Magical Order of Brave Knights
Colleen Marchi is the author of Magical Order of Brave Knights, which is a book that helps children with separation anxiety and other bedtime fears, which can be common in military families.
Links & Resources
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Transcript
Scott DeLuzio 00:00:03 Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast, where we talk about issues affecting veterans after they get out of the military. Before we get started, I'd like to ask a favor if you haven't done so already, please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts. If you've already done that, thank you. These ratings help the show get discovered so it can reach a wider audience. And while you're there click the subscribe button so that you get notified of new episodes. As soon as they come out. If you don't use Apple podcasts, you can visit Drive On Podcast.com/subscribe to find other ways of subscribing, including our email lists. I'm your host, Scott DeLuzio. And now let's get on with the show. Hey everybody. Today, my guest is Colleen Marchi. Colleen is the author of the Magical Order of Brave Knights, which is a children's book designed to help develop strategies to conquer separation anxiety, and nighttime fears. So Colleen, welcome to the show. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
Colleen Marchi: 00:01:04 Thank so much for having me. I am wife to a veteran, retired Army Colonel, but lived the military life prior to him retiring. And I have a bachelor's and master's in psychology. I've worked in the field on and off with children throughout my career. When my husband was deployed, my own son started having some struggles with separation anxiety, and it was affecting all of our sleep and that's a real big problem for a lot of military families and children. And so, after probably a year of not sleeping for both of my son and me, I came up with a solution to help him.
Scott DeLuzio 00:01:49 Yeah, that's great. And actually, I'm glad you touched on that because naturally I think listeners might be wondering why we might be talking about children's psychology on a podcast that's geared towards military veterans; but we were saying before we started recording here that I've had spouses on talking about relationship issues that military veterans go through and other types of things that don't necessarily affect just the veteran themselves. It affects other people. And this is another one of those situations where the children oftentimes are forgotten in a lot of the services and support that the veterans are offered. Let's take a step back and start from the beginning about what problem that the book is looking to address, which is the anxiety in children and why it's a problem, especially with regards to military families.
Colleen Marchi: 00:02:48 So military children tend to suffer from higher rates of separation anxiety due to all the transitions that they go through with our life. So, the different moves every few years, loss of friendships, parent being deployed and then the reintegration as they're coming back into family life and how that disrupts it. So, our children tend to be more resilient because they go through so many transitions, but they do tend to have a little bit of that anxiety. And unfortunately for children and for families, for veterans too, as kids are starting to have that anxiety, it often comes up at nighttime. They can manage as they're playing and keeping things going during the day and their schedules are busy, but when they're in the room alone at night, that's when it pops up. And so they tend to either take a long time to fall asleep or have frequent night waking, which can be really disruptive for a service member who is just trying to come home from deployment or who is now retired and a veteran and trying to manage just reentering into civilian life.
Colleen Marchi: 00:03:56 That sleep schedule is often hard for them to find and when they are getting sleep, if it's interrupted, then it creates a whole other set of problems, which is what we were dealing with.
Scott DeLuzio 00:04:07 Right. And so, in your situation, you saw that there was this problem and decided there needs to be a solution to this problem. And so that's where your book and the products that you have come into play. We'll talk a little bit more about that in a little bit. I haven't looked at any statistics lately about what's going on and I don't even know if there are any statistics available for this type of thing, but I would imagine that anxiety in general, not just for children is on the rise with everything that's going on in the world right now with the COVID situation and other things that are going on in the world and around our country.
Scott DeLuzio 00:04:51 So where do you see your book coming into play with kids who might be worried about things like, mom or dad or grandma and grandpa gets sick and die from this virus or something like that, or the uncertainty now we're coming up on the tail end of summer here, with going back to the school in the fall, that's probably something that's typically stressful enough for some kids, worrying about, are they going to like their teacher or are they going to be in the same class? It's a long-winded way of asking the question, how do you see this helping out kids in today's environment?
Colleen Marchi: 00:05:31 Well, you hit on it. Anxiety really thrives in uncertainty. And so, it's just fear that can cycle up and rev up with uncertainty. So those, what if questions come up and create the stress at a much higher level, and right now we all are facing it. Like you said, from either illness, a worry about the illness and the virus, to change of schedule. And they were trying to change the term now from social distancing to physical distancing, because so many people are feeling isolated. And so that's a huge thing. So, our mission is to try to help people identify what is worrying them. That can be one of the single biggest things to stop that cycle of anxiety is when you feel that, what if, say it, talk about it, tell it to your parents, tell it to your spouse, tell it to your significant other, tell it to someone where you can identify what it is that is wearing you, because keeping it in is the worst thing.
Colleen Marchi: 00:06:38 And anybody who's suffered from anxiety knows that if you keep it in, it starts with some tiny little kernel and it grows into something much, much bigger. So, our biggest thing is say it, identify it, put words to it, and it stops being so scary. And then you get somebody else's perspective. And I think the important thing for a parent right now is to just listen. A lot of times as parents, we want to just jump in and fix, like, you're fine. It's okay. I don't have time for like 12,000 questions right now. I need you to go to bed, but instead it's like, you know what? Stop and listen. And for my husband, especially, he's a problem solver. You guys all are protectors and problem solvers. That's what draws you towards this life. And he wanted to solve it real quick, move on and do.
Colleen Marchi: 00:07:23 And so he just keeps moving and anxiety sometimes doesn't fit in this tight little package like that. And so, identifying it, having the kids say what's wearing them. Having all of us just say it, I find myself saying, I know I'm stressed, but here's what's bothering me and I don't need anyone to fix it. I just need someone to listen. And then it slows that cycle down. So, we can talk about the cycle of anxiety, which I think is so important for people to understand how you can manage that. But that's where our book is and our product is rooted in is slowing that cycle down and making it more manageable for people no matter what is causing the anxiety right now.
Scott DeLuzio 00:08:01 Yeah, absolutely and I totally agree with what you're saying about being a problem solver. My tendency is to try to jump in and solve a problem, whether I'm talking to my wife or my kids, or friends or whatever. If they are coming to me and they're talking to me about a problem, maybe it's just the way I'm wired. Maybe it's the way a lot of people are wired. But I feel like if they're coming to me with a problem, it's because they're looking for a solution. And so, my mind just goes and jumps right into problem solving mode. Identify what the problem is, what is it that we can do to solve it and things like that. But what you're saying, I know this to be true too.
Scott DeLuzio 00:08:50 It's just sometimes I don't use my own advice that I have in the back of my head. What you're saying is that sometimes you just need to listen and that's really what the other person needs is that ear to listen and my wife and I say to our kids all the time, God gave us two years and one mouth so that we should listen twice as much as we talk. And sometimes I don't take my own advice on that. What you're saying makes complete sense. It could be the thing that the kids really need is just to have somebody to listen to their fears and whatever it is that that might be bothering them. You mentioned earlier the cycle of anxiety, and you're talking about how important that is. So would you care to share a little bit more about that?
Colleen Marchi: 00:09:43 Yeah. I think it's important for all of us to understand how anxiety can spin up really quick and how we can all manage it. It's not a thing. It's not something that goes away. You can't just say, well, I'm cured of anxiety. I used to have it before and now I'm over it. It pops up all the time. So the first thing that happens is you get that worried about that “What if”, and it can come out of nowhere for some people where all of a sudden, you just feel this wave and that worry thought starts to create some stress hormones and physical reaction. Our brain pumps those stress hormones in thinking it's time for fight or flight. And so, we get the physical reaction that rapid heart rate that rapid breathing, the stomach upset for a little kid, the dry mouth.
Colleen Marchi: 00:10:29 Can I have one more glass of water? That's not just a stall technique for kids to not want to go to sleep. They really are fearful, headaches. I mean the symptoms can be severe to nausea, to dizziness, but that physical symptom really starts from one word that just spins up and then our body wants to avoid it. We want to get back to that rest and digest. So, there's a behavior change, whether it's a tantrum for a little kid or for an adult, maybe anger outbursts, reacting because your body's just in a state of shock and survival mode for children. It's a tantrum or avoidance of a behavior, not wanting to go to sleep, not wanting to leave mom and dad, if they are going to be back in school from a distance learning to that's going to create some real anxiety,
Colleen Marchi: 00:11:20 they’ve been home for so many months now with mom and dad. So that's a whole other anxiety provoking for all of us, from moms and dads, the kids, it's children, teachers, anyone in between, this is just the mere mention of school starting. You can spin that cycle up, but so then our body gets a reaction of a satisfaction of that avoidance. And it's a short term gain, right? So you're feeling a little bit better. You're away from the scary situation, but then all you're doing is reinforcing the fact that that fear has more power over you and you can't control it. And your only way to eliminate the fear is to stay away from what's causing it. In your day, right now, everything is anxiety provoking, mundane activities that normally wouldn't create this fear are really scary for a lot of people.
Colleen Marchi: 00:12:10 So the best thing to do is learn to manage that anxiety and cope with it. So come up with a strategy, come up with a plan so that they're in small and steady progress. So identify what it is. It's worrying. You come up with a plan of how you're going to do it and implement it in small pieces. So that if things, it is school that you're talking about it with the children, okay, so we're not sure what's happening every day, it's going to change, but either way, you're going to be okay, reassure them. You're going to be okay, we're going to talk about this. We're going to check in and we are going to make this a great thing. So, when a child comes to you and says, I'm worried about this, you don't want to be like, Oh yeah, man, that's really scary.
Colleen Marchi: 00:12:48 It's more like, wow, that must be hard. What does it feel like? How can we make that better? And let them be part of the solution to it and come up with a plan. And when you see a child or an adult handling something that's scary for them, acknowledge it because sometimes, we know the right path, but we won't really recognize that we're doing it. And it's important to have a win and a victory because then you feel like, “Hey, I can do that again.” So, when I'd see my son sleeping through the night after we gave him, Sir William or Brave Knight, I would say, “gosh, I'm so proud of you. Look at what you did last night.” And he then would stand a little taller and puff his chest out and be proud of himself. And the next night he would say, I think I can do it because I did it last night. And it's like a learned behavior rather than fleeing from the fear, addressing it. And so, it's a small, slow change to help people slow the cycle down.
Scott DeLuzio 00:13:46 I think parents probably have seen this type of behavior many other times with their own children, just in normal day to day things that you might have done, or different milestones that the kids might have made. Like, when they first learned to tie their shoes, when they're frustrated, it's not going the right way or whatever, and they they're throwing their shoes because they're angry at it. It's like, “Oh, these shoes are stupid. Just can I get the old Velcro ones back” and that type of thing. But then once when it clicks and they get it and you give them that praise, like I actually did it, that's something I could do, the same thing with riding their bike or any other thing that's difficult at first, but they end up eventually conquering it and they get through that issue.
Scott DeLuzio 00:14:40 I think that's something that probably many parents, especially if children who are not infants or whatever they see that behavior in their children. So, your kids have this in them. You know, they have that ability to overcome a hard thing and kids are generally speaking, they're pretty resilient. They can be if they're given the right circumstances. And I think things that cause anxiety with children, especially things like deployments or whatever the case may be. I can only imagine what it would be like for a young kid to have to pack up and move every couple of years. And now am I going to find any friends in this new place? I'm not going to be able to see my old friends anymore from wherever I was before. There's a lot of anxiety, but it does tend to create, from what I understand, some pretty resilient kids afterwards.
Colleen Marchi: 00:15:51 Yeah, for sure. But in the meantime, while they're struggling with it, when sleep is missing, because that's generally where it comes up, they're having these little victories during the day and then all of a sudden they're in their room and it's dark and they're like, “Ooh, okay.” But that's a real problem for any family, but especially for military families. When my husband was deployed, and my son was struggling and he was coming into my bed at night, I was like, this is my only time. We have three boys and I was like; this is my only time by myself. And even if I'm asleep, like it was my time to just let my body and brain just reset and rest and be ready mentally and physically for the next day of having to parent all on my own and handle everything.
Colleen Marchi: 00:16:37 And that was wearing me down. But I knew that when my husband was coming home, that couldn't be a situation because he needed that even more than I did. I mean that he was having such a hard time. He wanted to come back in and just be ready to be where we left off. But it took a minute and people don't really talk about that, but that transition is hard. And, if a service member comes back and they're struggling with situations that occurred, if they're having PTSD and just stuff that they're not even able to identify it yet, sleep is so important. And it's really hard to come by. That's the first thing that gets disrupted for anybody with any fears or anxiety and then it just makes the whole dynamic so much more stressful.
Colleen Marchi: 00:17:21 When you guys are going on no sleep, a family is being disrupted of sleep, then everybody's on edge and every little, tiny thing can set them off. So sleep right now is one of the most restorative things we can do. It's the thing that's going to keep us, honestly, the healthiest and our immune system up mentally able to conquer anything and so I can't say enough for everybody who is struggling with any anxiety, make sure that you are working on a sleep hygiene program to where you were getting enough hours of restful sleep, your family and yourself.
Scott DeLuzio 00:17:51 Yeah, absolutely. And just to go back and touch on the point that you made about how you need that time to yourself that that was your only time is basically when you're sleeping in your room, in your own bed, and that's time to yourself. I could see how somebody who's listening to that might feel like they're being selfish by not taking care of their children's needs. And, you know, from my point of view, if you're not taking care of your own needs you need to have sleep. It's just a basic human need. Unless you're a robot, you need to have sleep. If you're not getting that sleep, then like you were saying, you're not going to be on your A game the next day.
Scott DeLuzio 00:18:41 And then your kids aren't getting that A game behavior out of you the next day. And maybe it's not even you're bringing your A game. Maybe that's not even the right phrase because we're not all on top of our game, but if you're not able to take care of yourself and get the sleep that you need, then you're going to just snowball this into a much bigger problem down the road. And that's not fair to yourself. It's not fair to your kids and your family. So, for anyone who might be sitting there thinking, “Oh, I feel so selfish for taking care of myself and just telling my kids to go back to their room and sleep in their own beds. It really isn't. If you think about it that way, you need to take care of yourself
Colleen Marchi: 00:19:29 And there's that old adage, and you're on the airplane, put your mask on yourself first before, which is hard because as a mother, I don't really do much for myself. That's how all mothers are. I'm not anything particularly special. I'm just average, it's just what we do. But there are definitely families who prefer a family bed and having the children in there. But if the children are coming in because of fear, then you're not really even taking care of them. I know it's hard to think then. And it took me a long time to think that I was giving him a short-term game and gain and myself a short-term game of like, let me just sleep just even three hours. If he's kicking me and rolling around, but I wasn't helping him.
Colleen Marchi: 00:20:07 I really, really wasn't. And I was seeing the fear that was happening at night, then it started to happen when I would bring him to school because he was learning, not that I could tie my shoes, not that I could go down the slide, not that I could sleep through the night in my own room, but that when something scares me, I should run from it. And that's a much bigger issue. So it took me a long time. I was just dealing with it. I was like, okay, I'd walk him down some nights and he would stay in bed. And I was like, we've better fix this because I started getting anxiety at night. The sun would go down, dinner would be done, and I would be like, “Oh gosh, another night I don’t sleep.”
Colleen Marchi: 00:20:43 So it really is so hard for us sometimes as parents to remember that we need to address that we need to take care of ourselves, but we also need to address that fear. And the way that we came up with it was because I finally had realized that same point that you were saying that it's like, it's okay. But I also have to help him. I have to figure out a way. And once we were all sleeping, I was such a happier mom. And he was a happier kid and my husband was a much happier dad. What we created was the same idea. It's a protector and it's a problem solver. And it's in a way that a child can completely understand it. I kept telling him, “Hey, we're safe. Daddy is so strong. And our house is so safe and you're protected.” And he was like, “that's weird lady because the dinosaur is coming in here scaring me every night.” That's funny to say that. But, and so when I created something that matched his fear and he understood, it was like, finally, thank you. And then we all were just having a much happier existence asleep.
Scott DeLuzio 00:21:51 Yeah, absolutely. And so, tell us a little bit more about the story, about the whole process and what is involved with it and how it can help other families.
Colleen Marchi: 00:22:07 Yeah. So, after months and months and months of this struggle, one night, I thought, okay, I've got to find a way to address this fear with him. And so, I went back to my schooling and my career and thought, okay, I've got to find a way. So, we talked, I sat him down and I said, okay, what does it sound like at night? What does it feel like? What does it look like? And even though he was like four years old, I was like in his little way of just saying, gosh, he was able to really describe what his fear was. And it was so important for me to listen and just validate him like, “gosh, you really are struggling.” Even though I keep saying to you, you got to sleep tonight.
Colleen Marchi: 00:22:47 You gotta be brave. And he really was seriously afraid. So, the next day, I woke up and I created the first Brave Knight. And his name is Sir William. He is a sweet plush, little Teddy bear, 12 inches. And he's dressed in a medieval Knights armor, but he's really brave, but lovable and huggable. And I picked my son up from school and sat down and I said, this is your Brave Knight. And he is going to watch over you tonight while you sleep. And before you go to bed, we're going to give those words up to him. And we're not going to sit and struggle with them. You don't have to hold them in all night. We're going to sit together and you're going to tell Sir William everything that worries you tonight and he's going to stand guard and he's going to be up while you sleep.
Colleen Marchi: 00:23:26 My son was so excited. Why have you not thought of this before? And I was like, yeah, no kidding. I lost sleep seriously over this. And so that night we talked about it and we told them everything, they had dinosaur that was coming in and we just were able to allow him to give up those fears. So, after the stories and the questions he asked about where the Knights came from and what training they went into and what their castles were like, I wrote a story, about it. And so, our product comes with our sweet little bear, along with the storybook, a professionally illustrated storybook. And it tells the tale of where the brave Knights come from and how they can help, and it's friendship and bond and companionship and protection.
Colleen Marchi: 00:24:18 The last part, which is where the magic, our name comes from Magical Order Brave Knights and this is my husband's edition, which all of the military, personnel up there will appreciate this. We have a projecting flashlight and it comes in either pink or blue. And it has a wheel that projects eight different images, almost like a view master. They can click through and shine the images under their bed or in their closet. And it clears their room of anything that's scared. So, a nightmare that comes in and hides in their closet once it's cleared with Williams light, nothing will come in there and they can sleep. So they're giving up their worries, they're identifying them, they're addressing them and then they're conquering them by protecting it. And they feel like that's a huge part of it because it's William and them conquering these together. And he's got their back and he's on guard while they sleep. So, it's a really great ritual each night for the kids. And they love to know that someone else is there while they're sleeping.
Scott DeLuzio 00:25:16 Yeah. That's great. I know, one of my sons, when he was younger, used to get up in the middle of the night and just turn on the light in his room and just leave the light on like the full room light. It was super bright in his room and then he would try to go back to sleep and when you have a light on in the room, you don't get the deep sleep that you need, and it's not the best sleep to have. So, I really do like the fact that you have that flashlight. So, it's a quick, there's a “I'm afraid there's a monster under the bed.” So let me take the flashlight and take a quick look, sweep it back and forth.
Scott DeLuzio 00:26:00 Okay. There's no monster there. Cool. Let's go back to bed and then the lights off, and you don't have to keep the light on the entire night to know that there's no monster under the bed, because you already checked and there's nothing there. The same thing with any other fears, dinosaur in my closet or whatever the case may be. So that's probably a lot better for sleep than what my son was doing, turning on the light and leaving it on for the rest of the night.
Colleen Marchi: 00:26:30 Yeah, that really affects the circadian rhythms. So, you're supposed to have the room as dark as possible, which is hard for kids because they always want something on. It really does mess and it changes that melatonin schedule. So, the best thing you can do is as you're getting them ready for bed, keep it as low lit as possible so that their brain is already producing melatonin naturally to get them because when the light is on your brain thinks it's time to get up. And so, it really is a very unrestful sleep. There's no deep REM sleep. The circadian rhythms are up and then trying to wake them in the morning. They're a little groggy and sometimes trying to get ready for school in the morning or daycare can be an extra added thing.
Scott DeLuzio 00:27:13 No, absolutely. Yeah. And that's sort of what we realized and his room is tucked down the hall. And so, we didn't necessarily see that the light was on when we were getting ourselves ready to go to bed. We recognized in him that he was having some issues in the morning, he was slow to get up and he was just cranky and tired and all that stuff. And so, we started trying to figure out, he's going to bed early enough, he's waking up late enough, what's going on. We started just peeking in and then we put two and two together, figured out that the light was on and it really did make a difference.
Scott DeLuzio 00:27:56 You know, he wakes up now more refreshed, and he's gotten the full deep sleep that he needs, in order to wake up and be cheerful and not a grouch if you will. So, before we wrap up, I don't know if there's anything else that you had that you wanted to talk about the book or about the process that kids might go through and also, I want to make sure that we have a chance for you to tell people where they can go to find the book and how they can get their hands on it, if this is something that their family is struggling with, so if there's anything else, please let us know.
Colleen Marchi: 00:28:46 Yeah, well, we just had an amazing honor. We've received a few awards since we started this business, my husband and I are running this together. It's small business, but this year we just received the 2020 product of the year from Child Creative magazine for products with fear and anxiety, which they really are highlighting because of 2020s, entire stretch of existence, as we're all struggling with anxiety. So, to get product of the year from them for fear and anxiety, it's huge and it's a small business. It's my husband and I, so we have some sweet, personal touches that we do. So, if you buy our product, which is the book, the bear and the flashlight that comes as a kit right now, we have some great free gifts with purchase just because everybody's struggling right now.
Colleen Marchi: 00:29:34 And, life is hard for everybody. So, we're throwing some free gifts in but we also send, a booklet in the mail, kids love getting mail. And now that we're even more isolated, we've done this from the beginning, but now it's even more special. I feel like for children, we send a booklet in the mail address to the little Prince or princess about 10 days after they received their sir William. And it comes from the brave Knight castle. They're so excited. It's got some little extra tidbits about the game, Sir William likes to play and his favorite place to hide, play hide and seek in the castle and some fun stuff that they love. We also send a birthday card out during their birth month from the castle. Just another fun thing that kids love to see. It comes in a sweet envelope, a little paw print from Sir William on the back.
Colleen Marchi: 00:30:19 And, lastly, we donate a portion of all of our sales to Steven Sellar Tunnels to Towers foundation. It's an amazing charity that helps provide mortgage free homes for any military police or first responder families that have had a spouse die in the line of duty, or if they're catastrophic injured. They help with smart homes for them. So, being a military family, my brother was killed while serving in 2003 in the Army, so we know what that's like when you've lost everything. And then oftentimes the spouse loses their home. And their children are going through the worst time in their lives. So, to be able to provide some safety and protection for them in some small way from our sales, it's a really big deal. So, by helping your child sleep, you're also helping, give some peace to a family that needs it at the worst time in their life.
Scott DeLuzio 00:31:14 Yeah, for sure. and I would want to express my condolences for you and your family, with your brother. I've also lost my brother in Afghanistan in 2010. I know how that feels and it's a terrible situation but you're right. We oftentimes don't think about the families who are left behind when terrible tragedies like this occur and the foundation that you donate a portion of the proceeds to, I looked into it on your website. Would you mind telling people a little bit more about who that person is who's being honored through that foundation and a little bit of the background on that story? It was amazing and I think if you can talk a little bit about that, that would be awesome too.
Colleen Marchi: 00:32:10 So Steven Sellar was an FDNY firefighter. My husband's a New Yorker, so it's really near and dear to our hearts. At FDNY firefighter and on 9/11, he had just gotten off shift and lived in Brooklyn, which is just over the bridge of the tunnel, from Manhattan. He got the call and heard what had happened and he couldn't get through, the tunnels were closed down because they weren't sure what was happening and the bridges were just locked. And so he grabbed his gear and ran across, to get back into lower Manhattan and went into the World Trade Center and had saved hundreds of people before he died, unfortunately, in the towers when they came down and his heroic efforts and just amazing courage that day had his family started a foundation in his honor.
Colleen Marchi: 00:33:08 He's got, I think there's a number of brothers and sisters. It's a large family and they set up this foundation in his honor and started it small and it's just grown. They've helped so many families who have lost someone while serving. So, it's police, military and any first responder, fire, anything, and it's great. And if they're catastrophic really injured, they've branched out just from dealing with the spouses who have died to now being able to help them have a home that they can thrive in. When somebody dies, everybody's there initially, and then people have to go back to their life. And the family members sometimes are often forgotten. And, if they're catastrophically injured, that people are there in the beginning and then the families left to handle that.
Colleen Marchi: 00:34:00 And so to have this foundation that has been so amazing, so supportive, my husband was down at 9/11. I had flown home to California. We were living in New York at the time. I'd flown home to California and my husband was there. And for the first 36 hours, I hadn't heard from him. And I just sat up watching the screen and just sitting there and thinking, “okay,” so that day changed everybody's life in our country, many people since with everything that has happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's changed their lives and so many families. So, this foundation is phenomenal. We looked, we knew we wanted a charitable piece. We knew that was something that was so important just to be able to give back, even though we're small and we found them and it was just a perfect fit. I just can't say enough. So, reach out, look at them. They used to have runs, which is great, and they're not now, so now it's hard. They're not getting as much, because they can't hold these large events. So, I encourage everyone to look out and see if you can give just a little to them to help because you really are making a difference in some family’s lives who really need it.
Scott DeLuzio 00:35:12 Yeah, absolutely. And I will have a link to this foundation in the show notes and as well as everything else that we talked about today, a link to your website to help people find where they can get the book and the whole package deal that you have and help you out that way to hopefully get families out there who are listening and resonating with the message that Colleen has talked about here. Hopefully help you get your little one, some sleep and yourself as well, because it's disruptive to the whole family. So, thank you again, Colleen, for joining me, and coming on the show, sharing this information and I really do appreciate what it is that you're doing. Keep it up and, I'd be happy to talk with you again in the future to see how everything's going and see how this evolves. That'd be awesome.
Colleen Marchi: 00:36:19 Thank you so much. And I'll give you a discount code, a 15% off discount code that can be for any of your listeners. There's a fun discount wheel anyway, which you may even get 20%, but if not, at least you're going to get 15% and a free gift.
Scott DeLuzio 00:36:36 Thanks for listening to the Drive On Podcast. If you want to check out more episodes or learn more about the show, you can visit our website, DriveOnPodcast.com. We're on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DriveOnPodcast.