Play, Pause, & Parenting

Play, Pause, & Parenting is a nostalgic, funny, and thoughtful conversation about what happens when 90s TV kids become modern parents. We’re comparing the shows and movies we watched growing up with what we allow our kids to watch now, while unpacking how media and parenting have changed along the way. From Saturday morning cartoons, commercials, reruns, and waiting for the next showing to streaming, autoplay, binge watching, and on demand everything, this episode explores the shift from the childhood we knew to the one our kids are living. It’s witty, relatable, and full of those “they’ll never understand” moments while also reflecting on the values, choices, and parenting wisdom that matter most today.

Life doesn’t come with a manual but it does come with moments that shape us.

Growing WildFlowers is a podcast for parents, partners, and people doing their best to grow something meaningful in the middle of real life. We talk love, parenting, marriage, culture, and the beautifully messy moments in between. With honest conversations, shared stories, and gentle reminders that growth isn’t always loud, but it’s always happening.

• Rooted in connection

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What's up, Wild Ones? Welcome to Growing Wildflowers, the podcast where we talk all things parenting, pets, purpose, and the beautiful mess in between. I'm Will.

SPEAKER_03 0:08

And I'm Neach. We're talking clay, pause, and parenting. We are going all the way back. Back to the land of Saturday morning cartoons, TV guides, commercial breaks, reruns, VHS takes, and having exactly one chance to catch your favorite show before it disappeared into the universe.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Right. Meanwhile, our kids live in a world of streaming. On-demand everything. Skip intro, autoplay, binge watching, and the audacity to complain when the Wi-Fi takes three extra seconds.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

The nerve. So today we're talking about the shows and movies we allow our children to watch and what we watched growing up in the 90s and how parenting around media has changed from our parent generation to ours.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

I'm gonna be honest. This one is gonna be nostalgic, funny, a little shady, and probably way too real.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Because some of what we watched as kids absolutely unhinged.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

True story. And somehow we all survived. Our kids will never understand the pain of missing the beginning of a movie because somebody wouldn't stop talking.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Right. Or having to wait a full week on the for the next episode, like some kind of emotional punishment.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yeah. Or commercials. So many commercials. Remember those?

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Oh yes. Oh my gosh. Now let's start with the present. What actually gets approved in our house now?

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Yes. Just because something says it is for kids, it does not automatically mean it's welcome. So we have what I would call the trick-or-treat method. I know if you're familiar with Halloween and trick-or-treating, we always say you let the parents check the candy first, go through it. We might try a piece or two to make sure things are right. But it's the same process we have when it comes to shows and cartoons and basically content the children are going to watch.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

We try it out. We go in, we look at them, play a few minutes of something and say, okay, or look at the description, look at the reviews. Sometimes we might even watch a whole thing and say, Yeah, this is what we got to watch together. But we review and validate the content to make sure that it is actually what we want the kids to view. A lot of times it looks like it's for kids, but the direction it's going in is not what your children are ready for or what you want to expose them to.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

Not all cartoons are actually for children. And even if they're marketed to children, there are some that are just rude and loud and chaotic the whole episode. And no, we're not watching that.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Yeah, I think the ones that depict the parents as not intelligent, almost brain dead, and the kids are telling them what to do and how to do it, that kind of stuff can carry over. If you let your child get too familiar with that, they can start to replicate some of those behaviors. So that's the thing we're trying to make sure we also protect it. It's not just about viewership, it's about things that have content that can take our children in a different direction than which we're guiding them to.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

That we want to make sure the show feels safe or is a valuable lesson in there for them to learn.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Absolutely. So when we think about that a little bit, safe, valuable, but when it comes down for us, Anish, you can speak on this as well. The content that we choose, it has to have a good balance of education and entertainment. One without the other, either way, is not gonna be absorbed. So whether it's education leaning, it still has to have some entertainment. They're gonna need to enjoy it in order to absorb it and then want to re-watch it. So we're looking for things that has the education angle, but also are not overstimulating, and that it does have some learning aspect.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Whether it is a cartoon or not, are you learning your numbers, your alphabet? We bring up shows like Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger, they are less over-stimulating for kids to watch, and those are a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Right. When you look at those shows, they are actually really good on the social end of things too. They show some really good dynamics content that will allow for your children to get the situational awareness on how to interact and how to manage whether it's going to the restroom or it's getting upset when a friend won't share. Those are the kind of skills we're trying to build with our children, for example. Of course, there's many more depending on the age of the child, but yeah, that's the value.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

No, we have different age ranges with our kids. We have older kids as well. And that's a hard transition wanting to watch older kids shows. So we had to listen to that. One of the shows we found was Mission Unstoppable. It's about STEM. The kids really like that. It's a woman forward show. They talk to doctors and scientists, and I've learned a lot from that show. So that's a good show.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Yeah, I always like to go to Curiosity. Curiosity, yeah. That network always has really good educational things, whether it be under the sea or just different science topics that keeps your children engaged even as they get a little bit older, but it's still good content for even the younger ones for you, even though they might not grasp all of the things, it raises their awareness. And then there's the shows where the younger one can watch as well, like Pokemon.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

That's one that's all ages. Go-to family show.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

It's definitely opportunity where you can make everything age appropriate, yeah, and have everyone included in. You just have to really be willing to do the homework.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

Yes, check in the reviews on shows, right? Just make sure you know the description, what you want your kid watching, and what you don't want them to watch. So, some of the shows that get a yes from us, we'll share. Bluey is one of our fave family shows. We all watch that together. Bluey is funny, the parents are hilarious, they're so relatable, they tell real life stories about trying to make it to school on time, but the kids forgot something. They're also dogs, so they act like dogs sometimes. But the one thing I cannot get over about Bluey is the beginning theme song. A long time ago, our oldest mentioned that it was a dance freeze and you freeze when the song paused. I cannot get over that mom gets out first.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Ah man, that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

I don't think that's accurate.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

I don't know. That holds it down over here, so I don't know. I would say definitely odd squad is one that I would pick. It's a great show. It's exactly like what it sounds. It's really odd, but it's funny because it places math and patterns and strategy and puts it in there really well where the kids are able to absorb it and challenges that come up and how to overcome them using mathematics.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

I think we compared it to like our times much, much more educational.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Yeah, it relies on this bover view. Everyone is odd in their own way, and they are able to come together, lean on each other's oddness to successfully get over their obstacles.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

That's another show is Arthur. I watched Arthur when I was little. I love the fact that they are in school, they bridging school, home, siblings, and how they can be annoying, but you still are kind to them. There's bully at school. They deal with that and they find out things.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

They put those situations in front of the kids that they confront all the time, especially at the ages that they're at, elementary to middle school, real things that actually happen that parents aren't always involved with, yeah, or don't get to actually see. They get to watch other children through the show overcome those very same situations they may face or have faced before. And there's the learn, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:28

Yep. Also, Paw Patrol, they will watch.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

That's a good one. You got number blocks, number blocks, yes. Very educational, good one. Let's reflect a little bit because the 90s, yeah. I said it.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

The 90s really had us growing up on a very specific kind of television experience when you think about it.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

Yeah, definitely. Because we were partly raised by cartoons or sitcoms, whatever happened to be on TV after school. Like some of the shows that I watched were Doug, Rugrats, Recess was a funny one for me that was like school-related. Also, Rock was Modern Life. Hey Arnold, I watched a lot of Nickelodeon as a kid, but also Ah, Real Monsters was one of my shows. Yeah. Also, from Nickelodeon was Legends of the Hidden Temple, Double Deer. Yes, probably more, but what about you, Will?

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Ghostbusters was a big cartoon for me. Ninja Turtles was huge. Growing up, you had Looney Tunes.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

Oh, yeah. Bugs Bunny was my main man.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Yeah, DuckTales, March Pat, and Scrooge. That was always a good one to watch. You had Chippendale.

SPEAKER_03 11:33

Rescue Ranger.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

That was a big one. Wrestling. WWF was everything. Me and my friends used to have all of the wrestling toys, and when the main events, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble. That's when we had the pay-per-view. Family Matters was a big show. Fresh Prince.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

I used to watch that a ton. A different world exposed me as I was getting a little bit older to what the potentials of college could be like.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

They're bringing back a different world. Oh, yeah. It looks like all the characters. So this is going to be interesting to see. They have Debbie Allen as one of the producers. So I think it's going to be good.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

I'm sure it will be good. I'm sure. That takes us to like really thinking about what we watched. Some of the things that we watched back then were what we saw as classics and really good. But is there anything that you think about when you look back? Did our parents let some things just slide?

SPEAKER_03 12:46

A lot of movies, I would have to say, because we were watching Nightmare on Elm Street. We were watching Howard the Duck, which was totally not freaking out. But I remember parents just sending us in the living room and putting the movie on, and they were off. So they don't know what that movie was actually about.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

For the most part, probably. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

There was a lot of good movies too, don't get me wrong. Like Groonies, Ninja Turtles. What else did you think? Ghostbusters.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Batman was a big one for me. Superman. When you think about the details of some of them, like Ghostbusters and Turtles. They were in the streets of New York. The language was flying here and there. Although they were amazing classic movies, but that was the time, right? At that time, you know, we got a more exposure than I think our children do.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Right? And I think that also prepared us and built us for the world we was living in.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Right. Because we were looking at it real time.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Yeah. I think what our parents did really well is help us understand, I think, the big differentiator between adult behavior and kid behavior.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

Hmm. That's a good, that's a good point. That's a good way to look at it.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

And when I think hard about it, it was like, yeah, I remember seeing all of the movies probably that I shouldn't have seen, but I didn't take it and act on it or carry the behavior from it. That's true. I knew better.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

I think we glanced over it like that's adult business, maybe, and just kept it moving. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Um you was like, oh and you felt like privileged enough to get the opportunity to see it, but in a way where you was like, Oh, I'm not gonna say anything.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

You knew better than to go over there and say something that you heard.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah, I think that was the idea of it. I think sometimes we look over that when we look back and we just say that the parents just wasn't there, but I do think there's something with that. I know I definitely knew when I saw what was right and when I saw what was wrong.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

That's true. That's true. Yeah, so are we not showing our kids enough?

SPEAKER_01 15:02

We're in a time where the social dynamics are so different. Our children have exposure or access to so much information at a rate that we just didn't have. We could have watched something on TV, and only thing we were left with was what our parents told us about those kind of circumstances, or what we went outside and did and got a reaction from another adult or other children. Like it was all kind of real-time situations where now your child can watch something that they shouldn't watch, and then they could also get ideology or perspective from someone else who's now gonna teach them about what they were exposed to in a way that you probably wouldn't. And so you have to monitor what they're watching because you want to be ahead of it as much as possible. You want to talk about the different dynamics that life brings about with your children before they get out there and start searching the web on the topic because they saw something interesting. So as much as you can, as I said, it's very easy for them to get to it. Yeah, but you have to take control and take ownership of the conversation as much as you can.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

And limiting what they are actually seeing, and if they do have a question about something, yeah, making sure they come to you.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Yeah, because it's not about denial. They're gonna see the things, they're gonna hear the things. That's just the way life works. But you don't want it to get to them too early, and you definitely don't want it to get to them before you get the opportunity to prepare them or give them some sense of education on it.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

We do set expectations on the things that they're watching and the devices that they can go on. They know what we expect from them and behavior that we expect from them.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Absolutely. And we use all the controls possible when it comes down to limiting explicit content and those one handing them the technology, it's the same concept of let me get this device ready for them before I just let them go with it.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

These kids and these devices, I swear, they have no idea what we actually had to do to watch TV. First of all, even if we got to watch TV because our parents were watching something.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Right. There was no multiple users. No, there was no pause, and don't forget the commercials. Right. You had to sit through them, yeah, let them happen. Sometimes that was like your restroom break. Yeah, you would go run to the bathroom and then try to make it back before it started up again. And if you miss something, you're asking your sibling or whoever it is, what happened? What happened? Because that was it. And I give it to them. They had some commercials back then, they had some good commercials back then. Some of them they worked hard.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

They had to because we were watching.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Yeah, I'll tell you some I will never forget. Double double your refreshment, double double your reliance. There's no single gum that will freshen your mouth. Line, double man, double it.

SPEAKER_03 18:33

You have that for the devil. I think I remember the ones that had all of those numbers to call. It would be like every time, certain time of day, buy this and call this number to purchase.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Yeah, it was uh oh man, a Tootsie Pop commercial with a pop-tart commercials where the kid kept creating gadgets and then still in the other kids' pop tarts.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Yes. Oh my god, I forgot about that. Yeah, they the commercials were definitely on point, though. I will say that. Now they're basic and real generic.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

You're hearing about it. They're quick, but they're also like you talk about overexposure, they get their commercials are as like bad as we think our shows was back then. You gotta think, you know how many times I get a little bit of a cringe when we're watching something and an ad comes up, yeah, and you're like, oh, wait, we're we're talking about that now. Kids are there.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

Oh man, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Certain commercials don't go with the cartoon that they're watching, right? So I think it is easier for us to let them watch something on a streaming because there's no ads, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Yeah, no ads can help if you're if you're paying for that service.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

But kids really don't know how good they have it when we had commercials, we had to wait a whole week for a new episode to come on. It wasn't the same show as playing the next episode, the next episode. We had one show one week, and we had to wait for the next episode the next week. There's no pause, no play, no record. Yeah, and oh man.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

Yeah, we had it tough then, and I think we have it tough now because they have it so easy with access and on demand. The oldest few days ago was just like, I don't have any shows to watch. What do you mean? You have all these shows because she then should watch a really good series that I might have found for her to watch, but because they're able to watch them back to back here and there, they go through them really quickly, even if it's twice a day. You gotta think by the end of that week, you done watched 10 episodes of something, right?

SPEAKER_03 20:54

Oh man, 10 episodes, and we had 10 weeks.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Right. So, as parents, we're challenged, we're trying to keep them engaged by something because they have so much ready for them in the instance, and it's that immediate access.

SPEAKER_03 21:11

But also, I think from having to wait, we developed patience on waiting for a new episode and or watching movies and having to watch the credits and all of that. There was this mom on social media who found a VHS tape player and only letting her kids watch movies from her era and putting in a tape to watch the movies, and the kids have to sit through about I don't know, 20 minutes in the beginning before the movie actually comes on. And at first, she was like the kids were complaining, but now they're used to it. There is something in to waiting, but some of the movies they're watching.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Yeah. One, I think kudos to the mom for trying something different. That's new and old, that's innovation, whether it is a replica from what you went through, but trying to apply it somewhere where it doesn't exist. That's thoughtful thinking, and we have to try different things as parents. My curiosity always goes to exactly what you mentioned as we learned patience, but we also learned a lot of other things with the content that we had. It was a lot of mixed ratings kind of things going on, and it wasn't as clear cut as it is now.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

I'm pretty sure some of those ratings have gotten changed from the movies that we used to watch too.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

So that's saying something.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:42

Well, it is fun to think about if the kids could actually survive a cliffhanger and a seven-day wait till the next episode.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Absolutely not. I mean, they would have to, like in our situation.

SPEAKER_03 22:56

Yeah, we didn't have a choice.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

We didn't have a choice, but if you think about the way they'll react, if they can't get a Wi-Fi connection.

SPEAKER_03 23:05

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

For a moment. Can you imagine if it was like, all right, next episode, next Friday?

SPEAKER_03 23:13

No, we used to miss our favorite show. Missing our favorite show was a real loss. If our older sibling had to watch their show and we can watch our show that happened to be on the same time, that was just it. There was no coming back to that episode. You just missed it and had to get the details from your friend at school.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Yeah, you definitely missed it. I think that was another good part of the dynamic, was what you said. You had to go back to school and talk to your friend and be like, hey, did you see it? What happened? And it would tell you, but you didn't get back to that show. But I think there was some good in that too, because that's that social motivation, right? In a world where everyone is collated, that is important. And now you have to try to supplement those behaviors in there, whether it be you have this show, you can keep watching. We're gonna stop here and maybe a few days later we'll watch a couple more or another episode. But trying to put those in place in a way where, again, you maintain some of the control and you force your children to have that patience applied where they normally would not need to.

SPEAKER_03 24:30

I'm gonna definitely say both and I'll explain because family entertainment is definitely easier than it is now because we have multiple streaming services where we can pull up something for us to watch as a family, but it's also more exhausting because there is so many different uh movies and different streaming platforms to click from. Sometimes the kids just want to keep watching the same thing over and over again, but you want to expose them to new things or different movies, different types of movies or shows.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

I actually agree with all of that spot on.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

Okay, well, do you think our kids value content differently because it's always available?

SPEAKER_01 25:23

No, and I don't say that because they still have the same excitement when something is releasing just like we did. If I saw a preview or a commercial saying the new Batman movie was coming out, they still react the same if there's gonna be a new Sonic the Hedgehog movie. They have their shows that they like and love, the ability to have it at their disposal more frequently, they just watch it over and over again. We didn't have the privilege of being able to do that, but they don't like take it for granted. They still want to see it. You know that when one of the platforms removes something, they're like, oh no, what happened to it? So they still value it very much. They just have an advantage in the sense that they can actually go into a library and play what they want, what they like, so long as we approve it.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

They just have an advantage that I don't see a negative to, at least not from our experience.

SPEAKER_03 26:32

Yeah. I agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Cool. So my question to you would be are kids less patient because they never have to wait.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

I think they are definitely less patient in comparison to when we were kids because they have the access sooner. They, if the Wi-Fi goes out, they are impatiently waiting for it to go out, or they're asking us to put on a hot spot.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

Well, so are modern parents overthinking it or adapting to a harder environment?

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Definitely adapting to a harder environment. Um, yeah, before I get bashed, it's just a different environment for us. I think the game we're playing is chess versus checkers, in a sense that we always said knowledge is power, and knowledge is at the tip of the fingers of everyone now, including our children. So the game we have to play is how do we slow the flow of information or filter the information so that our children don't get overwhelmed with so many of the wrong things before we get a chance to nurture them in the way that we want to. The important component to making things more difficult than what it was then. If you think about the epidemics our parents were up against and all of the commercials, even the commercials who that supported with not doing drugs and things like that, where there's no commercial saying, hey, overexposure to social media is a problem. Do you know what your children are watching now? That kind of thing. There's nothing supporting us in that way. Um, and actually, we don't even have a hundred percent alignment that these things are really challenges in our home. So we have to take that all on as individual groups of parents trying to make sure our children are able to grow in the right way.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

Right. Our parents definitely had to work with what they had. I think that we have more tools, more information, but definitely different type of pressure.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

I would say that parenting now is not necessarily better or worse, but it is definitely more layered.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

It is more layered, I agree. All right, this is the fast forward or rewind edition. I'll ask a question. You ask me a question, and we're gonna say whether we think we should fast forward that to leave it in the past, or we're gonna hit rewind on that to bring it back. Okay. Sounds good?

SPEAKER_03 29:31

Yeah, I got it.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Line is rock. Saturday morning cartoons.

SPEAKER_03 29:35

Rewind. Okay, GD guide.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Fast forward.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Family sitcoms.

SPEAKER_03 29:45

Some of them rewind.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

All right.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Commercials.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Some of them rewind.

SPEAKER_03 29:55

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

VHS tapes.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Ooh, um, I'm gonna fast forward on that.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Thank you. Video rental stores, blockbuster, rewind.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

I can imagine our kids going into Blockbuster and getting to pick out the movie that they want to see. Yeah, that would be so awesome. It's not the same scrolling, trying to find a movie for them. But anyway, okay, come on. All right, oh, my son. Binge watching.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Fast forward.

SPEAKER_03 30:35

Okay, so what about autoplay?

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Uh autoplay. Rewind. Okay. Old school Disney movies.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

Oh man, and rewind.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Really?

SPEAKER_03 30:49

Well, maybe not all of them, but some of them, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

Okay. Your choice.

SPEAKER_03 30:55

After school specials.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Rewind. Yeah, we could definitely use some structure. I like that idea.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

One shared family TV.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

I'm gonna go fast forward, but no TV in the kids' bed. Bloom blast complete.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

We must admit, as much as this topic is funny and nostalgic, there is some real deeper messaging that's important not to miss.

SPEAKER_03 31:38

Because childhood shows or movies, it's not just about entertainment. It becomes a part of feeling of home and being connected.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

The content mattered when I was growing up. I know it matters to our children now, but the shared experience mattered more. Movie nights and favorite shows become emotional memories. You think back, I'm pretty sure the shows and movies you remember really takes you back to a place in time. And more than anything, we know kids remember rituals and connection.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

A favorite movie can become part of family culture. Sometimes kids don't even remember the episode, but they'll say, Hey, remember when we watched this or we watched that? That was really fun. Can we do that again?

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Right. Because parenting around media is really parenting around values, atmosphere, and memory.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

Right. It's not about perfect parenting, but intentional connection.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

And building a strong culture at home.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

Okay, now we have been talking about some of your blue moments that you've sent, and we have pulled a few that we want to share with you that we really enjoyed. So this listener says, I've been so caught up in surviving family life that I forgot connection can still be simple. Even 10 intentional minutes matters. My husband and I have been going for walks on the weekend together. Thanks for the reminder. This was from Keeping Up With Two from Nevada.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Alright, I'm up. I love Coffee, Chaos, and Connection because it captures something I have been feeling for a long time, but could never quite put it into words. I keep waiting for family life to feel more organized, more polished, more peaceful. Your episode reminded me of a recent family movie night that was supposed to be cozy and memorable. We got snacks, found a movie, dimmed lights, and within 10 minutes, one child was asking for another blanket. One was scared of a character that was not even scary.

SPEAKER_03 34:15

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Somebody spilled popcorn in the couch and the movie had been paused four times before we even got to the starting plot.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

Yeah, we've been there.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

I barely knew what the movie was about, but I knew we had laughed a lot. That episode made me realize that sometimes the memory is not the activity, it is the chaos around it. Thank you. Too slick from Florida.

SPEAKER_03 34:51

Nice one. Okay, another one says, Thank you for saying out loud what so many parents feel that sometimes we are doing our best and still feel like a mess. That episode felt like permission to breathe. And that was from to be shorty.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:15

And the last one, this conversation reminded me of a time I was trying to sneak five quiet minutes alone with my coffee in the morning in the pantry. And my child found me anyway, stared directly into my soul, and said, Are you hiding from us? I wanted to lie, but honestly, the moment was too funny. We both laugh. This episode made me feel better about the fact that family life is usually a hot mess, not like those moms on Instagram. And that is from Sienna from Texas.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

All right. Thank you, Sienna. So thank you again. And we love hearing how these conversations land in your real lives. It's very important to us. We really hope that we're sharing things that you can walk away with, but also things that you can relate to.

SPEAKER_03 36:17

Right. So this podcast isn't just about us, it's about all of us growing together.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

So if you enjoy play pause and parenting or had a nostalgic moment, share with us. We want to know what was your favorite show? What was the movie that you watched? What's the one that you cringe about a little bit now as an adult?

SPEAKER_03 36:39

Oh yeah. Yeah. Thanks for all the messages. We will keep sharing our favorite blue moments. We appreciate the support and make sure you tap the support link. And don't forget to subscribe and share it. Follow us on IG at duh underscorewildflowerway and tag your moment.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Keep showing up and keep the hope. Turns out every generation is just trying to find the remote.