the family to this new way of eating. So how long has it been since he's had a seizure now? So we are 16 months seizure free.
00:16:53
Speaker
Awesome. Which is so amazing. And there was a time where I was afraid to talk about it. I didn't know, I told like my close circle of people, but I would never a year ago at this time talk about this openly. Cause I almost, I had this feeling like if I say it out loud, it will stop something bad will happen because so many times we would try a new medicine. We tried five different medicines and we would see like a glimmer of hope that maybe this one was going to work.
00:17:24
Speaker
And it never did. So it's fascinating. And I've seen that. And I know when you were here years ago over the house, you cannot relax with your friends. You cannot do whatever when he was running around. So now it's fabulous. And I don't think you can deny it, which you were agreeing. You can't deny it. But what he has done is I think he really got me
00:17:51
Speaker
having to know him got me starting to think this as well. I don't think so much Christy. I think it's more. Well, I remember when Christy said, Oh, you know, kind of like it's too much for me too. And I think the more that I shared with her, the more that she and I talked about it, it just sometimes it takes time and it takes hearing it from multiple places. And then just something switches and you're like,
00:18:20
Speaker
Oh, wait a minute. There is something to this. So what other journeys has that led you homicide seed oils? Cause I know you have some other passions about food as well. Well, once it worked, once we were on a family vacation and I had this journal and I was logging everything and my boys would help me log and we were on vacation and I said, Hey, did anybody see a seizure today? No. And then the next day, did anybody see a seizure today? No. And we had taken a lot of our own food with us on vacation.
00:18:48
Speaker
And you know, and then it turned into a week and then it turned into two weeks. And by the time, you know, it was like mid summer, I was, I like threw my house away. Um, so once, once I was.
00:19:03
Speaker
looking for that information then like algorithm wise, I think it came to me. Yeah, and it was just like we we eliminated plastics that we eat and drink out of like as far as food storage. I changed all the cleaning products in our home. The products we wash our clothes with. I mean, basically, anything you can think of, we switch out our pots and pans. And I never in my life would have imagined
00:19:33
Speaker
that the food or the products that we're using and eating in America, it's America, right? I would never have imagined that they would be so toxic and unhealthy for us. And it's almost like you can't find anything that's not good for you. It's frustrating sometimes.
00:19:54
Speaker
Do you think, based upon your experience, this is what I question a lot, is food contributing to the issues that we are seeing in school?
Diet's Impact on Health
00:20:08
Speaker
Such as ADD or the influx of diabetes now, in your opinion, go ahead, expand upon that. It has to be because, I mean,
00:20:19
Speaker
We look at the kids' behaviors and how many kids are diagnosed with ADHD. I follow some people, I know it's controversial for some, but that believe in even kids with autism in changing their food. I threw myself into this and I read everything I could. I tried out different things. I followed all these people.
00:20:50
Speaker
I've seen and heard other people, kids with autism, kids with ADHD changing their lifestyle and it changes their child's behavior. And even with my own son, I would say about a month of this food change, like the coloring in his skin
00:21:11
Speaker
And I would have coworkers at school come up to me and say that to like, Jen, he looks so happy. He, there's a sparkle back in his eye. Even his coloring is different. And, and it was wild to see. And I think.
00:21:26
Speaker
I really believe that that has to have a huge thing going on with what's going on in the school with our kids. It has to because years ago, you never saw any of this and people will say, well, we ate this food years ago. Well, 20 years ago, it wasn't made the same way that it's made now. I mean, there's so much to learn about this.
00:21:49
Speaker
It's huge, but I think if it's important to you and once you start to understand it, it's really not that difficult. It's quite simple. You led to my next question, which was, why do you believe, I have my own opinions, why do you believe that
00:22:07
Speaker
parents or the country or the school district aren't making positive changes with food. Like the district I think would tell you, oh, our food is healthy. It's got, you can only have so many grams of this. It can only have so many grams of that. But from your perspective, I'm going to guess that you probably would highly disagree that the district's food is healthy. You are correct. I would highly disagree with that. It's expensive to have quality food.
00:22:36
Speaker
Okay, I agree. That's probably part of it. Everything's expensive right now, but it's more expensive. It's more expensive to, you know, to not, you know, to use the right kind of cooking oil or butter. It's definitely an investment. I mean, a lot of our money goes towards food, you know, it's expensive. I think with the parents, I mean, I fed my kids
00:23:05
Speaker
jiff, peanut butter, Doritos, Cheez-Its. I didn't know they were, I know they're not healthy food, but I didn't know they were harming my kids the way that they were. And so I think a lot of people just honestly don't know. And it's like that when you, when you know better, you do better. And I think a lot of parents
00:23:32
Speaker
would make a change. I know they would because last year when I would go out and eat snack with my kids and I would always have a healthy snack. And it happened last year very organically. I was not pushing this
00:23:49
Speaker
way of thinking on my kids. But they saw me eating or I would compliment them on their fruits and vegetables and it almost became like a competition with them who had the healthiest lunch last year. And it was the coolest thing to see. And I've heard parents say,
00:24:07
Speaker
Like you've instilled such a love of eating healthy in my child, which, you know, a lot of times kids will listen to their teacher, but they won't listen to their parents, you know, and a lot of that going on. This year, like we worked out in the garden and harvested some things at our school. And I made the kids bell pepper with cottage cheese on top.
00:24:32
Speaker
And one of the boys went home telling his mom how much he loved it. And she said, I don't like bell peppers, so I never make it for him, but he kept asking me. And so now I buy bell peppers all the time, just things like that. I think exposing the kids to that and then sort of putting that message out there to the parents, it makes a difference sometimes.
00:24:55
Speaker
How hard is it though? I mean, you are definitely different than us, but how hard is it though to go out and eat? Do you have to worry about it when you go out and eat? We don't really go out very often. Because of the concern and the risk? Yeah. And it's interesting even with us, I don't have a medical condition, but
00:25:20
Speaker
if my husband and I go out, we're like, we're, we cannot find a restaurant anymore. There's like four safe places and that's it, but it'll make us sick. Like we spend 50, $75 on dinner and then come home and feel sick. And it's just,
00:25:37
Speaker
not even worth it, you know? And that's because we have a few safe spots that we eat, but I make dinner every single night, which I was never that person. I'm, um, my husband works at nights. So a lot of times I was home alone with the kids. So I would do like my healthy fast food, uh, like a Chipotle one night and a teriyaki madness. Another night.
00:26:01
Speaker
And then maybe Wednesday I'll make some food and then weed out the rest of the week. It sounds so terrible. No, it does. But again, no, because it's, you know, the point is to get people to think about it. You know, if someone's feeling terrible, perhaps, so I'll give you an example. Another thing that I kind of another thing that happened to me is I've had panic attacks pretty much all my life.
00:26:25
Speaker
Well, not all my life, all my adult life. And I just had this fear of having a heart attack. I don't know why, don't know why it happens. People have panic attacks, have no idea. But I had one, I don't know, a couple months ago. And I thought, okay, what did I eat? And so then I had a lollipop, a Tootsie Roll, and I looked and it had red 40 in it. And so then I looked up red 40, and it says it causes anxiety. And so then I started thinking, well,
00:26:51
Speaker
Perhaps, and I don't want to say I haven't had one since, but it starts to make you think. Is it because I'm eating this, what is Red 40? Nobody can tell you. I mean, you might know because you're right into this. Yeah, it's a dye that they put into the food and it's...
00:27:09
Speaker
I saw this thing on Instagram, they stuck these things of celery in each food coloring and the red food coloring within days, the celery was dead. And then the blue was, you know, it just kind of went down the line. It's just what it does to your body. I don't know all the specifics of that, but it is just, it's awful for you.
00:27:31
Speaker
Yeah. And I don't, you know, again, I was eating a red Tootsie Roll, so not Tootsie Roll, a lollipop and Tootsie Pop, whatever they are. I don't remember. I don't eat them anymore. But you know, like, do they need the food coloring? Debatable? Then I saw that it was in, it was in something that was like completely white and not even red. So I'm like, well, why are they putting it into that? And it just gets those wheels turning. Yeah. Well, it's in children's Tylenol.
00:28:00
Speaker
And why I don't know because it makes it look more appealing for them to eat it. I don't know Right, you know then is it yellow yellow eight is it eight? I don't even know and what are the numbers? Like why do we have 40? Yeah, but anyways, like I think your journey has made me start to think and so then you one of my things like I try to I Want to be revolutionary somehow. I don't want to like just just have my career. So I'm like, how can I somehow?
00:28:30
Speaker
help school lunches yeah or help people yeah so that we could eat healthier because allegedly i don't know but allegedly like in italy they don't have they don't have a lot of problems because they don't eat this stuff yeah they don't feed their kids the way they fear our kids i don't understand like where it all went wrong or why um but yeah the the the food is the food that the district is serving the kids is
Food Industry Critique
00:28:58
Speaker
It's not good stuff. It's disappointing. Maybe we shouldn't blame the district because maybe they have to buy XYZ that has the ingredients in it. Perhaps, yeah. Because they have so many, I mean, there's 300,000 kids. Let's say half of them eat every day. That's a lot of work. But I don't understand why we as a country, I think, I mean, politicians are going to be the answer. Why are we, quote unquote, poisoning ourselves or our kids? I mean,
00:29:28
Speaker
I mean, you can go down a hole if you want to, but the conspiracy just goes on and on and on. Sick kids and sick adults, it's an industry and you make a lot of money off of putting people on medicine. That's what I think.
00:29:53
Speaker
And that's, you know, just pushing back slightly. That's one of my struggles is I don't, I don't want to believe mentally that companies are so capitalistic that they would somehow find a way to have the red 40 people like get into our stuff when we know it's bad. Like I just have a hard time believing. I did too. But I totally believe it because
00:30:23
Speaker
I mean like blue talkies. I mean, come on. Okay. So again, well, I mean, talkies are just gross no matter what, but they do to the lining of your stomach. Why is it even allowed to be made? Yeah. I mean, that's basically what you were saying. I don't know. They, I think that's,
00:30:48
Speaker
people being unwell is a business and it's very sad to think that or to know that, but none of our visits to any of our doctors, did any doctor ever tell me, tell us anything about diet. And it was never a part of the conversation.
00:31:14
Speaker
but even then they'll just say like, eat healthy, eat healthy. Okay, well, great. I'm just having healthy stuff. But you have made the connection that healthy isn't really healthy. True. Because when I was, you know, like first trying to explain, well, we first tried and it was actually Christy Melissa, they were like, well, let's try keto with him. And so
00:31:40
Speaker
2020, 2022, keto is not the same as when keto, keto was actually invented for people with seizures. And like the, when keto was invented, it was not all of this, like they make keto bread, keto bars, keto, keto, everything. But if you read the ingredients, it's all garbage and there's seed oils in all of it. Keto is kind of like hole 30. It's, you know, meats,
00:32:07
Speaker
Vegetables like I always say pretend like you're a pioneer, you know If it wasn't around back in the day, then it's probably not good for you but we uh, we tried the keto way and I didn't know but I was buying the keto brand and buying the keto snacks and you know, I figured that that was terrible but I was saying my husband, you know, he's like we we feed our kids healthy and we did and we had a lot of organic options before
00:32:38
Speaker
We were even into this and he was right. You know, we did see them healthy. They, they couldn't have chips every day. And, you know, it was like in moderation, that extra stuff, but it's not even about, it's not even about that. It's about finding what is in the food that's bad for you and eliminating that. And the, the seed oils, they make you feel sluggish, you know, they make you
00:33:06
Speaker
feel bloated, all kinds of things. They're just terrible for you. So let's bring it back to your son. Okay. When he was struggling, how was his academics and talk about how his academics have changed as he has become more healthy? Um, I mean, it, it was, it was really rough. Um,
00:33:30
Speaker
You know, we were online learning a lot of the times where he was having seizures and I can remember like Christy and Melissa seeing it and we had to sit with him because of that the whole time every day. And so, you know,
00:33:46
Speaker
Imagine you're sitting in a classroom and you're learning and listening, but every, I mean, there was a time where every 15 minutes he was having a seizure. So every 15 minutes, your thought process is disrupted. Besides that, you know, the medicine made him
00:34:02
Speaker
angry, not like content, you know, it just changed his personality. So it was a it was a big struggle. And I worried for the longest time about that, like him falling behind. And you know, but just like, same thing, we just like
00:34:25
Speaker
you know, Chris always says to me, lift it up to the Lord, Jen. And so we were just always like trusting that God was going to help us find a way, take care of Him. Like I remember when we left Utah, I was absolutely crushed visiting the doctor because we really thought they were going to give us answers and we didn't get any. And my husband said, like, we can't fix this. God's the only person that can fix this. Like we have to start praying about this all day, every day. And like,
00:34:54
Speaker
turn this over to him. And, and we did. And it didn't happen like immediately months later, but it's been so cool. His preschool teacher always told me that he was gifted and he was like a very like higher order thinker. And I was always like, really? Okay. And she's right. Like the way he thinks and the things that he thinks about is just wild and lucky for us,
00:35:24
Speaker
reading never disrupted his learning. He was able to read and comprehend. He was missing like that phonics component, spelling and writing is hard for him. But like he understands math, and it's interesting to him. But he still struggles, but he's catching up and his teachers are amazing and they're patient with him and
00:35:54
Speaker
You know, they know what he's been through and what our goal is for him. And this has also changed my perspective as to like, you know, the catch them up. Are they on, are they where they're supposed to be? Like he's going to learn when his time comes, he's going to get it. It's going to take him a little bit longer than your typical kid or whatever. But he has this way of thinking that is so mature and
00:36:23
Speaker
It's just amazing. When I think of his journey, having watched it from afar the past five years and having, you know, Chris Christie and Melissa were his teacher and hearing about his days and then watching him, you know, basically qualify for an IEP because he's behind and his health, you know, being involved in that and then seeing his placement and seeing the help he gets
00:36:53
Speaker
And then watching it now that you've changed, basically go in reverse. And now things are catching up. It just makes me wonder,
Diet and Learning Difficulties
00:37:04
Speaker
how much of a disservice we're doing students, not because of anything we're doing, but because perhaps of their diet or other factors that we can control. Like I walk around at lunch duty every day and I just wonder, is this contributing to some of these students struggling? And I don't know, but your son's journey has got to be thinking about that. Yeah, I absolutely believe. And I like very carefully
00:37:29
Speaker
I'm treading lightly. I never shame a kid for what they're eating. I would never do that. I'm honest with them though when they're like, hold up their bag of goldfish and like, this is healthy. I can't help. I'm like, I see why you might think that.
00:37:48
Speaker
But I have, you know, it's a lot with boys. I have had conversations with my parents about the food this year, maybe even did last year a little bit. But, you know, become more confident in talking about it. And even at Open House, I shared a very snippet of the story. And I created a basket with all my healthy snacks. And every one of my students got to try a snack. And so I kind of like put it out there that way.
00:38:18
Speaker
And hoping that and I even printed out all the healthy snacks as an idea But I mean I look in the kids lunch sometimes and you know, it's like the sugar with the Seed oils with the dye and I'm just like how could you possibly and everyone's like why won't these kids sit still and focus? but they're not eating things that are Feeding their brain, you know and feeding their body and so that's
00:38:49
Speaker
I believe that's a big part of it. I will admit, you know, like with boys, they are not well, kids are not meant to sit in a chair for an hour. No. You know, and that's one of the one of the antiquated beliefs of education is that they should just sit or be able to sit. But then, you know, I get I keep coming back to it.
00:39:10
Speaker
Are they ADHD because they're boys and or is it because they're on technology from the time they're born? Oh, it's like a combination of everything. Absolutely. I you know, like technology has definitely changed their brain. Yes, it's done done it to us. So if it's doing it to us, it's doing it to our kids. It's a huge combination. But I do think that I mean, I do think the change in diet is
00:39:40
Speaker
a huge, huge part of it. Yeah. I mean, again, you have, you have the personal experience to do that.
Starting a Healthier Lifestyle
00:39:50
Speaker
Where should someone start their journey? Like if they're listening to this and they have something going on with their health and they can't figure it out or they are just looking for something to make a change on, where do I start? I mean, I have,
00:40:10
Speaker
called and had strangers, I've called strangers and had strangers call me to ask questions about when my son was, we were trying to figure out the meds or the doctors. I've called and talked to people that I've never met before and sat on the phone with them for hours and I'm willing to talk to anyone ever. I've even told people, I'll meet you at the grocery store and I'll walk sprouts with you and show you what's safe and what's not safe.
00:40:39
Speaker
But I mean, it's out there. I learned everything I've learned about food from Instagram. I know it kind of sounds wild, but there are so many people that live this way and they believe in it. I would say if you're curious to eliminate something, start with seed oils. Okay.
00:41:07
Speaker
And there's not a ton of products out there, but that we have found a replacement for everything. Like there's a cracker that he can have. They make snacks for kids without all the junk in it. Okay.
00:41:22
Speaker
So my another hope of mine is that the admin listened to this. I've actually I've used your son as an example, of course, I didn't say your name or anything. But you know, I've had parents who have come in and they their kids are having some kind of medical issues. And I will say, well, have you thought about the diet? And I'll start to
00:41:40
Speaker
I'll start to say I have a friend of mine who has gone through this and it's been a life changer. So my hope too is that maybe admin will hear this and a parent comes in and says, I can't get my kid to do XYZ. And perhaps it's the diet, perhaps it's a place to start. I think so. And I mean, once you once you open your eyes to this and you fall down the rabbit hole, then you see like,
00:42:07
Speaker
you know, Christy and I talk about this all the time, like, and that's another one of my is fragrance, fragrance, fragrance, fragrance. It's an endocrine disruptor hormone disruptor. It's been proven to linked to breast cancer. And it's like, you know, teachers love their plugging. They do. But I walk into my school and because basically, like nothing in our home is fragrance anymore. Like I
00:42:35
Speaker
Did did away with the candles a long time ago They were making me feel sick. And so I was like, well, I should probably stop burning them but The candle or the plugins can cause headaches there's nothing good in them for kids I mean then we close our doors right and we're in this tiny little room and they've got that plug-in that's like it's got from now the hide in it and it's like I
00:43:02
Speaker
filling the room, I can't, I always wonder like, what does that have to do with it too? And so, um, I don't know. I feel like, yeah, I feel like all the things have play a really big role in it.
Household Products and Health
00:43:20
Speaker
I, I'm.
00:43:22
Speaker
I don't know. I think back to the fall where my son really started struggling and I always try to, what happened, it was in October, what happened in October? Like what was going on? And the only thing I could think of is when fall comes, I would light those candles up and I would burn them from sunup to sundown. And like that's the only thing I thought that was different
00:43:52
Speaker
in our house that maybe could have played a role in that. I mean, there's no way I can prove that, but I can tell you that his symptoms and his behavior was mild. And then in October, it's something like switched and it was so much harder. And so I always go back to that candle and just wonder if that maybe had anything to do with it. Cause they say, you know, that you're,
00:44:22
Speaker
your air in your home, so that could be in your classroom as well, can be more toxic than the air even in our city that's down in that valley because of the things that we have burning and all the scents that we're using in our home. I believe in that. It's been fun for me. Well, let me back up.
Reflections and Gratitude
00:44:48
Speaker
I am very happy for you that you have figured this out. It hasn't always been fun for me because, of course, you and Christy, boy, it's been some time. I'm just going to keep telling him, Chris. He'll come around eventually. Just be gentle in the way that you talk about it. Take it easy.
00:45:09
Speaker
If you could remind her of that, that'd be great. But I am very happy that you've gone through the journey and gotten to where you're at. And hopefully, by you being brave enough to come on here and share this, some people will start to think a little bit. And perhaps we can start to make some changes educationally in that world. So I appreciate you. But as we always say, no matter where you land on the issues, in the end, it's all about perspective. Thanks, Jen. I appreciate you.
00:46:04
Speaker
You're welcome.