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The Surprising Power of Intentional Screen Time for Kid’s Faith and Values · ABCs of Parenting Adult Children

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the podcast ABC's of Parenting Adult Children.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Please join us as we discuss parenting adult children and the unique struggles that it comes along with.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to ABC's of Parenting Adult Children podcast.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: My name is James Moffat, and I'll be your host.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're joined by Jonathan Ootley of Light Tunes Animation.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Jonathan brings a unique perspective on creativity, purpose, and what it looks like to support adult children and little kids as they pursue paths that don't always fit the traditional mold.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is a great conversation for any parent or grandparent learning how to encourage, step back, and trust the process.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Jonathan, how are you today?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing well.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm all right.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, do me a favor and introduce yourself to the listening audience.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, like you said, I'm Jonathan, and my wife and I founded Light Tunes Animation uh a few years ago, about six years ago now.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: And so what we do is we create uh kid shows and books because we believe that every family deserves stories that inspire faith.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: And we are a faith-based company, so we provide uh free cartoons for kids, and then we also have books that uh help with storytime too when screens when you're ready to be done with screens for the for um uh a day or two.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: So uh that's really what we're about, and that's uh who we are.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: So as we had a discussion earlier about ABC's The Parenting Adult Children podcast, it's it's uh kids from the age of 18 to 30, and as parents.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's who our listening audience is, is parents that have you know young adults as uh as their children.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: They've transitioned from being preteens and teenagers into the uh 18 to 30 range.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that those years or those age groups have their own unique issues, right?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Transitioning into being an adult is the scary thing at best.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I know that some of the some of the parents that are listening to this podcast episode are probably grandparents, because guess what?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Kids grow up, they have families of their own, they've got little kids running around, and so all of a sudden, all of a sudden mom and dad are now grandparents.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: And um it's always fun to spoil the grandkids' rot and get them all jacked up on sugar and then hand them back to the parents and go, okay, I had fun, you have fun, we're going home.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyway, uh how let's launch into this.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: How did your upbringing influence the way you think, create, and communicate today?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I grew up as a pastor's kid.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: So we're a faith-based company.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up in the Christian faith, and so I am 100% pastor's kid.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: My my dad's been a pastor my whole life, and so that had a major impact on me and influence on me growing up.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was like one vein, I guess you could say, of my life that really kind of led me to where I'm at today.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then the other vein of it was my my parents really providing me and getting me in places that provided me different opportunities, and a lot of those opportunities came through school.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: So middle school and high school, I was our school system had things like not just band, but we had art, we had, you know, painting, pottery, sports, all those things.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then high school, we had things like creative writing, and then more pottery, and then music, and we had so many different opportunities that I could try.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so where I landed in high school was I love creative writing, so I took, I think, two classes of that.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: I took two classes of pottery.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: I love pottery, and uh, and really specifically that's like throwing pottery on a wheel, if you've seen that before.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's really fun.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then the other class I was able to take was a media class.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I learned video and editing and all those things.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's awesome.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I really uh like I found out that the art and artistic things were places I'm passionate about.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: I just enjoy doing it, and it never felt like a bore to me.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, so I I like what feels a bore to me is folding clothes, but doing media and stuff, I could do that all day and not feel anything.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'd just be tired.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: So so that really led me into college, and I went to college for uh really the major was film and broadcast.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I learned the ins and outs of uh camera work, uh basically A to Z writing, filming, editing, delivering a video.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so those different things along the way led me to where we're at today.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm 33 now, and we have our own animation company with Light Tunes Animation, but all that came from the opportunity opportunities I had when I was in middle school and high school, and then also my parents uh raising me up in the Christian faith, uh, which I do believe was very integral in providing me with the solid foundation of learning how to care about people, to love your neighbor, you know, to think of others uh before yourself and and live selfless.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that those kind of values are things that kids need, even today in a world that's crazy.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think the best thing that you can do is be a little bit more selfless each and every day.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because if we're all selfless and taking care of each other, I think that the world could be a better place.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely, no doubt about that.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: So for parents listening, how can they recognize and nurture creative gifts in their kids early on?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you know, we're new parents, kind of.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Our son is about to celebrate his first birthday, and so wow, okay.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: We we've started to notice even just now the way that he seeing how his brain works, seeing the things that he just naturally does, like he'll it seems like right now he's very analytical, so he he will he stacks little toys, but he puts them in a row and then he he moves them and they have to go in a specific order.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think that a lot of it comes from just trying.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you're looking for creative gifts, I think the hardest part is remembering that when they're trying something new, everyone's bad at what they're trying with that's new, you know.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: So a kid like my drawings.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: I have some of my drawings actually from middle school and high school.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that you would think that I would have been in uh uh have an animation company in my 30s because of the art that I was doing in high school and middle school, just by the nature of it, it was very it was just bad.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember being in classes and seeing the people that were way more talented than me.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and they went on to do, you know, I the I remember uh one of them in particular was doing a lot of in high school was doing a lot of like art shows and stuff.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so all that being said, I don't think it's my job as a parent to immediately discredit something that may be a future passion in my kid.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think just doing my best to provide those opportunities allows them to kind of figure out where they find that place that they thrive in.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, that was media, for someone else that might be music, for someone else that might be, you know, it might be painting, it might be hey, who knows?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's more analytical, maybe it's math, you know.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: But I think the providing the opportunities allows for that to naturally come.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: And not not everything, you know, there's always teaching your kid, hey, here's things that you're really passionate about, here are things that actually help you when you're adult make money.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: And if you can do both at the same time, great.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: But until you can do both at the same time, do what you need to do now, but still, but don't let I think the hardest part is letting or allowing someone to lose hope in a passion that they have.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: Because I do think that those passions are God given.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: And when you when you detrimentally or unent even unintentionally try to detract them from those passions, I think that it can kind of rob them of some purpose that they could live out.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: And when people feel like they don't have a purpose, I think that they go into a pretty dark place.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think it's very important to just provide those opportunities so and then just let them kind of grow because sooner or later they're gonna let go of the thing they're not passionate about.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: So if they weren't good at music and they tried it for a while, but they really liked it in that season of life, it's okay to let them ride it out, I think, and then and then see where things land.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because who knows, maybe they put if they like it enough, they might put in the work and make it happen.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Unless it's a drum set.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: Unless you don't want to ride it out if it's a drum set.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then you're putting in the earplugs and just like, oh man, I hope they uh hope they grew out of that quickly.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to read I want to read your bio off your pod match profile.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: It says we're Christian parents, storytellers, and founders of Light Tunes Animation, a story first kids brand we built to help parents feel more confident about the story shaping their children.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: My wife and I started this work out of a real tension.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Many families feel screens are everywhere, books still matter, and parents want both to want both to point in the same direction.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: We'd be a strong fit for your show because we can speak practically and faith first about screen time, story time, media discernment, and how parents can choose engaging content that supports the values they've already they're already teaching at home.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Our hardest to support parents with stories that are thoughtful, trustworthy, and rooted in faith.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: So let's uh thinking about our audience who's probably grandparents at this point or or let's say parents that have, you know, preteens or teenagers.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, when I was when I was growing up, I mean I graduated high school in 1980, May of 1980, and the and the uh first computer was pretty much coming out at that point.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: And computers cost like just a basic basic computer was like, you know, 286 was like f$5,000.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was ridiculous.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: They were really expensive.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: So as a kid, I didn't have I didn't, you know, we had TV television sets, we had AM FM radio, we had playing basketball in the backyard around in the neighborhood on our bicycles and stuff like that.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: So my parents who raised us didn't have they didn't have the internet, they didn't have uh Snapchat or or TikTok or Facebook or any of the the social media.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's about 15 of them, I think.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Social media apps that you can you know you can put on your smartphone.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, you started this workout and a real tension many families feel screens are everywhere, books still matter, and parents want want both to point in the same direction.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's talk about let's talk about screen time.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's a yeah, it's a crazy thing, especially in today's world.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm 33, but even growing up, the screen time I now I was a kid, so I don't know that I would remember these conversations happening that much, but screen time people my my parents were always tried to get us to not watch as much TV when we were kids.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: And so there was definitely times when we could watch TV and we couldn't, but it was still TV, it was in a fixed point.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: You had to go to it.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: It was pretty obvious when you turned it on, especially in the small house we were in.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: You couldn't like it was very hard to sneak watching TV if your parents were in the bedroom next, you know, uh just separated by a wall.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you could so the I think the limiting factor of having that one TV in the house kind of lent itself to not having the issue of screen time growing up, and then I grew into the issue of screen time, and so it was like as I was growing up, the screens came along with us.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's very interesting seeing that change because I was in I was in, I believe when Twitter came out, I was almost done with high school, and then I remember when Instagram came out and I my uh and I I think it came out right before I went to college, and then in college that first semester I got uh the profile.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: All that being said, I'm just saying like it's so weird seeing how things have shifted so quickly in that short amount of time.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: And when I graduated high school it was 2011, so that's 15 years ago now, I think.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: So in 15 years, going from I didn't even have an iPhone then.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: I get an iPhone when I graduate as a graduation gift and then go to college.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: So like I didn't really experience the trouble of screen time like with a phone until uh getting to college.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the the biggest issue with screen time is not necessarily it is what you're doing, like you're just mindlessly scrolling a lot of the time.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: But I do think that in some ways the screen time issue is something that robs you of something that you could be contributing to.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a I mean, we're a small business, we're self-employed.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: If I'm not careful, it's very I mean, even trying to be disciplined with it, it's very easy to allow this to turn into an hour of accidental scrolling.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you don't even mean to.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: You just happen to turn open the phone and you just pull up Facebook or Instagram or TikTok, and before you know it, you're 30 minutes in and you didn't even mean to.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: And well, I would like to say that technology is a tool, whether it be iPhones, whether it be computers, tablets, smart TVs.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: We're surrounded by by technology.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: We have more technology in our smartphone than what they had when they went to the moon.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and so technology can be used for good or for evil.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or let's let's phrase it differently, in that um because I I don't I don't want to I don't want to project an image of technology's evil.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because technology is not evil.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: What's what's evil or what's bad about technology is when is when we when we have a compulsive behavior or a compulsive personality to where we're just doom scrolling TikTok for hours on end, right?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so so health experts, which I am not one, health experts have have identified this little little uh hormone called dopamine.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: And and and Mark Zuckerberg, you know, with Facebook and all these other media moguls, they they want to do everything they can to keep you hooked on that screen so they can do what?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: So they can make money off of you.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: So they can like how many times have we I've had conversations online.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'll I'll post a message on Facebook about, well, hey, you know, I want to go buy the latest 8K OLED TV, you know, for my house.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I want to upgrade my 4K to an AK, blah, blah, blah, and we'll have these messages back and forth.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens in that right sidebar before you know it?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: You get an advertisement.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: You have an advertisement for an OLED TV at Best Buy.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you're like, what?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: How did that happen?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll tell you how that happened.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: They, they, they, they mine our data and they they mine our information, and it's all about making money.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's all about making money.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so, and so they're not going to make money off of our children or necessarily preteens.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Teenagers may have you know some sort of an allowance or whatever and have the ability to go out and buy records and listen to me, records, you know, electronics, you know.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Different types of electronics, iPhones, whatever, boom boxes, whatever you want to think about.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: But so, so I think the thing that I want to say for parents and grandparents, especially, is that it's it's it's not tech the technology itself is not bad.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's how it's being used.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: And we also have to understand that there are predators out there that use social media to act like they're the same age as your kid when they're not, and they're trying to get your son or your daughter in a compromised position.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they're you know, the FBI and the CIA and all these three-letter organizations are battling human trafficking.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's human trafficking, there's sex trafficking, sex labor, there's all sorts of predators out there that that are trying to trap you, your husband, your children, your you know, nieces and nephews.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have to be smart about how we use technology.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: And and that is where you know you hear the stories about how grandma and grandpa don't understand how to go to the Play Store and download.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: I got a friend that's you know older than me.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'll I'll turn 65 this year.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's probably closer to 70 than I am, but he doesn't I asked him the other day, I said, could you download YouTube to your phone and install it so you can watch my podcast?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: How do I do that?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: He says, I'll have to go to the T-Mobile store.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: So what happens with with grandparents?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: They get their 14-year-old grandkid, niece, nephew, or whatever, say, Hey, come here and install this app on my phone for me because they don't know how to do it.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: They weren't raised around technology.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: Our kids were raised around technology.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: They were they were born with it, and and I've seen six, seven, eight-year-olds getting out of cars with iPhones or smartphones that are almost as big as they are.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they're just it's crazy.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, so screens are everywhere, books still matter, and parents want both to point in the same direction.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: We'd be a strong fit for your show because we can speak practically and faith first about screen time, story time, media discernment.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about story time, media dis discernment, and how parents can choose engaging content that supports the values they've already they're already teaching at home.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I, you know, one thing that I think we've slowly realized, even just in the first year of having our son, is uh how we understand the parent pain point of sometimes you just need to accomplish a task during the day, but a kid requires a lot of attention.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so sometimes the middle ground is hey, can you watch this?
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: I just need I just need five minutes to take care of this issue, to take care of the clothes, to take care of the dishes, to take care of this.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: So there's less chaos in the house because it's all a clutter.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: So here, let's just watch this, and then I can focus on this for a few minutes and we can have a little peace or something.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: And we're not saying that that's a bad thing.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that all screen, like you're saying, I don't think all screen time is bad.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think our our thing is we champion intentional screen time.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: So instead of just putting things on for them to watch, I think we can take 30 seconds a minute to filter it a little bit, to be intentional about what we're putting ahead putting in front of them, even doing a little bit of research ahead of time so that when we are in those moments that feel like it's chaos because dishes are crazy, clothes are crazy, child is crying, maybe you have pets and they're going crazy and you just need a moment.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, but you already have a plan, and that plan is, hey, let's give them intentional screen time.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: The intentional part of that screen time is what is that that show, that piece of content pointing my kid towards?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: Is it just mindless entertainment, or is it something that is entertaining but has values associated along with it?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: And you take that, and I I mean, and that that's what we do with LightTunes animation, not just with our shows, but with our books too.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: And the the the screen time and the story time work together for us because at the same time, the same pain point of, well, I just need to get this done, so let me let my kid watch something.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: The opposite side is I don't want them to watch too much, so what else do I need to do?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: We believe that books are very specifically positioned to help you in that regard so that you sure and you and and books can help kids learn how to read.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: It opens their hearts and their minds to an entire world of things that they're totally they're ignorant about, you know.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I loved reading when I was uh a teenager.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever heard of Veggie Tales?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what we I mean, you're talking about intentional screen time.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: Not only do we play our shows that we make on our TV, but we also play Veggie Tales on the TV for our one-year-old just so he has something to watch because even he doesn't understand all of it, but we know the intent behind the show, and that's really important even at his young age.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do parents know whether the stories shaping their kids are actually helping?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: That one's a little bit tougher, only because it requires in the chaos of this life, it does require a little bit of homework.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: So, like if there's a show that the kid sees that maybe maybe they saw an advertisement for it because there's ads everywhere of a cool kid show or something.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think it we need to, as parents, do the homework just a little bit.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: Do it.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Educate ourselves.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: Just just pre-screen it.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: Just look at it real quick.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think you'll you will find out if you just watch one episode if this is gonna be something that you could you could put on and allow your kid to watch if you just need them to watch something.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: Or if uh or if you if you like the first episode, maybe you watch a few episodes with them to see how they respond to it.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: I know growing up, because it was still TV when I was growing up, so on the TV, you'd have the Lodian or Cartoon Network for other shows.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: And we would, I remember asking parents, oh, can we watch that?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: And my parents, the immediate answer was no, but I think it was just no because it was like, I don't know what it is, so it's no right now, and we'll figure it out later.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's okay.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's okay to say, hey, you know, we're not gonna watch that right now, do some homework.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: And if it's like, oh wait, I really don't want them watching that, well, that's good.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: But I do think that that that is where it becomes a little bit difficult uh because you have as the parent have to be the filter.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's where we are trying to be a solution for that.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: We're not asking you to take your filter off, we're just saying, hey, this is what we do, and feel free to screen it.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: Feel free to watch the shows with your f with your kids together as a family.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: But if you need something that's gonna be faith-based, that's gonna um bring life to your kid rather than just be mindless for your kid, uh, that's really what we try to help with.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and I think that let's assume that there's only a a certain percentage of of my listening audience that may endorse the faith that we we endorse, right?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: We're Christians, we believe in the faith that we were raised with, or I wasn't raised in the faith, but anyway, we're we're Christ's followers.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, and I also recognize there are many religions out there.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: There's many even in the Protestant den you know, religion, there's a hundred denominations out there, right?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: So whatever whatever your faith is or is not, I I want to say that I and I haven't watched your material yet, but veggie tales and there are there are some there are some benign, wholesome programming out there that that you can let your kids watch that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with faith, right?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so can screen time ever support what Christian parents are teaching at home?
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think so.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: I I again I mean even in the Christian space, I think sometimes you just need a you you could pre screen things and I think that's a smart thing to do.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: But for the most part, I don't think that you could go wrong if you're just putting on a Christian kids show because I I believe that parents I mean parents by and far, majority of the time, just want something really good for their kid.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: But the way Of the responsibility of being a parent creates a tension point where it's very difficult to always be there in that moment for them.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so you're really just trying to help them develop the tools to be able to handle moments by themselves.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think that those values you're trying to instill in them, but sometimes you feel maybe a sense of guilt, even because you feel like you're doing all this work to try to provide for the family and it and you feel like it's detracting from your ability to always teach your kid a lesson and a positive lesson.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's where Christian media can really help and be a support.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't replace, but it's there to help you be the hero of your kid's content.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so even what we do, like what we try to focus on is the high-level things like biblical values of just like love, joy, peace, patience, and even uh a show that we're starting up right now, a new show, is really just talking about who Jesus is.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: All the other things that could get really in the weeds when it comes to the Christian faith, we really don't worry about creating for because our main focus is like, hey, it's a kid and the kid is watching, and it needs to be pretty the the lesson needs to be simplistic so that it can just be something if a kid walks away from our show and says, you know, I'm gonna be better to my friend today, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be better to my parents today, or I'm gonna try to do this today, that is a good positive value.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a great way to to help parents be the champion of their kids' content, you know.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean why do we send our kids to to uh children's church?
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Why do we why do we send them to Sunday school?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because they because they hear stories about who God is, and they they they hear about Noah and the Isaiah and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and all the all the disciples of Christ and the in the you know the f the flood and the Garden of Eden and all these stories that they hear during Bible story time or or Sunday school or whatever, that that is exposing them to our faith.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's exposing them to what the Bible talks about, about who God is and that that God loves us and that God loves you.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so so yeah, that's great.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: What makes a story truly worth trusting for our kids?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think that when we're talking about what the kid is consuming, how it's affecting them, one thing that we try to implement as an example of this question is we we don't want it to just be mindless entertainment.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: We want it to at least be pointing in a direction.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: We do have some shows on our platform that aren't overtly like a Bible lesson, so to speak, but we do address proverbs like the the book of Proverbs and the Bible and then also just basic human values.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: But I think the the main goal of providing those those lessons comes from something that it's a uh it's a phrase that's used in communications, like in the education side of communications, and it's called entertainment education is the the I think it's a theory technically.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: But really, what it is is entertainment is the vehicle, and education is the thing that's carried in the vehicle from point A to point B.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: And what we're doing is we're we're loading up the vehicle, which is our show, with whatever seems like the right uh lesson for that story, and then that vehicle travels to the kid through the screen and then delivers that that that uh that story and then that lesson with it.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that that really is what you need to be looking for when it comes to the content and not just screens, but also books.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like what are they what are the books pointing towards?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: What messaging are they carrying with them?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that it serves us too well when when it's always mindless entertainment.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think having the right a good ratio where the values entertainment super outweighs just the mindless entertainment.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: Where it and where it also doesn't feel like a lesson, because I I do believe that as soon as kids feel like they're learning something in a teaching, like if it feels like they're being taught or talked to like they're a teacher-student situation, I do think that it completely shuts shuts down the dynamic of their uh their perception of the show.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: So then it feels more like, oh, this is like school, rather than right, oh, this is fun, oh that was cool.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's kind of where we land on that is whatever is in that vehicle of that show, I think it needs to be something that points them towards good values.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are practical ways to connect faith, story, and everyday parenting?
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think that, well, I mean, yeah, that's a good question.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_02: When it comes to faith, story, and good parenting, when you're trying to connect those things together, I think that if you take the pressure off a little bit from trying to um take too much time, like trying to come up with a lesson or something, I think sometimes you'll be surprised about what naturally presents itself in a moment with a kid.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that just comes from spending time with the kid.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: And that's one that's one reason why we do what we do with our books.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I actually our our first kid's book is behind me.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's called Drawn for Purpose, you know, showing kids that they've been created by God for a purpose.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: But the important thing is if you're spending time with your kid, we call it time on task.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: If you're if your time on task, distractions put away, maybe you're reading a story with your kid, I think those moments are very beautiful because they can create a situation where you're discussing maybe just a story.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's just as simple as just having fun, reading a fun story together.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_02: But those core memories and the things that you can then insert as a parent when you read the story and you see a character struggling, and you can kind of talk to your kid about how to overcome certain things or or what their day is like at school.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: I think those moments can be very beautiful and that your kid will remember the time that their their mom or their dad or their grandparent spent or their aunt or uncle or whoever spent with them without having, you know, without halfway being on a phone call or or halfway scrolling on Facebook and then reading the book, it's like no distractions away, time on task, time on your kid, um, focused on just creating that core memory of um of just talking with them, spending time with them, reading that story together with them.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that that can be create the environment where you can bring in that the the faith, the faith and family talk, the um to have all those kind of discussions because it's if it can feel more organic.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: It would feel kind of weird if you just sit down and said, Hey, uh eight-year-old child, let's have a uh you know, let's have a very intense discussion here at the dinner table.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're having some, if you're having fun and then you're able as a parent to see what's happening in that moment and then just interject something simple, I think that that can go a long way.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like its own version of entertainment education, but it's really just you being a good parent, sitting down, spending time with your kid, and then interjecting those lessons.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I think those repeated over time do more than one big conversation, right?
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to I don't know if you can see it or not, but I wanted to join, I wanted to showcase your Light Tunes animation.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: It says join the Light Tunes crew, get fun devotionals, sneak peeks, and faith-filled stories.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Sign up now.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so if if people sign up for this, do you have anything that they can download for free that they can check out?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so uh yeah, if you sign up for our newsletter, that's our newsletter, and we uh try to send out a newsletter as weekly as possible.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'll have to check.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, go ahead and sign up and we'll try to get you uh and email us and and we can get you a um uh a download of uh digital download of our book if you'd like it.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we'd love to be able to share that with you.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: And um uh we and uh yeah, so yeah, go ahead and sign up for the newsletter, e email us.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um our email is info at live tunesanimation.com.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: So you can just email us and say, hey, love your content, sign up for your newsletter and and we'll get to you that way.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: It should come through automatically, but it may not, so I'll have to check that.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: Just make sure that I'm not speaking out of turn there.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: But uh regardless, we want to make sure that your resource, if um, if you'd like a free download, a digital download of our book, we'd be more than happy to get that to you.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so the URL for the listening audience is light tunesanimation.com, that light l-i-t-e, tunes as in cartoons, animation.com, and uh looks like you have a a Light Tunes Network is our free app and streaming platform built to give families a safe story first place for kids to watch.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: No subscription required, no surprise paywalls, just stories you can trust available on web, phone, or tablet.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Our shows are free because we believe every family deserves access to stories that point kids toward what's good.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: Watch online iOS app and Android app.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that that really is that last line said it all.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's really there to give because we believe parents deserve that access to stories that inspire faith.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, LightTunes Network, iOS, Android, or at LightTunes.tv is the URL for that.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: And then our what yeah, it's really what we're about because I think that also parents are kind of tired of having another subscription.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I think if we can provide a way that kids can access those things for free, I think that that's worthwhile.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, show us your book back there that you you were talking about.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so this is drawn for purpose.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: Boom.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: Where can people find that?
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: Where can they buy that?
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_02: You can Amazon?
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's on Amazon, it's on our website.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: It should be like the second button, I think.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: On the once you scroll through the website, there's a way to get our book.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_02: Or you can go to drawnforpurpose.com, you can get it that way.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: And um, if you buy it directly through us, I believe in the link on our website, and you should be able to get not just the free digital download of this, but there's a coloring book version that comes with it, and then an animated story time version of this too, if you buy directly through us.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: But you can buy through Amazon.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: I know it's more convenient that way, so do that if you if you feel more convenient.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it's all about um showing kids that they've been created by God on purpose, for a purpose, and really it just follows the story of two tunes.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: They're created in a world, and then all of a sudden this inky stain comes along and tries to ruin everything that has been created.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but then the artist writes himself into the page, and I'll let you read it from there.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: I won't tell you the whole ending.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, very good.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, Jonathan, I appreciate you being on the podcast episode today.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you what you're doing is wonderful, and I think that the grandparents that are listening that have little kiddos, small children or whatever, are going to have another tool in their tool toolbox to uh have some good, fun, wholesome uh story times and entertainment for them, for the kids to learn stuff.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks for joining us on this episode of ABC's The Parenting Adult Children.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: A big thank you to Jonathan Utley from Light Tunes Animation for sharing his journey, his creativity, and some powerful insights on supporting adult children as they find their own path.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: If today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, or gave you a new perspective, be sure to subscribe, share this episode with another parent, and leave us a review.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: It really helps more families find the show.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, my website is parentingadultchildren.org.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's parentingadultchildren.org.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: You can go there and you can uh read blog posts and I showcase uh guests that come on the show, their books, their whatever product or service that they are have provided for for all our kiddos.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I want you all to know about it.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: And you can leave a review there, you can send me a text, you can leave me a voicemail.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: Just engage with us.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us what you like about the the episodes that you listen to, go to Spotify or Apple Podcasts and leave a review so other parents can find it.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: So until next time, keep showing up, keep loving well, and keep learning together.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Jonathan.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: Please tune in next week for another episode of our podcast on parenting adult children.