The Mental Health Crisis in Schools | Ep 043

➡️ About the Guest: Leroy Slanzi

In this eye-opening episode of Gurus and Game Changers, hosts Stacey Grant and Mark Lubragge welcome Leroy Slanzi, an experienced principal and author of "Emotional Schools: The Looming Mental Health Crisis and Pathway Through It." Slanzi shares critical insights from his 20+ years in education, addressing:

• The impact of technology and social media on students' mental health
• Strategies for parents to manage screen time and encourage healthy activities
• The importance of human interaction and co-regulation in child development
• Red flags in children's behavior and how schools can support parents
• Empowering kids for responsible technology use
• The role of AI and social-emotional learning in education
• Innovative programs like "Play Is the Way" for emotional management

Discover practical solutions for educators, parents, and schools to foster resilience and create a healthier environment for our children. Tune in for an essential conversation on the future of education and mental health.

#MentalHealthInSchools #EducationTechnology #ParentingTips #TeacherSupport #ChildDevelopment

➡️ Chapters
(00:00) - Mental Health Crisis in Schools
(13:16) - Technology Regulation for Children
(25:37) - Empowering Kids for Healthy Technology Use
(31:19) - Behavioral Therapy Program for Schools

➡️ Highlights
(01:24 - 02:08) Parenting and Mental Health Approach (44 Seconds)
(04:36 - 07:03) The Impact of Technology on Parenting (147 Seconds)
(07:03 - 08:57) Building Resilience in Children (113 Seconds)
(15:47 - 17:07) Parenting in the Digital Age (80 Seconds)
(20:19 - 21:05) Raising Kids in Fear Culture (46 Seconds)
(25:57 - 26:49) Support and Mentorship for New Teachers (51 Seconds)
(29:30 - 30:23) Dream of Reimagining Education (53 Seconds)

➡️ More about the guest: Leroy Slanzi
Instagram: @authorleroyslanzi
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9OH1J2G2mG6ZSWgRLZSHLQ
Website: https://leroyslanzi.com/
Buy the Book: Emotional Schools, The Looming Mental Health Crisis https://leroyslanzi.com/product/emotional-schools/
Play is the Way Program: http://www.playistheway.ca/

Connect with our Hosts:
Stacey: https://www.instagram.com/staceymgrant/
Mark: https://www.instagram.com/mark_lubragge_onair/

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➡️ Thanks for watching: Tech, Kids, and Mental Health: Educator Leroy Slanzi's Insights
Mental Health, Schools, Technology, Social Media, Children, Screen Time, Gaming, Mindfulness, Behavioral Therapy, Social-Emotional Learning, Outdoor Activities, AI, Creative Play, Mentorship

Transcript

00:00 - Mark (Host)
All right question. Did you ever want to be a teacher? 

00:04 - Stacey (Host)
I never really wanted to be a teacher. I don't have the patience to be a teacher, but I admire teachers and I respect teachers and I think they're phenomenal. 

00:13 - Mark (Host)
It's interesting you say that so patience, and you admire and respect them. 

00:16 - Stacey (Host)
I think teachers now need so much more patience, oh yeah, and so much more, and deserve so much more respect. So true. 

00:25 - Mark (Host)
Because of what's showing up at the door of the school relative to what used to when we grew up. Yeah, Right, when we grew up it was a little bit different, but why is that? 

00:32 - Stacey (Host)
What Technology? 

00:35 - Mark (Host)
One word. 

00:36 - Stacey (Host)
I think for the most part, yeah, number one yeah. 

00:38 - Mark (Host)
Well, you think of the tentacles that? That creates the kids are raised by devices and not by parents what does? 

00:44 - Stacey (Host)
that mean kids don't have social connection yeah, they don't have the skills to handle at least some of them, I think some of them are still going to be good, they don't have like the emotional right. So that's what leroy slanzi, our guest today, talks about in his book emotional schools the looming mental health crisis and the pathway through it. And he really does know because he was a principal, for he's been a principal for 20 years, 19, 20 years. 

01:08 - Mark (Host)
He was an educator for a quarter of a century. 

01:10 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, yeah, you guys are going to love this guy. He's so. 

01:14 - Mark (Host)
What's the word he has? This very understated charisma. That's a good word, he's an understated charisma. 

01:21 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, he reminded me of Paul Vecchione. 

01:22 - Mark (Host)
A little bit. A little bit like our guest Paul. He was another guest we had on the show, Another guy like that Definitely Cares so much about his students, children, kids. Yeah. 

01:32 - Stacey (Host)
And then I love too. He's got a book about breathing. 

01:35 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, about how to breathe. He's approaching this mental health crisis from every possible angle. But but you know what his his lesson? I don't want to boil it down, but it's hey spend more time with your kids. 

01:48 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah right, it's parenting 101. I don't want to create guilt for parents because it's so. You know there's so much going on these days and it's hard. You know we all have our tech that we are addicted to as well. 

01:57 - Mark (Host)
Um amen, but yeah we all are, but this man has a pathway through it, for us as parents and for the schools all for the kids. 

02:06 - Stacey (Host)
Big time learnings in this one. You guys For sure. 

02:08 - Mark (Host)
Enjoy Leroy Slings. 

02:13 - Stacey (Host)
Hi, I'm Stacey. 

02:14 - Mark (Host)
And I am Mark, and this is the Gurus and Game Changers podcast. Yes, we all know that growing up is hard, and and we know that the teenage years are even harder, but this is something different. This is something darker that has a hold of our teens. What is it? Well, with 25 years experience as an educator and a principal, today's guest, leroy Slainty, knows exactly what it is, and he's calling out the schools for their part in it and their part in fixing it. Leroy, welcome to the show, buddy. 

02:45 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
Good morning. Thanks for having me. 

02:46 - Stacey (Host)
Leroy, it is so awesome to have you. So not only does he know about this stuff, he wrote a book about it. 

02:52 - Mark (Host)
He wrote a book on it. 

02:53 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
Called Emotional. 

02:54 - Stacey (Host)
Schools, the Looming Mental Health Crisis and Pathway Through it. So, leroy, why did you write this book and what did you learn while writing it? 

03:05 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
I wrote the book because I probably started 10 to 15 years ago. To be honest, a lot of people want to throw COVID into the mix, thinking that COVID is the great big problem with our kids today because of, you know, not being in schools for two to three years. But this, this actually started, I would say, for me. I started noticing, like I said, about a decade ago, with kids coming to school sleep deprived, and you know they'd show up to school exhausted, heads on their desks. You really couldn't get anything out of them and you know as well as I do that if you don't sleep, you can be irritable. Your brain's not functioning the way it needs to be. All you want to do is sleep and ultimately it impacts what it's like for a teacher in the classroom, what it's like for the kid who sleep deprived their peers in the classroom, and it can snowball right. And so you know, and that came along with the onset of gaming really taking root about 10-15 years ago. And then, you know, as we slowly got closer to covid, you know, social media started to take root, um, and then we had to deal with kids on snapchat, on instagram, on. Now tick tock is massive, and all of this is sort of playing into our kids abilities to cope, because they're more immersed into technology than they are in natural and free and structured play right. 

04:36
The other piece to that, too, is the economy is shifted and you know I grew up with a mom at home and you know which was we were able to do because you know you were able to have a mom at home and you know which was we were able to do because you know you were able to have a father that went and worked and he was a. You know you could survive on a single income. You can't survive on a single income. Whether you're in the United States, canada, italy, australia, you need to dual income to just pay your bills. And with that shift in the economy, you now have a different babysitter that parents use for their kids and that's cell phones and gaming systems, because ultimately they can't afford nannies, they can't afford babysitters. So the world has just shifted. It's led to this emotional instability in schools that revolve around kids being educated through a different means rather than what they used to be. 

05:33 - Stacey (Host)
Social media is educating our kids right now. 

05:37 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
It pretty much is, and I don't want to just crap on technology and all that. I do want to. But you know, there's a lot of wonderful things about technology that are great for our kids, because they're growing up in a tech generation, right, and so for us it seems a bit scary, kind of like back in the day when, you know, our parents used to get accused of putting us in front of a TV to babysit us. Right, it's all generational, but it's definitely our kids are are not interacting with their peers as much, so they're not learning from their peers, they're not learning from human connection. So those interpersonal communication skills, those conflict resolution skills, they're just not happening naturally because they're on their phones or they're on their gaming systems, right. So it's more so that they're losing the education that's come naturally, and they're now in a place where they're distracted by technology. 

06:38
What do we do about it? We need to put our phones down. We need to structure in tech free time. You know it's schedule in tech time. Let your kids go on their gaming systems for a couple hours a day, but you make sure they're outside for a couple hours too. It has to be a balance, right, and there just needs to be time where you're able to interact with your kids that doesn't involve technology, right. 

07:03 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, let me ask you mental health crisis. It's a big deal, right, and you outlined some big dimensions of that. Two parents working, so someone's not home. The economy has changed. Social media you know the 800-pound gorilla. Is it as simple as parents spending more quality time with their kids? Does that address the mental devolving of our teenagers? 

07:30 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
well, it it yes and no. I think it's as simple as being able to cope. So when kids grow up, you know you have to build resiliency to difficult situations Right. And usually when a kid from birth on the natural progression in terms of building that resiliency and that ability to cope, it comes from that co-regulation. So you're not self-regulating as a baby, you're co-regulating with mom. You know whether she's picking you up and rocking you, and that's co-regulating with mom. You know whether she's picking you up and rocking you, and that's co-regulation. Right. More and more now you see parents when a baby is colicky or a kid is struggling, they'll stick an ipad in front of their face and let them watch a cartoon right or give them a game, and that's the co-regulation that's happening. The co-regulation is happening between technology and and and the child, and so what's happening is that as kids, you know from birth on, start to grow and kick it, and they kick up your made this beautiful road and they knock dirt down, and then you know you can get creative and think, oh, it's an avalanche, but usually you just want to punch your buddy in the head right and so, right in that moment, at five years old, playing with Tonka trucks. You have conflict, right right and you're dealing with it face to face and you work through it and you know, hopefully it doesn't turn into a fistfight. Sometimes it does. But you know, at the end of the day a kid at five is building those coping skills through play. You know they're building those coping skills through interacting with their parents. And so it really comes down to human interaction. And when that human interaction is not there, you can't build creative thinking skills, critical thinking skills, collaborative abilities, conflict resolution skills. When you don't have human contact, those things dissipate. 

09:34
And then, as you get into school and as you get into life, you're confronted with something that's challenging. You don't know what to do with it and, as a result, you have kids all of a sudden, when they feel those emotions, they panic, and then they have these outbursts and then it's just all hell breaks loose. And you know, back in the day, 20, 30 years ago, there might have been you guys probably remember two or three kids in class. You're like holy, what is wrong with them? And you know, and now we probably know, that they might have been autistic or something like that. And but now it's not two or three kids, it's 10 to 12 kids out of a class of 30. And yet you have 18, 19 kids are awesome. 

10:11
Parents have done a great job, attachments there but those 12 kids, holy moly, that's a domino effect. They'll take over a class because the teacher is going to spend their time dealing with management instead of instructing. And you try to teach a. You know you teach a history lesson or a math lesson to a dysregulated. It's impossible, right? So you throw in all of these attachment pieces, these abilities, this ability to co-regulate and self-regulate, and it's just a recipe for disaster. It is, it's turning into a disaster in a lot of schools. And that's the piece where the schools have to come into play, because we have to pick up the pieces. Because you know as much as I want to blame parents for attachment issues, you also need to understand that parents are working longer hours. They need to work longer hours. Both parents need to work because they can't afford things right. And then you throw in the technology that's coming front and center. It's just this perfect storm of distraction and whatnot and it's leading to this generation of kids who just can't cope with the tiniest stressors. Wow. 

11:15 - Mark (Host)
That's disheartening. It sounds like they arrive at the door of the school like you inherit the problem as a school. You inherit the problem that was created at home. 

11:26 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
Yeah, go ahead. 

11:27 - Mark (Host)
No, no, go I was going to say. 

11:28 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
I'll give you a good example. So I started about 25 years ago and I and I'm going to move into the field of speech. So speech language we have speech language pathologists who usually shows up in kindergarten and they'll do a speech assessment on kids, right? When they show up to check to see how well they can communicate orally. And you know, back in the day, at a class of 22 kids, you might have had three or four kids with speech issues. Now you're looking at you know 60 to 75 percent of kids who have speech language issues because they're not even communicating as babies, right? You know, when you do those things, goo, goo gaga, say dada, all that stuff. So the language at home or the language is disappearing because technology, parents are on technology and kids are on technology and and that natural, never thought about it that way yikes, yeah. 

12:17
So so you gotta think, you gotta, you gotta go back right down to what's happening with you know I don't know if you know who bar Colaroso is she's pretty famous and she, she revolves her whole practice around natural consequence right. So if you see your baby struggling to climb up onto the stool, don't lift them up by the butt. Let them climb up on their own right. But you're there to help and and and there's a lot of not allowing for this natural progression. And then there's the co-regulation piece has to that guidance has to fit in and and it's just, it's just becoming harder and harder. And unfortunately, you know, there's a and I have to back up because there's a lot of kids that are doing awesome, like 60 percent of our kids, 70 percent of our kids. Parents are doing a good job, they're doing fantastic. And you know parents are sort of in control of what's what's happening. But you know, as that piece that was used to be five to ten percent climbs to 15, 20, 25 percent, it becomes problematic because it's contagious, right right. 

13:16 - Stacey (Host)
So if you're a parent and, like, all the kids have the phones and all the kids are on their game consoles, like what is, how do you regulate your kid with technology? Right, so how many hours is the screen time? How, when, how old should a kid get a phone? Like? Are there like actionable ways we can stop this crisis from happening or are we doomed? 

13:39 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
yeah, no, there is I think the first thing parents need to do is not buy their kid a gaming gaming system until they're older. Or my son didn't get one till he's about 14 or 15, and it's when yeah, no, there is. I think the first thing parents need to do is not buy their kid a gaming gaming system until they're older. Or my son didn't get one till he's about 14 or 15, and it's when covid hit because he was driving me nuts. So I'm like and the hard part was is he just was like because like he'd get nba 2k and he'd play that but he'd get bored, so he'd want to go outside and play it. And my daughter's just never been interested in gaming, so it was not a, so I started them pretty late. 

14:05
The key is to make sure your kids develop curiosity early. They need to be outside playing in the grass, looking for four leaf clovers, playing with Tonka trucks, going to the swimming pool playing catch, jumping on a trampoline. You develop those, those intrinsic curiosities, and what's going to happen is they'll develop that first. So you allow that to happen first. And if you allow that to happen first, then you can bring in gaming and technology, because they're going to have a natural curiosity about. 

14:34
You know, when they lift up a rock and there's a beetle underneath, or they're digging in the grass and they find a worm, or and you take it, take them fishing and they got to hook the worm, and you know, you build all of those natural, organic things first and you put your phones down and help your kids soothe by human contact early and often Right, and you allow that co-regulation and you allow that curiosity and that creativeness to grow, like make sure you have crayons and paper and coloring books and and all of those things. 

15:07
And then you know, and then once you develop that, then then kids will have that intrinsic motivation and they'll have that perseverance and that resiliency early on, like that that zero to five years of a child's life is so crucial to how they're going to end up as adults. Right, and so once you establish those things, you're going to find that once you do give your kids technology, they're going to be prone to be putting it down because they're going to get bored with it, because it's not as fun as feeling grass in your hands or building sandcastles or, you know, collecting tadpoles down at the pond and and stuff like right. 

15:44 - Mark (Host)
What if the parent missed that window right? There's a lot of people who will watch this will say well, I should have spent more time with my kid doing those things. Can you go back Well not necessarily can you? Go back? Well, maybe, but I was going to say what? Are the red flags maybe they need to look for to say like oh yeah, that did impact my child in a negative way. 

16:05 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
Yeah, and you can, because I did it. Remember, I told you I was working as a high school principal for five years. My daughter was ruthless. She was like, dad, you're on your phone, put your phone down, dad. And you know, and this is before she was became into TikTok and stuff, because now it's like I have to battle her with TikTok, right, and so you know, I probably and I feel a little bit ashamed because I probably lost a good year of, and over the course of four or five years, I probably lost a year of really great contact with my, my daughter and my son because I was so immersed into work. 

16:42
But it's not too late. It's not too late to put your phone down. And this is where schools have to come in. Schools have to come in and bail parents out, because, as much as you know, we want to point the finger at parents. This is new to parents too. 

16:56
Technology is new to us. It's just as addicting to us. This is why, you know, congress in the United States is going after big tech, facebook and tiktok and all of this stuff, because it's addicting. As soon as you hear bing, it's a dopamine rush, right, and you, you're constantly chasing that dopamine hit, and you know, and that's what drugs do. Cocaine is like a massive dopamine hit, and you know. 

17:18
So it's, it's correlated, and so what we have to do is the moment we notice or feel a kid is delayed in their speech or they're they're having difficulties with their emotions, whether or not they're you know, they're just shutting down and and and sulking, or they get angry, or they're frustrated early, or they they're sad all the time. We have to pick up on that right off the bat and we have to make sure that we're. Our social emotional learning program is up, front and center right off the bat. Together we can kind of meet this deadly force at the same time and and help the situation. It's why I wrote the book. It's it's a, it's a roadmap and a guide for parents and teachers. Yeah, structure right. So, yeah, we're not dead in the water. 

18:03 - Mark (Host)
At some point in your bio you said you couldn't stand idly by and let this continue. Right, that's why you wrote the book. But was there a moment that you said that's enough? What inspired that moment and that thinking? That said, I cannot not act. 

18:19 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
My teachers. 

18:20
I feel for my teachers. 

18:22
It's getting harder and harder and they're burning out and they're tired and they're exhausted and it's sad, you know, not only when they burn out. It's more pressure on administration, because you got to pick up the pieces, you got to get in there and bail them out when you can and, and I think, just watching teachers leave the profession in droves, you know, you see teachers coming in teach for two years and they're like this isn't for me. Or you see teachers who've been at it for 30 years and they're ready to retire and they're retiring with a bad taste in their mouth and it's because of the behavior that they're having to deal with in in class, right, and you know, I don't know how many times we had to have a lockdown at the high school because there was a threat of of something you know and whether it be false, a false threat or not. But you're just always kind of on edge from, you know, not knowing what behavior you're going to be confronted with. And then the other piece to that is hey guys, thanks for listening. 

19:18 - Mark (Host)
If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review, give us a follow, subscribe, subscribe all those things, all those things. We love it because we read each and every comment and it helps shape the show, so we would appreciate it. 

19:30 - Stacey (Host)
Please, and back to the show. 

19:33 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
It used to be, when a teacher called a parent, a parent would be like, okay, no worry, johnny's going to deal with me, and there was never a finger pointed at a teacher accusing them of hurting their child. Now parents just beat teachers up, and not all. Again, I don't want to paint everybody's same thing for same, but you know, teachers are are constantly being picked on and I know in the united states it's a lot more. 

19:56
You're banning books and you're doing all these things and and you know, and and teachers are the ones who are feeling the brunt of it. Right and it's, and they're just trying to educate, and you know there's this constant feeling that they're trying to indoctrinate your kids. But at the end of the day, you know, they're just trying to teach reading, writing and arithmetic, and and the system is is falling apart. You know what? 

20:19 - Stacey (Host)
would be some like three ways to kind of like divest themselves from technology or like I know. You say that they should go outside and play. But what if they're not in a safe area to go outside and play, like what would be? You know how do you handle that. 

20:36 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
Something like that yeah, and that's the other piece. We live in a culture of fear. Now too, right, we have this fear culture where we think if our kids go outside, they're going to get kidnapped right you know, and and you know, when we grew up, our parents would see ya at nine in the morning. We'd be back by dinner and they wouldn't have a clue what we were hanging off a cliff or doing whatever. 

20:54
Right so yeah, and so that's. That's the other piece. Because of, because of media, as parents we live in fear, thinking something's bad's going to happen to our kids, when it's just not the case, right? Um? So my suggestion always, you know, for teens is is the first thing I tell them to look at, is is how lethargic are you, right off the bat. I'm like where's, where are your energy levels right now? Have you had a shower? Have you? How's your hygiene? How's, how's that going? 

21:21
And and you have that honest conversation. And if, if it's struggling, it means that they're not getting up to do their basic, you know, taking care of their basic needs. Have you eaten today? Have you had a shower? Have you put new clothes on? Have you, you know, done those things? And then you know, the second piece would be is, is is to revolve the conversation back to how they're feeling emotionally. It's like you're you're walking around here like you're sad, like you're depressed, like you're walking around here like you're sad, like you're depressed, like you're frustrated. And so I would go from those basic life needs and dive right into that emotional awareness piece is to ask them to understand what they're feeling and then ask them why do you think you're feeling this way, let's figure out where this feeling is coming from right, and that's a huge piece that schools need to pick up on. 

22:11 - Mark (Host)
Do you see a difference? Is there some type of correlation between socioeconomic and mental health of the students, and is there a difference between public and private in your experience? 

22:23 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
So I wrote about thatconomic uh standing in my book, and in it's my book is research based as well. So you would assume, uh, right off the bat, that if you're from a low income household, kids are going to be more prone to being emotionally detached or struggle with their emotions more and and and. Technically you should see that because you're going to have kids who are being babysat by gaming systems and whatnot. But you also have affluent families where their means of attaching with kids is by buying them stuff, by spoiling them, and what you find, what I actually find is when I work with kids who are more vulnerable and from those at-risk type homes, they're very honest, very honest to a T Like if they want to tell you off, they're telling you off, whereas if you get a kid from a middle class to upper class, more affluent, they're more sneaky. To be honest, they know how to manipulate, they know how to give you the hey, mr Slancy, how you doing today. 

23:28
And they'll go around the corner and they'll light a garbage can on fire. Right, and it wasn't me. Then they'll point the finger at Johnny over here, because obviously Johnny was the one who did it, because look at him. You see this dichotomy between what type of behavior you get from low income and what you get from middle to high income, earning homes, and at the end of the day, it all comes down to that attachment piece. Money doesn't decide where that attachment piece. Money doesn't decide where that attachment piece is. 

23:51 - Mark (Host)
Off the record. 

23:52 - Stacey (Host)
Really Nothing's off the record. 

23:55 - Mark (Host)
Nothing I'm over recording it, but off the record it's a new teacher. Comes to you fresh out of college, first teaching job. Give me the scoop. 

24:18 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
Tell me the underbelly, tell me the true. What's it like to be a teacher today? What's your best advice? I know when a new teacher comes to my school I make sure we wrap around them. I make sure, you know, I co-regulate my new teachers. But a lot of teachers, you know, especially when you're in an urban setting, when you walk into a school of 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 kids, you won't even know your principal's name, and so you're going to have a teacher walking in with no peer role models, somebody to help and guide them, to help co-regulate them through that. 

25:01
And my suggestion to a new teacher who's entering an environment where it could be toxic which a lot of school environments are toxic right now because teachers are frustrated is to try to latch on to a senior teacher who gives a shit, um. And if you can latch on to a, a mentor, um, latch on to them, don't be afraid to. You know, most schools have a 1-800 number you can call if you're struggling with your own mental health and whatnot. Don't be afraid to reach out and say, hey, cause the thing is is with teachers. 95% of teachers are in it for the right reasons. They care, and so when people say, oh, don't take it home with you. It's like I'm taking it home with me. 

25:44
I care about this kid too much. I'm worried if this kid is going to eat. I'm worried if they're going to have shoes on tomorrow. I'm worried if they're going to learn. You know how to spell their name, you know. And so it's really hard, I think. 

25:57
And I think for new teachers coming in, they need to find somebody who's going to help encourage them to just fight the fight, because that first year you're're as a new teacher, you're not working an eight hour day, you're putting in 16 hours, little sleep because you've got to prep. Although ai is helping with prepping immensely, which is great. There's another awesome thing about technology. Um, you know, I think teachers, if they can get through that first year and they can develop relationships and that's the key if, if they can develop relationships, and that's the key If they can develop relationships with kids, because those kids will pull on your heart and they'll make you laugh and love and and all that stuff and if they can survive that first year with support, they're going to be good. But if they don't have the support, the leadership isn't there, if the mentorship isn't there, they're dead in the water. 

26:45 - Stacey (Host)
That's good question. Yeah, okay, I got one for you. What is your dream? You can dream anything yeah for 10 years from now when it comes to kids and technology, because I know you said the crisis is looming, but let's just what would be the dream for 10 years from now. 

27:07 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
My dream would be that kids are in a position to regulate their technology use on their own. My dream would be for kids to use technology for the right reasons and you know if they use it for the because you know doing the wrong thing feels awesome, sometimes Right, and that's the pull Like, oh man, I want to do that again. 

27:30
Like I don't know how many pieces of cheesecake I ate this weekend because it was so good, right, and it's the wrong thing because this belly is, you know. But I, my dream is that you know, with this book and I keep doing, with these workshops that I do and and my YouTube videos and reaching out, my dream is that I have a, a generation of kids that can self-soothe, that they understand, being mindful and breathing, and that if they can soothe their you know, their their vagal nerve, their vagus nerve, if they can soothe that physiological part, it'll calm your mind. And if you can calm your mind, you can think coherently so you don't do stupid things. I mean still do stupid things because I mean the most fun you have as a teenager is doing stupid stuff, right? 

28:17 - Mark (Host)
So I don't want to eliminate it completely. 

28:20 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
I just hope we can get to a place where you know we can get kids who can moderate. You know, anything in moderation is good. You do it in moderation, and it's the same thing with your phone use and social media use. You know, and I even have to do it myself One of the things I do to stay in shape is I go for hikes, and so I just try to make sure I don't even have my AirPods in. I'm not listening to podcasts, I'm not listening to an audio book. I just go for a hike and it's and I run into a bear. I run into a bear or whatever you know, and nonchalant. I live in a town of about 10,000 people in the middle of the Rockies, so this is where I'm at, that's amazing. 

28:54
But, you know I, so I just wanted I would love to get to a place where kids understand moderation, they understand how to self-soothe, they understand mindfulness and I feel like every kid in the last 10 years that have worked through schools that I've been in with the Play Is the Way program that I use, that they're understanding meditation and mindfulness and that mental strength. So I teach it to death. But I, you know, I'm embedded into curriculum so it's not extra for the teachers and I hope we get to a place where teachers understand mental health and mindfulness and that need to stay calm. So you can think, and I want the same for kids and I feel like we could get there if we just did it together, if people watch this podcast and just start moving in the right direction. But again, it comes down to government and policymakers and people who haven't been in a classroom in 20 years trying to tell you how to do things right. 

29:47 - Stacey (Host)
We have this dream. We have a dream this dream is going to happen. 

29:50 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
I have a dream. 

29:52 - Mark (Host)
Well, it's interesting. Your dream for 10 years from now sounds like roll back the clock 40 years. 

29:56 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, that's what it sounds like when there is no phone. 

29:59 - Mark (Host)
You spend time with your parents. You spend time with your friends. It seems to be a cure-all for many things. 

30:11 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
Yeah, no, so hopefully We'll play with some sticks and rocks. Go recreate. 

30:16 - Stacey (Host)
Well, how can we help you get that dream to happen? 

30:20 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
I guess promote my book. 

30:21 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, you're going to put it on the show notes Promotion schools. 

30:24 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
I have two websites, one that's leroyslancycom and the other one is play is the wayca. It's a social emotional learning program that uses play to elicit emotions, to teach kids, to soothe, and I it's. It's. It's all over Australia and New Zealand. It's huge and it's it's getting big in Western Canada and it would be great to be able to get into more schools and and teach teachers how to embed social emotional learning into what they do. Rather, because for teachers, anytime they get something that they feel like it's added onto their plate right, they just don't want to do it right. So this program like if you're listening teachers, this program embeds into math, socials, english, science and it makes it easier for you to do so. You can, you can teach that social emotional learning without making it a class like you do it right in math, you do it right in in these situations. So I think, yeah, if you can just promote that stuff and get the word out, we can change it, we can change the world. 

31:18 - Stacey (Host)
Let's go. Is it? Is it in the us? Are people using it? Are schools using it? 

31:24 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
no, it's in, it's in canada, but the ironic thing is it's we're copyrighted in north america. So I'm the only licensed practitioner in the canada, in the united states, practitioner in the Canada and the United States, yeah, and the other, like I said, it's in Australia. It's huge in Australia because Australia is dealing with massive behavior issues in their schools. Domestic violence is huge in Australia, like it's a big thing and same with New Zealand, like it's play as the way is huge down there, because it's having a massive impact, right, and it's all yeah, because it's having a massive impact, right, and it's all yeah. And so it's one of those things that my plan is to start, you know, moving towards the States to do workshops down there. 

31:58 - Mark (Host)
But if teachers, schools request me, bring me in and I'll do it, yeah we'll help you. We'll do what we can to help, for sure, right. 

32:06 - Stacey (Host)
Oh, you're a gift. Thank you, Leroy. 

32:08 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, thank you so much An Thank you, Leroy. 

32:09 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, thank you so much An incredible conversation, like we learned so much, and now you're going to go. 

32:17 - Mark (Host)
I can't believe you're going to go now to school and be a principal and keep Start your work day. 

32:20 - Stacey (Host)
Start your work day. I'm going to get in there. 

32:22 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
I'm down four staff today, so I got to. 

32:25 - Mark (Host)
You know the day that way too. 

32:26 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
Because I don't actually have an office set an office that I don't have an office. I have a. It's called a calming space. So I'm in a. My office is in in this big room where there's Lego and all couches and bag chairs. So, first thing, I get that there's kids in there underneath my feet playing. 

32:41 - Mark (Host)
Lego. 

32:41 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
So it's all just I, just it's, I don't. I don't do anything systematically, I do it the way it should. 

32:46 - Stacey (Host)
I love that. That's a whole other book. That's a whole other book there. 

32:48 - Mark (Host)
That's a whole other book. 

32:49 - Stacey (Host)
It's going to be a great day. That's a whole other book there. That's great, yeah, well, thank you. 

32:53 - Mark (Host)
Yes, thank you so much. We really appreciate you spending the time with us Awesome. 

32:56 - Leroy Slanzi (Guest)
You guys. Thanks for having me have a great day. Call Leroy. 

32:59 - Mark (Host)
Call Leroy. Thanks for that, take care. 

33:07 - Stacey (Host)
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