Front Row Dads with Jon Vroman

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What if your child has been listening, understanding, and forming thoughts the whole time, and you just didn't know how to hear them?
In this conversation, J. Brad Britton sits down with Jon to share the story of his son Sam, who was diagnosed with autism as a child and told by experts that he would never progress mentally past the level of a young kid. For years, that's how the family treated Sam. They loved him. They respected him. But they had no idea what was actually going on inside.
Then one day, J. Brad and his wife Paulette walked into a symposium and watched a 17-year-old non-speaker spell out a fully aware, fully present sentence on a letter board. Everything they thought they knew about their son was wrong.
This episode is about what J. Brad learned when he finally discovered Sam's voice. It's about apraxia, the disorder where the brain works fine but the body refuses to cooperate. It's about the gap between what experts said about Sam and what Sam was actually thinking the whole time. It's about a father confronting the shame, regret, and humility of realizing he had underestimated his own son for years. And it's about the book he and Sam co-authored, Real Words With Sam, which is now changing how other families see their non-speaking kids.
This one will land for any father, whether your child has special needs or not. The conversation goes deep on what it actually means to listen to your child, to believe in your child, and to never assume you know what they're capable of.
If you'd like a free copy of J. Brad's book, here's how. Write a review of this episode, screenshot it, and email it to team@frontrowdads.com with your name and US mailing address. We'll send you a copy of Real Words With Sam as a thank you.
What you'll hear in this conversation:
→ Why J. Brad believed the experts for years and what finally cracked that open 
→ The symposium that changed everything and the 17-year-old who started it all 
→ What apraxia actually is and why so many non-speaking kids are misunderstood 
→ The day Sam answered his first open-ended question and what he said 
→ Why J. Brad calls writing this book the hardest thing he's ever done 
→ What Sam has spelled about his dad, his life, and his impact on others 
→ The shame, regret, and humility of realizing you've underestimated your own child 
→ What this experience has taught J. Brad about listening, presence, and connection 
→ Why this story matters for every father, regardless of their kid's circumstances
Connect with J. Brad and Sam:
Website: realwordswithsam.com 
Book: Real Words With Sam (available on Amazon and Audible)

What if the reason you're tired, foggy, and burned out has nothing to do with stress or sleep?
Most high-performing men assume their fatigue, brain fog, and inflammation come from doing too much. But there's another conversation happening in functional medicine that most doctors miss completely. Dr. Torrie Thompson is the founder of Meraki Wellness Center in Austin and specializes in mold, heavy metals, environmental toxins, and Lyme disease. She's spent over a decade helping people figure out what's actually wrong when their labs look "normal" but they feel terrible.
This one hits close to home for Jon. He's been dealing with Lyme, Babesia, and chronic inflammation for the better part of a decade. His CRP (a key inflammation marker) has averaged 90 for the last 10 years, with his most recent test coming in at 127. Tori told him on the podcast it's the highest she's ever seen, by a lot. If you've ever wondered why you feel off and your doctor keeps telling you everything looks fine, this conversation is for you.
 
In This Interview:
→ Why mold is the most common hidden driver of chronic fatigue and brain fog in men today 
→ The three foods that hold the most mycotoxins (and why you can't see or smell them) 
→ How to actually test your body and your home for mold (and the testing companies to avoid) → The difference between binders that help and binders that hurt 
→ Why standard doctors miss Lyme disease and what to do if you suspect you have it 
→ The order of operations: why you have to clear mold and metals before treating Lyme 
→ Why chelation can wreck your health and what to do instead 
→ How to spot misaligned incentives when a doctor pushes expensive weekly IV drips 
→ The cheapest, most overlooked tools for healing (PEMF, grounding, breathwork, sleep) 
→ Why your toxic bucket size determines how sick you get and how fast you recover
This Conversation Is For You If:
→ You're exhausted, foggy, or inflamed and your bloodwork keeps coming back "normal" 
→ You've been to multiple doctors and nobody can tell you what's wrong 
→ You suspect mold in your home or your body and don't know where to start 
→ You've been bitten by a tick at some point and never felt the same since 
→ You're a business owner whose energy is the engine and you need it back online
 
Next Step:
If this conversation made you curious about what might be sitting in your body or your home, Dr. Torrie and her team work with clients across the country. You can learn more about her practice and the work she does at drtorriethompson.com.
Connect With Dr. Torrie Thompson:
Website: drtorriethompson.com
Instagram: instagram.com/drtorriethompson

Ben & Jessa Greenfield have been playing card games and board games with their family almost every night for years. Their twin sons River and Taryn just turned 18 and are now designing and selling their own card games as a business. That didn't happen by accident.

In this conversation with Jon, Ben and Jessa go deep on the small daily traditions that built their family. Not the big vacations. Not the epic annual events. The stuff that happens every single night.

What they cover:
Why they play games at dinner almost every night and how it became their family's most important tradition
How to pick games that actually work (15-30 minutes, easy to learn, playable while eating)
Why the first year of playing games with young kids is boring and why you keep going anyway
The nightly family party: games, guitar, a song, prayer, cooking together, and why guests think they planned a special evening when it's just a Tuesday
Why making your home a fun place to be is the best alternative to screens
Jessa on the power of solo prayer hikes for self-reflection as a mom
Ben on why little stones make big ripples and why two miles every morning beats 46 miles once a month
Why 90% of the time you spend with your kids is over by 18 and how they plan to defy that → How their sons went from playing games to designing them to launching a Kickstarter

If your family dinners feel rushed, if screens are winning, or if you've been wanting a simple tradition that actually sticks, start here.
🎲 We built a curated list of the best family games from our community → frontrowdads.com/games

What happens when a CEO with a young family decides to ride 2,000 miles from Mexico to Canada in 13 days to serve families he's never met?
Matt King is the CEO of GoBundance, a mastermind for entrepreneurial men, and a dad to three young kids. He wasn't a cyclist. Five and a half months ago, he had never ridden more than 10 miles on a bike. Then he stood on a stage in November and announced he was going to ride 2,000 miles from Mexico to Canada in May to raise $1 million for families along the route. He told everyone before he told his wife. Before he had ever trained. Before he even owned the right bike.
In this conversation with Jon, Matt opens up about why he's doing this, what it's teaching him about fatherhood, service, and modeling hard things for his kids, and what he's learned about himself along the way. He talks about the morning he quit at 3:30 a.m. in the middle of a training ride. The $100,000 donation that stopped him in the middle of a 150-mile day. The families he's already helped before the ride has even started. And why he believes the world doesn't give you permission to do meaningful things. You have to give it to yourself.
The ride starts May 27th. As of recording, Matt has already raised over $481,000. Every dollar goes directly to families along the route.
In This Interview:
→ Why Matt chose a bike instead of a car or plane to find families who need help 
→ The morning he quit at 3:30 a.m. and what got him back on the bike 
→ How GoBundance members are deploying as "secret agents" into cities along the route to find stories 
→ Why his five-year-old son is his biggest fan and what that's taught him about modeling
 → The difference between living a legacy and leaving one 
→ Why he tracks "return on joy" instead of return on investment 
→ The role David Osborne played in shaping who Matt has become 
→ How to handle the doubt, fatigue, and criticism that comes when you commit to something hard 
→ Why oversharing might be costing you, and how to use your intuition to know what to share → The conversation he has with himself when he wants to quit (and the framework that gets him through)
 
Next Step:
The ride starts May 27th. You can follow the journey, sign up to ride with Matt at any point along the route, nominate a family who needs help, or donate to the mission at the link below. If this story moved you, the simplest thing you can do is share it with one dad who needs to hear it.
Back the Ride: gobundance.com/theride

What happens when you raise boys with earth-based traditions, rites of passage, and the wilderness as their classroom?
Tim Corcoran has spent 25 years answering that question. He's the founder of Twin Eagles Wilderness School in North Idaho, a rites of passage guide, wilderness mentor, and father of two sons.
He's mentored kids from age 6 through adulthood, taken over 100 men through vision quests, and built a community where families stay for 15 years because of the impact on their children. In this conversation with Jon Vroman, Tim breaks down what rites of passage actually are, why boys need challenge and mentorship from men beyond their fathers, and what 25 years of nature-based mentoring has taught him about raising grounded, confident, capable young men.
Front Row Dads is partnering with Tim for an exclusive father-son wilderness adventure this fall. → https://frontrowdads.com/fatherson
In This Interview:
→ Why earth-based traditions are needed now more than ever to raise boys into men 
→ What a rite of passage actually is and why the term is widely misused 
→ The difference between initiation and rite of passage and why it matters 
→ Why Tim said no to leading rites of passage for 7 years until the community was ready
 → What the father-son wilderness adventure looks like (5 days, no screens, no phones, real challenge) 
→ The developmental path from age 6 through vision quest and why each stage builds on the last 
→ Why boys need a village of men and not just one father to model after 
→ What happens when you initiate emotional maturity in boys at 13 instead of waiting until 45 → Jon's personal experience at the father-son trip and what it revealed about his own edges
This Conversation Is For You If:
→ You're a father raising boys and you want more than sports and school to shape who they become 
→ You've been looking for a meaningful father-son experience that goes deeper than a vacation → You want your son to be grounded, emotionally mature, and ready to lead before he leaves home 
→ You believe boys need challenge, nature, and trusted men in their lives → You're an entrepreneur or business owner and you want your son to see you do hard things
Next Step:
Front Row Dads is partnering with Twin Eagles Wilderness School for an exclusive father-son wilderness adventure this fall. Limited to 10 families. If you want to experience what Tim has been building for 25 years with your son, details are here: → https://frontrowdads.com/fatherson
Connect With Tim Corcoran:
Twin Eagles Wilderness School: twineagles.org 
Purpose Mountain (adult vision quests & purpose discovery): purposemountain.com