What Rainy Days Can Teach Kids

The Wiggles acknowledged the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia

and their connections to land, sea and community.

We pay our respects to elders, past, present and emerging.

Welcome to Wiggles Talk, a podcast for parents.

Today we are talking about the weather, as you can see from my house.

Yes, we've got your rainheader and I've got my son head on.

Very good, once from Tamworth.

Mine's from Newfoundland.

Because for a lot of families, the forecast basically decides the mood of the house

and whether or not we go outside.

Now, we're going to talk about the weather, a lot about the weather,

but before we get into that, I have been trying to get up early, early every morning.

What are we talking? 4.30, I've ordered a five to exercise.

That's still dark.

It's still dark and I haven't achieved it.

I've always been a regular exercise and since Asher, it's been sporadic.

It's harder to get that time.

And what's been happening is at about 3 o'clock every morning, Asher,

I get a little tap on my shoulder and he's working up and he comes into our room

and then climbs up and hops into bed.

To go back to sleep?

Yes, but because he's working himself up, it takes him forever to settle again.

And just as he's settling, is the time that your alarm will go off.

My alarm will go off and I'm trying to get up and go.

And then I think, well, I can't because if I get out of bed now,

he's going to wake up.

It's 4.30, quarter to five in the morning and he won't get back to sleep.

And so, you know, there's dad bod.

He literally every morning will come in around that time now.

We're never used to.

I don't know what's waking him up.

I don't know if he's getting cold or don't know if I don't know why.

But he has been a little bit scared of the dark, which he never was before.

So I've got a little night light, which we won't don't put on when he first goes to bed.

But then we say, once you're asleep, we'll put your night light on.

So that he knows we've come in.

Yeah, but whether that actually has a reverse effect when he wakes up

and he sees the light goes out.

Climb out of here.

I don't know.

You could exercise at 3 a.m.

Yeah.

But it seems you need you to fall back asleep though.

Like is you are you?

Well, he's kind of snuggles up to me.

And then if the couple of times I have managed to slide out

and then I get a pillow when I push it up against him.

So he feels like he's still kind of, you know, I'm still sort of there.

So I've managed it a few times.

But most of the time I don't want to try it just in case he then wakes up fully

and then we've got a really long day ahead of us.

Did I notice this morning, it seems like it's already a little bit darker.

It was 6 o'clock on of that and it was still dark, dark.

Yeah, is that what happens now?

It does get times going against you, unfortunately.

Yeah.

Well, that's right.

Coming out of summer.

I know.

And then I'm too tired in the afternoon.

By the time I put Asher to bed, I'm not going to come home

and then exercise when it's time to, you know,

do things around the house, play with Asher,

you know, have that time together.

And then it's like 8 30 at night, you know.

They're a real housewives to watch as we've discussed many times.

Yes.

I tell you what, southern charm last night.

Southern charm.

That's interesting.

That's a show.

It's all right and charm.

Lone nice thing in a hotel tonight with Asher.

Oh.

Because it's the 40th birthday.

So having a little weekend.

That's nice.

For a party and we're going to watch summer house.

Ooh.

With a packet of chips.

What summer house is that related to?

They spend the whole summer at the Hamptons outside of New York.

They go there every weekend and, you know, lots of drama happens.

Wow.

A bunch of friends.

Anyway, that's nothing to do with weather.

No.

We're going to talk about weather today.

Well, I've started watching Yellowstone.

Oh, really?

Your hats.

Almost.

Correct.

Yes.

For Yellowstone?

I heard that's a brilliant show.

Oh, it is.

You're in from episode one.

Yeah.

Rocky.

All right.

I had trouble sleeping afterwards though.

It's very.

It's very for long.

I want that as you watch it then.

It's very intense.

Yeah.

Okay.

A lot happens in the country.

Anyway.

Today we are joined by Jessica Braithwaite.

A nine news weather presenter in Adelaide.

And she's here because the weather has quietly become one of the biggest emotional

triggers in family life.

Not just what should we wear, but can we leave the house?

Or how do I explain the scary stuff without making it worse?

Yeah.

Jessica has just released a beautiful children's book, whatever the weather we're in

this together.

Along with an accompanying lullaby, and we're using that as the jumping off point for

a really practical chat about helping children feel steady through everything from a gloomy,

rainy week to Australia's very extreme weather moments.

So lucky.

Yes.

That's on.

Let's get into it.

Yes.

Welcome to a windy and wild little talk.

We are ready for a wild weather wiggle talk today.

Thank you for joining us.

Oh, thanks for having me.

It's great to see you guys in person, of course, because I've seen you many times in our

lounge room with my two little ones.

So it's great to see you.

Yeah.

In the flesh.

Well, it's lovely to have you here, Jess.

I thank you for coming in and putting a little dress up on for us today.

Oh, we couldn't resist.

Could we?

Because you guys have got the best costume department.

Yeah, we did.

We did a tour before, and we've got our costumes on first time and wiggle talk.

Yeah.

Jess, you've read in a beautiful book, whatever the weather we're in this together, your

presenter on channel nine in our weather presenter in Adelaide, but what does weather look

like in your house and how does that play a role in it kind of everything we do?

Yeah.

Do you want to start there?

Yeah.

I love it.

Like, I'm a self-confessed weather nerd.

So in our house, the weather is something that we sort of celebrate on an almost daily

basis.

Like, we have this big Galileo thermometer that little coloured balls that kind of rise

and fall with the temperature so the kids can get up in the morning and look at the

thermometer.

Oh, what kind of weather is it going to be today?

Is it hot or cold?

And what are we going to wear?

And just those little moments in the everyday that we just, we love celebrating.

It might be often with the changing seasons, you know, the first frost.

Oh, my gosh, there's little icicles on the grass.

Let's go and have a look at it or look at these, have you ever looked at a dew drop close

up?

Have a look at this dew drop.

It's just such a wonderful thing or the, often on the, it's the walk to school.

You know, we might notice the signs of spring, the first flower's blooming of the season.

And it said to real, I mean, we just love it.

But I think it's also the bigger picture, what I think we're getting out of it and what

I think the kids are getting out of it is the ability to kind of notice the magic in,

in every day.

And that idea of like, we don't need things to be perfect in life all the time.

You know, the weather's never always going to be perfect and life isn't always going

to be perfect.

And so we're using the weather to teach that lesson to our kids of like, let's always

notice the magic and find that joy in, in every season.

That's really interesting because I think we automatically probably have some negative

thoughts about the weather and your wake up.

What is it's cold today?

What are we going to wear?

And I guess that then influences how our children will naturally think and feel about

the weather as well.

And so that's a really interesting point that you make and a really lovely point is to

take, look at those moments, what the weather's actually doing because in our house, I love

the idea about that.

What's it called a Galileo?

Yeah.

The mama's here.

Yeah.

Because we, I just asked Google, hey Google.

What's the weather today?

In Asia with a little boys five, I used to go, hey Google, what a weather today.

Oh my god.

Google should tell you, look at the window.

Yeah, I know exactly, but that's the thing isn't it that we can actually, we know that

we can figure it out for ourselves.

Yeah.

So we get so hung up on, we're going to be raining, it's going to be cold, it's going

to be hot.

So are there things that, well, I mean, you've kind of said it, that you can do those things

to say, let's look outside today when we wake up and what do you see?

Absolutely.

And I think also it's about celebrating what we see to an extent as well, because this,

as you say, the connotation is, you know, rain gets a bad rap.

Actually, I don't know if you guys have ever done rain, rain go away, but I really don't

like that song.

Yeah, yeah.

It's sort of teaching children that the rain is a bad thing.

And, you know, and we sort of celebrate, if we've got a cold front coming in at home,

oh, kids, we've got a cold front coming in today.

This is going to be great.

Wow, is it going to be so happy because the garden's going to get some rain, like,

how exciting, you know, to celebrate that and to flip the script a little bit because

we do need all of the different types of weather.

And, you know, in the same way that we need all the different types of emotions in life

as well.

And so it's that, I think it's that idea of embracing what the day throws at us.

And I think the weather really does, can teach us that.

And some of my fondest child memories are when it was raining, like being out on the

street.

And I still remember finding some little bit of bark and sending it down the gutter because

it was roaring and listening to storms inside the house.

But if we got a bit, I mean, every podcast we speak about connection in some way or another

comes up in every single chat we have.

But are we too busy and are we not, have we just lost connection with the weather therefore

lost the sense of enjoyment out of stuff like because out of rain and, yeah, I mean,

hail and lightning can be a bit scary, but it's still beautiful in a way.

You speak about childhood memories growing up in Mount Gambia, I used to love running

around collecting hail in a bucket.

It's wonderful, icy stuff falling from the sky.

But I think we have lost connection, you know, the stats are pretty sad.

I think now it's less than half of all the kids play outside on most days.

And I think there's this idea that we feel like we want to protect them, keep them inside,

but we're actually doing them a disservice.

I remember I was touring daycare centres when my little boy was going, I was going back

to work and I needed to find a daycare centre.

And I was having a look at them and they were all very proud, you know, they, I don't

know what they're like where you guys are.

They have sort of the fake grass and the iPads and they were very proud of how they protected

the children from the weather and they said, you know, if the UV ratings above whatever

it was, they're not allowed outside and if it's too wet, they're not allowed outside

and if it's too cold, they're not allowed outside and if it's too windy.

Just there we go, that's all right.

And I did, I came away thinking, well, when are the children allowed outside?

It's the same, yeah.

And I think there is this bit of a, I don't know whether we've raised a generation of

children who think that drizzle is dangerous or maybe I think, you know, and studies have

shown that a lot of parents have those concerns, so, you know, safety concerns about letting

children.

And of course, we're not talking about extreme weather, which is in a different category.

This idea, we're trying to keep it safe, but we're actually, it's kind of having the

opposite effect.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I think maybe as a parent, we worry about our children wetting their shoes.

Yeah.

But I mean, all I share everyone to do is jump in the puddle.

Yeah.

And Laura, my wife and I, we just allow it and go, we just deal with that later.

Yeah.

Because that's the play for him.

That's farm, that's experiencing it all.

That's absolutely.

And we're concerned about doing the washing, which is really inhibiting his experience.

Yeah.

It's hard when you've got them all dressed up and you can just see them eyeing off of

this big, beautiful puddle, and you just know where it's going.

But I mean, the reality is they get so much out of it if we can try to allow for those

little windows of wonder, you know, obviously sunny days, it's a no brainer because we know

there's so much to be gained.

They get their vitamin D in their serotonin boost and all of those things.

But playing in the rain is so great for kids because they learn that resilience, they learn

how to problem solve.

They learn how to find joy in less than ideal conditions.

As you said, lucky, some of your favourite memories.

And the puddle jumping that spontaneity, playing in mud, is great for kids.

Even down to the microbes in the soils, great for their microbiomes, you know, gut health,

you know, it's actually good.

This idea that kids are meant to be sort of clean and pristine and that kind of thing,

really, that's good for them to have some dirt under their fingernails and some crumpled

leaves in their pockets and, you know, playing in the wind is great for them for their

spatial awareness and their balance and running gross motor skills, leaning into the

gusts and there's so many benefits for all of the skills that we want our kids to have,

the resilience, the adaptability, that sense of playfulness in life.

The weather can actually teach us a lot of those skills if we allow it to happen.

And I guess that's then as parents being prepared, if it's really put the raincoat on,

but we're going, we're still going out, we're still going to go outside, we're still

going to do things.

And you know, like you said, we're not talking about severe weather, but I remember growing

up in primary school in a windy day, everyone to go a bit, right, is that a thing?

A bit whirly, but really squirrely.

Yeah.

Like everyone actually goes, you know.

I think that's fun.

I think the wind kind of rattles you a little bit, because it throws you around.

And I think that when I think, because I often think about weather in terms of emotions

as well, and I think of wind as sort of a bit a little bit of confusion and that everything

sort of gets thrown up in the air and you don't quite know where it's going to fall down

again.

And I think we have more in common with the weather than what we probably realise.

Yeah.

You know, a lot of us do ride the highs and lows of the seasons and those natural shifts

and might be more a matter of being open to it and going, you know what, it's a windy

day today.

I'm feeling a bit silly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's okay.

That's right.

I think the weather, do you think about children who might maybe near the television watching?

Is that something you're conscious of or you just have to get through the facts of the

weather and, you know, it's up to parents to kind of manage the severity of things?

It's a bit of both.

Now that I have my own kids, I think about it more.

I think when I first started weather presenting, it probably wasn't on my mind, but having

my own kids now, and I know what it's like when you're child over here is something on

the radio or the tele, and they say, oh, what's that?

And you sort of think, oh, God.

So I'm more conscious now.

I try to present the facts in a pretty matter of fact, kind of a way, more of a friendly

a heads up, not sort of the doom, doom, doom, like the doom of, you know, try not to

overcook it, but just give that a friendly expert, letting people know, giving them a heads

up of what's coming in in a way that I do try to imagine that I'm speaking to a broad

range of people from young people through to the elderly people, and they all do need

that information.

So try and have a bit of a straight back.

Yeah, I know this happened with us with Asher when there were the fires in Victoria,

and he heard about it on the news and was asking questions about it, and he wasn't scared

about it, it was intrigued by it, and what it kind of meant with things like fires and

floods and all those extreme weather conditions, how do you present that to children in a way

that doesn't scare them, but in a way they understand?

Yeah, totally.

Because they know, right?

Like, they know some things.

Yeah, they sense it.

They feel it.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And they can sense what we're feeling as parents too.

So there's no point kind of hiding it all together.

But I think it's that age appropriate explanation.

So if there's a flood, it's a simple explanation, sometimes when it rains too much, the river

spills over, and that's why we move somewhere safe, that's why we go to grandma's house when

there's a weather warning.

So it's that simple explanation of, this is what can happen on a hot windy day, fires

are good for keeping us warm sometimes, sometimes on a hot windy day, they can spread through

the land.

And when that happens, this is what we do.

So they're getting an understanding that weather is there, but the grown-ups have a plan.

Yeah, yeah.

And the grown-ups know what to do to keep us safe.

Yeah.

I love that idea in general about the connection that you can teach your kids about, the weather,

but then also, like you said at the start, how it actually helps everything around us.

And you walk past a Brisbane at the moment, the footpaths are so dry and celebrating the

rain when it comes rather than, oh, by going, look at the difference.

So, you know, out of little bit of rain can have.

Absolutely.

And then kids would, we've just done a water song in more general about conserving water

and how it all works, but I think that's fantastic too, because you, in terms of wasting

water or running the tap or all those things.

It's so nourishing, like if it was sunny every day, life would be very boring, and we would

have nothing to eat, because we need rain to make everything grow.

And that goes for life too, you know, how the storming as periods in life often lead

to the greatest growth, and it's true of the weather, and of course every storm does

pass.

And so, we need to have those moments of transition and restoring balance, and I think it's,

you know, it's part of life, which is the foundation of your book, whatever the weather

were in this together, which is what you talked about the association of weather and feelings

and emotions.

Yeah.

So, for you to write this book, what was the real intention behind it?

It started between myself and my good friend Rebecca Ralfon, between us, we've got five

kids, and I remember we were sitting up under a tree, back lives up in Northern Queensland,

sitting under a tree, and I was talking, I was having a bit of a rant, talking about,

you know, because our kids were climbing in the trees, and I was like, you know, a lot of

kids aren't getting this, you know, don't climb trees anymore, talking about how it's

great for kids to be able to get out, whatever the weather, and changing the approach to life

a little bit, and told Beck that I'd had this idea for a book, and she messaged me a couple

of months later, and she said, can't get that idea out of my head, she said, I really think

you should write that book, and if you want, maybe we could write it together.

And she had actually, at that point, been going through some periods in her life with her

family, where they'd had a bit of a rough drop, she really needed to show up for some

of her family members, and she added the line, we're in this together, whatever the

weather we're in this together, and I thought, oh, that is just exactly what our families

and children need to hear right now.

It's really beautiful, it's a beautiful book, and it's beautifully illustrated as well.

Thank you.

Tells a really lovely story.

It's interesting, isn't it, because we are in life, we're throwing up all types of things.

When we wake up that day, we don't know what the weather's going to be, and then we don't

also know what life is going to throw up to us, and it's a wonderful analogy.

Thank you.

It's a good one for kids.

Kids can get it really easily, because they're already into the weather, and they already

know what it means in sunny days and rainy days.

So it's a pretty easy step to side, step into then explaining to kids, some days you will

feel happy and sunny, and some days we feel a bit gloomy and a bit sad, and all of those

emotions, some days mum might feel a bit stormy.

All of those emotions are, as natural as the changing weather, and it helps to sort of

make kids not feel bad about the different emotions that they're feeling, because they

understand that we need all of the different types of emotions, and we need the rain and

all of those things.

So I think they are getting it, like I've had some librarians and some feedback from people

who've been reading it to kids saying, yeah, they're really getting it, and they're getting

that message of unconditional love, no matter what life throws at us.

That's beautiful.

It has been hot, I mean, for months, it's like it's, it's like it's getting up a bit,

it's getting wet.

You're rain going to the water.

I don't know, it's hot.

It has a rain, really.

We're prepared.

We've got any tips for, I mean, it's just still hot, it's just been relentless.

What are some little activities we can, like when it's just so hot, I hope it fits

and finishes soon, because the poor kids, when they go to school for this first term,

I like it.

It's too hot.

Look like me now.

Oh my God.

I know we, when our kids went back to school this year, it was like 40, I think it was

42 breeze, and it was just, I felt so bad for them, and alarming the reality is it's getting

hotter, it's getting worse, and so that we do need to learn to adapt, I guess, my rule

is on those, when I know it's coming in as a hot day, I still know I want the kids to

be able to get outside the not inside all day.

So I go early.

Early.

I think timing is key.

I'm not a big fan of, yeah, I've seen it have seen some families, they want to go to

the slight 40 degrees, and they're like, oh, let's go to the beach.

I'm like, no way.

I've got to the beach.

We're going to go outside early in the morning, I'm going to let the kids have some

backyard water play or jump on the trampoline, get some energy out, get some fresh air, and

then I'm bringing them in for the afternoon, and I'm saying we're doing a movie day.

What can you do?

Yeah.

It should change soon.

It's like we all get surprised every year.

It is.

It happens every year, and asher, my little boy gets so red in the face, and he doesn't want

to stop running around, but you're right, it's all about the timing, isn't it?

And it's about understanding through people like you, when we watch the weather, understanding

what the day is going to be to then plan your day and plan around it to go, okay, well,

it's going to be really hot so we get out early.

Yeah.

And then we have other activities in play, we can do at home, or it's going to be raining,

but what let's prepare ourselves for it, we're going to get that anyway, and we're going

to have a fun time.

Absolutely, yeah.

There's a good saying, there's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing,

and I love that, because we have it in the boot of the car, I've just got these head

to toe onesies, this kind of made out of this plastic, and off we go, if it's been raining

or the grass is wet, it doesn't matter, they can run around, climb on the rocks or

whatever they want to do, and then there's just removing that barrier, and you know,

a pair of old gum boots, you can pick them up from Vinnie's for five bucks, and off

you go.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's a really good idea.

Do you think that children in regional areas are still kind of outdoor playing more than

we are in the cities?

I think so, I think sometimes it's even just access to space.

Yeah.

Like in our neighborhood, I feel like every patch of what was once green grass is being

filled in with developments, and it's sort of the access to nature is shrinking, I think,

in a lot of cities, whereas in that, you know, when I grew up in Mount Gambia, where we

were sort of just around and around trying to catch rabbits in the paddocks, and I don't

think we realized how lucky we were to have that access to nature and that connection to

the outside world, but I think we can bring it back, you know, it doesn't, don't have

to be packing the car, I'm going on a two week camping trip for us to find these little

moments of wonder, you know, in the city, it can be as simple as helping children to

connect with what's happening around them.

It can be some, just a comment on the way to the car in the morning, wow, can you feel

the wind on your skin?

What does it feel like?

Where do you think it's coming from?

Is it a cool wind?

It might be coming from the south, or if it's a warm feeling, it might be coming from

the north.

And that, that takes 20 seconds, and you can do that in your front yard, and they're

locking in to that world, that world that is there that they might not be noticing, or

it might be, can we find the biggest puddle, where's the, you know, and we don't have

to jump in it.

You know, it's close.

What happens if we throw a stone into it?

What do the reports do?

Can you see your reflection, like it's just these tiny little, it can be a sunset walk

after dinner.

Let's go for a sunset walk.

It can be five minutes around the block, and we're going to look and see what colours

are in the sky.

And that's a lovely way to transition into bedtime, because we're in tune with nature,

the sun's waving goodbye, putting on a beautiful show for us, and now it's time for us to

go to bed.

So it's just tuning them in a little bit, and you can really do that from anywhere.

You know, at night time, we all look up at the same stars, we can all go out and have

a look at the moon together, you know, whether you live in the city or the middle of the

outback.

Those magical moments are there, we just got to notice them.

Yeah, and give ourselves time to notice, sort of just rushing by, which is, you know,

what we do in life these days, we don't, we actually don't look at the old saying, stop

and smell the roses.

Yeah.

It's exactly that, isn't it?

And it's always when you're in a hurry, like they'll notice something, they'll notice

like a flower blooming, and it's always, no, but I'm, oh, and I just try to stop myself.

And I say to people, just try and resist this, because we're so used to living at this fast

pace, run, run, race, race, gotta get here, gotta go there, try to resist that urge to

yank their arm away and pull them into the car.

No, no, we gotta go, we gotta get to daycare, and just let them have that little window

of wonder.

And you're going to get that window of wonder too, as the parent, because you're going

to experience the look on their face as they have a look at whatever it is that they've

noticed might be a little bug that they've spotted on a leaf, and you're going to, that's

going to make your day better too, but I'd get it, because the urge is just nuts.

And you know what?

You might be late.

You might be a few minutes late, but it's worth it.

Yeah.

Lauren was dropping Asher off to school this morning, and he wanted to park a bit further

away.

It was raining, wanted to park a bit further away from the school, because he wanted to

ride his scooter.

And so he said to mum, you, you get the umbrella, you put it over me, and then I'll scoot

it.

And I was just like, what happens to me?

Is it, well, you would just get wet?

Okay, let's go.

Okay, let's stick.

Well, I think she's waterproof.

Yeah, it's sort of, he's scooted and was dry, and losses completely, completely saturated.

Kids can be umbrella hogs, I've noticed this.

They love to grab the umbrella.

Yeah.

I guess I'll just copy it.

No, when Asher says, can I carry it, Dad, and it's like, well, how is this going to

work?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then you're like crouching down into this umbrella, I guess this is kind of working.

No, but it's all the reminder is, look, everything you're saying, that it's all new

experiences for children.

Yeah.

When they walking past, and they see when there's a little yellow, weedy flash, whatever

they are.

And Asher wants to collect every single one along the way, which I'm sure the council's

happy back.

We're taking the weeds.

We just end up with a bunch of weeds on our kitchen bench for a week and watch them

slowly die.

Exactly.

But he's loved every second of it.

You think, oh, well, it's allowed that to be.

It's just, I know.

And because we've seen that a hundred times, even something as simple as rain, right?

We've seen rain a hundred times.

I remember the first time my little boy saw rain, and I remember his eyes, like looking

out, he must have been thinking, like, what is this?

You know, you think about it, shiny wet stuff falling from the sky.

It's magical.

Yeah.

You know, you forget that that wonder is there.

That's true.

Yeah.

And I think that's the great thing about kids, because they help us to rediscover that magic.

Yeah, that's true.

That we wouldn't have noticed.

No.

And we, as parents and adults, have to be willing to notice as well to stop and actually

look at the world through their eyes, which is such a beautiful thing to do if you give

yourself the time.

It is.

It's a gift.

But I get it.

I mean, life is busy.

I did laugh before, and I didn't really mean to when there was that 19% of children climb

trees today, only because I thought who studied who came to that conclusion.

But then I hadn't thought of it, we're probably a little bit scared of our kids climbing

trees now.

But also that there's just not as many trees, which is I can't wait and I hope one day

I can have it.

We don't have a tree in our yard.

All I want to do is plan a big, massive tree that goes in the yard, and I hope I can

do that.

But that's not very funny at all.

No, you know what, it's access to nature.

Do you know what my boy asked Santa for this year, a fully grown tree, and he wanted a

fully grown tree in the backyard because when we moved into our house, the people before

our house had removed all the trees.

Don't get me started on that.

And he wanted a fully grown tree so that he could climb a tree in his backyard.

And you think of, you know, like, I loved climbing trees as a kid and it wasn't, you

just something you kind of took it for granted.

And now, you know, we did a story back on nine news in Adelaide last week, I think, about

a group of mums who were fighting because they wanted just one park in their suburb.

Their suburb didn't have a park.

There was no green space for them to take their kids to play and they were trying to get

a petition going with the council of, like, can we have a park?

It's about values, isn't it, where, because we need to value our wellbeing and access

to nature is so important for health, development and wellbeing.

It's a tricky one.

When Lauren and I got married, we had a wedding plan and who didn't think we had enough

guests.

And so she wanted to put a tree to fill out the space.

Like real money.

A big tree in the middle of it.

I said, I don't think I can have a question.

I can have big thoughts.

But I should have.

Good night.

Well, we wouldn't make close to the nature.

Someone would have climbed it.

Oh my goodness.

Climbing the tree.

Excuse the amazing wedding plan, but why?

What about the tree?

What about the tree?

What about the tree?

Yeah, the tree.

The tree.

The tree.

Yeah.

He's in a lot of hurry, yeah, though.

He could start doing weddings.

Yeah, that's right.

You've written a beautiful lullaby, too.

Oh, thank you.

To accompany the book.

It's a really, and I think that's, I mean, that's it.

We do here at Wiggles, for children through learning,

the song is a great means for that.

And that's why you decided to write a lullaby.

I love the idea of a parent or a grandparent

holding the child and swaying to the rhythm of the song.

And just because it follows the words of the book,

and so they're going to hear that line,

whatever the weather we're in is together.

Hold where they hold the child, yeah.

I love you now, and I love you forever.

And you guys would know this as music.

It goes into a different part of the brain.

And that's why it's funny.

You can be like, you've ever been driving along

and the song comes on the radio.

You haven't heard it in 20 years,

and you still know there were everywhere.

It's like, yeah.

Absolutely.

Because it's gone in, I'm not a neuroscientist,

but it's gone in a different pathway, and it's locked in.

And so I think for children, in this case,

to be able to have that message going in,

I love you now, I love you forever.

Like, they can remember that as they're growing

when they're young, but when they're nine or 10 or 20,

you know, just to have that in sort of their fabric,

to know that they love no matter what they're going through,

I felt like a lullaby would be a beautiful way to do that.

Yeah, and it's beautiful, it really is.

Thank you.

It's amazing.

If you had one thing to say to parents about the weather,

and then with family and children,

is it something you'd like to leave us with today?

You know what?

I hope if anything that this conversation,

or whether it's the book or the song,

it can be a bit of a permission slip for parents as well

to feel what they're feeling,

because I think sometimes there is this expectation on parents,

so we've got to just roll up, put a smile on our face,

have this perfect, you know,

we're supposed to be happy all the time,

pleasant, polite, perfect with our children.

And the reality is that life doesn't go like that,

and we don't expect the weather to be sunny every day,

so we shouldn't expect that of ourselves.

And I think if it's a sort of a permission slip for parents

to feel, I feel worried about my children,

and that's okay, or I feel a bit stressed today,

and that's okay, I'm feeling a bit sad,

and that's okay too.

Just that, like, take sort of a bit of a deep breath with it,

and model that same, you know,

what we would want for our children,

for ourselves as well, in our families.

And hopefully, I think that ability to just,

to find joy in every season of life,

no matter what life is throwing at us,

to notice those little pockets,

I hope that if someone listens to this,

and then they're on the way to work next week,

and they stop, you know,

and they notice a funny shaped cloud,

and they stop and have a bit of a look at it,

my work is done.

Yeah.

I've attempted to learn the chorus,

but do you want to do, like, little chorus?

Oh my gosh.

Well, I'm like,

I've got a recourse, yes.

Oh, I would love to have that.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, so whatever the weather we're in together,

is a beautiful book by Jessica,

and it's also a wonderful lullaby.

And we've got a very special treat, a man,

and a yellow hat, and a pink coat.

We're going to sing the chorus for you now.

Well, I'm going to be an audience.

Okay.

We go.

Wiggles' co-labs.

Yeah, that's it.

Whenever the weather we're in this together,

I love you now,

whenever the weather we're in this together.

I love you now,

whenever the weather we're in this together.

I love you now,

whenever the weather we're in this together.

Oh, thank you, Jessica.

That was beautiful.

Well, Jess, it's wonderful to talk and chat with you today.

Thank you for your passion and everything you do,

and thank you for coming on Wiggles' talk.

Thank you so much for having me.

I had to take my jacket off, it was very hot.

Yeah, a good filial sweating for us,

the other side of the room.

Meadly sweaty in here, whatever that's called.

Elbow crease.

Elbow crease.

Yes, but thank you, Jessica.

That was so, and again,

another just really beautiful chat about weather,

but way more than that.

Yeah.

And the power of tying the weather in

for our kids with other things and...

Well, that's right.

And that book of the analogy of weather and life

and what, you know, life throws you

and the unknown of the weather,

the unknown of life, all those things.

It's a really beautiful book and lovely person.

And celebrating the rain.

Celebrate the rain and celebrate the rain hat.

The rain hat, yes.

This is, I think this is a Southwester.

I think they are called Southwester.

Squidgigan ground.

Yes, we've been there.

In Newfoundland.

Yeah, that's what it's called.

How do you say it?

No, that's right, Newfoundland.

Newfoundland.

Newfoundland.

Newfoundland.

Newfoundland.

What are you at?

Do you remember that?

Yeah, what are you at?

And yes, Bob?

Yes, Bob.

Can't remember what that means.

Well, we went to Newfoundland.

There's a chocolate company that put the saying,

the famous sayings on the packet so you can learn them.

And we try to, at the show, some...

I'm down like a hot air balloon.

But there was...

What do you want when OK?

What didn't go, OK, was I got a hat when I...

Was that a Newfoundland?

You'd learnt this song, which is sang at the concert there

and then loved it.

And then...

I had a hat when I came in.

We went back to the mainland.

Yeah, it was Halifax.

Yeah, and you sang close enough.

You sang the song, yeah.

I finished the song.

I had a hat when I came out.

Crickets.

Oh, you don't know that one.

Hey, I thank you, Jess.

That was a beautiful her book.

Whatever the weather, we're in this together.

We'll pop the link in the show notes.

There is a lullaby version in there, too,

to listen to that song.

That's an excellent blocky about the show notes.

Thank you, Simon.

That's very good.

Yes.

But that's it for today, isn't it?

That is it for today.

If you have been enjoying Wiggle Talk, you can quickly view us.

You can't view us.

And then rate and review us in that order.

Yeah, because that's how other parents can find the show.

Yes.

But thanks for listening to Wiggle Talk.

It's a podcast for parents.

See you soon.

Goodbye.

Bye.