Oh, wouldn't life be so much simpler? So but, uh, what I thought it'd be really interesting to explore with you today is, I mean, this is who you are today, but, you know, based on your upbringing, how did you perhaps deviate? What did you learn from in order to be the Scott that you are today? So I wanna start with, what values did your own father instill in you growing up?

Yeah.

So I was generally loved, supported, encouraged to do whatever I wanted to do.

But I think one thing that really stands out for me is my dad was somebody who really believed and embodied the statement, like, n- nothing is that hard, you know? And so he would, one day he'd be an electrician, the next day he'd be building a boat, the next day he'd be working in finance, the next day he'd be doing something else.

And so he was always involving me in that.

He was always, like, I would not know how to do something, he'd say to me, "Scott, like, once you know the basics, nothing in life is very difficult." So he instilled a huge amount of confidence in my abilities to do things, but there was also not much confidence in my identity at the same time, because whilst I was encouraged to do all the things that I wanted to do, I also grew up in a family that was incredibly judgmental of other people for traits and identities that they have no control over, you know? And, uh, one example that has always really stood out to me, just kind of as how ridiculous it is, is, uh, I was sitting on a tram, uh, with my dad.

He was visiting me here in Melbourne.

Mm

Mm.

So it kinda can sometimes look like it's just more work for the mums.

But the way that we can get more dads into reading is we can, one, we can listen to audiobooks narrated by a male voice.

Two, we could give ownership to dads over certain nights of the week for reading.

So we could say, "Bedtime reading, it's dad's activity," because like it or not, b- uh, men are more, uh, likely to do something when they feel ownership over it, rather than it's just a parent activity that they need to take part in.

But of course, the, one of the biggest ones as well is modeling reading.

The more we read, the more kids are going to read, and especially the more that we model enthusiasm for reading.

Scott, what other [laughs] kind of wildcard ideas do you have to help people like John or Rosie, um, really kinda motivate their boys to pick up a book?

Mm.

So it k- can sometimes look like it's just more work for the moms.

But the way that we can get more dads into reading is we can, one, we can listen to audiobooks narrated by a male voice.

Two, we could give ownership to dads over certain nights of the week for reading.

So we could say bedtime reading, it's dad's activity because like it or not, b- uh, men are more, uh, likely to do something when they feel ownership over it, but rather than it's just a parent activity that they need to take part in.

But of course, the, one of the biggest ones as well is modeling reading.

The more we read, the more kids are going to read, and especially the more that we model enthusiasm for reading.

What other [laughs] kind of wild card ideas do you have to help people like John or Rosie, um, really kinda motivate their boys to pick up a book?

So how important is it that we're modelling this to our boys? You know, and you spoke about the fact that we read more and longer to our daughters than we do to our boys.

Yeah.

So the research around that is super fascinating.

So the numbers vary depending on where and all those sorts of things.

But one of the most fascinating pieces is that on average, we read to our sons three minutes less than our daughters, which doesn't sound like a lot.

But by the time they reach school, that's 100 hours less reading that they are exposed to.

And you think of like the skills in vocabulary, the excitement around reading, all of those things are less because there's so much less time engaged in it.

And can you sort of tell me about that journey and share that journey with us?