Kids see the world differently.
Their minds aren’t filled with all the noise we carry around all day. They’re not thinking about interest rates or stock prices.
They’re thinking about snacks, colors, cartoons, and whatever game they just made up five seconds ago.
I’ve got three of them, a five-year-old daughter and twin three-year-old boys. So I get a front-row seat to it every day.
We’re down in Disney this week, just my wife and me running point from sunrise to lights out. I knock out my work early, then it’s rides, shows, and chasing kids through crowds until everyone crashes.
My daughter is all about princesses. The boys are into superheroes. One of them is fully convinced he’s the Incredible Hulk.
The other day, as I was looking at my phone while the market was ripping higher, he said something that stopped me in my tracks.
Family Sunday Futures
Every Sunday around 6 pm ET, we all check the futures together.
It started as a joke. I’d be logging in, waiting on passwords and codes, and I’d ask the kids, “What do you think, green or red?”
They don’t overthink it. It’s whatever color they like that day. Maybe it matches the fruit they’re eating. Maybe it’s just the mood they’re in. They’re three and five. There’s no macro thesis behind it.
But it stuck.
Now it’s part of the routine. Whether we’re at home, visiting my in-laws, or somewhere away for the weekend, everyone’s in on it. The whole family crowds around to see what color shows up on Dad’s screen.
Most of the time it’s just fun. In one ear and out the other.
But the other night was different.
Futures were ripping. Everything was green. One of my sons looks at the screen and goes, “Daddy, the market looks like the Incredible Hulk.”
I looked at my wife and said, “Did you hear that?”
Because he nailed it.
This is the Incredible Hulk market.
Accidental Endurance Training
I talk to a lot of parents about Disney.
There are right ways to do it. There are plenty of wrong ways, too, especially with three little kids.
After a few years of this, we’ve figured out what works. Sure, where you stay and what parks you hit matters.
But the biggest difference is mindset.
Some parents dread this trip. Some won’t even come. They think it’s exhausting, chaotic, just not worth it.
I see it differently.
I’m not here for me. I’m here to see smiles on my kids’ faces. And whether people want to admit it or not, Disney is really good at that.
But there’s something else I’ve learned.
If you approach it the right way, this turns into accidental endurance training.
We’re talking 20,000 to 30,000 steps a day. Carrying kids on your shoulders. Lifting, walking, standing all day long. You don’t have a choice.
The workout is happening whether you like it or not. So you lean into it.
You prepare for it. You accept it. And when you do, the soreness feels earned. You sleep better. You feel stronger by the end of the week, not worse.
People always ask if I need a vacation after this vacation.
No chance. I feel great.
Because the people who come in prepared, physically and mentally, have a completely different experience than the ones who don’t.
And that’s exactly what’s happening in the market right now.
Relentless green. Constant pressure higher. The kind of environment where strength feeds on itself. Like the Incredible Hulk.
If you’re fighting that, you’re exhausted.
If you’re positioned for it, you’re getting stronger every day.
Same trip. Same market.
But they can be completely different experiences depending on how you show up.
So the question isn’t what kind of environment this is.
The question is… are you strong enough to handle it?
Stay sharp,
JC Parets, CMT
Founder, TrendLabs