The Parent's Playbook: Practical Resources for Raising Thriving Kids

Chapters

• 00:32  Introduction: From Corporate to Calling

• 04:10  The Mission of Operation Parent

• 07:02  Resources for Parents: Handbooks and Webinars

• 11:14  Community Outreach and Impact

• 24:15  Navigating the Digital Age and Mental Health

• 30:30  Leadership, Mentorship, and Looking Forward

• 32:28  Conclusion

Introduction: From Corporate to Calling

Todd Schmiedeler: Welcome back. Thanks so much for coming back to see us again. I am happy to welcome my new guest Darrell Bramer who is the executive director for Operation Parent. I am excited that Darrell's here today. Thanks Darrell for coming.

Darrell Bramer: Thanks for having me.

Todd Schmiedeler:  I know that your background is diverse. You started your career in the for-profit world and you made the jump to the nonprofit world relatively recently, at least from a professional standpoint. Can you give us an idea about your background and how it is that you ended up at Operation Parent?

Darrell Bramer:  Sure. So, it's kind of a long story actually. I had 32 years in corporate America, and loved it. I had a lot of great business learnings from that and was in leadership in the IT tech space. The last few years of that, I just honestly felt God calling me to something else.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  There was just this urge and I just wasn't happy where I was. Then about two years ago, two and a half years ago, I left that that space. Actually, it left me. They said, "Hey, you've been around long enough. We loved you." And it was, no hard feelings. It was great that, they supported my family all the way through college and my three adult children who were thriving. But during that time, in my professional career, I also had my passion. I had my professional background, my passion background. Honestly, that passion background was a desire to help families and kids, so I've been in children's ministry for 20 plus years.

Darrell Bramer:  Family ministry, men's ministry, and so when that happened, 32 years, people were asking me, "Hey, Darrell, are you going to retire?"

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah. Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  And I'm like, "Man, I'm not retiring. I'm rewiring."

Todd Schmiedeler:  Oh, wow. I like that.

Darrell Bramer:  And I didn't know what I was going to do. I had no idea. So I was at an event and someone came up to me and says, "Are you retiring?" And I'm saying, "No, I'm rewiring." "What do you want to do?" I said, "You know, I just want to do something that's fulfilling, has a purpose." They knew my background in kids ministry and men's ministry and they're like, you know, we may have something for you. This happened to be a person who worked at Operation Parent.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Oh, wow. Okay.

Darrell Bramer:  Those conversations continued to happen. A few months later, that's how it came to be. So my passion for families and to see kids thrive. You know, I saw it in children's ministry where kids were coming through those doors. I saw families who seem to be put together, but they still had their problems. I’d seen families who were broken apart and they still had their problems. So, no matter if you're a family that you think you have it all together, there's things coming at your kids. And that's why we exist with Operation Parent. When that opportunity came together, man, it's been a sweet spot ever since.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Well, that sounds like a blessing. I love the rewiring. And you know, here lately, I've come to realize that the only people who really retire are the people that don't like what they're doing.

Todd Schmiedeler:  If you're passionate about what you're doing, it doesn't feel like the same way that I grew up, like how work was supposed to feel, which it wasn't ever supposed to feel that way. Passion and purpose can give any job meaning.  You don't want to retire if you have meaning and purpose behind it.

The Mission of Operation Parent

Todd Schmiedeler:  

Tell us a little bit about Operation Parent. I know that it does a lot. I happen to know you have deliverable things that make an impact on your mission, things like handbooks and you do webinars and you have digital content. You also have events that you package together. Tell us about the mission around Operation Parent and then how you deliver that out to people.

Darrell Bramer:  Okay. Yeah, sure. Our mission is really to empower parents to have these casual courageous conversations with their kids. Like what's a casual courageous conversation?

Todd Schmiedeler:  Well, that might be every conversation depending on where the kid is.

Darrell Bramer:  That's true. When I was a kid and even with my kids, I had that one 60-minute conversation. We had the family meetings.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Oh, yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  We were trying to reverse that and have those 61 minute conversations and just to have those, there's a lot of topics out there, a lot of things hitting kids today.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah. Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  Whether that's technology or alcohol, substance misuse, emotional, mental health, risky behaviors, all those things are coming at our kids. And the more engaged parents are at the beginning (and we're in the prevention space, right?); so, we're trying to get in front of these things. It's never too late, even when you're in the midst of it.  But we're trying to get in front of those and allow parents to give them the resources to have those conversations with their kids. That's the crux of it; to be able to engage parents, empower parents, equip them, and then call them to action.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Right. I mean, exactly.

Darrell Bramer:  I heard a saying the other day, you can't lean on a shovel and pray for a hole. You got to use the tools you're given and actually do it, right? I thought that was a great comment and I use it because it reminds myself even of I got to take action.  And you know, parenting is the hardest but the most rewarding thing and you know it yourself with your crew, right?

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah. Having 10 kids from different situations in our family and from different backgrounds, I can attest to those casual needed conversations. But I will say when I first started being a parent, it was more of a come to Jesus kind of conversation than it was an actual conversation of I don't even want to call it prevention, but it was awareness and conversations that I should be having earlier. I just didn't know how to do.  Fortunately, having been a parent for a long enough period of time, I started to understand that I needed to have those casual conversations.

One of the things I love about Operation Parent is that they put things in context that are actually deliverable.  It's real and yet it's researched.

Darrell Bramer:  Yeah.

Resources for Parents: Handbooks and Webinars

Todd Schmiedeler:  Tell us a little bit about how you get that information, how you distribute that information so that a parent might be able to do some prevention work or if they're in a crisis, what kind of delivery are you also providing?

Darrell Bramer:  So, I think that that that goes back to where we started.  We are just concerned parents and we started back with the founder, Jean Shum, having issues with their own kids, right? And she's like, when they got through those issues and made some tough decisions and hard conversations.  Other parents have got to be going through this. That's the whole crux, the whole mantra behind what we do.  We want to make it very relevant but to your point, we have it researched. We have somebody focused on evidence-based research and letting parents know “Hey do you know that this percentage of kids are vaping?   This percentage of kids see pornographic messages or ads or things like that.

It's just making them aware first and foremost, but then in our handbooks, we give them that information. Here's what to know and then here's what to do with it. How do you have those conversations with your kids? We give them tips and tricks and just conversation starters to have with the kids. Then, we have one of the, I think, most widely known resources of Operation Parent, our webinars.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Okay.

Darrell Bramer:  We have free monthly webinars that we bring in experts from across the country and these experts on variety of topics, whether that is alcohol, mental health; we just had one on childhood trauma.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Oh wow.

Darrell Bramer:  One on How Do You Launch Your Kids Successfully off to School?  Those types of conversations, what parents hear it's just real and we make it where it's not like we're just talking at you. It's like we're talking with you.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  Just making it very readable, very consumable. With our handbooks, we hear so much great feedback on our handbooks because they are so appealing to look at. For one, they're not overwhelming.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  It’s kind of that one-stop shop of where you have all these topics that doesn't go into great detail, but we have links off to our webinars and our different things to be able to go into more detail.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Well, when I first saw your handbook and you told me about the handbook I was honestly expecting I think more like, I hate to say this, but a low-quality kind of brochure that was souped up. Okay. To see the quality and the depth and the evidence-based stuff, but yet digestible. I love because I say something similar about being a parent. It's kind of appropriate. When you said the word when you're communicating with parents, it's not at them.

Darrell Bramer:  Right.

Todd Schmiedeler:  It's with them. I like to say that the type of parent that I became was to talk with my kids, not at them or even to them.

Darrell Bramer:  I became, right?  It's a journey.

Todd Schmiedeler:  I became, it was a journey, and honestly, I failed pretty miserably for about 14 years.

Darrell Bramer:  As every parent has.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yes. And I think that the collection, the uniqueness of what you bring is that you create communities where people don't always want to openly talk about what they, as a parent, I have, and I think others have felt, like we were failing.  You don't always want everybody to know your failure. You don't get the community help that you really could have because of that. But you create these communities and this ability to have a conversation, when they're engaging you, but also, with others who might have already dealt with that. Talk to me about how you get your messages out about your partners in the communities, where you're putting your energies so that you can reach parents.

Community Outreach and Impact

Darrell Bramer:  So there are 32 million families out there with kids 18 and under.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Wow.

Darrell Bramer:  That's across the nation, right?

Todd Schmiedeler:  I didn't realize that. Okay. All right. 32 million.

Darrell Bramer:  And so we have distributed just this past month over 500 or half a million handbooks across the nation.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Half a million.

Darrell Bramer:  Thank God. Praise God for all that. I mean we're following his lead.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Right.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Half a million? I've got friends who've written books.  A couple that are frankly bestsellers.

Darrell Bramer:  Yeah.

Todd Schmiedeler:  If they were distributing half a million books, they'd be on the bestseller list.

Darrell Bramer:  This is over the course of our lifetime.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah, that's okay. It's still a book that you're providing. That's amazing.

Darrell Bramer:  But we see the importance of that. We go to as many conferences as we can. There's a lot of prevention conferences out there. We're getting ready to go to the pediatric conference in Denver here in a couple weeks. We're trying to see how can we reach parents the best way we can, right? We work closely with drug-free coalitions.  Drug-free coalitions are partners with us that are across the nation made up of different community groups and they help us distribute our handbooks. They'll go and get a  group of handbooks and have a community event or have a movie night.  

We're based out of LaGrange, Kentucky. How do you get national with that? It's not just about getting national. It's how do you impact more parents, right? That's why we've partnered with our drug-free coalitions. Drug-free coalitions are great and they're a great partner. So, who else can we impact or can we reach and that is pediatricians.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Oh, absolutely. That's brilliant. They're directly involved.  

Darrell Bramer:  No kid’s going to the pediatrician without their parent. We're very involved in schools. We're working closely with local schools as well as schools across the nation.

Churches, I've had some great conversations. We have three handbooks in English, Spanish, and Christian and faith-based versions. We have one for middle and high school parents and one for elementary parents.  I see an uptick in this because I believe a lot of churches are really understanding and needing to invest in the next generation. How do you do that?

You help them thrive. I think our conversations with churches here recently has been very encouraging. How are we going to reach those 32 million families?

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  We're just trying anything and everything. Sometimes we'll fail. We just keep moving forward. We fail fast and go to the next thing. That's our goal, just try to hit those parents and many more.

Todd Schmiedeler:  I suspect you know that people are like me.  When somebody gave me a book about being a first time parent.  It was one of those hey you're about to be a parent here's what you need to know about having a baby.  I can only imagine those half a million books that you distributed have actually been passed from a parent to another parent.

Darrell Bramer:  We hope they are.

Todd Schmiedeler:  There's depth that goes beyond just the sheer magnitude of the half a million, which is an amazing number. I now see why it's so important. When you said that,  you're probably leading deliverable is actually webinars, I can see how the books connect to the webinars and the webinars give you a little more depth on things and insights and you can actually share those, with other people as well. There also is some collective learning.

Darrell Bramer:  Yeah.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Tell me about the church and pediatrician side of that. When you're reaching out to them, how do how do you reach I mean there's got to be thousands of pediatricians and tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of churches. How do you reach out to them so that they can reach parents?

Darrell Bramer:  I think it's really just finding the right path.  I think you start local and then as you create your local footprint then you try to replicate that and you go further and further, but I think first is just talking to as many local pediatricians as you can, talking to as many local pastors and priests as you can. I've had those conversations and just really explaining to them. I was actually talking to a pastor a couple weeks ago and the word sextortion he had never heard of before. And that is when, unfortunately you have these situations where kids are sending pictures back and forth. They think to their friends, which is wrong anyway, it's actually a predator and that person is extorting them. They say, "If you don't pay me this amount of money, well… just making them aware."

Todd Schmiedeler:  Wow!

Darrell Bramer:  And that's the biggest thing; we hear a lot of wows. I've never heard of that before.

Todd Schmiedeler:  I actually hadn't heard of that.

Darrell Bramer:  I was talking to a gentleman last night at the event we were at and it was just about the same type thing and it's just the passion that we have around this shows.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  I think that's why leaders in the church are starting to listen. We have we have some local pediatricians that we're working with that are really behind us. They're on our Board. They're really helping us push this forward.

Todd Schmiedeler:  So you got me on this sextortion. Is that what you called it? Because as you may or may not know, we have seven girls and three boys. But I guess I am patriarchal in nature and I worry more about my girls than my boys and that's probably not real.

Darrell Bramer:  I got two girls and a boy, my poor son.

Todd Schmiedeler:  The thought of that happening to one of my girls is very difficult for me emotionally, frankly, you know. I would think that parents who are getting your resource could also be the catalyst and resource to sharing your mission within those pediatrician offices, the churches, the schools and that sort of thing. Does that happen very often? If I were a parent that wanted to share your message with the school or a pediatrician's office or a church, how would I go about engaging you and helping me do that?

Darrell Bramer:  We're right here in Oldham County and you can stop by the office.  You can call us at the office or our website operationparent.org will give you ability to contact us as well.  We do have some great ambassadors that are not part of Operation Parent as far as employees.  We're a small shop, eight employee so we have a lot of parents that are out there who would say oh yes we love Operation Parent and I think that's why we are so successful in some of the school systems because parents have taken these to the administrations of these schools and say have you heard of this? Have you been around Operation Parent at all? That's helped us engage and get into the school systems.

Todd Schmiedeler:  So if it's a school or a drug-free coalition or a church, what's the economics around Operation Parent? You've got small staff of eight. You've distributed a half a million of these books, needless to say, how many webinars and all these other things that you do. What's the economics of how you run Operation Parent?

Darrell Bramer:  Yeah. So, it's tough. I mean, nonprofit world as we all know, can be tough. We rely highly upon donations. That's individual, corporate. We do fundraising. Today is a big fundraiser for us, online fundraiser.  So, we're working with great partners in helping us get grants not just locally here, but across the nation. I think that helps get our brand out there as well. So, that's one side of it.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Okay.

Darrell Bramer:  The other side of it is what we call our DFCs and we have community advocates that go out there and work with these different communities. Our handbooks for the middle and high school parent, we sell those for $14.99.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Okay.

Darrell Bramer:  And we sell the elementary for $9.99. It's a smaller book. We have bulk pricing because a lot of these people, a lot of these DFCs and groups buy in bulk.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  So that helps us to cover our operating expenses. The grants, help us. We're getting ready to launch a new website; we got a grant for that.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  Getting ready to go into a digital online community. We used to get parents around the table. It's harder and harder to do that, but I think people love to have that community still, and that's what they need as a community. If they're in a community talking about the same cause and the same issues, then it's even more relevant. I think that's important.  So we use that grant money and any extra money we can get the more we print.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Well, there's cost to print. I was just thinking that when you said it's $14, I've seen your books and the quality of the books and again not a souped-up brochure kind of looking thing. It looks like a real high quality book that also conveys a level of trust as a parent that this is, evidence-based research, real advice. That costs money.

I hate to say it, printing of a nice book costs money. That $14.99 or the $9.99 really isn't $14.99 or $9.99 to you. That helps offset staff cost because you've got the base cost in there. You're running a real business, and that's a funny thing that I tell people is they think nonprofit is different than for-profit on how to run a business. And I always say the only difference in running those two businesses really is that you've got a tax difference and you've also got that you're no matter what happens to you. No person is going to individually benefit from that company. The community benefits from that company. That's the biggest difference between a for-profit and nonprofit. It isn't actually the running of the business.

Darrell Bramer:  Right.

Todd Schmiedeler:  The running of the business is the same.  I guess, understanding that, how much are you leaning in on digital content where you might be able to reduce some of your overhead cost on print? I know that there's still a dire need for print because people like to put their fingers on things, especially parents. Are you leaning in and is there any shift over the last couple years that you've had to adapt to with the changes in technology and that sort of stuff?

Darrell Bramer:  We have a a digital version of these books as well.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Like a Kindle? Like an eBook?

Darrell Bramer:  It's an eBook but not on Kindle at this point. I think people look at our books and not read it front to back but it's more of if I'm facing an issue, here let's go look at the alcohol or the substance misuse or risk behaviors, dating violence or… They're jumping around.

Todd Schmiedeler:  So it’s targeted for the need that they're dealing with in the moment. They can understand everything globally, but really they're probably in need of a conversation that's more specific and so they can hone in on that.

Darrell Bramer:  We’ve also upgraded our website to have more individuals when you're searching for parent advice. We're hoping to be at the top of that list. People, parents do come and see us. We see a lot of individual parents if they do want to purchase, they'll get the digital book a lot of times.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Okay.

Darrell Bramer:  When you're at a conference or when you're at a community event, you want to be able to tangibly hand somebody something.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  Honestly, a lot of parents put that on their coffee table at home, put that on their table, and kids see it, too. There's a lot of conversation starters in that way. I'm thinking being a tech guy, hey man the digital is, but I can tell you the print request and having that book in hand is high and parents love that.

Navigating the Digital Age and Mental Health

Todd Schmiedeler:  So, how long have you been at Operation Parent now?

Darrell Bramer:  About a year, almost a year and a half now.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Okay, so about 18 months of experience not to mention your 20 plus years experience in doing kids ministry and stuff. I read more and more about mental health, and I think that there are a lot of parents dealing with mental health with their kids. I don't ever remember using the word depression growing up.

Darrell Bramer:  Right?

Todd Schmiedeler:  Outside of we faced a depression in the country, okay?  But now I hear it constantly and my kids know the term and know kind of the recognition of it.

Do you have any advice, for a parent around mental health and the mental health of kids? Do you all focus on that? Is that one of the areas of focus that you all get some expertise in that sort of stuff? I know you're not an expert in that, but I just think the magnitude of that has grown over the last decade to a point that I think it's important enough for parents to know that there's some place where they can have a conversation.

Darrell Bramer:  Absolutely. We absolutely see a rise in mental health issues and emotional well-being. I think what we're seeing, and we all have our phones on us, right? And we see that and unfortunately they are great devices. They're great, but there's so much and there's a time and a place for those.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yep.

Darrell Bramer:  People ask me when should I get my kid a phone? Well, you're the parent and you know that better than I do, when it comes to making that decision there. These phones are open, right? You can put as many precautions, safeguards on it, but there's always ways around that.

I was in an airport not too long ago and I looked around and from 2 to 92, I'd say 98% of the people were looking at some type of digital device.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  To the point of mental health, I think we as humans, as a child of God, we are meant for community. We are not meant to be alone. And those devices, while we are able to communicate on those, that's not true community. So, my advice as a dad, as a grandpa now of six and soon to be seven kids or grandkids, I'd say the phones are not evil, right?

Todd Schmiedeler:  They're a tool.

Darrell Bramer:  But you put them down and have that play time. Have that outside time. Have that family time. Digital free zones. There's the boxes that you just put your phones in at dinner, at whatever time. You’ve got to balance that. Every parent knows what's best for their kids. That would be my biggest advice, to have more family time, have more community time, put that device down and talk often. Don't let the topics of pornography or sex or drugs or alcohol be taboo, right?  

It should just be casual conversations.  If I could have that with my child, then they're going to come to me first. Parents are the biggest influencers in a child's life. What that influence looks like is up to the parent.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah. And I think over the years, even myself at times, I've been afraid to have the conversation for lack of knowledge and lack of confidence, really. I deferred my influence with my kids to their peers which I am very confident they had less knowledge and experience and confidence than I did, but I deferred it and that's an important thing that that I had to learn as a parent.

Darrell Bramer:  You know that's why we say casual courageous, because it takes you know the parent. The parent's not going to be fully confident but that's why we're here, to try to help them gain that confidence so they can have those conversations, those courageous conversations.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Well, one of my favorite books right now is a book by Dan Sullivan. It's a small book and it's called the Four C's Formula and it talks about these four C's of being able to develop new capabilities.

The four C's in order are you have to 1) make a commitment then you have to 2) have the courage because you don't have 3) the capability yet and I always think about myself riding a bike. My older brother and all my friends, I was the youngest in my neighborhood. They were all riding bikes, doing wheelies and jumping ramps and things and I really wanted to do that. But I also saw them fall and I saw, you know, breaking an arm. I made the commitment.  Yes, I want to ride bikes like them. I had to get to a point where I had courage enough to get on that bike because I knew I was going to fall.

Darrell Bramer:  Yeah.

Todd Schmiedeler:  That first bike ride, I don't know about you, but my mom had to help me. I remember that and I had to have this huge courage. But from that courage, the more commitment that I made up front on things, the shorter the time period and the need for that courage because I was all in. From that point, I learned that capability. I could ride my bike, and the more I rode my bike and exercised that capability, then I became 4) confident enough that I started doing wheelies and I started jumping the ramps and I wasn't the one left behind anymore. And I think that way about my parenting.

Darrell Bramer:  Yeah.

Todd Schmiedeler:  I had to really make a commitment to beyond me; beyond my kids. I had to become a better parent and seek out people and resources like Operation Parent that could help me become a better parent even though it was really scary at times.

Darrell Bramer:  Not a perfect parent, but a parent who's engaged, who's trying, who's focused on their kids' well-being, to better yourself so you can better them, right?

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yes.

Darrell Bramer:  I think that's what parents do a lot of times. They beat themselves up because they're not perfect. We're not perfect. We're just called to be engaged with them. We're a work in progress just like everybody else, right? That's what we want to give, that hope.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah.

Darrell Bramer:  Not the come on parent.  It’s more of the hope and help them get engaged.

Leadership, Mentorship, and Looking Forward

Todd Schmiedeler:  I think parenting is a little like leadership. I usually end these conversations by asking a simple question. I think that most of us develop our leadership skills in part because of another leader or mentor who led us. Can you site a mentor or leader who made a big difference in your life and how they did that?

Darrell Bramer:  Well, the first name that popped into my head was my dad.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Darrell Bramer:  Just the hard work ethic.

Todd Schmiedeler:  How apropos with it being Operation Parent that it was your dad who did that.

Darrell Bramer:  Yes. Later in life as my dad passed, one of the mentors that I had was a gentleman by the name of Greg Lane. He was my leader at Humana.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Okay.

Darrell Bramer:  A Christ follower. He really helped me put things into perspective over time. He was always pouring wisdom into me, always having the time for me and making the time for me. I didn't require a lot of time, but he may tell you different.  He was always there with a smiling happy face and wise counsel. Biblical-based counsel.

That helped keep me grounded. The last few years at my job, it just wasn't there, you know? I wasn't feeling it. I felt that because he had left and retired and moved down to Florida. We still kept in contact, but I lost that a little bit.

As I've gone into this new rewiring phase, I've worked with some friends of yours that have mentored me through this nonprofit world, guiding me, helping me navigate the complexities of this, but it's just been for me. I look for somebody who's faith focused, family focused, and somebody who is willing to pour into me. I have a few of those guys, different guys now.

Conclusion

Todd Schmiedeler:  That's great. Well, let's wrap this show up. Remind everybody how they can learn more about Operation Parent.

Darrell Bramer:  It’s www.operationparent.org, not .com. We have a new website coming out in just a couple weeks. So, if you want to wait a couple weeks, you can do that too. But go look at us now. Check us out then. The information is on there about how to contact us. Again, my name is Darrell Bramer and we'd love to hear from you. We'd love your feedback. Just come check us out.

Todd Schmiedeler:  Well, that information will be in the notes below. So if too that was quick and you want to get some more information, it'll be easy for you. It’s in the show notes, below.  You'll be able to just click on it, making it really simple for you.

Thank you, Darrell, as always. I appreciate you always, brother, for being here and sharing that. I could tell you from firsthand experience, Operation Parent is good information. I wish I would have had it earlier in my parenting, but I'm thankful for it now because I still have topics that I'm learning from it even after, 30 getting ready to be 35 years, as a parent for me. It's still important and it's also important for me to be able to share with my kids, as I've got four grandkids now, and to be able to show them a tool so that they could be the parent they want to be.

So, thank you so much for joining us again this time. I appreciate it so much. I look forward to seeing you again. In two weeks, we'll have a new guest on and we'll be able to chat again about leadership, about making a difference, and how nonprofits and long-term care organizations truly can make a difference in the lives of people every day that’s impactful. So, thanks again. See you in two weeks.

To Learn More about Operation Parent:

Website:   www.OperationParent.org

Phone:   (502) 265-9045

Email: info@operationparent.org

Hey, thanks for joining us on the Blueprint Strategy Podcast. We hope today's conversation sparked new ideas and inspired you to take action in your own organization.

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And remember, you can find more resources and information at www.thumbprint.consulting. Again, that's www.thumbprint.consulting. Until next time, keep finding ways to innovate and to leave your mark.

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