Ep. 296: High School - Stepping Back While Still Parenting

For years, parents and caregivers have often been the quarterbacks of food allergy management—scheduling appointments, communicating with schools and restaurants, and making critical decisions. But as children become young adults during high school, the transition from managing to mentoring can feel uncertain. How do we step back while helping them step forward? Joining us today is FAACT's Vice President of Medical Education, Charity Luiskutty, PA-C, to share practical tips and insights for navigating this important stage of the journey. 

Resources to keep you in the know:

• Food Allergies in the City - Micro-drama series
• FAACT's Coping Skills - FAACT Behaviorial Health Center
• FAACT's For Parents and Caregivers: How to Listen to Your Children and Teens When They Are Ready to Talk to You About Their Mental Health
  
  

You can find FAACT's Roundtable Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, Podbay, iHeart Radio, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Sponsored by: ARS Pharma

Thanks for listening! FAACT invites you to discover more exciting food allergy resources at FoodAllergyAwareness.org!

Transcript

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Caroline: Welcome to FAACT's Roundtable, a podcast dedicated to navigating life with food allergies across the lifespan. Presented in a welcoming format with interviews and open discussions,

each episode will explore a specific topic, leaving you with the FAACTS to know or use.

Information presented via this podcast is educational and not intended to provide individual medical advice.

Please consult with your personal board certified allergist or healthcare providers for advice specific to your situation.

Caroline: Hi everyone, I'm Caroline Moassessi and I am your host for the FAACT Roundtable podcast.

I am a food allergy parent and advocate and the founder of the Grateful Foodie Blog. And I am FACT's Vice President of Community Relations.

Before we start today's podcast, I just want to say thank you to ARS Pharma for their kind sponsorship of FAACT's Roundtable podcast.

For years,

parents and caregivers are often the quarterbacks of food allergy management.

Scheduling appointments, communicating with schools and restaurants, and making critical decisions.

But as children become young adults during high school,

the transition from managing to mentoring can feel uncertain.

How do we step back? By helping them step forward.

Joining us today is FAACT's Vice President of Medical Education,

Charity Luiscutty. She is a Physician's Assistant and she is here to share practical tips and insights for navigating this important stage of this journey.

Welcome back, Charity to FAACT's Roundtable Podcast. I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to have you here because you're such an incredible team member and you bring this really unique perspective from the medical side with your background professionally and then the parent side.

Charity: Yeah, thank you for having me, Caroline. I'm excited to be back on and and share with you what I've experienced over these years.

Caroline: It's just so helpful when we exchange with each other.

I find myself personally learning from other people all the time. So this is going to be a very valuable conversation for those who might be tuning in for the first time.

Can you please share your food allergy journey not only as a parent, but as a healthcare professional? Wearing those two hats,

you really bring something very unique and special to our community and especially to fact. I would just love to explore this with everybody.

Charity: I'm currently a Physician Assistant in pediatric allergy and immunology, and over the last couple of years I now specialize in treatment of food allergies because that's a new and expanding area that I find exciting and I feel I'm uniquely qualified to deal with the families because my own family, all of my children,

have gone through different treatments,

so that's been a nice area to specialize in. I'm a wife of a food allergic adult and a mom of three. Three children that all have multiple and different anaphylactic food allergies.

They range right now between 17 and 22.

We have dealt with all of the top nine plus more over the years.

They've outgrown many, but still deal with a lot.

I've counted up that we've completed over 50 oral food challenges over the years, some successful, some unsuccessful. But I feel that it's been good that we have worked through that list and we've learned a lot through all of those oral foods challenges.

The children have learned how quickly epinephrine works and how their body feels when they're having allergic reactions and such. So I'll pause there for a moment to say don't be afraid of doing oral food challenges.

They really help work through those lists of what are you still allergic to or what are you not allergic to and how to manage anaphylactic reactions and that type of thing to talk about what we're still currently managing my 22 almost 23 year old daughter, she's a college graduate about to enter the workforce.

She's traveled the world by herself,

spent a summer in Tanzania and managed that well. She currently manages peanut tree nut egg and sesame allergies.

My 20 year old son, he's a college athlete about to enter his senior year and he currently manages peanut tree nut egg and sunflower seed allergies.

And my 17 year old just graduated high school about to start college and he currently manages dairy,

egg, cashew and pistachio allergies. I have to stop and think about that for a moment to keep everyone straight.

We have gone through all different types of food allergy treatments with my children too.

So I have done oral immunotherapy, sublingual immunotherapy,

currently doing Xolair omalizumab with my one son.

So I have perspective on doing all of those treatments. As a parent,

some are still doing those treatments, some have stopped those treatments. So that's something we can talk about too during this podcast with teenagers. So I feel like I have a unique perspective on that as well.

As a parent and a provider,

I've led a local support group with our children's hospital for the last 10 years or so and have been involved with that for over 15 years.

Currently I'm FAACT's VP of Medical Education,

which I feel very honored to be in that position that began this year and I feel uniquely qualified when I was asked to do that and I'm Excited to be part of FAACT in that capacity.

Caroline: For one. Everybody at FAACT is so happy you're with us because you bring such a unique perspective and you have young people in your life right now. So you're still very close to those years where our guidance is still needed.

Which also makes you the perfect person for today's conversation. So thank you very much just for being here.

Okay. I can't help myself, but I have to comment on 50 food challenges.

That's crazy. That's impressive.

I swear, every food challenge that we went through, I thought for sure I popped some new gray hairs. So in theory I should be really white haired by now.

But dye does help that situation.

So now let's start with your own experience as a parent.

Looking back,

when did you realize it was time to begin handing over some of the responsibility for managing food allergies? And what did that transition actually look like during those high school years?

I have a feeling it's going to be very different because you have three children managing food allergies and so you probably have several very different perspectives.

Charity: That's a really good question.

And thinking about it,

like you mentioned, with three children,

I don't know that there is an exact moment,

but I think as a parent it's more of a gradual process.

If I have to put a finger on when is that moment that you have to really start transitioning,

it probably comes down to the moment where there's not a designated adult that you're handing off the child's medication to and saying you are the person designated to watch my child that has these life threatening food allergies.

And are you going to have, have your eyes on the entire time they are in your care and they're not going to be in anyone else's care until the moment I pick them up.

I think maybe that's the moment and maybe that's middle school time, high school time, that I think you really have to make that transition from you being in control to your child being in control of managing their own food allergies.

Because if there's not a designated adult,

they may be in the presence of adults,

but those adults may think that everyone else are watching all of the children.

You know, they may be in a group setting and there are people around that your child could go to if they're having an issue. But I feel like there's an age that children are around.

They, they have people they can go to, but maybe there's not a designated adult or those adults could change. Maybe the sports practice,

the Coaches change who are there, and they're at an age where they're not going to contact all the parents and say, coach Jim isn't going to be there tonight, it's Coach Fred or of things.

So when I think about it, I think there's an age, and that might be middle school or high school, where your child has to be at a point where you trust them to self carry,

self manage their allergic situation and self administer their medication. And maybe that's at the point where you're transitioning and handing over that responsibility to your child. And that has to be a gradual process.

So maybe at a certain point, when I think back when we'd go out to eat,

we'd have the kids start talking to the server about their food allergies or asking the questions of what might be safe for them.

Or if we were grocery shopping or bringing food home and they were asking if something was safe for them, we'd have them start reading the labels and taking that responsibility.

But really there came a point where we had to trust them and not all the specific adults that we would be hoping would be at a certain location or a certain place.

We had to trust each child that they were the ones that could properly manage their own situations and take that responsibility and use the medications if needed,

approach a trusted friend or a trusted adult that was there,

let them know what was happening.

And I think that's. That's the point that we knew that transition had to take and they would have to take on that responsibility.

Caroline: This is such a great perspective,

especially when you brought up that there's going to be multiple adults and not just one person in their lives.

I never thought of it that way, and I think that's so strong and also just so poignant.

But you also mentioned when you were ready to trust each child.

So was there anything you had to do within yourself that you said, you know what, I can trust them, or was it just a feeling?

It sounds like you were watching your child and observing them and you're also watching the world. There's not like a specific formula you followed, but maybe it sounds more like it was a feeling.

You're just watching them and you're seeing things?

Charity: Yes, I think it comes back to seeing how they handled themselves around food at home. Just in life in general, can they be trusted?

Are they trustworthy? Are they being responsible in the other things that you're asking them to be responsible in?

Are they remembering their medication when they're switching bags, going from their book bag to their sports bag? Are they remembering their medication every time they go out with their friends, Are they pushing back?

Are they fighting you?

Are they remembering to take safe snacks with them when they go somewhere in case there's not going to be food when they're hungry, are they asking the appropriate questions?

So I think it's all those things. You're right.

Is it a feeling. Are all kids going to be different ages? Yes, I think so. I think there's still an age when we are taking responsibility as parents to make those right connections and have those proper conversations with where the adults, where they're going to be.

But I also found as parents,

it was very frustrating because many times those situations would change or the adults that you thought might be there aren't going to be there.

Just one practical tip that comes to mind is when the kids would be at different athletic events or different situations, we would have little tags that say at the time it was epi.

I think the tags that are still available say epipens or EPI in here. But we'd put them on the outside of their sports bags just because if there's a lineup of 20 bags and there was to be a situation,

someone could identify what bag has medication in it. So we, we did things like that and, and the kids didn't fuss about that. And that was just part of being responsible and having food allergies and having medication with you.

So those are just some things that come to mind.

Caroline: These are brilliant tips and I really love how you look at it. I don't think any of us have thought of that, or I should say many of us have really thought of that.

And I really like your approach of this is just what we do.

And I think your children are watching what you're doing, that attitude and that behavior, and then they pick it up and they're incorporating it, how they go forward.

Can you give us a few examples of stepping back, including some successes or even some fails? And about fails, I often personally just call it your moment to pivot. So often I'll tell my kids, look, that just happened, but now how are you going to pivot?

Charity: Sure, I'll talk about this. There's a couple of things that come to mind. And the first thing that comes to mind is the kids may do things differently than I would do them, but that's part of stepping back.

And the first example would be how they're going to carry their medications. So in our house,

one non negotiable is you're going to carry your epinephrine and you're going to carry two devices and you get to choose how you're going to carry that. And that may be different than how I would carry that or the forms of epinephrine might be different than what I would carry.

So now we have choices. I have two that prefer the nasal spray form and how it has a little carry case.

I have one that still prefers the auto injectors that will fit into their pockets. They choose to carry them in different ways. So that's something that I let them do.

Do I care if they have anti histamines with them? I don't care because if they need epinephrine, they need epinephrine. And we say if you think epi use epi,

you know, that's just how we deal with it in our house, you know. So we have different ways that we deal with it. So the non negotiable is you're going to carry epinephrine, you're going to carry two auto injectors.

How you do that, I don't care, you know, keep it in your pocket. So that's something how I step back. I let them choose how to do that.

Just a tip for our listeners. I have them think about as well, how far are you going to be from medical care? Are you going to be in a remote place?

Are you going to be deep back in an amusement park or that type of thing? So we try to think about those things as well. Should you have extra medication in the car or where you're going to be and if so, should that be temperature controlled?

So we do talk about those things and I think that's going to play into as they get older, they're going to be traveling or doing other things, going to college and traveling.

Talk through those things while you have them with you. So our non negotiable is no matter where you go, you're going to have two on your body.

But also some of my children with reactions have had to have more than two doses of epinephrine just because of severe reactions.

And they understand that. And I think maybe that's why I don't get pushback. Maybe some people whose children haven't had reactions since they were babies may get pushback. So I don't take for granted that my children too take this very seriously.

So that's one way that I have stepped back is letting them choose how to carry their medication or what devices they're going to use.

Another way that I've stepped back is and how they may choose to do things differently is choosing how they're going to handle eating and social situations when they're younger. As a parent, you want to try to be helpful and help them feel included.

So you might find out what food is going to be in an event and try to make something similar or see what you can do to help them feel included and send food along and do all of those things.

And I just have realized as they get older,

they have feelings about those things and they're going to do things differently. And actually two of my kids would always just not want to bother. They wouldn't want to fuss, they wouldn't want to feel different.

So they would just eat before and they would eat after. And they wanted nothing to do with the food while they were somewhere. They didn't want to think about it, they just wanted to be there for the social situation, the social event.

They wanted to have fun and thinking about the food there would stress them out.

One of my other sons, he would want to know what was there, he'd want to take food, he'd want to be part of it, he might want to ask those questions.

So they handled things differently. Currently my 17 year old, he started wanting to eat out more.

For a while he would just get a soda and be fine with it. He's wanting to eat out more now and I'll say, well, don't you want to call the restaurant?

I always want to call ahead of time. I want to call when it's not busy. I want to look online. We've talked about this. We've done this for years.

I handle things a very particular way. He does not.

He says he would much rather speak with the people when he arrives, the manager and the server. And to him it does not, not make sense to call ahead of time.

He actually doesn't want to know ahead of time if he can eat or not. He'll find out when he gets there and he feels like, why call ahead of time if those people aren't there, it's not going to matter because he's going to have to do it all over again when he gets there.

And so to him that just makes sense. Just like find out when you get there and if you can eat, you can eat and if you can't, you can't. And so we've had this conversation and it just is what it is.

And so that's where maybe they handle things differently. And if you've taught them, then they're happy doing that and they'll do it different.

One other example that comes to mind is where I was trying to help my high schoolers take some stress off or do a little planning ahead of time. But it was a prom and in those types of situations, I might try to find out who the vendor is.

Our children's prom, all of the high schoolers can go, and I would try to find out who the vendor is and maybe find out about the food. They'd have dinner there.

And there was one that two of my children were going to. It was going to be a dinner cruise on the river.

Thought I had figured out food for them and what might be safe so they could have a great night with their friends and be included. And the day of the event,

the event coordinator contacted me that the vendor, the food vendor had changed.

So we were quick trying to figure out what food might be safe, who the new vendor is. And I was doing all I could to try to control the situation and make it as pleasant as possible for my children.

But I also knew that this might not work out. So I prepared them and I told them, you're going to have to confirm on the ship that this is the proper food.

And tried to do everything I could. They got on that night and I guess it was a hot mess and they just knew that this was not right. They had a bad feeling about it.

And I was at home just thinking this was going to be the worst night ever, that they weren't included. And because part of it was a sit down dinner, not a buffet.

You know, here they are just sitting there, no food, and just at home thinking this is the worst night. They got home later that night and I asked them how it was and they just said it was the best night ever, that they had the most fun with their friends.

It was one of the best proms. Like they danced the night away with their friends.

And here, just as a parent, you know, you're sitting outside of the situation and you just don't know what the situation is going to be. And the focus was not the food.

The focus was the social event. The focus was the friends. The focus was being there on this boat,

you know, having a great time. So I think, you know, even in that situation, I was trying to control, I was trying to do all that I could. And in the end they did not care and they, they did get on and they could have asked those questions.

So maybe that was earlier on as well. And I think I was learning too and trying to be helpful. But we can't control all of these situations. And I think sometimes we Just have to trust,

trust our kids and trust the process.

Caroline: That is the perfect example of stepping back,

where they kind of gently had you step back in a way that brought lessons with it.

Such a good example.

Continuing on that theme of stepping back,

you had mentioned earlier that some of the children did treatment. So let's talk more about that.

That's actually a conversation that's happening right now in my household. So I'm personally very curious about this.

Let's explore that stepping back when we're looking at treatments,

because at the end of the day, these young adults have to carry this into adulthood because we are not going to be there.

Charity: So, Caroline, you understand too, as a parent of young adults,

back in the day, we had no options for treatments for food allergies. It was, here's your diagnosis,

here's your epinephrine, avoid the food,

do the best job you can.

And that's where we were.

And over the last five years, in 2020, there was an FDA approved treatment for peanut allergy. And that kind of opened the door for more mainstream treatment of food allergies with oral immunotherapy.

Now we have sublingual immunotherapy.

Omalizumab or Xolair was recently approved to help prevent or lessen the risk of having a severe reaction if you were exposed to your food allergens. So now we have options.

We know that we're really working hard to prevent food allergies for young children. But for these kids that are high schoolers, young, young adults,

now we have options that we can talk about.

And I think as parents,

some of us are really excited about this. I know in 2020, when our local practice started offering Palforzia and some of the other treatments, I was literally the first in line.

I was knocking down their door, begging for these treatments for my kids.

And at first it was just for peanut allergy. My two older were peanut allergic.

And so I was literally the first there for the treatment. So my son was on board. My daughter, who was a senior or about to be a senior in high school, she was not as excited about it.

She had other food allergies,

but she was almost 17 at the time. And I had told her, I said, this is your only chance to do this, because at the time it was only approved up to 17.

I said, if we don't do this now, you're not going to have the opportunity to do it. I didn't think we'd have the opportunity.

So, for instance, my daughter did oral immunotherapy with Palforzia to peanut. Did great. Didn't have any issues whatsoever. No even mild side effects.

No issues.

It was during COVID time. So it didn't affect activities because there really weren't activities.

Sailed through it, went off to college, stopped it immediately when she went to college because she said, why would I bother to do this maintenance when I still have to avoid other foods and I'm a happy avoider.

So she just immediately stopped it. And we knew that might be the case. And when we started it with her, we had told her, you can stop it at any point, you know, if you're having issues, if you don't want to do this, you could stop it.

But we just wanted to pursue it at that time. And she was happy to pursue it.

But here in my head I think, you know, we have this way to treat this food allergy, you know, take one off your list. And I just thought it was the greatest thing in the whole world that I could provide this for her.

And she just stopped right away. And if she had been in the middle of all of her activities and it wasn't Covid time, it would have been even harder for my son.

When he did it,

he was fine doing it. He didn't think it was anything at all. He didn't care about the maintenance. He thought it was no trouble at all. And I'm praising him for doing it and he's acting like I'm crazy for praising him for doing it and he's acting like it's just no issue whatsoever.

My youngest, who was milk egg and tree nut allergic, I was trying to talk him into doing it for milk because I thought that would change his life and he wants nothing to do with it, seeing his brother and sister going through.

So we had all of these battles.

So my middle, who was also egg allergic, realized about a year before he was to go off to college, this is nothing to me. This is no effort, no issue.

I wonder if I could do this to egg so I could eat things with egg in it when I go off to college so I don't have to worry about breads and pastas and baked goods.

So we ended up getting him in and we raced to do oral immunotherapy to eggs.

He had no issues whatsoever.

He's free eating egg now, thinks it's the greatest thing in the whole world because he's a 20 year old boy who now can eat,

not worry about that, and again, still thinks it's no issue whatsoever that he went through that, that he now doesn't have to worry about peanuts.

He actually thankfully doesn't have to worry about trace amount of tree nuts. All of his levels had kind of dropped, but to him it's no issue. My younger son tried to do oral immunother to milk and struggled because of asthma issues.

So he was just feeling very deflated.

So we switched him to sublingual immunotherapy, which is drops under the tongue that you hold for two minutes. It's less cumbersome of a treatment than oral immunotherapy and that has worked well for him.

So he found that to be less of a cumbersome treatment than oral immunotherapy. So he was an oral immunotherapy dropout, happily. So he just said, I want nothing to do with this.

He was struggling through it. So he's been doing sublingual immunotherapy just to help protect him from trace amounts of milk and egg. And that changed his life though because now he feels like he's the one that wants to just speak to people at the restaurants.

That actually changed his life because he actually really struggled with eating out with the dairy and egg allergy that was extremely severe because of cross contact issues.

So now he actually can eat out with his friends and just ask about the dairy or eggs. So that actually changed his life for the better as he's approaching going off to college.

When Xolair was approved,

I approached my kids because I thought, this is amazing. I just thought they'd all want to be on it.

Not one of them wanted to be on it.

And here I was thinking this is fantastic news. No, not one of them. So I didn't push it again.

This is one thing I think is an important conversation with high schoolers too when we talk about stepping back again. I kind of learned my lesson with these treatments. My middle, I'm glad I presented it.

And my youngest, my daughter, she's a happy avoider. But I think stepping back, stepping back,

talking about these treatments that are available and as a provider I see especially the younger kids,

I think it's great. You have great successes with my middle, who was a high schooler going into college, it's a great success. It's changed his life.

My youngest about to go off to college, it's literally changed his life. So these things are life changing. But I think as a parent we have to step back and the teenagers really have to be invested in this.

If they're not invested, it's not going to work. But I think as Parents learn about the treatments,

learn about what's really involved in it, present it to the kids, but they have to be invested in this as well. They're not all easy treatments. But again with the Xolair, I presented it to all my kids.

No one wanted anything to do with it. But my youngest, Now Caroline, he's 17.

Our church group was going to. His church youth group was going to El Salvador this summer,

and he wanted to go. This was this last year. And so we felt with the protection of the slit, parents had the opportunity to go as well. I was going to go with him.

So we felt comfortable with it. We asked some questions. He actually was willing to pack all of his own food.

Protein bars, granola bars, chomp sticks. We had a backup plan.

He was ready to go.

So we decided we'd go this summer in March.

We actually had the idea of, why don't we look into the.

See if Zoller was an option just to have that extra layer of protection to go to El Salvador. He was willing to do that. So because he was willing to do that with the thought of, I'll do it for the summer,

maybe short term, maybe long term, to see what it's like for that extra layer of protection while I'm in El Salvador, we went ahead and pursued it, and it was approved.

He got on it.

Not a big deal at all. He realized this is not a big deal at all to have this extra layer of protection while I'm going to travel internationally. I felt a lot better about it.

I was still to go on the trip with him, and I ended up having an injury, a knee injury that I had to have immediate surgery for.

Lo and behold, I was unable to go on that trip with him this summer. He still felt comfortable going on that trip, having that extra layer of protection,

which I was so thankful about. So I was glad that we looked into that option.

We pursued that option. He had that extra layer of protection.

It ended up that the organization he was going with,

campus connections that they had down there, felt comfortable cooking for him. I don't know how comfortable we would have felt with that, with all of these layers of protection of the slit, with the Xolair, but he felt comfortable with that,

and it was a great success.

Different steps that we took along the way while he was in high school as well. Traveling with him, flying with him,

him watching how we handled things on the plane. This is how we wipe things down. This is how we. We don't accept food on the plane. This is how we eat Our own food on the plane for our own family.

We buy drinks in the airport. Does it cost $6 for a bottle of soda or water?

Yes, but that is just something that we do. We only eat or drink things that we bring on the plane. But he's seen all of these things over the years.

So as a 17 year old, he felt comfortable doing all of these things to get himself to El Salvador with a group of people that we know and back home.

But those were just extra layers of protection and a way that we had to pivot. Did I have to trust that he knew what he was doing and he would ask the appropriate questions while he was gone, handle a situation if he needed to and get back safely?

Yes, but those were. Those were things that we did and steps that we took.

Caroline: What a fantastic story.

I mean, it showed how you were actually forced to step back,

but how certain things worked and then certain things didn't work.

And I really like how you honored each child and what works for them.

And then when things didn't work out, well, that was fine too. Your attitude was like, hey, you know what? Now we know it doesn't work.

But wow, what a powerful story.

And I just love how you talk to each child and they're all treated uniquely as they are.

Because sometimes I think it's very easy for us to lump our kids together,

especially when we're trying to manage a health condition.

Charity: It is definitely not one size fits all.

Caroline: That is so true.

And those are exactly the conversations we're having in our household right now about treatments where each of my children are on absolutely polar opposite ends of the conversation,

which, again, as a parent, even though mine are in their 20s now, are still learning how to step back.

Because I just want to jump in and say, well, you know what? This would be so good for you, because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm really trying to just not do that.

They need to own it, because if they don't, they won't continue it and it won't be successful.

Charity: We. We feel like we know it.

Caroline: All right.

So true.

Right. I feel like with all this age and gray hair, surely I'm bringing something to the table. Right.

But they are the ones living with it, right?

Charity: Yes. Yeah. And that reminds me, too, that my daughter, who has just decided at the moment, and maybe she'll always do this, that she is just a happy avoider. We had this conversation when she was about to go off to college that she does not feel that she has a disability.

She's grown up with this her whole life, this is all she knows. She knows how to manage it well. And I think as parents, we know different because that's not what we have lived with and this is what they've lived with and this is their own experience and I think we have to honor that.

Caroline: Very true. And I love how you call her the Happy Avoider. That's really fun.

I mean, if that's where they are,

I agree with this.

Our time together just went so fast.

You're just sharing really important real life examples and ways of how you step back and how things worked and didn't work.

So before we say goodbye today, is there anything else you want our listeners to hear from you?

Charity: The one thing I would say is if you deal with your own anxiety, don't let that keep you from allowing your children to take ownership of managing all aspects of their daily lives with food allergies while you are there to help them learn how to manage those things and deal with all of the different aspects.

If not, you have lost that opportunity and you have a privilege right now.

So if they're wanting to dine out, if they're wanting to travel, if they're wanting to manage their own things,

help them learn to navigate that.

Don't let your own apprehension or anxiety keep them from doing those things that they want to do.

So I always tried, if my kids wanted to do something or had an idea to figure out how to make that happen, if it was at all reasonable so I could learn with them.

How are we going to safely navigate that?

If not, I just feel that you missed that opportunity. That's the one thing I would think of helping them learn how to.

How are you going to safely carry? How are you going to safely navigate the situation? How are you going to potentially safely go to camp? So that's the one thing I would think of as I see as a practitioner and a fellow parent, sometimes I think we let our own anxiety get in the way.

Caroline: That is the truth.

So thank you for sharing your wisdom in just these last couple of minutes and throughout the entire podcast. Actually,

we thank you so much for your time. You are very busy and of course, thank you for being on the Fact team. But most of all, thank you just for being so honest and authentic and sharing what works and what didn't work.

Hopefully people will walk away with new ideas and just maybe a few new approaches and feeling very refreshed and confident.

Charity: Thank you for having me.

Caroline: Before we say goodbye today, I just want to say thank you one more time to ARS Pharma for their kind sponsorship of FAACT's Roundtable Podcast.

Caroline: Thank you for listening to FAACT's Roundtable Podcast.

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Have a great, great day and always be kind to one another.