Episode 238 Dr. Christine Van Horn How to Be a Mentor After Military Service Transcript

This transcript is from episode 238 with guest Dr. Christine Van Horn.

Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast where we are focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community. Whether you’re a veteran, active duty, guard, reserve, or a family member, this podcast will share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host Scott DeLuzio and now let’s get on with the show.

Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Drive On Podcast. Today my guest is Dr. Christine Van Horn and Dr. Van Horn is an author, a teacher, and a speaker, and she’s been a certified emergency manager for 30 years and recently has retired. She’s now applying her emergency management experience to focus on character in society, and she’s written two books for older children to teach them character through the eyes of a superhero, and is here today to discuss how veterans and service members can use their experiences [00:01:00] to be a mentor to.

In our lives who may not necessarily be in the military, so people in our families or those around us. So, without further ado welcome to the show. Christine. Glad to have you here.

Christine Van Horn: Thank you so much, Scott. I really appreciate being here. It’s an honor to be on this program. Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: So why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background.

I know I got a little bit into your background, but I’m sure there’s a whole lot more to it than that. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about your.

Christine Van Horn: Absolutely. My love of the military started when I was young. My dad was in the Navy in World War II and out of the Navy, you know, by the time I came around.

But we grew up in an environment that was very patriotic and he was able to talk about a lot of his experiences in the military. He always wove that into the things that he taught us as children. So I grew up in that environment and when I got older, I wanted to be in the military. I wanted to go to Vietnam as a medic, but by the time I [00:02:00] finished X-ray school, it was just a little bit too late.

So I kind of missed that opportunity and later in my career I was in federal service for quite some time, so I served my country. As a civilian, so just a, you know, a little bit differently. And then what also shaped me a lot was my dad. Lived with me in the last part of his life. So I got to hear the ending, you know, of all of his stories and live those things with him.

And I’ve learned how important that is to families, to know what they can, you know, not in all cases can you learn those things because of different reasons, but you, wherever you can, I think that’s really important. And I have a master’s degree from the Naval War College. I was invited in by an admiral with my federal service connections.

And I just have a heart for the military, so this is really an honor if I can share some of these things.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it’s important especially from your experience living with your father later on in his life and learning some of the things [00:03:00] that, that he went through.

Sharing those stories over, over time. It just is so important because over time we start to lose those stories, especially as those older generations start passing away. Those stories, if they hadn’t. Told those stories to other people like, like your father did with you, or written them down in a book, or even in a journal or something like that.

Those stories start to get lost to history. And it’s really important that those stories get told and continue to be told throughout time. So I think you know, a lot of the lessons that you learned from him and then, you know, have applied through your life and your own experiences, I think are really important.

Passing those on to other people and sort of what we’re talking about is in the realm of mentorship it is a lot of that comes from your own experiences and your experiences are influenced by those people who are around you. So, I think it’s really important to understand all of that going into this conversation.

Christine Van Horn: Absolutely. The book that I wrote is called Teacher Children Timeless Truths and Uncertain Times, and it’s [00:04:00] about mentorship, but so much that is in there is timeless, you know, and it applies to the military. It applies to all of us. And, you know, that I just want to be able to explain how we can really do that better and be better mentors.

You know, I was blessed to. My dad be such an incredible mentor in my life. And that really can be true today. We don’t hear too much about mentorship anymore. But we can, and we really need to do that. And a lot

Scott DeLuzio: of our listeners are familiar with being a mentor because we all did it all the time in the military while while we were serving we influence those people who we were leading. Yes. Based on the experiences that we learned from whether. Whether they’re good or bad, you know, we all learn from our mistakes. Hopefully that’s the ideal situation. Anyways. But when you’re a leader and you start seeing one of the junior soldiers or junior people under you who are making the same mistakes that you might have made earlier on in your career, that’s your place to step in and mentor those people.

You know, [00:05:00] based on those experiences. That you’ve learned from in your past. And I’d love to see how you think that the mentorship in the military can cross over into our personal lives and how we mentor those people around us.

Christine Van Horn: Absolutely. Mentorship, I think is. Threefold. You know, one is really talking about character, you know, teaching that and mentoring those under you and how to be better persons of character.

And then second, teaching ’em life skills. That could be, like you said, you know, in the military you’re teaching them certain skills that you know, need to be refined in your family. It can be, you know, more generic things like time management, you know, keep a calendar, you. Learn how to solve problems.

And you learn so much of that in the military. It’s part of the structure and that unstructured environment from the military can really easily apply to how you interact with your family as a mentor because you’re used to showing what you do. So if [00:06:00] you’re telling someone in the military, This is how you need to do this procedure, or how this process is what you need to follow, you do it by.

And the same applies in your family. You know, if you’re telling them this is what you need to do, whether it’s, you know, like I said, time management or cleaning your room, or, you know, whatever those things are that you want them to learn, your children are going to watch you just as the military people are looking at you to see if you’re really doing what you said, you know, to do to them.

The same thing applies in your family. Your kids are gonna watch you and so, you know, if you tell them, You need to make your bed every morning is the first thing you do. Like you’re used to, you know, in, in a military aspect, well, the kids need to see you do that at home too. And so some of those things that, that you learn, I mean, military people are really well adapted to, to teaching these things and being a mentor within their own family because you’re living that life in the military.

Scott DeLuzio: Right. And I think it [00:07:00] is especially important, The point that you brought up is leading by example. Showing people what it is that you’re expecting them to do and showing that you’re willing to do that thing too. So, if it’s something just as simple as make your bed in the morning , if. You tell your kids to make your bed and they walk by your room and they look in the room and your bed’s all a mess.

Well, why do I have to do it if mom or dad isn’t doing it too? You know? Just doesn’t compute, and so part of being a good leader, being a good mentor is. Showing how to do things, showing that you’re going to be willing to do those things that you’re asking those other people to do as well, right?

Christine Van Horn: Absolutely. And you know, the beauty of mentorship is those that you’re mentoring start at your level. You know, you’ve learned these things, you’ve walked through these processes whether you’re talking about this in the military or within your family. So they get to start at a higher level than if they had to do it from, you know, ground zero for the.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.[00:08:00] It is kind of just leveling up in, in life. You’re getting that kickstart where you don’t have to a, as the person who’s being mentored, you don’t have to struggle through some of those. Difficult situations that maybe the person who’s mentoring you may have struggled through and found all these mistakes.

You don’t have to do that. You know now, Okay, I’m not gonna do X, y, or Z and I’m gonna do it the right way. And now I’m just learning. And refining the best way of doing things and making it even that much better as opposed to struggling trying to figure out what is that best way of doing whatever it is that, that you’re trying to learn about.

Right.

Christine Van Horn: It really is. And you know, it’s important because if you are being mentored, say you’re the mentor and I am the person you’re mentoring, if I try to do something to the way you show me and I don’t do it right, you’re gonna mentor me to get me back into. Process. You know, And it’s the beauty of mentorship because it’s continual, it’s not just a one time thing, it’s an ongoing process.[00:09:00]

Scott DeLuzio: Right. And you mentioned that you’re an author. We’ve talked about that in the intro as well, and your latest book is Teacher Children Timeless Truths in Uncertain Time. What are these timeless truths that you mention and how do they apply to the military and veterans in their me.

Christine Van Horn: The first thing I have, consider it like a three step process. So the first is to teach character, guide your children to be better persons of character, and how wonderful it is to do that from the military perspective. Just look at the core values in the different branches of the military. There you got your character, you know, whether it’s, you know, respect or honor or any of those, you know, any of the branches, like just compile ’em all together and those are your character traits that you’re gonna teach the kids and you live with that in the military.

You know, it’s not just something that says, Okay, my value is respect. You live it. That’s part of the process of the military and the, you know, the chain of command and everything that you follow, it’s [00:10:00] there. So you’ve got it inside of you. You know, you don’t need, you know, like a, you don’t need somebody to teach you how to do it.

It’s internal to who you are in the military and a lot of families who don’t come from that background, they may have to really think about it and they might need a course on it, and they might need to, you know, look at lists of character traits and think what they are. But the core values of the military are character traits, and that’s your starting point.

That’s good.

Scott DeLuzio: Right. And some of those core values that sort of just establishes the culture in the military is that Yes, that’s just how people interact with each other. That’s the baseline. And it may be at at a point where in your family, Or in some other relationships outside of the military where you may not have that culture where there’s loyalty there’s duty respect there’s, you don’t have all of that culture built in.

And you may need to [00:11:00] again, lead by example and show people like, this is the way to be and do things this way. Things are better this way. Influence the culture in your own house. To become a better representation of those values. Right.

Christine Van Horn: It really is Bec and you said something that’s important because, you know, you have those values in the military, but they need to transcend to your family life and your children are never too young to learn those values.

You know, whether it, like you said, it’s duty or honor or respect or any of the core values in the military. Teach those to your children when they’re young and they’re going to grow up to be a lot more wholesome people because people you know, it’s gonna open doors for them. When people are treated with respect by young children.

That is noticed and it’s just taking what you know from your military life and gently applying [00:12:00] that in your family life. You know, it’s there for you and it’s just you gotta, you know, in the military, you’ve got a great background to start with. So,

Scott DeLuzio: So the character that’s one of the, these right, endless truths.

What, Let’s talk about the others.

Christine Van Horn: The next one is life skills. And so, life skills can be any of the things like you know, we talked about, you know, making your bed, feeding the dog, you know, those kind of things. But it can also be things. Used to be taught. I grew up in the fifties and sixties and things like problem solving were taught and time management.

I always had a calendar that I tracked ever since I was little and I’m teaching my grandchildren how to do that now, and it’s. Kind of foreign to them. Yes, they have to do it for school, you know, and track their courses and their homework. But in their own lives they’re not used to doing things like that.

So with my own seven year old grandson, I’ve got a calendar cuz a planner was a little too, you know, advanced [00:13:00] for him and he is tracking all of his hockey games and you know, when he’s doing these different activities and days off from school. And that’s time management. You can do that with children when they’re.

And then as they get older, you know, the, my older grandchildren, they’ve got planners, you know, and I’m showing ’em how to do it and how to mark ’em. And those are things that are really good because it’ll keep them on time. Learning schedules, you know, and it’s all part of being quarterly and you’re used to that in the military.

If it wasn’t in order, things would not run the way they’re supposed to, but it can be. In a non militaristic way, because these are values, these are important, these are these timeless truths that, you know, we don’t see too much anymore in the world.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And there’s a lot of stuff that even and I’m younger than you are based on what you were saying there.

But even stuff that we learned in school, you know, that our kids when they went to school they, we homeschool them now, but Weren’t being taught [00:14:00] some of these things. And it was just mind boggling to me that some of this stuff just isn’t being taught. And we talk to other parents in the, in our neighborhood who have older children and it’s just some of these things are just not taught at all.

And it’s like how are people gonna get through life without knowing some of this stuff? Right? But that falls on the parents like that. It’s not the school’s job to teach them every little life skill that, that there is out there. You know. That’s your job as a parent, right. And you know, when you’re trying to mentor people you know, you kind of have to show them that you’re gonna take responsibility and this is going to be something that you’re gonna help teach.

Christine Van Horn: Absolutely. And, It just needs to be done. You know? And coming from the military where you have structure, you can see that I think a lot better than a lot of families can, where there isn’t that structure and they don’t have that kind of a foundation in life. And yet you do need to do it. And it’s part of parenting, but in some ways it, a, it transcends it [00:15:00] because you’re teaching, you know, these skills that, you know, maybe you wouldn’t.

Parent doing parenting teach some of these skills. It’s kind of like a little bit of an extra it’s different from being a teacher. It’s mentoring and that’s really kind of nice.

Scott DeLuzio: And the third one, so we have the character, the life skills and the third now is

Christine Van Horn: Be the example. You know, be that example your kids are going to follow.

What you do, they’re gonna say what you say. If you ever hear, you know, young children saying things that are inappropriate, it’s because they heard it somewhere. May not be their parents, but they heard it from some adult somewhere, or some older kid somewhere. They’re gonna repeat those kind of things.

And oftentimes, I don’t even know what it means, but those are words that they’ve heard, you know, and they’re saying these things, so if they see you living these things out, you know, in a good way is if you. You know, a topic a week or a topic a month, you know, whatev whatever it would be, you know, if I go back to time management and, you know, with [00:16:00] your calendars or planners or something, and do it, you know, and repeat it so it’s reinforced, you know, maybe ask questions about some of those things or you know, and that’s how you can be that example to them and keep that open door for conversation because your kids may come back to you.

Because you’ll have a greater rapport with them. You know about things that are going on at school and, you know, it kind of, builds a better communication pathway with them. But being that example so that they see you walk out those things that you’re telling them to do is just really important.

Scott DeLuzio: I mean, it makes sense going back to something as simple as making your bed, right?

, we talked about that before. If you’re telling your kids to make their bed every morning and your bed is a mess, they’re gonna look at it and say, Well, no, I’m not gonna do it. And you’re not gonna end up with the end result that you’re hoping for when you’re not leading by example. So that makes a lot of sense.

I mean, these are so simple, [00:17:00] you don’t even really think about them sometimes. I think you know, having good character. You want that in your children, Yes. But we don’t oftentimes define what that is. What are those traits that we’re looking for in a quote unquote good person that we want to raise?

And how are we, if we don’t define that, how are we leading them in the right direction? And so I think part. The process I would imagine is defining some of this stuff and just making sure that we know what it is that we’re hoping to get from these children when we when we ask them to do certain things.

Right?

Christine Van Horn: Absolutely. The back of my book, I have an appendix of 250 character traits. So if you’re trying to, you know, get your mind around what are character traits, look through the list, you know, see which ones apply to your family. Some may just like stand out to you like, Oh, I really need to work.

Honesty, I need to really work out whatever it is. You know, it’ll trigger some of those kind of things. And then, you know, go back to your [00:18:00] military experience. How do you walk out core values in the military? You can do that with your family. It doesn’t have to be, you know, hard. You work for me and you have to follow what I say kind of thing.

But you can guide and mentor, you know, mentorship is guiding and advising and you can show. What those things really mean in their lives and how to walk those out.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And so how do we take these three truths that you were, you’re talking about these timeless truths the character life skills and being the example.

And apply the, these truths through mentorship. How do we do that? What does that process

Christine Van Horn: look like there? There’s different things that you can do that really will help this process. And so I have them listed and explained in my book, but it’s things as an adult you can do such as. Be intentional.

You can’t do this once and walk away from it. Your children really need to know that you’re serious that you really mean this in [00:19:00] a nice way, you know, in, in a parenting way, I guess, you know, you, but you have to be intentional. You know, one way you can do this is just, you know, make sure you sit down at the dinner table when you can and have dinner, and have a dinner table discussion and pick one of these topics.

That’s an easy way to. , you know, and just have dinner table discussions. By being intentional, then your kids are gonna know, you know what? One night a week we’re gonna sit at this table and we’re gonna have a family discussion and you know, mom or dad are gonna lead the topic. And it’s gonna be one of these things you decide as a family you need to be able to study, and then you need to be committed.

To doing it kind of goes along with intentional, but you need to think long range. You know, you’re gonna work on these things with your family and you’re, this is your way of life. You’re gonna do these kind of things, and then they, the children need to see you as the leader. You know, you’re gonna lead these things, you’re really going to be the one that they can follow, because [00:20:00] children are not gonna learn how to be a leader unless they know how to follow.

So, yeah, you know it, it doesn’t have to be as militaristic as you would have in the military with your own organization, but you need to be that leader and they need to see it. It’ll teach them how they become leaders. So in just some of the ways that you approach this with your own family is going to help them in the future.

You know, just some of these kind of things. Making decisions. You can talk about making decisions as a family. Or making decisions, You’re going to do this, you’re all gonna keep a daily planner and you’re gonna talk through schedules with each other and you know, do that. And my husband and I used to do that every Sunday night.

We’d sit down with our planners and we would, you know, plan out the week and make sure we were coordinated with each other. And it became a habit. You know, and making these things as habits is a, is another part of all of this, just so that your family understands this is what you’re going to do. You know, they, you know, this is just the way [00:21:00] you’re gonna live as a family.

Scott DeLuzio: Right. And I think part of this is going back to that being the example, leading by example when you’re talking about the kids need to learn how to follow before they can learn how to lead. If. The follower and they’re watching their parent be the leader just like anything else. They can learn the bad stuff, they can learn bad language, they can learn bad habits, but they can also learn the good stuff by observing and watching the their parent be the leader and take charge and be that person who is leading them through.

Whatever it happens to be. It, it could be you know, something difficult in their lives. It could be you know, even something fun like a family vacation. They’re, but , they are going to be a leader and how they lead is going to influence how their children become leaders later on in life.

Christine Van Horn: They do, you know it. Children need to know what’s expected of them. You know, just think of your military career and the [00:22:00] people that you are over, what would happen if they didn’t know what they were supposed to do or what was expected of ’em? You’d have a mess. And that’s what is happening in families a lot today because the kids just don’t know what’s expected of them.

So part of this whole process is really doing that. So if you’re taking. You know, one of the core values you’re studying is that character trait as an example. Explain to the children what’s expected of them. This is what I expect you to do for respect or if somebody doesn’t respect you when they should, this is still how I expect you to act.

You know, they need to know those things from you. And all of these can easily come out through the dialogue based around all of these. Right,

Scott DeLuzio: and I think something as simple as what you said earlier is just having a dinnertime conversation. you know, I think. Extremely important. You know, put the phone away, sit down at the table, and actually have a discussion [00:23:00] with your family and talk to each other.

And especially when you’re talking about young children who are still trying to figure out the world they don’t know all the time, right from wrong in every situation. They probably have questions. Hey, this is what happened at school today. This is what happened you know, at baseball practice or whatever, and something came up and I don’t know how to handle it.

Help me out with this. And you can have those kind of conversations with your family and I. You know, maybe, you know, if you have more than one child, maybe another child had a similar experience and they could share their own perspectives and be a mentor in a way as well. Yes. By sharing those experiences, Right?

Christine Van Horn: Yes, because children can be mentors to other children, you know, if they’ve been there before they know what to do, they can share it, you know, with their siblings or. Friends or relatives they can, So, you know, children can mentor and if they see you doing that they can do that too. As long as you know, put the caveats on it.

It’s not like bossing somebody [00:24:00] around. You’re teaching from your experience, you know, and you’re explaining from your experience, not like, because you know everything, but you’re sharing and, you know, so there’s good ways you can do that as well. So,

Scott DeLuzio: All of this mentorship I mean I think we’ve kind of danced around this question here a little bit in this discussion, but I mean, being a mentor really is kind of a key to helping make those other people in your lives successful, right?

Christine Van Horn: It is, it really is because once you can share your experiences and point them in the right direction and come from what you know already, you are making them successful. You are pointing them in that, that right direction and they then start off in whatever situations they face in life at a different.

They, it’s like if, you know, if they’re coming into, you know, as an example, a teamwork situation at school, you know, group project or something, but they’re used to [00:25:00] having this kind of family dialogue and learning from each other and helping each other and all of that. They’re gonna come into those future experiences.

From that framework and they will have a success advantage. So it ha, you know, this has long term implications. It’s not just, you know, how they can get through this task or that task, or if they can learn respect or, you know, something. These become lifelong things that will help them and guide them and make them more successful in life.

You know, when I go to, as I get a job interview, You know that potential person who’s going to be their supervisor is going to see that they have character, that they can handle themselves differently than somebody else coming in. So, you know, it might be hard to tell young children that this is gonna be important to them, you know, many years down the road, but it is, it really is.

And they’re gonna follow your leader.

Scott DeLuzio: That could make or break things like a job [00:26:00] interview. Yes. If you’re looking at two candidates that on paper they’re pretty much equal. You know, similar education background, similar experience, background and all that kind of stuff. If you have one who walks in with a crappy attitude and is not really the type of person you’d.

Walk into work every day and deal with and then you have someone else who’s nice or respectful. They’re honest about, you know, whatever is going on. Like, that’s the kind of person I would want to hire. Regardless of their background I’d wanna hire that person no matter what. You could teach other stuff in a lot of jobs.

You could teach that stuff to people but you can’t teach having good character quite as easily. So, you know that, that could totally. Make or break things like a job interview in the future, right?

Christine Van Horn: Yes. It really could. It really could. Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: So I know how this type of thing can benefit the individuals being mentored, right?

They’re learning from people who already have had these experiences in their lives. What. [00:27:00] Benefits to the people, to the mentors themselves. You know, what are we looking at with that? How do those mentors benefit through helping in guiding those other people?

Christine Van Horn: I think because they see the effects.

Of what they are instilling into the lives of others has a great benefit. It really does. You know, I remember being young and my dad explaining things that, that he did in the military. He was not in active combat, so he was able to explain a lot of what he did and, but he would explain those things and what it was like to work together on a team or doing things in shifts.

I loved that and I applied those things to my life. So later on when I became a leader in my positions, I remembered those things, you know, And I’d tell him, Well, you know, I did this and I remember what you told me. And I think it, it meant a lot to him that, you know, his words of wisdom were applied.

[00:28:00] And I think if you do that in your own family and you watch your children, Apply the things that really does your heart good, that you have carried on with important messages to your family. Those are those timeless truths because they become timeless. You know, your children will carry those the rest of their lives and that’s a good feeling.

Scott DeLuzio: Well, that’s absolutely true because if, just like anything else, if they’ve learned. How to do something. They’re going to then be able to pass that on to future generations. And that, that’s one of those things that has a generational impact where not only is it your kids who might be benefiting, but maybe your grandkids and great grandkids and so on.

Because if you do the job right, you’re able to teach them how to instill those values in other people. And that will just last year, after year, going down. Your whole family tree, probably long after we’re gone, that will still continue to have an impact.

So, so it’s really great to know that you know, if you focus on this and you do the right [00:29:00] things and actually be a good example for the people around you, then it could have such a long lasting impact in a positive way that, that it’ll actually. Other people’s lives that you haven’t even met yet?

So much better.

Christine Van Horn: It is. And may I share an example? Yeah, absolutely. I was teaching a class around the 4th of July and I had children in elementary school that I was teaching and we said the Pledge of Allegiance and then I asked them to explain it and they say it in school, but they couldn’t tell you what it meant and they couldn’t get the words out.

So I did. Word by word. And I had the flag in front and we talked about why there were. So many stripes and so many stars and what it all means. And we really spent time on it. And I could see no one had ever taught them that before. And then we said the Pledge of Allegiance at the end, and they said the words correctly, you know, And at first they were kind of all blurred cuz they didn’t know [00:30:00] what they were.

It was just words and things that they were saying. I felt good that I spent that time with them on something like that. And that’s so easily for any of your audience to be able to do because the kids will learn the pledge of Allegiance in school, but they don’t know what it means. And the words are big and the young kids, they don’t know, you know?

So when I explain those things to them, I could see. It was like, wow, that’s what it means. And it had an impact. And I think that’s the type of thing that, you know, your, all of your, you know, audience can do with their families and they’re gonna see that impact. And that’s rewarding. You know, when I got done with that lesson, I felt like this was the right thing to do.

And that is important. And that’s a benefit like to, to the mentors as.

Scott DeLuzio: For sure and I’ve seen videos. Actually not too long ago I saw a video of someone who was going around to people on a college campus. Talking to college students, asking them simple, basic questions like how many [00:31:00] stars are on the flag, or how many stripes are on the flag?

, they couldn’t answer the question or what do the stripes of the stars represent on the flag? They couldn’t answer those questions, and it was mind blowing to see those types of responses from college students, people who definitely should. Been educated in that basic knowledge, and it starts to make you think, what else do they not know?

And that’s right. And that could be a problem too. So again, there’s a lot of learning to be done that doesn’t necessarily have to happen in a classroom. But when you have a good, solid mentor in your corner who can show you. Or teach you the things that are the right things to do and the stuff that you need to know.

Just basic things that you should know. It really goes a long.

Christine Van Horn: It really does. And you know, just, you know, coming from the military side, just draw on those experiences. You know, even if it’s like a holiday, you know, [00:32:00] Veterans Day kids are off school, Veterans Day, Okay, well they might have a little more knowledge because, you know, you’re in the military, you’re, you know, and they understand maybe what veteran is, but.

If not really explain those things to him. You come from a great advantage point to, to be able to do that. And wherever you can share experiences. My dad shared a lot with me, but he was able to talk a, you know, a lot of his experiences with me, but to this day I have them and I treasure them, and I’m actually in process of writing a new book on the greatest Generation, and I’m putting those stories in there.

You know, I learned these when I was young and he reaffirmed them throughout his life, and so I know they’re accurate. But I treasure those things. So, you know, if you. Come back to your family. Say you’re away for a while and you come back, you might not be able to talk about everything. You might not be able to say things that you are doing or.

Places you’ve been or things like that, but wherever you can [00:33:00] share experiences that have life lessons, please do. You know, I learned about teamwork, you know, with my dad. And so those kind of, you know, things that you can share like that with your family are priceless and they will remember them.

You know, I just wanna encourage you if there’s things that you can write down or record ’em. I’ve got recordings of my dad. About the, his life in the military and World War ii. Those are treasures. You know, any of those things that you can do, that’s part of mentorship as well, where you can share those things and your kids can go back later on and hear your voice talking about the things that you have done.

And it just, you know, shows them that you’re the leader. You know, that you know, showed to be for your family. You are that, and they will treasure those.

Scott DeLuzio: Absolutely. Well, Christine, it’s been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today. I’m really glad to have had the opportunity to have you come on and share with us about this whole process of [00:34:00] mentoring people.

And I know a lot of the people who are listening, they’re familiar with mentor. Being a mentor or being mentored through their service in the military. But we don’t oftentimes make that connection to how that could apply to our personal lives. And I think it’s such a big opportunity to be able to help instill some of those values in the younger generations that it really would be a disservice not.

Talk about this type of thing. So thank you again for coming on. My pleasure for sharing all of this. Before we, we close out, where can people go to either get in touch with you or, and find out more about your books and your writings and everything else that you have going on?

Christine Van Horn: Sure.

My website is www.drchris.co. So it’s Dr. Chris, but it’s just lowercase and just d r c h r i s.co. It’s not.com It’s dot co. So that’s my website and that will lead you to books. I actually have an online program for mentorship in [00:35:00] there. And you know, if somebody wants. To actually have more of a formal process for it.

And then my email address is chris dr chris.co. So it’s c h r i s at Dr. Chris d r c h r i s.co. And you know, if anybody is interested in the course if you email me, I’ll give you the code. So it’s a half price course for any of your listen.

Scott DeLuzio: Excellent. And I’ll have links to all of that in the show notes.

So anyone who wants to go take a look at it and maybe grab a copy of the book or take a look at the course definitely go check that out by going through the show notes first and you’ll get there pretty quickly. So thank you again for coming on and sharing all of this about mentorship.

I really do appreciate you coming on and taking time.

Christine Van Horn: Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate being on. And thank you, all of you for your service to our country.

Scott DeLuzio: Thanks for listening to the Drive On Podcast. If you want to support the show, please check out Scott’s book, Surviving Son on Amazon. All of the sales from that book go directly back into this podcast [00:36:00] and work to help veterans in need. You can also follow the Drive On Podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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