What's Wrong With A Wine Playground & Is The Oreo Mum Even Real?

0:05Speaker 1:Welcome to Parenting Out Loud, the podcast for parents that don't always listen to parenting podcasts. We like to round up all the best bits of the internet and what everyone is talking about and serve it up to you on a bit of a podcast charcuterie plate with, you know, some hummus and carrot on the side just because we're fancy like that.

0:23Speaker 2:Can we have some Marcona almonds? Yes, definitely. Chuck those on. I am Stacey Hicks. I'm Amelia Lester. And I'm not Mons. I am Grace Rupre. Hello, Grace. Grace, since you're here, I have to tell you I saw a Reacher dad in the wild recently. Can I guess the archetype? Yes, please.

0:41Speaker 1:Wait, can you tell me first quickly what a Reacher dad is? Because I wasn't here that week.

0:45Speaker 3:A Reacher dad is a man who is on a flight and who does not participate in the parenting of his child, but instead... Spends seven hours straight watching episodes one to seven of Reacher.

0:56Speaker 2:Oh, I want to be a Reacher dad. That sounds great.

1:00Speaker 3:I'm guessing that he was of Caucasian descent, heritage, stocky build.

1:05Speaker 4:Yes.

1:06Speaker 2:And wanted to watch Reacher. Yes. And I was in his natural habitat, actually. Just picture me with a David Attenborough voice here, an airport lounge, having a beer at 1201 when the bar opened, telling his missus he'd be home in time to watch Reacher that night. It was actually quite sweet. Oh, good for him.

1:24Speaker 1:Well, coming up on today's show, there's two controversial new playgrounds that are being called inappropriate and morbid, but kids are loving them. And a mum's play about Oreos has gone viral, but maybe things are not what they seem.

1:38Speaker 3:And Dolly Parton was the world's auntie, and it got us thinking about the special relationship we have with other people's kids.

1:45Speaker 2:Yeah, but first... If you've.

1:47Speaker 3:Got a kid who loves the Sydney Swans, particularly maybe a kid whose bedroom wall has posters with Isaac Heaney or even maybe has a book by Isaac Heaney, you may have had a hard week. What exactly do we tell our kids why their favourite player isn't running on the field in the AFL finals? There's a child psychologist, Larissa Elliott, goes under the sun is her handle. She made a useful reel about how to handle it and her advice is to not lie, be age appropriate. Here's a little bit of what she said.

2:16Speaker 5:Being incredibly talented at something doesn't mean you get to ignore the rules. Being famous doesn't mean you're entitled to behave however you want. Being good at sport and being admired doesn't make you a good bloke.

2:27Speaker 3:Now, before she went into that, she did say to start by asking the kids what they already know, because chances are they've heard something on the playground or they've seen something in the news. Amelia, I wanted to ask you first, because you talked about this on Out Loud on Monday, what you were at the game.

2:42Speaker 2:What did you say to your kids? Well, we didn't stay for the men's game. It was a doubleheader. It started with the women's game and then was the men's game. And we walked out after the women's game. And I explained to my six-year-old and my eight-year-old, it was really hard to come up with something to say that was age appropriate. But I said to them that the players who have been suspended stayed up late and didn't follow their coach's rules. So now they think that Isaac Heaney...

3:13Speaker 2:stayed up past his bedtime and that's why he's not playing, which is actually true.

3:18Speaker 3:Yeah, I can sort of only think about it because I have a one-year-old. I'm guessing this wouldn't have come up with you and your daughter, Stacey.

3:24Speaker 2:No, no, I'm an NRL family famously. Yeah, that's true, that's true. So no AFL for me. And these issues never come up in the NRL. No, they don't. They don't. Oh, that'll be, you'll have to start thinking about this. Yeah, I will prepare some lines, Stacey.

3:41Speaker 3:When this came up this week, I sort of thought back to my own childhood, which was the only way I could kind of come in to access it. I also contributed to the Outloud episode on Monday as well as with one of the producers that I was introduced to the AFL by my dad when I was six. So I was sort of thinking about this from the perspective of how my dad at that would have had to have told his daughters, a six and a nine-year-old, why their favourite players weren't on the field. One thing that my husband and I have been talking about is that we're so happy that our daughter is going to grow up into a world where there are female athletes to look at. And the big boom of the Matildas when they had the World Cup in 2023 is like, oh my gosh, that is women's sport and you can look at that and go, you can become an athlete, whereas we didn't have that when we were growing up and that's how I'm sort of choosing to focus on it, to go, I can lead my daughter to the women's AFL and go, you can watch the Matildas and I'm trying to come at it from a positive angle.

4:41Speaker 2:Grace, I'm curious. I loved what you said on the show about how AFL was a way for you and your dad to bond. I thought it was really beautiful and you told the story of how he always calls you after the Swans win. And on Sunday, he didn't call you even though they won. I'm curious if the two of you have discussed this topic since then.

5:01Speaker 6:No.

5:01Speaker 3:And I thought about messaging him before today's show to get his thoughts on it.

5:05Speaker 2:But that is true.

5:07Speaker 3:He always calls me when they win and he'll probably text me if they didn't win or say, oh, I went golfing today, which means he's obviously turned off the game and hasn't finished watching it. I imagine it would be disappointing for him because he's also not being able to share that moment with me now. Or it's clear that something has shifted for him to not even send a message. He's like, okay, well, they've disappointed me. They've probably disappointed my daughter and I don't know how to talk about it.

5:33Speaker 1:Well, I think that's why it's good that there are videos like this around for us in terms of what to speak about because it's kind of a good lesson whether you're an AFL fan or not. But if someone breaks the rules, you would hope that they are held to account and that's a good rule. for our kids to know. And for your dad's generation, there probably wasn't that, there wasn't that script of, of what to say.

5:53Speaker 2:So I guess it's, it's a good thing now that we know how to deal with that.

5:57Speaker 1:Yeah.

5:57Speaker 2:We complain a lot of the time, I think in a justified way, that there's too much information coming at us about our parenting, that we have to do this, that we shouldn't do that. And that's true. But on another level or another way of looking at it is, I think that's true, Stacey, we now have access to so much more expertise about how to parent, quote unquote, properly. And that's a nice flip side to the information overload. Dolly Parton passed away this week. but she left us with so many gifts. Her music, obviously, the COVID vaccine that she funded and which helped bring us out of the pandemic. And perhaps most relevant for a parenting podcast, she gave us the Imagination Library, that astonishing program that gives children free books from birth to age five all over the world. It's given over 300 million books away.

6:47Speaker 2:It's something Stacey and my children have been lucky enough to enjoy. And I just love the letter that The letter that she sends the kids as they graduate from the program, it's been circulating on the internet this week. And I just wanted to read a little bit of it here. I'm going to cry.

7:03Speaker 1:I'm going to cry because I cried at the time when I received this letter.

7:07Speaker 2:This may be your last book from Imagination Library, but you have to promise me you will keep on reading. You and all your friends are very special. There is no limit to how far you can go. Just remember the lessons my family taught me. Dream big dreams, learn everything you can learn and care for all those who care for you. You are terrific. And remember, I will always love you. Oh, gosh. I actually am crying. So can I ask, do you get, I thought this was, so you got some of her books.

7:37Speaker 1:My daughter got these books from birth until five and I still remember when that last letter came and I didn't realise it was going to be the last one but it was around.

7:45Speaker 2:Her birthday at five. Because it's at their birthday, it's when they turn five and she starts off the letter by saying you're about to go to school, maybe your school has a library.

7:55Speaker 6:Yes.

7:55Speaker 2:You can keep borrowing books. Yeah, you can still keep reading.

7:58Speaker 1:And it really was like she was like an honorary aunt that sent letters from a distance for my daughter.

8:04Speaker 2:It did feel like a bit of a loss.

8:06Speaker 4:Yeah.

8:07Speaker 2:Well, that's the thing. She has become the world's beloved aunt and she's someone who didn't have kids herself. but was a familial figure that we all felt that we could rely on to always do the right thing. In fact, here's a clip of Dolly herself talking about that role.

8:22Speaker 7:Well, we always thought we wanted children and we were on the road. When we first got married, I figured we'd have kids. We had names for them, you know, as you do when you're dating and when you're first married. Years went by, you know, we would try to plan when we were going to have it and then life caught up and, you know, we just never got pregnant. And then I got too old to do it. And so it just never happened. But I really honestly believe that some things like that are meant to be because now everybody's kids are mine.

8:51Speaker 1:Right.

8:51Speaker 2:You're sort of the mama for everyone.

8:53Speaker 1:Yeah.

8:53Speaker 7:I'm the dolly mama.

8:54Speaker 2:Now, look, there can only be one dolly. But part of what I think she's talking about here is how women without children can find a very special and unique place with other people's families. It's not a well-defined role. It's not something that I think we talk about a lot. But I think if we all start thinking about it, we can immediately think of examples in our own life. Stacey, does that ring true to you? Yeah, absolutely.

9:18Speaker 1:I ran into a couple that I grew up with that were really good friends of my parents. My parents were the first ones to have kids in their group. So all of their friends didn't. And these friends of theirs have moved interstate, like I've only seen them really a handful of times in my adult life. And when I ran into them in the street, it was like it was Christmas Day for me. Like I could feel in my bones somehow this connection to them, even though I hadn't seen them in years, that love that they had for me when I was little and that bond that I had when we were around each other all the time. And on the flip side, I think of it with my friend's children as well. When I didn't know if I was going to have a child, one of my best friends, I had a really close bond with her. and I still do with her three children.

10:02Speaker 1:And I hope that continues because even when you have your own kids, they're It is just that special bond.

10:07Speaker 2:Like kids are great.

10:08Speaker 1:And to be close with other people's children is such a privilege as well, like to get to feel like the cool aunt to them.

10:15Speaker 3:Because then maybe you'll grow, when they grow up, they'll be the person that's like, oh, I might tell Aunty Stacey this. Like you're removed from the family, that safe distance that it, if there's something they want to confide in, you're the trusted voice there.

10:29Speaker 2:Absolutely. And I say that all the time. I'm like, just tell me. Don't tell mom and dad. Come tell me. It's that lack of judgment, I think, that you've pinpointed, Grace, that is such an important part of this dynamic. Farrah Storr doesn't have children, but she's written a sub stack on why it is that she finds these relationships with other people's children so rewarding. She says an interesting thing. She says that there's often a lot of suspicion around women who don't have children. And it often comes from an assumption that those women don't like children, which is really quite a taboo assumption in our society to sort of label someone as someone who doesn't like children. But she explains that there's a very long story as to why she doesn't have children. And she actually prefers the company of children to adults. I just wanted to read a tiny bit about why that is. She says that, I know many things about other people's children. Secrets, yes, but also dreams, fears, what makes them angry and frustrated.

11:30Speaker 2:And here is the important part. I expect nothing in return, though I presume they expect much from me. Trust for a start, a good ear, listening without judgment. I think that's such a key dynamic that she's defined here. She doesn't expect anything from them, but she knows that the responsibility, what they expect from her, is actually quite heavy. It's a big commitment to take on.

11:53Speaker 1:And she probably doesn't ask anything of them. Like I think when it's your parent, there's always that lens of like, can you do this?

11:59Speaker 2:You must do this. When you're not in that role but around a child, it can just be that fun relationship of sharing things silly stories or secrets or hopes and dreams, as you said. Similar to what you said at the beginning, Stacey, I.

12:14Speaker 3:feel, I can feel this from both the perspective of when I was a child and like we had the child free people come to visit. There was a woman from my mum's tennis club. She came to us every Christmas because she didn't have her own family. So she was our Christmas breakfast.

12:29Speaker 2:Guest, which was divine. And it was always like, I want to show you the things I made at school. I want to do this. I want to do this.

12:35Speaker 3:And she seemed to, I mean, I hope she did delight in having me and my sister in share all of this stuff with her.

12:40Speaker 2:But then I see it from my perspective now.

12:43Speaker 3:And when I walk into my friends' houses and I bring my child and the children have a play date, we sort of see it from the perspective of like, oh, I'm there to relieve each other and for us to have a break, which is important. But this message around Dolly and that's the quote from your sub stack has made me think that I should be going in and actually engaging with the children more because it is such a privilege to be around your friends as they parent but also to learn who their children are as people as we all grow up because– as we get older, we're going to do the weekends away and who you've like bonded with as, you know, families growing up together.

13:19Speaker 3:These are the memories and the groups of people you're going to have as you continue and you're going to have those opportunities to build rituals together. And I think it starts now as being like, who are you little person? Who's your personality? And it's my responsibility to get to know them just as the same way I've gotten to know their parents. Yeah, that's such a nice way of putting it.

13:37Speaker 2:And it makes me think about what a child gets out of this relationship in addition to the open, no judgment ability to listen and not map on your own expectations and assumptions as parents inevitably do. I think that that growing up relationship that they have with a child, you can learn a lot about your own parents through your parents' friends and getting to know them. So I certainly had a friend of my mom's who I was very close to growing up. She's passed away now. But she was the most fun, lively person rambunctious person and it made me see my mother in a whole different light as a human separate from mother she was just oh if she's friends with this incredibly fun lady she's she must be a ball to be around.

14:29Speaker 3:Too yeah what's that friendship how did they bond what don't I see it's like the moment you realize that before your parents were called mom and dad they had first names which is always my favourite fact that I have to re-remember all the time.

14:43Speaker 1:But it's also, like you said, Dolly obviously got so much joy out of caring for other people's children in that way. And I think when we start to have kids with our friends that are child-free by choice, sometimes you naturally draw away just because you think they won't be as interested in that part of your life. But it actually shows, just like Dolly did, there's so much to be given on both sides from them being around your kids and from you being around them.

15:08Speaker 3:That's so true the warmth that I feel when my friends come in and they sit on the floor and they play with Nora yeah it's like they've come into my new reality in a way that I don't feel like I have to be like oh well you know I'll give her a cracker and hopefully she'll be quiet and we can because I spend so much energy trying to prove that I'm not different and that I still care about their lives but maybe if I gave them the opportunity.

15:30Speaker 2:To show that they've welcomed this part of me as well.

15:33Speaker 6:Yeah.

15:34Speaker 2:Well, thanks Dolly. You just keep on teaching us. We miss you. Okay.

15:38Speaker 1:So there's a video doing the rounds this week that has all the Instagram mums in a chokehold and I am the Instagram mums.

15:45Speaker 2:I am in this chokehold.

15:47Speaker 1:It's a woman named Ashley and she's posted these clips titled Text Messages from My Mum's Group Chat at My Daughter's New School. And the first video alone has 10 million views and the others are about at that level.

16:02Speaker 2:That's like slightly more than our podcast. Yeah, only just. Where are we based? Only just. Where geographically are we?

16:09Speaker 1:We're in America because it's mom's group. But that's all, that's all we know about the mysterious Ashley. And I want to bring that up. I want to raise something about that. Now I want to play you a little bit of this because Grace, you're looking at me blankly. You have not seen Oreo gate come up.

16:24Speaker 2:I have not seen Oreo gate.

16:26Speaker 3:And I, I did not read your notes because I wanted you to tell me.

16:29Speaker 2:Who this person is. Okay.

16:32Speaker 1:So It's basically centred around this mum, Michelle, is the one that is replying in these messages to Ashley. So it's Ashley who's posting. Ashley has posted these clips. There's 10 at the moment and there's more to come, I think. I'm waiting with bated breath. And Michelle is the other mum who started this conversation in the group talking about who packed Oreos for their child today in their lunchbox because my daughter is very upset she doesn't get Oreos in her lunchbox because So she is asking the other mothers to refrain from sending treats. And the drama escalates from there. Now, important context, I'm going to play you a little bit of this because it is catchy. What she's done is used an AI tool that turns the text messages into a song, which is just.

17:18Speaker 2:Fun for everyone. I'm so glad that like a millennia of scientific progress has culminated in being able to turn the Oreo text messages into a song. Exactly.

17:25Speaker 1:It's the gift we all needed this week, especially after losing Dolly. So the messages are popping up on screen, but you're going to hear it in song form.

17:35Speaker 2:Okay. Okay. So listen to a little bit of this.

17:37Speaker 6:Everyone sorry slightly awkward one but could we maybe agree on some basic rules around lunch boxes of course.

17:45Speaker 2:Is this about allergies no nothing allergy related.

17:48Speaker 6:Ava came home really upset yesterday because one of the girls had oreos in.

17:52Speaker 2:Her lunch oh why was she upset.

17:54Speaker 6:We don't allow that kind of thing at home so obviously she wanted them when she saw someone else eating them uh okay i thought there had been an allergy if you're something I like this person.

18:06Speaker 2:So the kids aren't comparing lunches. I mean, I sent the Oreos.

18:13Speaker 6:Okay.

18:13Speaker 2:Would you mind maybe not sending them again? Just because Ava was really upset about it. And I think it would be easier if we're all consistent. Grace's face in that, so good.

18:27Speaker 5:So good.

18:28Speaker 6:Also, if you want a fun party trick, play this to your children.

18:33Speaker 2:Yeah. They just have a priceless reaction to it. What is going on?

18:52Speaker 3:Is anyone on the side of the person who's saying don't bring Oreos?

18:56Speaker 2:Not really.

18:59Speaker 3:My immediate reaction, I have a few thoughts. I love that she turned it into a song and I hope that she wants to continue in content creation.

19:08Speaker 2:But two, this is insane. The person is insane. Yeah. The one asking not to bring them.

19:13Speaker 1:Yes.

19:13Speaker 2:But I also love that she keeps going, this must be an allergy issue. Yeah, yeah. Like, come on, you're not really asking me. My next question to you is, I've seen that one. Why are there 10 parts? Like, what happens in the next nine installments? Oh, wait.

19:27Speaker 3:So that wasn't 10 texts. into a song that's video one of ten. That's video one of ten. So what happens in the next nine installments?

19:34Speaker 1:It is honestly like a drop by drop of a Netflix drama. Like everyone is on these comments being like, when is the next one coming out?

19:41Speaker 2:Because they just get dropped at random. It escalates. It goes on. The school is involved. Letters are sent. Messages are sent.

19:51Speaker 1:Operation Oreo starts where the other mothers break into a separate group and start colluding to all send Oreos to school the next day so.

20:00Speaker 2:That poor Ava is the only child without Oreos.

20:03Speaker 1:It goes on and on And I know that you loved every single one of these 10 parts, but I also know that you have some bad news for us. Yes, I'm about to break everyone's heart that's been loving these videos. Maybe they figured it out by now, maybe not.

20:17Speaker 2:There's a lot of evidence that this is all made up. Michelle and Ava aren't real.

20:24Speaker 1:Because, and I will go through the evidence.

20:26Speaker 5:Please.

20:27Speaker 1:I will go through some of the evidence. The first thing is if you look at this woman's account, there's barely anything on. Ashley's account. Ashley's account. There's barely anything there. These are some of the first videos. She's only ever done videos using this AI tool, which she tags in her Instagram bio.

20:43Speaker 6:Wow.

20:44Speaker 3:Did she have to make a Finstagram because she might get kicked out of the mother's group?

20:47Speaker 2:Maybe. Maybe. You're right.

20:49Speaker 1:But her face is in the background of these texts, so you'd be able to figure out who this is.

20:53Speaker 2:So it's not really a Finsta because she's there. So are there any non-Finstas? like singing AI posts on this Instagram account. There's not like a great stack of pancakes she made last weekend.

21:07Speaker 1:No, no, no Oreo cheesecake or anything there. No, it's just videos using this AI technology.

21:14Speaker 2:Okay.

21:15Speaker 1:And because she's tagged it, that is also a big giveaway. This is someone who's making these videos to promote this tool because who wouldn't want to turn their techs into something with that musicality.

21:25Speaker 2:Are Oreos tagged in her videos?

21:27Speaker 1:No, and everyone's saying that. Everyone was like Oreos should have got in on this and done a hashtag collab.

21:32Speaker 2:Okay, tell us the other evidence though, Stacey, because I'm still not sold.

21:35Speaker 1:Okay, so all the names are involved and I just think that's a line that most mums probably wouldn't cross in terms of naming the children, naming the mothers. She's very identifiable if this is correct.

21:47Speaker 2:Nothing's blanked out. Nothing's blanked out. Nothing is blanked out. It's all there.

21:51Speaker 1:The most telling piece of evidence, though, is how fast these messages are coming in because we all know when you're in a group, like if someone sent a message at 8.52 in the morning, you're probably replying at 9 o'clock at night. There's all these messages, 14 messages between six different people in six minutes.

22:08Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, no. It's too quick and they're all coming through equally spaced, a one minute apart. Does it say what time of day? Because I think that parent group chats, if these messages were all coming in thick and fast at like, 8.07am.

22:22Speaker 1:Yeah.

22:22Speaker 2:That would be sus. That would be sus. But if it was 8.07pm, I might believe it. Maybe. Because everyone's on their phone.

22:28Speaker 1:Yep.

22:28Speaker 2:They are coming through at 8.30 in the morning. Nope.

22:31Speaker 7:Nope.

22:32Speaker 2:Not happening. No one is.

22:33Speaker 1:Texting this fast at 8.30 in the morning unless they're all standing in a line waiting at school assembly or something, which.

22:38Speaker 2:Would make it even more awkward. No, 8.31am is actually the least likely time that this whole group chat would be happening. Agree. Agree.

22:45Speaker 1:And if you look at all the language, it's all the punctuation, all the emojis, everything is exactly the same.

22:51Speaker 2:Like every person's great. Every person is a banger. Every character has gone to a writer's room to create them.

22:56Speaker 7:They have.

22:57Speaker 2:They have. So it's a little bit too perfect.

22:59Speaker 1:But what I want to say is whether or not this is real, it's not.

23:03Speaker 2:Whether it's a dramatisation, it is. Stacey, this is just like telling your kids that Santa Claus isn't real, which isn't even true, by the way, to any children listening. No, not true to the haters.

23:12Speaker 1:But the comments on these videos prove the point that this could be real. Yeah. That this is an example of what goes on because there were so many people in the comments, particularly teachers, going, hey, teacher here, this absolutely happens and I've seen it plenty of times.

23:26Speaker 2:Right.

23:26Speaker 1:And there was even a mum in there talking about Skittlegate at her own school where the teachers got in trouble from a parent for giving the children a one-off prize of Skittles and then they were banned from doing it and so all the parents then gifted the teachers Skittles for Christmas.

23:42Speaker 2:Love it.

23:43Speaker 3:Do you have any experience from either of your group chats of anyone being like, well, they're maybe not as red hot as this, but just going, well, we would never be friends.

23:52Speaker 2:Probably. I'm not at that point yet. I know I'm going to get there next year and I'm scared. Are you getting this in group chats? Absolutely.

24:00Speaker 7:And.

24:02Speaker 2:Look, I could set it to music and it would go viral too, but I still got to show up at the school gate. I'm like Ashley, who is probably a cyborg. Exactly. So I can't tell you on air, but I think if you have school-aged children, there's some real drama that goes down in the group chats that will leave your jaw on the floor.

24:21Speaker 1:Yeah. And this is kind of snowplow parenting at its finest too, right? Like it's actually the perfect example of what happens when people refuse to let their child experience disappointment in any way, shape or form. You know, like it's an important thing to look around and go, we're not even, we're not equal.

24:39Speaker 2:Yeah, but Ashley knows millennial parents. She knows how we operate. Yeah. And she's really like sticking it to us. Yeah. This is how we are.

24:47Speaker 1:This is how we are and we need to remember to not be Michelle's and just... let the other kids have their Oreos.

24:53Speaker 2:Okay.

24:53Speaker 1:So first I was on the Oreo beat this week and I'm also on the playground beat. So what I wanted to present to you is two controversial playgrounds that I've been getting a lot of criticism, but I'm totally obsessed with both of them.

25:07Speaker 2:I want to go to both.

25:09Speaker 1:The first is a new council playground in Adelaide. It's in Marion and it's wine themed. Now, When I heard wine-themed playground, I was imagining like a goon bag jumping pillow or like maybe you could stomp on grapes as like a sensory activity. I was wanting it to be very immersive. Or a bar for the parents.

25:31Speaker 2:No such thing. This isn't Europe where they're all just sipping their wine while the children play. Exactly.

25:36Speaker 1:This is, so it's meant to be a reflection of the area's history and of the neighbouring business, Petriti Wines, which has been in the area for 100 years. So, yeah, we're not talking free pours of wine in the playground. It's much more subtle than that. It's got like wine barrel structures.

25:52Speaker 3:It's an architectural decision based on the geographical location.

25:56Speaker 2:Yes, yes. It's just the vibe of wine. It's the vibe of a winery. Yeah.

26:02Speaker 1:But parents have complained that it's sending an inappropriate message about alcohol.

26:07Speaker 2:What do we think? Inappropriate? Fine. I think we should have our first Parenting Out Loud meet-up at the wine-themed playground. I think it's lovely. It connects to the local community and history. Yeah, she loves Adelaide. It's about tourism. Look, I will say there is.

26:24Speaker 3:In Holbrook, so it's near where I'm from in Albury, there's a big giant submarine in Holbrook and that is the play equipment there, like a real.

26:32Speaker 2:Oh, like a wreckage? Yeah, like a real.

26:34Speaker 3:I don't know if it's a wreckage because I think they've just, once it stopped being a submarine.

26:39Speaker 2:Wait, is it in water?

26:40Speaker 1:Nope.

26:41Speaker 2:It is on the land. Because I didn't think Albury was that close to water, right?

26:44Speaker 5:It's not near water.

26:45Speaker 2:I was questioning my knowledge of geography.

26:46Speaker 3:It is not near water in any way, shape or form, but it is a giant like 100 and 200 metre long submarine. And because of the war, I don't know, maybe it was an important town, they've now put a war submarine there. And that is now a playground for kids to like they can climb all over it. So I feel like it's just the same as you're in wine country. It's a wine themed playground.

27:08Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, I think it's fine. Tell us the second one. Okay, the second one's my favourite. I really want to go.

27:15Speaker 1:This one is like a kid's amusement ride and it's at Gravely Family Fruit Farm in Hertfordshire, UK. Doesn't that sound quaint?

27:22Speaker 2:Sounds lovely.

27:26Speaker 1:This is actually a giant slide simulating the Titanic sinking.

27:30Speaker 2:There's vision of this slide, which is so brilliant.

27:34Speaker 1:We will link to it in the show notes because the visual is just heaven. It lifts you up at an angle of the ship sinking into the sea back in 1912 as kids slide down on Hessian sacks as if they're sliding down the deck of the boat.

27:51Speaker 2:To their Rose and Jack. To their doom.

27:53Speaker 3:They're recreating James Cameron's shot.

27:56Speaker 1:It's two pounds for a ride or five pounds for three, which is probably more than the people paid to go on the Titanic back in the day. But the owner has defended the choice to make this ride.

28:07Speaker 2:Take a listen.

28:09Speaker 4:I don't want to be, we're not trying to be insensitive and nothing about the ride is trying to make fun of what happened and the disaster. It really is just a memory of what happened. I think it's nice to keep the memory alive. I mean, the reality is that there's now World War I games, World War II games, you know, on PS5, on Xbox, you know, and I just think, The reality is that people should move on, really, from that thought process. It's not taking fun of them at all. It really is just a nice, fun kids' ride in memory of Titanic where they can think about Titanic and remember what happened.

28:46Speaker 3:I think this makes it worse, him defending it. The kids sound like they're having a great time in the background, but him being like, it's not. It's like it does. You can't not think about the fact that it's sunk. when you're looking at the fact that your child's playing on it as it sinks.

29:02Speaker 2:I think it connects, though, with the fact that kids like morbid stuff.

29:07Speaker 6:Yes. And.

29:09Speaker 2:We can't escape it. We want to. We want to think that children are just always thinking about butterflies, but a lot of the time they're thinking about death and its various guises. Pompeii, for instance, is a classic kid obsession. I was obsessed with Pompeii.

29:22Speaker 1:Like it's so dark to be into these things. And when I told my friend about this Titanic playground, she wanted to know if it was in Australia because she was like, my seven-year-old will love this. He's so into Titanic. But I just like the comments are so clever. I think people took it in the same way we did of, you Yeah. it's a bit strange but kids will be kids. My favourite was someone saying, surely it should be a water slide.

29:48Speaker 2:I think this is the playground for parents. Yes. It is.

29:52Speaker 1:Kids don't really know what's going on when they're there. And another person said, I tried to get on, but they were only letting on women and children.

30:01Speaker 3:All right, this is the part of the show where we share our best recommendations, what we're watching, what we're reading.

30:07Speaker 2:Like season three. Well, season four, isn't it? I will start.

30:13Speaker 3:My daughter is obsessed with these little cups. that are like children's play cups. There's 10 of them.

30:19Speaker 2:They're colorful. They're from Toys R Us and they're stacking cups.

30:22Speaker 3:So you can stack them up, like either like putting them inside each other or then like building a big tower and she can like knock them over or like, but watching her try to figure them out as well to.

30:32Speaker 2:Go, oh no, that one's smaller. So that one goes in there.

30:35Speaker 3:I mean, I'm guessing that's her thought process, but watching her play around with them, like I'm obsessed with them.

30:41Speaker 1:They actually are really handy, those types of toys. I got my daughter a like a pack of stacked boats. Like they could only go in one order to stack together. She still plays with them every day.

30:51Speaker 2:She's five.

30:52Speaker 1:She'll just have them in the bath or the shower or on her like magnet tiles. Like you'll have those for ages.

30:58Speaker 3:And I quite enjoy them as well to like me building them up or like putting them all back together.

31:03Speaker 2:I'm a bit like that with the magnets. I get a bit territorial. Like just let me do it. Like, someone who's come out like the other end of toydom to some extent i i've noticed that the toys that actually had longevity which didn't make me want to vomit when i saw them were the were precisely those those toys that the experts tell us are good for kids which is open-ended play toys like cups because at different ages they find different things to do with Yeah.

31:30Speaker 3:And actually, I will say on the toys that have actually cut through, that's not just like stuff in your house. One of those, it's like a car playbook. And it's so when they're in their car seat, you give it to them. It's like got felt and it's got Velcro things on the felt that they can pull off as well as zips and tags. And she just flicks through the pages and it's like you can get like 10 to 15 more minutes in your drive.

31:53Speaker 2:You know what? I kind of wish felt was like more of a thing for adults. Like it's just the most cosy fabric. And I'd like to on this show put forward a proposal to the garment manufacturers of Australia to consider incorporating felt into adult clothes more. Well, you've heard it here first.

32:15Speaker 3:I actually did.

32:16Speaker 2:Why are we not allowed to play with felt? Where has all the felt gone? Where has all the felt gone? Stay sick for next week. You did Oreo Mums, now you do felt. I'll report back. Boots on the ground. Where's all the felt? Look, I've got another important thing to bring up. It's an Australian children's book, which came out recently. I thought it might be Valua. We'll talk about another. No, Valua's all too present in our lives. I was around for the Juicy Couture Sweatpants days. It's called A Lou of One's Own. It's by the cartoonist Ellery Harris. And my daughter brought it home from the library the other day. It came out pretty recently. And I thought, gosh, that's a strange pick from the library.

32:57Speaker 2:But she was doing as Dolly said. A Lou as in a toilet, like a Lou of one's own. A Lou, yes, as in a toilet.

33:03Speaker 1:Yeah.

33:03Speaker 2:So the premise is it's the true story of in 1943, the first two women were elected to the Australian Parliament.

33:11Speaker 3:Oh, cool.

33:11Speaker 2:Their names were Enid Lyons and Dorothy Tangney. And they had very different political views, but they had one problem in common, which was that there was no toilet in Parliament House designated for ladies. Well, like actually there wasn't. I was about to sound like Bluey. For real life. For real life. And it's a really quirky premise, but it made my six-year-old think because she like came for the toilet humor, of which there is plenty. But then she stayed for this dawning realization. And I saw this happening in real time where she realized, oh, women have not always been treated equally or fairly.

33:48Speaker 7:Yeah.

33:49Speaker 2:And it wasn't done in a heavy handed way. It did not use the word misogyny. It just sort of uses this example that gets you thinking about fairness and about gender equality. And I learned from it that women only got a designated bathroom in federal parliament in the 1970s. That's too much. That's too recent in history. It's too recent. That's a crazy number you've just told us. Yeah. It's a crazy number. Anyway, great book. I've been stirring the pot today. Felt and toilets for ladies. You don't know what's going to come out of my mouth.

34:26Speaker 3:We're all learning things and, you know, have some vision boards for ourselves.

34:30Speaker 1:Well, not knowing what's going to come out of your mouth, but you know exactly what's going to come out of my mouth.

34:35Speaker 2:It's a TV show. Every week I recommend a TV show.

34:38Speaker 1:I will try and branch out, but I love TV and I want to tell you all my favourite shows. This show is called Stirling Point.

34:44Speaker 2:Have you watched this? That sounds like an AI version of every show you've ever recommended. I know, it really does.

34:50Speaker 1:But this one is actually, I think, like this one has put off campus to shame.

34:55Speaker 2:Is this about a hot young man and woman falling in love?

34:59Speaker 1:No. But it's more, it'll give you the vibe that the OC did.

35:05Speaker 2:Oh, I'm here for that. Like that nostalgic, like. Still in point, it actually does feel like the night. Is it a high school drama? It's like a coming of age story. Yeah.

35:14Speaker 1:So eight episodes. It's on Prime Video. It's not based on a book. I feel like everything at the moment is based on like a smutty book that they turn into a show.

35:22Speaker 2:This isn't.

35:23Speaker 1:It's by Megan Park. She's an actress you would have seen in a few things and she's really brilliant. So it's about a New York teenager, Annie. She finds out that her and her twin brother, who's played by Mark Ruffalo's son, whose name is Keane Ruffalo, which I just think is a great name.

35:39Speaker 2:Keane. Keane. Keane Ruffalo.

35:42Speaker 1:So him and Annie find out that they've inherited a quaint Canadian island from their estranged grandfather that they never knew. They never knew about this grandfather that they had. And so Annie goes to the island to try to get to the bottom of it because she's left a mysterious note that says, find her.

36:00Speaker 2:Who is her? We don't know.

36:02Speaker 1:Her mother died when she was a child. So it's just been her and her twin and her dad. So she goes to this island, spends this summer there, and it's this coming of age story.

36:11Speaker 2:Oh, that sounds lovely.

36:12Speaker 1:Now, one of the things that the writer, Megan, spoke about is that she got all the actors to riff. Like she had a script, but she was like, if this is too millennial, speak how you would speak. And it's the most authentic dialogue I have heard in a show in a long time.

36:28Speaker 2:But they just let them ad-lib. They just let them ad-lib. That is wild. I've worked in film and TV for a long time and for a network. Prime Video. That is wild for them to allow that type of.

36:38Speaker 1:Wow. Yeah, and she was like, do it as it's there, but if that doesn't feel right to you, do it again with something else.

36:44Speaker 2:And you can really tell.

36:45Speaker 1:That is what a lot of the commentary around this show is, is this just feels like real people having a conversation, even though it's this kind of. you know, far off concept of something that would happen.

36:55Speaker 2:Is it like predominantly mystery or romance or family drama? Like what's the genre?

37:00Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like friendship drama and family drama with a little bit of mystery thrown in. There's no deaths or anything like that. I mean, the mother died when they were young and that gets spoken about a lot, but there's nothing like that going on in it.

37:13Speaker 2:But I just loved it.

37:14Speaker 1:And what I also loved, there's a love triangle as there always is in coming of age shows.

37:20Speaker 2:But both guys are lovely.

37:22Speaker 1:It's not that one's a jerk bad boy and one's the perfect match.

37:26Speaker 2:They're both great. Which was always a problem with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Editors know.

37:33Speaker 1:But it was just that they're both lovely and sometimes you can be perfectly lovely but not the one for someone. And I think that's quite a good lesson for people to be remembering as they're watching the show.

37:42Speaker 2:Trying to remember any ex of mine I would describe as absolutely lovely but not the one. Yeah, yeah.

37:48Speaker 1:And I think it'll be one of those shows that women our age will ask their daughters to watch with them.

37:53Speaker 2:Oh, Stacey. It's one of those multi-generational shows. You're so good at selling things. I actually want to go and watch it. It was brilliant. It was really, really good. And, yeah, I loved it.

38:03Speaker 1:And it's beaten off campus. I retract my off campus compared to how good this is.

38:06Speaker 2:Stirling Point also sounds like it could be a winery.

38:08Speaker 6:It does.

38:09Speaker 2:Where there's a playground. It does. Maybe one with some giant corks to jump on.

38:13Speaker 3:Yeah.

38:14Speaker 1:Well, that's all we've got time for on this week of Parenting Out Loud. Have a great week and we'll be back in your ears next Saturday.

38:21Speaker 2:Thanks for joining us, Grace. Thanks for having me again. Great to see you.

38:26Speaker 1:Bye. Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast.