#1761 Kindness Goes a Long Way
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Lauren, an assistant principal and mother to a six-year-old son with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), shares her insights on navigating school management, advocating for a child's needs, and the importance of finding reliable information post-diagnosis.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner (0:0) Friends, we're all back together for the next episode of the Juice Box podcast. (0:03) Welcome.
Lauren (0:15) My name is Lauren, and I have a six year old son with type one, and I'm also an assistant principal of an elementary school.
Scott Benner (0:25) I am here to tell you about Juice Cruise 2026. (0:28) We will be departing from Miami on 06/21/2026 for a seven night trip going to The Caribbean. (0:36) That's right. (0:37) We're gonna leave Miami and then stop at Coco Cay in The Bahamas. (0:41) After that, it's on to Saint Kitts, Saint Thomas, and a beautiful cruise through the Virgin Islands.
Scott Benner (0:47) The first juice cruise was awesome. (0:49) The second one's gonna be bigger, better, and bolder. (0:53) This is your opportunity to relax while making lifelong friends who have type one diabetes. (0:58) Expand your community and your knowledge on juice cruise twenty twenty six. (1:03) Learn more right now at juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise.
Scott Benner (1:08) At that link, you'll also find photographs from the first cruise. (1:13) Nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:18) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. (1:30) The episode you're about to listen to was sponsored by Touched by Type one. (1:35) Go check them out right now on Facebook, Instagram, and, of course, at touchedbytype1.org.
Scott Benner (1:41) Check out that programs tab when you get to the website to see all the great things that they're doing for people living with type one diabetes. (1:48) Touched by type1.org. (1:51) Today's episode is also sponsored by the Tandem Mobi system, which is powered by Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus Technology. (1:59) Tandem Mobi has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows and is now available for ages two and up. (2:06) Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox.
Scott Benner (2:12) The podcast is also sponsored today by the Eversense three sixty five. (2:17) The Eversense three sixty five has exceptional accuracy over one year and is the most accurate CGM in the low range that you can get. (2:25) Ever since cgm.com/juicebox.
Lauren (2:28) My name is Lauren, and I have a six year old son with type one. (2:33) And I'm also an assistant principal of an elementary school.
Scott Benner (2:36) Lauren, do you have any other children?
Lauren (2:39) I do. (2:39) Joel is my type one kiddo, and I have two other kids. (2:45) One older, he's 10.
Scott Benner (2:47) Mhmm.
Lauren (2:48) And then Joel's six, and then their little sister is four.
Scott Benner (2:52) Okay. (2:53) Joel's had type one for how long?
Lauren (2:54) Three years.
Scott Benner (2:55) Three years. (2:56) He was how old when he was diagnosed? (2:58) Three?
Lauren (2:58) He was three and a half. (2:59) Yep.
Scott Benner (2:59) Okay. (3:00) Is there any other autoimmune in your family?
Lauren (3:03) None. (3:04) So I've kind of tried to dig in a little bit as far as I can, and I can't fight any other autoimmune, any other type one, nothing of that nature at
Scott Benner (3:17) all. (3:17) You've been asking family members, and they're just like, no. (3:20) Don't Yeah. (3:21) Don't know anything.
Lauren (3:22) Don't know of anyone that has any kind of autoimmune issues.
Scott Benner (3:25) Okay. (3:25) What made you dig in with them?
Lauren (3:27) Well, I've been listening to the podcast Oh, okay. (3:29) Since about a week after he was diagnosed.
Scott Benner (3:33) And Just trying to figure out.
Lauren (3:35) I really just yeah. (3:37) Was trying to figure out if there was any history of anything.
Scott Benner (3:40) Okay. (3:41) Does it make you feel any sort of way that you weren't able to find anything?
Lauren (3:46) I think it's just kind of makes it still a mystery. (3:50) I don't really feel necessarily one way or another about it. (3:54) Okay. (3:54) But no answers.
Scott Benner (3:56) Yeah. (3:56) I would I'll tell you some people are are impacted greatly by not being able to figure it out. (4:01) Some people are like, I don't know. (4:02) I couldn't you know, I don't know. (4:03) And sort of they don't think about it again.
Scott Benner (4:05) Interesting to me.
Lauren (4:07) Yeah. (4:07) It doesn't really bother me, I guess.
Scott Benner (4:09) Yeah. (4:09) You found the podcast right after diagnosis?
Lauren (4:12) Yeah. (4:13) So when he was diagnosed, so I'm an assistant principal, and my husband has a master's in business and works for the Air Force in contracting.
Scott Benner (4:23) Mhmm.
Lauren (4:24) And so we left the hospital very much feeling like there's gotta be more to this than what they're telling us. (4:33) Like, we have to know yeah.
Scott Benner (4:34) Right away, you thought it.
Lauren (4:35) Yeah. (4:36) Right away. (4:37) I felt like by the time we went home from the hospital, we were only there for three days, that I really needed more. (4:46) Okay. (4:46) And so I immediately went to social media, started looking at Facebook groups and things like that.
Lauren (4:53) And I came across a post that had the pictures of, the pro tip series. (5:01) And so I actually started there, very shortly after diagnosis.
Scott Benner (5:05) How did you find the process? (5:07) Was it okay for you? (5:08) Should you have found the bowl beginning series first? (5:10) Like, what?
Lauren (5:11) A thousand percent. (5:12) So I vividly remember a few days after he was diagnosed and I had just found the podcast, I went to the gym to work out because I just needed a minute. (5:23) And my husband was still home too. (5:26) And I turned on probably the first episode in the pro tip series. (5:32) And there were words like bolus and MDI and probably other things that I can't remember.
Lauren (5:40) And I thought Uh-oh. (5:41) I think this is another language.
Scott Benner (5:43) Uh-oh. (5:43) I don't understand any of the words. (5:45) Isn't gonna go well.
Lauren (5:47) So I was like very overwhelmed by that, but still like listened to the whole episode I think. (5:52) And then went back and started somewhere else, just on, like, a random episode, I think.
Scott Benner (5:57) Yeah.
Lauren (5:57) But I really do think bold beginnings and defining diabetes are amazing series and hopefully where people will start.
Scott Benner (6:08) Oh, I appreciate that. (6:09) Yeah. (6:09) And so you found it just through searching?
Lauren (6:12) I found it through Or post. (6:13) Like a comment on somebody's Facebook post in, the moms of type one diabetics group or something.
Scott Benner (6:19) You know, I have to tell you that, how do I say this? (6:23) I don't really look at all my ads. (6:25) You know what I mean? (6:25) When I'm tagging things, because it would be overwhelming. (6:29) But recently, I just thought, like, why don't I click on one of these once in a while and see what people are saying?
Scott Benner (6:35) And I boy, in some posts where people are like, hey, my kid was just diagnosed. (6:41) I'll tell you, there's gotta be 10 or 15 people, like, in the course of a week that are just like, hey, you should really try this podcast. (6:48) I don't you guys out there are awesome the way you the way you spread it around. (6:51) Like, I that that's really just my point. (6:53) Like, I could never have gotten that information to you on my own.
Lauren (6:56) Sure. (6:56) Absolutely. (6:57) But honestly, like, it's the thing that made me feel sane after diagnosis of, like, slowly starting to understand what was going on in his body.
Scott Benner (7:08) Okay. (7:09) Awesome. (7:10) Tell me more about that. (7:12) What was happening that didn't make sense, and then how did you contextualize it?
Lauren (7:16) I think the hardest thing for me was things like 15 grams of carbs and wait fifteen minutes. (7:23) Of, like, he was on this roller coaster of blood sugar and just immediately, I got this sense when we left the hospital of, like, there's got to be more information. (7:39) There's gotta be more I can learn, and this binder that I got from the hospital is not it. (7:46) And so I really just started digging in anywhere I could. (7:50) Mhmm.
Lauren (7:51) I started listening to the podcast, started scrolling through Facebook groups, and just figuring out what I could. (7:59) But I knew one of the episodes I listened to, I think pretty immediately was talking about like fifteen fifteen. (8:08) And, oh, look, a skittle is one gram of carbs. (8:13) And, you know, being able to kinda play with that and my mind was blown. (8:18) Really?
Lauren (8:18) I was like, yes. (8:19) This is exactly the information that I wanted to find.
Scott Benner (8:23) So just that simple see, this is the point I try to make and I I don't know if I make it well enough all the time. (8:29) But I don't think that doctors at the diagnosis level, like, those first days understand how much what they say sticks exactly how they say it when it sticks. (8:42) Like right? (8:42) Like, you get low, you take 15 carbs, you wait fifteen minutes, and you test again. (8:47) Like, could it be 12 carbs?
Scott Benner (8:49) Like, could it be eight minutes? (8:51) Like, we I understand what they're doing. (8:53) I I really do. (8:54) Mhmm. (8:54) Like, it's for safety, and I think I completely understand.
Scott Benner (8:57) But they don't realize that you go home, and now that's a rule in your head.
Lauren (9:02) Exactly.
Scott Benner (9:02) Yep. (9:03) And you would never think to break that rule. (9:06) And then everything starts going upside down, and you're looking for fixes, and the fix is right in front of you. (9:11) But in your mind, it's a rule and there's no way you would change it.
Lauren (9:15) I think it felt after the hospital like this was an exact science that you have to follow. (9:22) And interestingly enough, this week, Joel's teacher from last year who cared for his diabetes in kindergarten, her 12 year old son was diagnosed with type one. (9:35) And I'm actually walking through helping her know more than what the hospital taught her.
Scott Benner (9:43) Okay.
Lauren (9:44) And I see in her head that she thinks that what the hospital told her is black and white, an exact science. (9:53) And it's interesting to see that from the other side.
Scott Benner (9:58) And you probably look like a crackpot to her at first.
Lauren (10:01) Probably.
Scott Benner (10:02) You're like on the level of red light therapy fixes your eyesight. (10:06) Like, you're she's she's probably like, uh-oh.
Lauren (10:09) Yeah. (10:09) And it's hard to not feel like I mean, I wanna have seventy two hours with her and tell her all the things that I know. (10:16) But also, she would just cry. (10:18) Like, you can't get all of that information all at once, and I look crazy.
Scott Benner (10:25) She thinks you're some wacky conspiracist. (10:27) This lady said 15 carbs fifteen minutes isn't real. (10:32) Gonna kill that kid.
Lauren (10:34) One of the things that her son asked me the other night was, like, talking about where to inject his insulin because he's still MDI Right. (10:43) Obviously, in, like, the first five days. (10:45) But I had randomly learned somewhere about where you can put your Dexcom and your infusions or whatever, where you can pinch an inch. (10:56) Okay. (10:57) And I was like, oh, I can like tell her that advice.
Lauren (11:01) Like, if you can pinch an inch on the back of your arm or on the side of your leg, like, that's a great place to inject. (11:08) And it was just something random that I picked up along the way.
Scott Benner (11:10) Yeah. (11:11) Pinch up. (11:11) Right? (11:12) Like, just Yeah. (11:13) This simple thing you hear people say.
Scott Benner (11:14) By the way, again, I don't know. (11:16) It gets ignored sometimes, but the defining diabetes series is, like, 60 episodes long, but they're maybe mostly, like, five, ten minutes. (11:24) And it's just basically the, I don't know, the dictionary for diabetes. (11:28) Because, you know, when somebody says pinch up to you, you don't know what the hell that means. (11:33) But Right.
Scott Benner (11:33) People who do it just say it offhandedly. (11:36) Like, oh, what do you you know, when you put that on, did you pinch up? (11:38) And you're like, I what? (11:39) Again, you can kind of infer from it, but not everybody does. (11:43) You know?
Scott Benner (11:43) And that and everything else, like, even just to hear you say, like, he said MDI and bolus, and I don't know what those words mean. (11:49) Right. (11:50) I just think that's so important. (11:51) It's another thing that gets ignored at diagnosis. (11:54) Like, people just start rattling off terminology to you.
Scott Benner (11:57) People do this, by the way. (11:58) It's not just in medicine. (12:00) It's in every walk of life. (12:01) People throw their buzzwords around like they you know, business people all the time or, you know, do it and I you hear doctors do it.
Lauren (12:10) Even I mean, how many acronyms are there in education that nobody knows what they mean?
Scott Benner (12:13) Oh, sure. (12:14) Yeah. (12:14) You know, you could we could pivot this conversation right now. (12:17) You could start telling me about, like, I don't know, how you support children with special needs in school, and you'll you're gonna start rattling off stuff I've never heard of before.
Lauren (12:26) Right.
Scott Benner (12:26) Yeah. (12:26) So the same thing happens here. (12:28) How long did it take you to find some sort of calm? (12:32) Like, before you didn't feel panicked anymore, you felt like you might have a a handle on things.
Lauren (12:38) That's a great question. (12:39) I think relatively quickly, I started to feel calmer because I started absorbing more and more information
Scott Benner (12:48) Mhmm.
Lauren (12:49) Which made me feel more equipped to handle it. (12:52) We fought really hard to get him on an insulin pump, And the hospital wanted to wait six months, and we absolutely knew that that is not what we wanted to do. (13:06) Okay. (13:06) At three, injections were not fun.
Scott Benner (13:10) Mhmm.
Lauren (13:11) They didn't really get more fun in the two months or easier, before we got a pump. (13:17) But I think once we got him on his insulin pump, it started to feel more manageable because I could do little corrections and smaller corrections
Scott Benner (13:29) Yep.
Lauren (13:30) Without having to stress and worry about his emotional state while I was doing it.
Scott Benner (13:35) I don't mean this the way it's gonna sound. (13:37) Okay? (13:38) For everybody listening. (13:39) But is that me too? (13:41) Like, did I tell you that?
Scott Benner (13:43) Or did you figure it out on your own? (13:45) I'm not saying everything you know is for me. (13:46) I'm trying to figure out how much were you able to just sit back and say, like, you know what I mean? (13:51) Like, what's the difference between having to live through it to figure it out and having somebody point you in the right direction, I guess, is my question. (13:59) Today's episode is sponsored by a long term CGM.
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Lauren (15:58) Right. (15:59) I think allowing myself to do corrections before the designated amount of time Mhmm. (16:07) Came from you. (16:08) Okay. (16:09) And that made me want to do that more often to correct and get his blood sugars more in range.
Lauren (16:17) Doing that on MDI felt so much harder and I felt so much more guilty for giving him more injections.
Scott Benner (16:24) Tell me about that. (16:25) So you figured out, this can't be right. (16:28) I must need more. (16:29) But you then you when you did it, you felt guilt?
Lauren (16:32) Well, I felt guilt because he was really emotional about it. (16:36) Oh. (16:36) Or he would fight me or whatever. (16:38) And so that just really weighed on me emotionally.
Scott Benner (16:41) Yeah.
Lauren (16:41) And once we got on a pump where he only had a poke every three days, I was like, oh, now I can do what I want.
Scott Benner (16:49) So the guilt I thought the guilt was was going against the doctor. (16:52) The guilt was the what what your child was experiencing having to give them injections.
Lauren (16:57) Right. (16:58) I have no guilt for going against the doctor.
Scott Benner (17:00) Okay.
Lauren (17:00) I never have.
Scott Benner (17:01) I guess we should talk about that for half a second more though. (17:04) Sure. (17:06) Tell people what it feels like. (17:08) Like, what does it feel like when you're administering an injection? (17:11) You know you have to do it.
Scott Benner (17:13) Your child doesn't understand why they're having their reactions. (17:16) Kinda break that down more granularly for me.
Lauren (17:19) Yeah. (17:19) I think let me go back for a second. (17:22) Please. (17:22) Joel also now is diagnosed with pretty severe ADHD, and his emotional regulation skills are, I would say, younger than his age. (17:35) And so that
Scott Benner (17:37) Mine too.
Lauren (17:37) Factors in. (17:38) Sorry. (17:39) Yeah. (17:40) That that factors in to how he responded. (17:46) You know?
Lauren (17:46) And it was really hard for him. (17:48) I mean, he would, like, scream and run circles around the house away from me and having to, like, force him to come sit back down. (17:58) And I don't feel like with MDI, we ever had to hold him down or anything crazy.
Scott Benner (18:04) Mhmm.
Lauren (18:05) We were able to kind of talk him through that. (18:07) But the emotional weight that goes with any kind of fight like that is a lot. (18:16) Like, he just had to get lab his yearly labs done at the hospital a couple weeks ago. (18:23) And it took me, his dad, and a nurse to hold him down so that the other nurse could draw the blood out of his arm. (18:32) And that emotionally is really hard.
Scott Benner (18:35) Yeah. (18:36) No. (18:37) I've I've been there. (18:38) And hard for you, hard for him.
Lauren (18:41) Yeah. (18:41) Right.
Scott Benner (18:42) Hard on your relationship with your husband because he wasn't there that day and you had to live with it. (18:46) Right?
Lauren (18:47) Sure. (18:47) Yeah.
Scott Benner (18:48) Yeah. (18:48) Yeah.
Lauren (18:48) Yeah. (18:48) I think it just adds weight, you know, to an already difficult journey.
Scott Benner (18:53) Does it cause you to look at the other kids and think like, oh, these are easier?
Lauren (18:58) A 100%.
Scott Benner (18:58) Yeah. (18:59) That's tough too. (18:59) Right?
Lauren (19:00) Yeah. (19:01) He's also six and needs braces. (19:03) So it's just hard all the way around.
Scott Benner (19:06) He's six and he needs braces? (19:08) Yeah. (19:09) But his baby teeth are gone. (19:10) Right?
Lauren (19:11) Most of them. (19:12) Yeah. (19:12) He is early at that, and so they wanna go ahead and put braces on him, which they tried to do yesterday and it didn't work.
Scott Benner (19:19) Wait. (19:20) I'm sorry to ask this, Lauren. (19:22) Which directions are these teeth going in that he needs braces when he's six?
Lauren (19:27) So, basically, it's preventative because his bottom teeth on the front are, like, completely offset. (19:35) They're not centered how they should be. (19:37) Okay. (19:37) And there's so much crowding in the teeth that need to come in that if we wait a long time to give him braces, they're gonna have to pull a bunch of teeth. (19:49) But preventatively, they might be able to essentially restructure his mouth.
Scott Benner (19:54) Lauren, I'm not a professional in this situation, but it feels like it's possible someone's stealing your money from you. (20:00) So
Lauren (20:02) I have been doing a lot of research on the back end.
Scott Benner (20:04) Okay. (20:05) Because my son had a ton of teeth pulled when he got his braces. (20:09) Yeah. (20:09) And it wasn't great, but, you know, it also just cost what it cost.
Lauren (20:12) Right. (20:13) Right.
Scott Benner (20:13) I don't understand this at all. (20:15) I have no background on this at all. (20:16) I wanna make sure everybody understands that I could be completely wrong, and I'm not actually even making a a pronouncement. (20:21) I just wanna tell you something that I've been telling my wife since I met her. (20:24) Everyone is trying to take our money.
Scott Benner (20:26) It's our job to keep it.
Lauren (20:29) Yeah. (20:29) Sure.
Scott Benner (20:30) That's all I say to her. (20:31) That's for everybody, not you, Lauren. (20:33) Everybody. (20:34) Everyone is trying to take your money from you. (20:36) Okay?
Lauren (20:37) Listen. (20:37) Once the appointment didn't work yesterday because he had a complete shutdown, I was like, oh, cool. (20:43) We can try this in, like, two years.
Scott Benner (20:45) Yeah. (20:45) It's enough. (20:46) We're good. (20:46) Thanks. (20:47) By the way, how much?
Scott Benner (20:48) What are talking about? (20:49) $15? (20:49) What what's the cost?
Lauren (20:50) I don't know. (20:52) To be honest with you, my husband took him and our insurance pays for part of it for the first set. (20:58) If he had to have a second set later, we would have to pay out of pocket, I think. (21:03) But
Scott Benner (21:04) I don't know. (21:05) Lauren, do you understand? (21:07) Not good. (21:07) Not good. (21:08) Yeah.
Scott Benner (21:08) Listen. (21:09) Your shoes, your socks, your pants, your house, everybody's trying to take your money. (21:13) Like, you have to decide who you're gonna give it to. (21:16) Alright? (21:16) That you can't everybody that asks for it can't have it.
Lauren (21:19) Right.
Scott Benner (21:19) Okay. (21:20) Your six year old needs braces. (21:21) If somebody would have said that to me, would have went, oh, you. (21:25) Yeah. (21:26) I was
Lauren (21:27) like, I'm sorry. (21:28) What did you just say?
Scott Benner (21:29) Nice try, prick. (21:31) You're not getting a boat out of me.
Lauren (21:35) Yeah. (21:36) Kind of my thoughts too.
Scott Benner (21:40) Get the out of here.
Lauren (21:43) Yeah. (21:43) So I think we're gonna, postpone because I think yesterday was a sign that it's just not worth
Scott Benner (21:49) it right now. (21:49) If that wasn't a sign, take this as a sign. (21:51) Don't do
Lauren (21:52) that. (21:52) Perfect.
Scott Benner (21:53) Yeah. (21:53) Jesus. (21:54) My god. (21:55) I like, I'm already insulted that I went to the grocery store the other day, grabbed seven things, the lady was like, $65. (22:01) And I was like, for what?
Scott Benner (22:03) I was like, I don't Right. (22:04) Exactly. (22:04) I don't understand what just happened. (22:06) Now now my six year old needs braces. (22:08) What's next?
Scott Benner (22:09) You you know, I haven't ranted and raved about this for a while, Lauren, so I'll only do it briefly. (22:15) Every one of you who took your little kids to preschool, you ruined it. (22:18) You understand? (22:18) It used to be okay if kids were dumb until they were five. (22:21) Right?
Scott Benner (22:21) Like, you would just you let them just bang around the house, and and then they took them to kindergarten. (22:26) And then some of them figured it out, and some of them took longer. (22:29) But eventually, everyone figures it out. (22:31) You don't know any nine year olds that can't count to 10. (22:33) Right?
Scott Benner (22:33) Like, was no but then one one shiny lady with a little too much money took her kid to preschool and taught that little to count when he was four. (22:42) And everybody went, oh, no. (22:44) My kid's behind. (22:45) And now preschool's a giant industry. (22:47) Your kid doesn't need to know his ABCs when he's three.
Scott Benner (22:50) And if he does, teach it to him yourself. (22:52) Now it's an industry I couldn't afford to send my kid to preschool. (22:55) It's the whole by the way, it's the whole reason you got me. (22:58) Like, here, because because we went to the the the kid. (23:01) We made the he's older now.
Scott Benner (23:03) But we made the baby, not on purpose. (23:05) And then, we were married, but not on purpose with making the baby. (23:09) And then we looked around at preschools, and it was so goddamn expensive even back then, twenty seven years ago when we were or twenty six years ago when we were looking, that it was literally cheaper for us for me to quit my job than to pay for preschool. (23:25) And if one of those people I say lady, it could have been a guy, but let's be honest, it was a lady. (23:31) If one of those competitive ladies didn't send their three or four year old out to learn their ABCs back when they were still pooping in their pants, then you wouldn't have to listen to this podcast right now.
Scott Benner (23:40) But now you're stuck with me because I didn't have a job, then I got to write a blog, and now I got to do this. (23:44) It's the whole See? (23:46) See?
Lauren (23:47) So maybe I should be thankful for that lady.
Scott Benner (23:48) Or if you don't like me, you should be pretty pissed. (23:52) So There you go. (23:54) Anyway, everyone's trying to get your money. (23:56) It's your job to say no. (23:57) Yeah.
Scott Benner (23:58) Yep. (23:58) I agree. (23:59) I say no to everything immediately. (24:01) If you offered me sex right now, I'd go, no. (24:03) And then I'd think backwards from it.
Scott Benner (24:04) Then I go, oh, that was nice to that lady. (24:05) Maybe we should do that. (24:06) Okay. (24:07) So everything starts at no. (24:09) Okay?
Scott Benner (24:09) Because I don't wanna get tricked at anything because sometimes stuff sounds too good to be true. (24:13) You know what I mean? (24:13) Oh, yeah. (24:14) May I say I saw something today? (24:17) It was a gift box to put a gift in at Christmas, but it it was billed as, an escape room gift box.
Scott Benner (24:23) Now for the life of me, I don't click on stuff like that, but I was like, what is this? (24:27) You know? (24:27) And I clicked on it, and it was $441. (24:32) And I thought, yeah. (24:34) See, Lauren?
Scott Benner (24:34) That's how I laugh when you told me about the braces for the six year old. (24:37) And so, like and I looked at that, and I thought, someone bought this or this wouldn't be here. (24:43) It's a goddamn box. (24:45) It's Yeah. (24:46) A $441 box, and someone bought it.
Scott Benner (24:50) I don't know. (24:50) Alright. (24:51) I'm done. (24:51) I learned. (24:52) Let's move on.
Scott Benner (24:53) So I wanna know a little bit about the intersection between your job and the diabetes thing because it must you you must have a different insight on school for diabetes. (25:03) I'd I'd really like to hear it.
Lauren (25:04) Yeah. (25:05) Absolutely. (25:06) So I think it started when he came to pre k. (25:10) Speaking of preschool.
Scott Benner (25:11) Mhmm. (25:12) See?
Lauren (25:14) We have a pre k four program at our school. (25:16) And so when he was four, he was able to come to my school. (25:19) He was staying with a babysitter before that. (25:22) And even though I was in the building with him, his classroom is right next door to my office, I was still kind of freaking out.
Scott Benner (25:32) Okay.
Lauren (25:33) And the education, I think that is so important to educate people who will have your child in their care all day is so much more than the nursing supervisor is going to give. (25:51) And so I started before school started, I said, hey. (25:55) Like, can all of his teachers can we have a meeting and talk about kind of what to expect? (26:02) And I, of course, in the way that I am made a PowerPoint presentation and really just tried to walk through a basic understanding of what diabetes is and how we'll care for it at school. (26:18) Mhmm.
Lauren (26:19) Kind of what I needed from those people. (26:25) And for me, because of the kind of community that our school is, it was very well received. (26:32) Like, our nurse was amazing. (26:35) And I just know that not everybody has that experience as a parent of a type one kid.
Scott Benner (26:41) Yeah.
Lauren (26:41) But I think my biggest takeaway in this conversation for other people to hear is keep advocating, keep educating, keep talking to the people in your child's school who are going to care for them all day because they have no idea.
Scott Benner (26:59) Two thoughts. (27:00) First of all, what do you mean the way that I am? (27:02) What does that mean?
Lauren (27:04) I am very organized, think, and try to be a really good communicator and even very like clear as a leader. (27:14) And so I feel like I took my assistant principal hat and just kind of tilted it a little bit k. (27:22) To now become like, a leader, educator of type one to those who needed it.
Scott Benner (27:28) Okay. (27:29) Now here's the harder question because you're involved in education to begin with. (27:33) Mhmm. (27:34) Why do I have to advocate to somebody who should understand this? (27:38) The your child's not the first one to type one to go through that building.
Scott Benner (27:41) Right? (27:42) You're right. (27:42) Sure. (27:43) Tell me the human part of it. (27:45) What is it you're overcoming?
Lauren (27:47) I think, honestly, it is the amount of information and the amount of plates that teachers have to keep spinning during the day. (27:59) And unless you educate them and tell them how important it is for this to also be one of the plates that they're spinning, then they won't. (28:12) So you have to convey in hopefully a very kind and understanding way Mhmm. (28:19) That this is life or death, that this is very, important. (28:24) And to get the nurse on your side, just all of that.
Lauren (28:29) I think everybody has a lot of things going on. (28:33) And the more that you can help them understand it, trying to find that line of not being too pushy. (28:41) Right?
Scott Benner (28:41) Yeah.
Lauren (28:42) We'll help your child have the best care while they're not with you.
Scott Benner (28:47) Try to imagine for a second that there's somebody listening who's had diabetes for forty five years, and they think you're being melodramatic because they didn't grow up with a CGM, and they didn't ever I never knew what my blood sugar was and, like, all of the other stuff that you might hear somebody say. (29:00) Right? (29:01) Like, explain to them how you feel when you say it's life or death. (29:07) How is it that you see this whole thing? (29:09) How is it that your experience has led you to say that out loud?
Scott Benner (29:13) Because that's not a that's not a lightly that's not a thing that anybody says lightly. (29:16) Right? (29:16) So Right. (29:17) Tell me about that.
Lauren (29:19) I don't mean to sound like cliche, but I think when you know better, you do better. (29:29) And being able to have a CGM and to see his blood sugars, being able to catch a 44 blood sugar drop when he's in the middle of PE class is something that we value, you know, now that we can actually see it. (29:47) And sure that comes with extra anxieties and extra layers of protection and making you a little crazy. (29:55) But in the long run, hopefully, it has better outcomes for his health thirty, forty, fifty years from now. (30:04) Yeah.
Scott Benner (30:04) Have you ever really thought to yourself, I can't send my kid here. (30:07) He could die and, like, and really meant it?
Lauren (30:11) I thought if I didn't work in his school building, it would be very, very difficult for me to send him to school.
Scott Benner (30:18) Because of your fear?
Lauren (30:20) Because of my fear and because I think I understand how school works from the inside that there has to
Scott Benner (30:30) be We're so close, Lawrence. (30:31) Say it. (30:32) Say say what you wanna say.
Lauren (30:33) He can't care for himself. (30:34) Right. (30:34) There has to be someone there who can do it for him and is paying attention. (30:39) And I have the luxury of the nurse and I meeting each other at his classroom door to handle a low.
Scott Benner (30:46) Okay. (30:46) Are you stopping yourself from saying I know these people and I don't trust some of them?
Lauren (30:52) I I if I didn't work there and have a relationship with them and know them on a deeper level, yeah. (31:01) For sure.
Scott Benner (31:02) So so you're like, okay. (31:05) Alright. (31:05) Fair enough.
Lauren (31:06) Because I understand how busy they are, how many fires they're putting out all day long, how crazy teachers jobs are to have twenty two four year olds following them around all day and being the only adult in the room.
Scott Benner (31:23) Oh, listen.
Lauren (31:24) I can't imagine being in their shoes and having to do this on top of it.
Scott Benner (31:28) Yeah. (31:28) You're you're talking to a guy that had the school bus driver glucagon trained. (31:31) So, like
Lauren (31:32) Exactly.
Scott Benner (31:33) Yeah. (31:33) I believe you. (31:35) I also don't trust people as far as I can throw them mostly.
Lauren (31:37) Right.
Scott Benner (31:37) It's no shade. (31:38) Like, you listening right now, you might be like, hey. (31:40) I'm a teacher and I you can trust me. (31:41) I'm like, yeah. (31:42) I probably can trust you.
Scott Benner (31:43) I just don't know which one you are. (31:45) And so I don't know. (31:47) Like, am I getting the school bus driver who's just, like, retired and looking for something to do during the day and loves kids? (31:53) Or am I looking for the one who's like, yeah. (31:55) I got a couple of convictions.
Scott Benner (31:56) This is the only job I could get. (31:57) Like, I don't know which one is which. (31:59) Like, am I getting the nice lady who loves kids and just wants everybody to be better, or am I getting the lady who's, you know, thinking of sending sexy photos to one of her students? (32:09) I don't know which one I'm getting. (32:11) And so, like, in that scenario, when a low blood sugar could come out of nowhere and you need a thoughtful person to understand the process and to put the save into place at the right time for the right reasons, I understand your fear.
Scott Benner (32:24) Like, I lived through it. (32:25) I'm not kidding. (32:26) Also, don't think every teacher's, you know, sexting their students. (32:29) I'm not saying that. (32:29) Obviously, that's probably not a thing that happens a lot.
Scott Benner (32:32) Although in Florida, it seems to happen more. (32:34) And at the same time and I know this is wrong to say, but if I was 15 and my teacher was like, hey. (32:39) I would have been like, oh, look at me. (32:40) I'm doing alright. (32:41) Trying to get at it is like, you'd it's just the same as going to the doctor.
Scott Benner (32:45) I just found myself three days ago saying that doctor Beach Gem was on the podcast. (32:49) By the don't know if you guys all know that episode sixteen ninety eight. (32:52) I got doctor Beach Gem to come on. (32:54) That was very cool. (32:54) You might know her from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, etcetera.
Scott Benner (32:57) She was very cool. (32:57) She's a pediatric ER doctor. (33:00) And while I was making that point about doctors, like, you get a doctor, you don't know which one you're getting. (33:05) Did you get the one who really understands type one diabetes and how insulin works, or did I get the one who's like, I don't really need to know this as much. (33:13) I don't know who you are when I start with you.
Scott Benner (33:16) So you gotta get in there and lay lay a groundwork, what, that feels like any dummy could follow this. (33:23) Right?
Lauren (33:24) Yeah. (33:24) And that level of trust that you have to try to build with someone who's gonna be with your child eight hours a day is hard. (33:33) And I think the younger they are and the less that they can feel their lows and know what to do to care for themselves, the harder it is.
Scott Benner (33:42) Don't lie to me. (33:43) Have you ever gone into the office in the summertime and said, don't put him with that one, please?
Lauren (33:48) No. (33:48) Not But I haven't cared about middle school.
Scott Benner (33:52) Not yet. (33:53) I invite. (33:57) Not Susan. (33:58) I think she does meth. (34:00) Oh.
Scott Benner (34:00) Like, yes. (34:02) I mean, listen. (34:03) In the end, I I've had you know, I've I've gone to school. (34:06) My kids have gone to school. (34:07) You know, most of the teachers that I've experienced have been really lovely.
Scott Benner (34:11) Seriously, you know. (34:13) And, just like most of the doctors and nurses I've come across have been absolutely awesome. (34:17) It's just, you know, I don't know. (34:18) In that moment, you wanna know that the people around you are competent and ready. (34:23) And that's Yeah.
Scott Benner (34:24) And only gets a lot to ask.
Lauren (34:25) I will say in the two and a half years that he's been in school, I could not have asked for better support from anybody. (34:34) From the nurse, from his teachers, you know, following his blood sugar and texting me at 8PM being like, is he okay?
Scott Benner (34:44) And you're like, please stop please stop following him at 03:30. (34:46) I I agree.
Lauren (34:47) I know. (34:47) We we did set up parameters to turn off their notifications.
Scott Benner (34:51) You're so nice. (34:52) Get a boyfriend. (34:55) Leave me alone. (34:57) Find a hobby. (34:58) Get out of here.
Scott Benner (34:59) But but but I take your point. (35:01) You didn't think they were being nosy. (35:02) They really cared. (35:03) Right?
Lauren (35:03) Right.
Scott Benner (35:04) Yeah. (35:04) That's awesome. (35:05) That's cool. (35:06) Well, how do you think his experience is? (35:07) Because in the end, the the other thing is you don't want his experience to be any more intrusive in their regularity than it needs to be.
Scott Benner (35:14) Right. (35:15) Is that No.
Lauren (35:15) I think it's pretty good. (35:17) We go into his class once a year. (35:21) So his diversaries September 12. (35:24) So I try to usually go in because that's towards the beginning of the year and do a little lesson for his class. (35:31) And we paint Joel's Omnipods.
Lauren (35:35) And so I actually let all the kids decorate their own coloring sheet that's an Omnipod. (35:41) And we do a cool fun lesson with that. (35:43) But just trying to help them understand like at four, five, six years old, what's going on. (35:49) Why is he getting a juice box when nobody else is? (35:52) You know?
Lauren (35:52) And our kids have been so understanding and so welcoming. (35:58) And I think we try to interrupt the least amount possible into his class. (36:04) Yeah. (36:05) But, yeah, I think it's gone really well so far.
Scott Benner (36:07) Good. (36:07) That's awesome. (36:08) Yeah. (36:08) You call that PowerPoint why Joel has a phone and you don't?
Lauren (36:12) Yeah.
Scott Benner (36:14) I got yelled at when Arden got a phone. (36:17) Lot of moms on the phone to me. (36:20) What are you doing? (36:20) What are you doing? (36:22) And this is a long time ago.
Scott Benner (36:23) They were like, oh, way to set the bar. (36:25) I was like, look, I don't wanna do this. (36:27) Is it you know, but here we are. (36:29) Yeah. (36:30) Arden was, like, rolling around with an iPhone back when people didn't have them.
Scott Benner (36:34) Yeah. (36:34) Because we tried by the way, tried to get her a little foot. (36:36) It was just for emergencies. (36:38) I wanted her to be able to, like, to to talk about how, like, how scary it can be. (36:44) There was a twenty minute bus ride at the beginning of the day and the end of the day.
Scott Benner (36:49) And I wanted her to be able to let me know if her blood sugar was low because there was no share, like, back then. (36:56) Like, I couldn't see her blood sugar. (36:58) And so you basically, you know, she'd text me at the end of the day, like, hey. (37:04) I'm getting on the bus now. (37:05) This is my blood sugar.
Scott Benner (37:06) And then she'd get on the bus, and I didn't I I couldn't track it. (37:09) And so if something went south, we wanted her to be able to reach out. (37:13) And, you know, we took her to the I I remember this. (37:15) We went to the cell phone store. (37:16) I got I wasn't looking to spend money on this.
Scott Benner (37:18) I'm like, look. (37:19) Here's a flip phone. (37:19) You open it up. (37:20) You push these buttons, and she just couldn't do it. (37:23) Whoever designed that UI on an iPhone, I you could hand it to a six year old and they and she was like, oh, yeah.
Scott Benner (37:30) I can make this work. (37:31) And I was like, oh, great. (37:32) So now she's got that and every mom in town is pissed at me. (37:36) You know, I was like, whatever. (37:37) By the way, all your kids have phones now.
Scott Benner (37:38) It's not my fault.
Lauren (37:39) Well, and I think that's probably worse now because a lot of states are outlawing phones at school. (37:44) Yes. (37:45) Texas just did it. (37:46) Mhmm. (37:46) And so now they really are like that kid who gets to have their phone during the school day, you know?
Scott Benner (37:53) Pulls it out like you're like you're George Clooney in his prime. (37:56) Look at me. (37:57) Rest of you suckers don't have your phone.
Lauren (37:59) Because their friends can't have it.
Scott Benner (38:00) Yeah. (38:00) Where's your phone, sucker? (38:02) I got mine right here. (38:04) So yeah. (38:05) Look at that.
Scott Benner (38:05) Now, I'll say if if if nobody else will. (38:08) Maybe the greatest thing ever not to let kids have phones at school.
Lauren (38:12) Oh, I agree.
Scott Benner (38:13) If you'd like them to learn something. (38:14) I mean, For sure. (38:15) If you want them to figure out TikTok, then, I mean, perfect. (38:18) You know, if you want them to listen, be able to focus, I think maybe, don't send them with the crack in their pocket. (38:24) That might be an easier way for them to to be able to focus.
Scott Benner (38:28) But yeah. (38:28) But there are plenty of people who have medical devices on their phones now. (38:32) So you're saying that they said no to the kids, but if you have a medical device, would you get, like, a special, like, hall pass for that?
Lauren (38:39) Yeah. (38:39) You have to write it into their five zero four plan or whatever, just to cover yourself. (38:45) But yeah.
Scott Benner (38:45) Nice. (38:46) Well, look at us finally getting something. (38:48) Although dis Disney took away the pass, I think.
Lauren (38:51) I did hear that.
Scott Benner (38:52) Yeah. (38:52) Yeah. (38:52) Also, we can't talk about that. (38:53) It makes people very upset. (38:56) Never seen people argue online more than about that.
Scott Benner (38:59) Like, if you wanna argue with people online, go to a place where there's people with type one diabetes and say, hey. (39:05) I'm taking my kid to Disney. (39:06) Is there a way that I don't have to wait in these lines? (39:09) Whoo. (39:10) And then here it comes.
Scott Benner (39:11) We're not disabled. (39:12) I'm like, I don't why can't you just stand in the line? (39:16) Blah blah blah. (39:17) You're making it bad for all of us. (39:18) My kid gets low.
Scott Benner (39:20) Oh, my god. (39:21) They don't stop. (39:22) Ridiculous. (39:23) Listen to me. (39:24) No.
Scott Benner (39:25) Keep arguing. (39:25) I mean, it keeps the group going. (39:27) So if you wanna argue, argue, I guess. (39:28) What I'll argue.
Lauren (39:29) Give you a little entertainment.
Scott Benner (39:30) Yeah. (39:30) It gives me something to do. (39:31) I mean, as soon as it pops up, the like, I get a message from one of the one of the moderators. (39:36) They're like, hey, we tag this to pay attention to it because it's t minus showing counting when it comes up. (39:43) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (39:44) It's like, That's for all you adults out there. (39:46) Like, hold yourselves together. (39:47) Okay? (39:48) What else do I need to know about the the school? (39:51) Like, what have you learned going through this process that you didn't know before setting up a five zero four plan?
Lauren (39:58) I think the biggest thing that I would say is not just with type one, but with any exceptional need that a student has.
Scott Benner (40:09) Mhmm.
Lauren (40:10) You have to communicate. (40:12) The parents, I want them to feel comfortable to keep communicating, to go in and meet with the staff whenever you need to as much as you need to to help your child be successful during the school day. (40:29) It doesn't just have to be your once a year meeting. (40:32) You can call a meeting whenever you need to.
Scott Benner (40:34) Okay.
Lauren (40:35) And so really just trying to help them to know that they can have their needs met and still be successful at school. (40:46) And I think communicating your child's needs clearly is one of the biggest ways to do that.
Scott Benner (40:51) What do I do though if the teacher or an administrator or somebody isn't, I don't know, compliant with what's been set out in front of them? (40:59) You put something reasonable in front of them. (41:01) It's agreed upon. (41:02) They don't do it. (41:03) Now what I basically have is an employee who doesn't wanna be bothered with the extra work that they've given me.
Scott Benner (41:09) And if I push back, don't I make up an enemy? (41:13) An enemy who's in charge of grating my son or you know what I mean? (41:17) Like and Yeah. (41:18) Is there a way how do you navigate that?
Lauren (41:22) Honestly, I think it's all about your approach. (41:25) It's very much about your tone of voice and your body language and the way that you maybe ask for help instead of demanding it in the first place.
Scott Benner (41:37) Mhmm.
Lauren (41:37) I'm not saying that that's, you know, gonna fix everything. (41:41) There's obviously still people who don't wanna hear it and people who don't want to help. (41:46) But hopefully, that's the exception.
Scott Benner (41:49) Well, there's gonna be some people who think your kid, like, has type one diabetes because they ate poorly. (41:54) Right? (41:54) And that's your fault. (41:55) Now you want me to do something about it? (41:56) Blah blah blah blah.
Scott Benner (41:57) Right? (41:57) There's ignorance like that.
Lauren (41:59) Yeah. (42:00) And that's why I think, like, I started with the PowerPoint presentation. (42:05) Like, let me, in twenty minutes, tell you the most important things about what type one is
Scott Benner (42:12) Mhmm.
Lauren (42:13) And why it's important to care for his blood sugar through the day and kind of try to ride some of those misconceptions.
Scott Benner (42:20) Yeah. (42:21) That's a great idea. (42:21) I mean and and probably, again, necessary because you don't know who's gonna, you know, hold a bias in their head and never say it out loud.
Lauren (42:29) Yeah. (42:30) The other thing that we do is I make a one pager, and it has there's one for the staff that I give to all of his teachers and our principal and nurse and everyone that has like this most important information on it.
Scott Benner (42:46) Mhmm.
Lauren (42:47) And then I also kind tweak it and make one to go home with all the students in his class that have, like, the signs and symptoms of type one and try to educate them too. (42:58) Because I feel like probably as you do, the more people that we can spread the truth to, the more we write those misconceptions.
Scott Benner (43:07) No. (43:08) I think it's a good opportunity. (43:09) Right? (43:09) You've got got a captured audience there of about 30 people that you can maybe hopefully put a flyer in their hand. (43:15) Maybe their mom will look at it or their dad will look at it for a second and understand it a little better.
Scott Benner (43:19) Right. (43:19) Yeah. (43:20) No. (43:20) And and it might also help the kids not to tease and and be, you know, unkind and, you know, it's it's a lot I think there's a lot of good that goes into it. (43:29) It's probably not that much effort for you either.
Scott Benner (43:31) Right? (43:32) You get a lot out of it No. (43:33) For a little a good bang for your buck, I imagine.
Lauren (43:35) Yeah. (43:35) I've actually had a couple of really great conversations with parents of a preschooler or a first grader who said like, yeah, my son came home talking about his pancreas and mom, what's insulin? (43:51) And they were able to have like a really good conversation about it. (43:54) And I think the little like flyer thing, you know, helps the parent to understand it, to be able to talk to their kid about it. (44:01) That's awesome.
Scott Benner (44:02) Good for you. (44:03) Look at you out there doing nice things. (44:06) You said something a minute ago that made me feel like you have had to stand in an office and be yelled at by a parent. (44:12) Were like, it's Of
Lauren (44:13) course, I have. (44:13) I'm an assistant principal.
Scott Benner (44:14) Like it's about tone and body language, and I felt like what you were saying is, please don't scream at me and look like you're gonna hit me.
Lauren (44:21) Well, mostly, it's like, if you come in and you're hateful and ugly, we don't wanna do anything for you.
Scott Benner (44:27) Well, yeah. (44:27) There's We want you to leave. (44:28) That's the human part. (44:29) I I say listen. (44:30) I've been on this a long time.
Scott Benner (44:33) Like, catch more flies with honey, you know, that kind of thing. (44:36) Assume they don't know what you're talking about, that you sound crazy. (44:39) Don't come in demanding things right away because you do sound crazy. (44:43) Even when you start explaining diabetes, to somebody who doesn't understand it, you sound crazy. (44:49) So you have to go just like Lauren's saying, like, education, slow, calm.
Scott Benner (44:54) Once they get a little understanding, move them forward a little bit. (44:57) It's a bit of an effort, you know, and and you can say I shouldn't have to do that all you want, but, again, you're dealing with people. (45:04) And not everybody's got the same level of understanding, compassion, desire, number of things that go into this. (45:10) You know? (45:11) I've had moments where, you know, I've gotten pushed back, and and I know if I would've lost my mind there that it would've it just would've died on the vine.
Scott Benner (45:20) Like, so you just have to stop and go, hey. (45:21) I see why you think that, but, know, that's not gonna work and here's why. (45:26) I have also, you know, over the years pushed harder on some things. (45:30) I yelled at one school nurse in high school for contacting Arden's endocrinologist without anybody's permission.
Lauren (45:36) As you should.
Scott Benner (45:37) Yeah. (45:37) I was like, that is none of your business. (45:38) Like, never call my daughter's doctor again. (45:40) So I was trying to help, I was like, I couldn't possibly care less what you were trying to do. (45:44) Like, don't that's you talk to me.
Scott Benner (45:46) That that's that. (45:47) You know? (45:48) Also, the thing was, like, why they even considered doing it? (45:51) But and I've pushed in the past too. (45:53) Like, you know, I we set things up.
Scott Benner (45:55) Those things weren't met. (45:57) It turned into a dangerous situation, and then I pushed. (46:00) But I waited until I didn't just yell every time they didn't understand something. (46:05) Like, one time they messed up a big a big thing, and I said, okay. (46:08) Like, I've got the high ground now.
Scott Benner (46:10) This is an opportunity for me to move this whole thing forward. (46:14) They can't fight about it because they had been fighting before because they didn't wanna spend money. (46:18) And this is a long, long time ago. (46:20) Arden was in kindergarten. (46:22) And all we really were asking for was, like, maybe an aid to move her around the building a little bit.
Scott Benner (46:27) I know you guys are listening now and you're like, oh, she's got c g I garden not a CGM on in kindergarten. (46:32) Like, you know, there was we were going to, you know, finger stick a couple of times a day. (46:37) We were managing the whole thing that way. (46:39) And so, you know, we just wanted somebody to be there when she was on the playground, just kinda keeping an eye on her and stuff like that. (46:46) And this was not like a teaching position.
Scott Benner (46:48) It was you know, I mean, it's an aid. (46:50) It's the it's not that expensive, and they have budget for that stuff. (46:53) They didn't wanna give it to her. (46:54) And then they made a mistake one day and put her in perilous situation. (46:58) That's the wrong word.
Scott Benner (46:59) It was a dangerous situation. (47:01) And I used that situation to push back. (47:04) And then you could see the ignorance, like, because there I was in the office with the superintendent of this district. (47:09) And he's like, why can't she just do it herself? (47:12) And I was like, well, she's five.
Scott Benner (47:14) That's one of the reasons. (47:16) Do you even understand what you're talking about right now? (47:18) You want her to do it? (47:20) And I was like, she can't do all that, and she doesn't understand any of it. (47:24) And, you know, I don't know.
Scott Benner (47:26) Like, I just I took it I took advantage there. (47:28) And after that, you know, it it was pretty smooth sailing after that, to be perfectly honest.
Lauren (47:33) Yeah. (47:34) And I think you have to sometimes get to that point. (47:38) But the first five, ten minutes of your conversation, if you don't know these people that you're going into the school to talk to, are everything. (47:49) The way that you present yourself, the way that you talk about what your child needs is so important. (47:59) Because it doesn't matter who you are as an educator, you know, people can rub you the wrong way.
Lauren (48:07) And as a human, you just then really don't maybe wanna go the extra mile for them. (48:13) And so I think it's important to really come across very caring and empathetic and understanding also Mhmm. (48:22) How busy and crazy their lives are. (48:25) And then to clearly explain your needs in, you know, a kind and respectful way.
Scott Benner (48:31) I think you just said law a second ago. (48:33) Honestly, the way I think about it is you come at somebody the wrong way, they are not gonna be inclined to help you. (48:39) And that's it. (48:39) Like, you can take all of the the way it should be and we have it written down and there's a five zero four plan. (48:45) You just throw it all out the window because in the end, you just pissed off somebody who has a power over you.
Scott Benner (48:53) And if they're not incredibly forgiving people, they're gonna exert that power over you now, and it's gonna be at the expense of your kid and their diabetes. (49:02) Exactly. (49:02) So some people are is what you're telling me. (49:04) And I don't know which ones are which, so be nice. (49:06) Is that right?
Scott Benner (49:07) Right.
Lauren (49:07) Yeah. (49:08) Yeah. (49:08) Exactly. (49:08) So My motto in life.
Scott Benner (49:11) I mean, in the end, is is that not the rule about everything? (49:13) You you know what I mean? (49:14) Like, like, what are you doing? (49:16) You you have a problem at the cash register. (49:19) You have a problem at school.
Scott Benner (49:20) You have a problem anywhere. (49:22) You start with contrite. (49:24) I'm sorry. (49:24) Whether you are or not, by the way. (49:26) I got pulled over, a couple weeks ago.
Scott Benner (49:29) It's longer than that again. (49:31) I was on my way to the airport to go to touch by type one, and I got pulled over. (49:36) I don't know. (49:36) I was going too fast. (49:38) Guy pulls me over.
Scott Benner (49:39) I pull I got off the road. (49:41) He comes to the window. (49:42) I say, sir, how are you today? (49:44) He goes, good. (49:45) I said, was I speeding?
Scott Benner (49:47) And he said, yes. (49:48) Now I want you to know, Lauren. (49:49) I didn't know if I was speeding or not. (49:51) It just was like a safe assumption. (49:52) You you know?
Scott Benner (49:53) And I didn't wanna be like, Forever? (49:55) Why is this happening? (49:56) Like, you know what I mean? (49:57) Like, was like, what? (49:58) I said, was, you know, was I speeding?
Scott Benner (50:00) And he goes, yeah. (50:00) I said, I apologize. (50:01) I'm on my way to the airport. (50:03) Yeah. (50:03) I understand if you need to give me a ticket.
Scott Benner (50:05) I hope you don't. (50:07) I said, but if you do, I just I have a flight. (50:09) I have to make it this time. (50:11) I'm going to speak at, and I stopped and I said, it's gonna sound like I made this up to get out of this. (50:18) I said, but I'm going, to give a talk for a charity, and I really can't miss this plane.
Scott Benner (50:23) So whatever you wanna do, I said, you know, car's clean, title's all this is clean. (50:27) Here you go. (50:28) I am so I again, I'm very sorry. (50:30) Where was I speeding? (50:31) And he told me and I said, oh, I I I didn't realize.
Scott Benner (50:34) I I again, I'm sorry. (50:36) He comes back a couple seconds later and he goes, hey. (50:39) Everything's good. (50:39) You're you know, everything insurance, blah blah blah. (50:41) He goes, know, what's the talk for?
Scott Benner (50:44) And I told him, and he goes, well, get going. (50:46) I don't want you to miss the plane. (50:47) And I was like, no ticket? (50:48) He goes, no. (50:48) And I was like, oh, thank you.
Scott Benner (50:50) Like, great. (50:50) That easy. (50:51) Mhmm. (50:51) The guy had me. (50:52) You know what I mean?
Scott Benner (50:53) Like, he he had me, and I knew it. (50:55) Like, I don't start with, what are you doing? (50:57) Or I'm gonna be late. (50:58) Or, like, I just talked to him like a person, and he treated me like one in return. (51:03) Sort of the end
Lauren (51:04) of it. (51:04) But I wonder how many times they actually get treated like a person when somebody gets pulled over, you know?
Scott Benner (51:09) Well, yeah. (51:10) Like, if you if you get pulled over and you start with, I pay your bill, like, I pay your pay or whatever, like, I mean, yeah. (51:17) Well, you're about to pay me to write you a ticket then. (51:19) Because, like, that's when the human part clicks in. (51:21) Like, don't know why people don't understand this.
Scott Benner (51:23) Like, nobody wants to be treated that way. (51:25) And when people have power, they use it. (51:28) Right?
Lauren (51:29) Especially when you have a lot of emotions and stress and fear
Scott Benner (51:33) Yeah.
Lauren (51:33) Coming into, like, your kid's just been diagnosed with type one and you're trying to convey all of this, especially if you don't really understand it yet yourself. (51:42) It's harder to be calm and to be kind and to come in like that. (51:48) But it'll get you miles further down the road if you can do it.
Scott Benner (51:53) Yeah. (51:54) I just I couldn't possibly agree more. (51:56) I think the whole thing is human. (51:58) I don't wanna go down a a bizarre path with you, Lauren, but I think everything is power. (52:03) I think that if you're talking about it doesn't matter what you're talking about.
Scott Benner (52:07) It could be politics. (52:08) It could be talking to your kid's teacher about their, you know, their diabetes and everything in between. (52:13) I think everything is a power struggle. (52:15) I don't know that people do it on purpose, but don't think I've ever been in one situation that wasn't someone pissing on somebody else's foot. (52:23) Do you know what I mean?
Scott Benner (52:24) Like, it just and I don't know why people are like that. (52:26) I don't even care. (52:27) I just know that's the game. (52:29) So if I know if you know, I know the rules of the game, then I can get to the end. (52:32) And that's sort of how I feel about it.
Scott Benner (52:34) But I don't say it's right. (52:36) I just say it's it is what it is.
Lauren (52:39) When I first started as an assistant principal, my office was like a front office secretary kind of desk situation.
Scott Benner (52:48) Mhmm.
Lauren (52:49) So there was a counter like right in front of my face, and I stuck a sticker that only I could see that said kind words on it. (52:58) Because I inherently am kind of an aggressive personality.
Scott Benner (53:03) Mhmm.
Lauren (53:03) Kind of a loud, boisterous, can sometimes, you know, speak before I think person. (53:09) And I really put that there to remind myself to slow down, and to take a breath and to be kind because I knew that it would get me so much further.
Scott Benner (53:21) Yeah. (53:21) It just did. (53:22) It it it just is. (53:23) I've I've walked into school, you know, even like in high school, like sometimes, you know, pump failure or something goes wrong in the middle of the day or whatnot, you get a text and the text is like, hey. (53:34) Could you bring over, like, some insulin or whatever?
Scott Benner (53:37) Because I people are you should keep that at school, but, like, we just lived across the street. (53:40) So and I, you know, I work out of the house. (53:42) It's not a big deal. (53:43) Happens a handful of times. (53:45) And I go, oh, yeah.
Scott Benner (53:45) Yeah. (53:46) Sure. (53:46) So, you know, grab something, go over to the office. (53:49) Hi. (53:49) I'm here to meet my daughter in the, you know, the nurse's office.
Scott Benner (53:53) She's down there changing an insulin pump, and I have the insulin here in the pump or, you know, the pump we had at school didn't work or whatever. (54:00) Right away, there's rules. (54:01) You real I mean, and there's to the average adult who doesn't spend their time in a school, it's a lot of silliness. (54:08) Sign here. (54:09) Give me your, you know, driver's license.
Scott Benner (54:11) We hold the driver's license while you're in there. (54:13) I'm like, you know me. (54:14) I'm like, I've been like, okay. (54:16) And then if you push back a little bit, if you just go like, this is silly, you realize that the person on the other side is like, oh, no. (54:23) This is not silly.
Scott Benner (54:24) This is my domain. (54:25) This is a thing I control. (54:28) And I know it's at every level of people. (54:30) People like, no. (54:31) No.
Scott Benner (54:31) I got the rules on my side now, buddy. (54:33) You all do it. (54:34) You know what I mean? (54:35) Everyone does it. (54:36) Like, you know, everybody loves to be in power once in a while.
Scott Benner (54:39) And, you start pushing back, and then the next thing you know, nobody's helping your kid. (54:44) And and what did it get you? (54:46) Were you just happy to be right? (54:48) Like, you just want it to go the way you need it to go. (54:50) Who cares about the rest of it?
Scott Benner (54:51) I don't honestly care if I'm right or wrong or if they're right or wrong. (54:55) As long as the thing that needs to happen happens, I couldn't possibly care less. (54:59) So smile and wave, eat a big spoonful with a smile on your face if you have to. (55:04) Who could possibly care less? (55:06) That's how
Lauren (55:07) I Right. (55:07) But at the end of the day, you're getting what you want or what you need, and that's how you get there.
Scott Benner (55:12) Exactly. (55:13) You Yeah. (55:13) Yeah. (55:14) Yeah. (55:14) Again.
Scott Benner (55:14) Right? (55:15) What do you trap more flies with honey? (55:17) Is that the saying? (55:18) That saying's not out of nowhere. (55:19) They didn't make that up for no reason.
Scott Benner (55:21) It's because people have been forever. (55:24) And they and people like it is. (55:26) I don't even mean it. (55:27) You know what I'm saying though, Lauren. (55:29) Right?
Scott Benner (55:29) Yeah. (55:30) Of course. (55:30) I don't sound crazy to you.
Lauren (55:32) 100% agree.
Scott Benner (55:33) This is the world. (55:34) Like, play by the rules of the world. (55:36) Don't tell me how it should be. (55:37) Just I don't have time for that. (55:40) Yeah.
Scott Benner (55:40) I can't fix being kind and humanity and how people feel and, you know, that power feels nice and that, you know, you're you don't you don't have control at home, so you have it at work or whatever your thing is. (55:51) Like, I couldn't possibly care less. (55:53) I'm just trying to get out of here with the thing I need. (55:56) So
Lauren (55:56) Right. (55:56) Yeah.
Scott Benner (55:57) I don't care. (55:58) Wow. (55:59) Look at us. (55:59) Making a lot of sense here. (56:01) This is awesome.
Scott Benner (56:02) That, that little kid of yours. (56:04) Yeah. (56:04) What are your expectations for him managing himself? (56:08) Like, what's your timeline or are you just gonna go in with the flow? (56:12) How are you thinking about that?
Lauren (56:14) Yeah. (56:15) I am taking a lot of leads from him. (56:18) I think he reads the carbs on anything that has a label now and he really wants to tell me the carbs.
Scott Benner (56:25) Cool.
Lauren (56:26) And so that's really cute that he you know, he's taking ownership of that. (56:30) And I think that's one of the first things that he can take ownership of. (56:37) He chooses which pod he wants because they're all painted differently. (56:42) So like he goes and gets the basketball one or the Superman one or whatever. (56:48) And I think that will turn into, you know, more independence very slowly as we go down the road.
Lauren (56:56) My goal being that by the time he goes to middle school, he's fully independent of his care without the nurse needing to do things for him during the day.
Scott Benner (57:07) So Do you guys text during the day about diabetes stuff?
Lauren (57:11) Yeah. (57:11) So the I have two text groups, and I will say, I'm sorry if your school staff is not open to this. (57:21) I think they should be. (57:22) But I have a chat that's the teacher, the nurse, my husband, and myself.
Scott Benner (57:28) Mhmm.
Lauren (57:28) And then I have a separate chat that is only the nurse, my husband, and myself. (57:34) Because we still very much help the nurse decide how many grams of sugar. (57:41) Like, are we doing five Skittles? (57:43) Are we doing a juice box to correct his low? (57:46) Yeah.
Lauren (57:46) And things like that. (57:47) I'm gonna help make those decisions throughout the day. (57:50) And those text threads are lifesavers.
Scott Benner (57:53) Okay.
Lauren (57:54) And then we only include the teacher when we have to because we don't wanna interrupt her as much as possible.
Scott Benner (57:59) That's awesome. (58:00) And again, everybody texts at this point. (58:03) Like, it it couldn't possibly be more natural to do it that way, I would imagine.
Lauren (58:07) Yeah. (58:07) Yeah. (58:08) It's been very successful.
Scott Benner (58:09) Yeah. (58:09) I even, you know, now versus ten years ago. (58:12) Like, if you ask somebody to do that ten years ago, they'd like, I don't I don't wanna be looking everyone's got their phone. (58:17) It's glued to their face. (58:19) I like that's a that's really awesome.
Lauren (58:21) But my my friend, the kindergarten teacher whose son just got diagnosed, she went to the middle school that he attends and she was like, oh, yeah. (58:32) I have three other type ones. (58:34) They pretty much self manage. (58:36) They come in here if they need anything. (58:39) She was not open to following his blood sugar on anything.
Scott Benner (58:44) Mhmm.
Lauren (58:44) She said, you can email me if you wanna contact me. (58:50) But I about lost my mind. (58:52) I was like, can you just bring him back here? (58:55) We have sixth grade at our school. (58:57) And I was like, no.
Lauren (58:58) No. (58:58) No. (58:58) No. (58:58) No. (58:59) Bring bring him back here where we can help him and teach him for a year, and then he can go to middle school.
Scott Benner (59:05) You can email me is a loose translation of I don't care. (59:11) And that's crazy. (59:13) Well, no. (59:14) Because I ran into this too. (59:16) Like, well, you know, I started asking for things, like testing at certain times, stuff like that.
Scott Benner (59:20) And I got told there are other type ones in this building and there's other type ones that have been through this building and none of them had to do that. (59:26) And I was like, I know a couple of them and their blood sugars are in the two hundreds. (59:30) So was like, if that's how they wanna live, I, God bless. (59:33) Like, I don't care. (59:34) I said, but that's not that's not what we're here for.
Scott Benner (59:37) I think the argument that got me past that with them is I said, what is the point of me sending my daughter here every day for twelve years? (59:46) Keeping in mind that she was diagnosed when she was two? (59:49) Right? (59:49) Like, every day for twelve years, if at the end of those twelve years, she has complications and horrible health but a good education, What's she gonna do with that education when her health is failing? (1:00:03) Like, explain to me why I shouldn't just move to an island, sit on a beach, and enjoy our lives.
Scott Benner (1:00:09) You understand what you're here for. (1:00:10) Right? (1:00:10) Like, you're here to educate her so that she can go live a life. (1:00:15) And if in trade for that education, she gets terrible health, then what was the point of all this? (1:00:21) And somebody in the room was like, oh, okay.
Scott Benner (1:00:24) And was like, yeah. (1:00:25) Yeah. (1:00:25) Like, right. (1:00:26) Like, so you you get it. (1:00:27) Like, she doesn't just wander around here with a 200 blood sugar all day.
Scott Benner (1:00:31) She doesn't wander around here with a two fifty blood sugar all day. (1:00:34) Her blood sugar doesn't spike to 300, and we just go like, oh, cost of doing business. (1:00:38) Like, that's not what we do. (1:00:39) Her outcomes are what's important day to day, week to week, hour to hour. (1:00:44) Outcomes, outcomes, outcomes.
Scott Benner (1:00:47) Like, we want blood sugars to sit stable. (1:00:50) And we're gonna work towards that because otherwise, what is this all here for?
Lauren (1:00:56) Right.
Scott Benner (1:00:56) So I had a conversation. (1:00:57) This might sound disjointed, but I was listening to a conversation I had with somebody during an edit. (1:01:03) And he was talking about how he has type two diabetes, and he wanted to get his health in order to be around for his children. (1:01:11) But what I realized was that there was no extension of, the understanding that, like, my father had problems. (1:01:17) I have problems.
Scott Benner (1:01:18) I wanna be around for my kids. (1:01:20) But what I didn't hear was, also, I bet you my kids are gonna have these problems too. (1:01:24) It's hard to plan for that kind of thing. (1:01:27) Like, the human mind does not want to believe that that, you know, something's going wrong that we're gonna just see in the being. (1:01:36) That's not how we like, I don't know.
Scott Benner (1:01:37) Our brains just don't seem to work that way because my point is is that I thought during that conversation that guy was gonna say, and I should be looking into this medication for my kids because, obviously, it's happened to me. (1:01:48) It happened to my dad, it's probably gonna happen to them. (1:01:51) But his mind didn't go there. (1:01:52) And it just, I don't know, it gave me a pause for a second. (1:01:56) And I think this is this was the same thing.
Scott Benner (1:01:59) You're gonna let my kid walk around with, like, a blood sugar that's three times normal and tell me that at least she's not having a seizure, and so we're good? (1:02:11) And that's it. (1:02:12) I was like, What a lack of understanding about what being alive is about. (1:02:17) Like, you're, you know, you're impacting her now detrimentally and in the future detrimentally, but she's not passing out, so we're all good. (1:02:26) I was like, wow.
Lauren (1:02:26) When you look at her, she looks fine.
Scott Benner (1:02:29) Yeah. (1:02:29) She's not if her blood sugar is two sixty, which I made that point to them. (1:02:34) They're like, well, you know, the doctor said from, you know, this to this. (1:02:37) And I was like, hey. (1:02:38) You know, your blood sugar is 85 right now.
Scott Benner (1:02:40) I was like, so you want hers to be two fifty before we do something? (1:02:44) You know, two fifty is like it's like a 180 points higher than average. (1:02:49) Right? (1:02:50) And that's a lot. (1:02:51) Doesn't that sound like triple to you?
Scott Benner (1:02:53) And now these people have been told they understand what high blood sugar is, and they still don't nobody cares. (1:02:58) Like, I'm just I'm just telling you. (1:03:01) Like, you you know when your kids come to you at some point and they're like, people are looking at me, Like, you know, like, or they feel uncomfortable. (1:03:07) Like, the the time I was able to get through to my son, no one cares. (1:03:11) I was like, no one's looking.
Scott Benner (1:03:14) No one cares. (1:03:15) You're you're like, everyone's paying attention to themselves, and they're paying attention maybe to their families if they're lucky. (1:03:23) I was like, but nobody's looking at you. (1:03:26) By that same extension, no one is putting their resources, their compute cycles into making sure someone else's kid doesn't have a medical condition twenty years from now. (1:03:36) That's your job as the parent and nobody else's.
Scott Benner (1:03:40) And so if you can get somebody to comply and help, good for you. (1:03:43) But if not, don't expect them to do it for you.
Lauren (1:03:46) Absolutely.
Scott Benner (1:03:47) I'm a why am I in such a bad mood today, Lauren? (1:03:49) You're such a lovely person. (1:03:52) Pissed me off.
Lauren (1:03:53) But everything you're saying is true.
Scott Benner (1:03:54) I got them right. (1:03:55) I'm I'm a genius, but that's not the point. (1:03:57) I see the world. (1:03:58) I'm like an oracle. (1:04:03) I'm almost an idiot, Lauren.
Scott Benner (1:04:05) I just there's some things I'm just sure about. (1:04:08) And this is one of them. (1:04:10) Like, I love I have a lot of great friends, a lot of great people. (1:04:13) If we all crash landed on an island, every one of them would cut my throat. (1:04:18) So, like, I just you gotta you gotta expect people to be out for themselves, and I don't even mean I don't mean that in a bad way.
Scott Benner (1:04:25) I I'd like to be clear to all of you. (1:04:27) I know you think of me as a nice person that helps everybody, but if we all crash land on an island, I'm gonna kill you so my kids can eat too. (1:04:34) I would expect nothing else from you. (1:04:36) I just, you know Right. (1:04:37) That's all.
Scott Benner (1:04:37) Just anyway, that's the game. (1:04:39) Play the game that that you know, don't don't play the game you wanna be playing. (1:04:42) Play the game we're actually playing And be nice. (1:04:45) Yeah. (1:04:46) Because Lauren doesn't need you yelling at her while she's an assistant principal.
Scott Benner (1:04:49) She don't she don't get paid enough for your crazy ass to be in there yelling and screaming at her. (1:04:54) Right?
Lauren (1:04:55) Exactly.
Scott Benner (1:04:55) Tell me the best story. (1:04:57) No no details. (1:04:58) Just
Lauren (1:04:58) The best story?
Scott Benner (1:04:59) What's the best story from being a principal? (1:05:02) Oh,
Lauren (1:05:04) I so my school is on an air force base. (1:05:09) And I think the best story is we had a crazy parent who had, like, injured police officers and things in the past. (1:05:22) And he came in just yelling at the teacher and yelling at us and being able to, be the one to step out of the room and request a security forces officer to just show up was probably one of my favorite moments.
Scott Benner (1:05:42) You're like, oh, so you got him drugged Yeah. (1:05:44) Out of
Lauren (1:05:46) Basically. (1:05:46) Like, he was no longer our problem because you can't come in here and act like that.
Scott Benner (1:05:52) Alright. (1:05:52) I like you.
Lauren (1:05:53) And we're fortunate to have somebody pretty close who can show up in about, oh, I'd say a minute and
Scott Benner (1:05:58) a half. (1:05:59) I see you're upset. (1:06:01) This is the man with the m 16 who's gonna help you out. (1:06:04) Is that Right.
Lauren (1:06:05) Nice talking to you.
Scott Benner (1:06:06) Goodbye. (1:06:09) Also, I see where your kid gets it. (1:06:11) Tata. (1:06:12) She has yeah. (1:06:14) That's tough.
Scott Benner (1:06:15) It's also tough for the kids. (1:06:16) Like, nobody asks for a lunatic for a parent. (1:06:19) You know what I mean? (1:06:19) Right. (1:06:20) Like, you just you get what you get.
Scott Benner (1:06:22) Anyway, good luck to all of you. (1:06:24) It ain't it ain't fun. (1:06:26) But you can get listen. (1:06:27) I being very super serious, I got through it. (1:06:31) I'm, you know, a person who, you know, would you generally speaking think of as having trouble holding their tongue in situations of stupidity.
Scott Benner (1:06:38) I just held my tongue. (1:06:40) I smiled. (1:06:41) I came from a position of being contrite, and, I always let them have their their power. (1:06:50) Whether it was real or not, I think that's an important part of negotiation. (1:06:55) When people people want to feel powerful, so let them.
Scott Benner (1:06:59) You know what I mean? (1:06:59) And sometimes when you you just put your head down a little bit and say thank you, that's they just wanna feel like they're in control. (1:07:05) So let them who cares? (1:07:07) Listen. (1:07:08) Lauren, I don't know another way to say this.
Scott Benner (1:07:11) We're all married. (1:07:12) Just do that thing you do that stops everybody from fighting. (1:07:16) That's all learned. (1:07:17) Right? (1:07:17) You know what I'm saying?
Scott Benner (1:07:19) Yeah. (1:07:19) Yeah. (1:07:20) You just you just shut the fuck up. (1:07:23) And nod and go, oh, no. (1:07:26) You're right, sweetie.
Scott Benner (1:07:27) You're right. (1:07:27) Just like that. (1:07:28) And then you everything's fine. (1:07:29) And by fine, I mean, nobody's yelling. (1:07:32) Just do that.
Lauren (1:07:33) And maybe you'll get what you want.
Scott Benner (1:07:34) Yeah. (1:07:35) Pretend you're trying to get late at the end. (1:07:37) That'll motivate you. (1:07:38) That's all. (1:07:40) Send dads in with that prerequisite.
Scott Benner (1:07:42) You'll all the kids will get their insulin pumps taken care of exactly when you want them to. (1:07:45) They know how to handle that job. (1:07:47) What do you wanna do? (1:07:48) You wanna paint the wall purple? (1:07:49) Makes sense to me.
Scott Benner (1:07:50) I'll go get the paint.
Lauren (1:07:54) Yeah. (1:07:55) They'll understand that first.
Scott Benner (1:07:56) Yeah. (1:07:56) Yeah. (1:07:56) Just send send the boys in with those marching orders. (1:07:59) They know what to do. (1:08:00) And for the ladies, you know, if your husband's crazy, just do the thing you do that keeps him from being crazy.
Scott Benner (1:08:05) Do that. (1:08:05) Like, that I don't mean it that way. (1:08:07) I mean, like, the you know what I mean, Lauren.
Lauren (1:08:09) Right. (1:08:11) Or just, you know, have the meeting without him.
Scott Benner (1:08:14) Mhmm. (1:08:14) Be nice. (1:08:15) Just be be overly nice. (1:08:17) Be overly contrite. (1:08:18) Just, you know, I'm I I you're always asking never for permission.
Scott Benner (1:08:23) Don't ask for permission. (1:08:24) That's a bad idea. (1:08:25) Right. (1:08:25) Like, just, you know, say, this is what we need. (1:08:29) What's the best way to make this happen?
Scott Benner (1:08:32) You know, how can you help me to put this in an order that makes sense to the teacher? (1:08:37) Would you help me talk to the teacher about this? (1:08:40) Because I'm not sure that everyone understands. (1:08:42) You know, do you wanna set up an educational meeting where we can explain to people why it's important? (1:08:46) It's always in that that perspective from that, you know, that footing of can we, should we, just put them in power.
Scott Benner (1:08:56) And then and then I'm gonna give you my best negotiating tool. (1:09:00) This is a simple one. (1:09:02) After an ask has been made, the person who speaks first loses. (1:09:09) Okay? (1:09:10) There.
Scott Benner (1:09:11) Mhmm. (1:09:12) There's life one zero one for you. (1:09:14) After an ask has been made, the next person to speak loses. (1:09:19) So just shut up and sit there. (1:09:22) Is it possible for us to have a meeting where the teachers come in and we can educate them for fifteen minutes and then don't say another word?
Scott Benner (1:09:29) Because what are they gonna say? (1:09:30) No? (1:09:31) No. (1:09:31) I don't wanna educate the teachers. (1:09:33) As soon as you start talking, you're giving away ground.
Scott Benner (1:09:37) Right? (1:09:37) Also, this works when you're buying a car. (1:09:39) So alright. (1:09:40) I've I've helped you people enough today. (1:09:42) I gotta go.
Scott Benner (1:09:46) Alright. (1:09:46) Come back tomorrow. (1:09:47) We'll talk about something else. (1:09:48) Lauren, thank you very, very much. (1:09:50) I really do appreciate your time.
Scott Benner (1:09:52) It's very it was lovely of you to come on. (1:09:54) If you learn things over the years, if you ever feel like you could put together, like, a rock solid conversation around five zero four plans after you've been in this a little longer, I'm gonna be around for a while, so reach back out. (1:10:06) Okay?
Lauren (1:10:07) Okay. (1:10:08) Yeah.
Scott Benner (1:10:08) Awesome. (1:10:08) Awesome. (1:10:09) Thanks very much. (1:10:09) Hold on one second for me. (1:10:10) Okay?
Scott Benner (1:10:11) K. (1:10:18) Head now to tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox and check out today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. (1:10:25) I think you're gonna find exactly what you're looking for at that link, including a way to sign up and get started with the Tandem Mobi system. (1:10:33) This episode was sponsored by Touched by Type one. (1:10:37) I want you to go find them on Facebook, Instagram, and give them a follow, and then head to touchedbytype1.org where you're gonna learn all about their programs and resources for people with type one diabetes.
Scott Benner (1:10:48) Today's episode is also sponsored by Eversense CGM. (1:10:53) They make the Eversense three sixty five. (1:10:56) That thing lasts a whole year. (1:10:57) One insertion. (1:10:59) Every year?
Scott Benner (1:11:00) Come on. (1:11:01) You probably feel like I'm messing with you, but I'm not. (1:11:03) Eversensecgm.com/juicefox. (1:11:08) Okay. (1:11:09) Well, here we are at the end of the episode.
Scott Benner (1:11:10) You're still with me? (1:11:11) Thank you. (1:11:12) I really do appreciate that. (1:11:14) What else could you do for me? (1:11:16) Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review?
Scott Benner (1:11:19) Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribe in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me or Instagram, TikTok. (1:11:28) Oh, gosh. (1:11:29) Here's one. (1:11:30) Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. (1:11:36) You don't wanna miss please, do you not know about the private group?
Scott Benner (1:11:40) You have to join the private group. (1:11:41) As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. (1:11:45) They're active talking about diabetes. (1:11:48) Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now. (1:11:51) And I'm there all the time.
Scott Benner (1:11:52) Tag me. (1:11:53) I'll say hi. (1:11:58) If you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginnings series from the podcast. (1:12:03) Don't take my word for it. (1:12:04) Listen to what reviewers have said.
Scott Benner (1:12:06) Bold beginnings is the best first step. (1:12:09) I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else. (1:12:12) This is when everything finally clicked. (1:12:14) People say it takes the stress out of the early days and replaces it with clarity. (1:12:18) They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital.
Scott Benner (1:12:22) And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling. (1:12:25) It's straightforward, practical, and easy to listen to. (1:12:29) Full Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. (1:12:34) If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. (1:12:40) Listen.
Scott Benner (1:12:40) Truth be told, I'm, like, 20% smarter when Rob edits me. (1:12:44) He takes out all the, like, gaps of time and when I go, and stuff like that. (1:12:49) And it just I don't know, man. (1:12:51) Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? (1:12:53) And then I remember because I did one smart thing.
Scott Benner (1:12:56) I hired Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.
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