There’s no shortage of movies, television, books and music geared toward kids. The tough part is, some of it is pretty terrible, some is just okay, and some is truly fantastic (making us want to be a kid again, quite frankly).
In Episode 46 Meagan and Sarah discuss helping our kids follow their interests into the realms of literature, music, and screen media. We marvel over some of the differences between what’s available today and what we watched as kids, and we share some of our favorite resources for navigating the ever-changing landscape of kids’ media.
Meagan also shared an update on the Life, Listened podcast network and the launch of a brand new show, LifeWork!
- Listen to LifeWork with Meagan and entrepreneur Dave Krock
- Subscribe in iTunes or leave a review
- Read more about Meagan’s plans for Life, Listened (if you’re a podcaster or would like to be, read this for sure!)
Links we mentioned (or should have) in Episode 46
- Commonsense Media
- Overdrive (mobile app for digital audio and ebook loans from your local library)
- Cool Mom Tech (great reviews of tablet apps and games for kids)
- Some of Sarah’s kids favorite chapter book series (good for read-aloud with a parent or grades 1-3 independent reading)
- Magic Tree House
- The Magic School Bus chapter books (different from the picture books)
- The Secrets of Droon
- Nancy Clancy chapter books (same author as the Fancy Nancy picture books, but for early elementary schoolers)
- Ivy & Bean series
- Non-fiction biography series Who Was… (here’s one example)
- Chinaberry (book catalog)
- KidsVuz (kid-generated videos and product reviews)
- Disney Stories playlist on Spotify
- Podcasts Sarah’s kids like:
- Brains On! and Tumble (both science podcasts for kids)
- Potter and Daughter (an accompaniment to the Harry Potter book series)
My son (age 7) really did not enjoy Inside Out either for the same reasons you mention. He couldn’t verbalize it but he refused to discuss it, looked upset when it was over, and has never wanted to watch it again. I think it was really heavy and Reilly (the main character) experienced some really difficult things and hard emotions that he didn’t enjoy thinking about. He is sensitive so I should’ve considered that beforehand but listening to you discuss it was a bit of lightbulb moment. Zootopia was way better! 😉
So interesting, Becky. I had a feeling we were not alone there! My kids saw Zootopia with my parents and liked it, although they didn’t rave about it as much as I thought they would. Sigh. Sometimes the old classics are the best crowd-pleasers! Thanks so much for commenting!
Hi my 7 year old was very upset by Inside Out also. It was too heavy. I felt like it was geared toward Tweens or preteens. I keep falling into the trap of taking her to movies that other parents tell me their kids have liked and they are just too intense for her. Love the podcast! Thanks
During this episode, I heard Megan give a brief mention of something she uses to filter YouTube videos for her daughter. What was it?
Karen, I think I was just referring to the standard YouTube parental controls you can set by scrolling all the way to the bottom of the page at youtube.com and changing the “restricted content” settings. But as I recall, it didn’t work flawlessly and I haven’t relied on it.
A good resource for finding great kids books is readbrightly.com. Thanks for all the good info!