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A return to traditional, positive values in children’s entertainment · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:07
  Mainstream media has betrayed our trust.
• 0:10
  Rather than tell us the whole story about the important issues of the day, they tell us only what they want us to hear.
• 0:16
  Your hosts, Tom Harris and Todd Royal will bring you the other side of the story.
• 0:27
  Over the past couple of decades, we've seen a worrying trend in children's books, TV movies, and other media.
• 0:34
  They used to be just about entertaining kids while teaching them their ABCs, arithmetic, science civics, and basic good values like kindness, honesty, hard work, and respect for others.
• 0:46
  Instead, whether it's in the Disney franchise or in our libraries, we've seen a shift to creating content designed to indoctrinate children into a specific ideology.
• 0:57
  In today's program, Todd and I will be discussing this problem with children's book author, business owner, and children's entertainer, Mary Jean Harris, who just happens to be my daughter.
• 1:08
  Listeners can learn about Mary Jean's children's picture books at Ottawa Princess Parties.com/slash fairy tale dash stories.
• 1:17
  And don't worry, we'll include all the web links that we mentioned in today's program when this episode goes to podcast on Monday.
• 1:24
  Mary Jean also writes exciting fantasy novels for teenagers and young adults that you can learn about by visiting the soul wanderers.ca.
• 1:34
  Her full-time job is as owner and operator of the Ottawa-based business, Fairy Tale Princess Parties that sends fairy tale characters like Cinderella and superhero characters like Spider-Man to kids' birthday parties, company picnics, and other special events.
• 1:50
  Her company has also hosted Zoom visits of characters for children in hospitals and other locations.
• 1:56
  You can learn about that business at Ottawa PrincessParties.com.
• 2:00
  So welcome to the show, Mary Jean.
• 2:03
  Nice to be on.
• 2:04
  Yes, we have a treat today.
• 2:07
  Tom, we got a this is a treat.
• 2:08
  We're let's see, we're not talking about climate change or energy or uh the Iran war or nuclear power or geopolitics.
• 2:18
  What a what a treat.
• 2:20
  Yeah, nice change.
• 2:21
  Yeah.
• 2:22
  So Mary Jean, thank you for being here.
• 2:24
  It's nice to be able to have um a little breath of fresh air right now in something differently.
• 2:30
  So but you know, I got to you know, read up a little bit what's going on uh as far as you and your background and and kind of the entire children's book industry, and you know, I've got children, we certainly have the Disney channel, but talk to us about what you've seen recently with woke messaging in Disney movies.
• 2:53
  Yeah, for sure.
• 2:54
  I mean, Disney's been a classic for people growing up for you know all the generations, but in recent years, they've really been adding some more insidious messaging into their movies and TV shows.
• 3:08
  So I think you know, a lot of people are aware that like you know, the classic Disney princesses are um, you know, a very kind of classic Disney uh princess stereotype.
• 3:20
  Uh and a lot of people were pushing back against that, saying, Oh, they should be more independent, they shouldn't have a prince saving them.
• 3:25
  And so Disney tried to make some changes.
• 3:28
  And for instance, the new Snow White movie, they made a Snow White live action last year, and it actually totally flopped.
• 3:37
  So it sounded like people don't actually want that.
• 3:39
  So in the live action movie, Rachel Zegler, um, who is Latino and not really or Latina and not really, you know, necessarily suited for the uh visuals of Snow White, she uh was actually very outspoken against the traditional show.
• 3:57
  And I'll I'll say a little quote here.
• 3:59
  She said that the classic tale was extremely dated when it comes to the ideas of women being in roles of power and what a woman is fit for.
• 4:05
  And so I watched the movie.
• 4:07
  Personally, I thought it was not a bad movie, but it wasn't Snow White at all.
• 4:12
  They totally changed it.
• 4:13
  They made Snow White this feminist icon rather than um, you know, a caring princess who uh goes on an adventure and ends up finding true love at the end.
• 4:23
  So that's just one example.
• 4:24
  But in other examples like the movie Light Year, The Little Mermaid, they've actually been significant failures.
• 4:32
  So, in for instance, for those ones, um, Disney lost uh nearly 900 million dollars after having a various series of disappointing woke films.
• 4:42
  So although they've been pushing the woke agenda, uh a lot of people aren't really liking it.
• 4:48
  Almost a billion dollars they lost.
• 4:51
  Wow.
• 4:53
  Yeah, and also in some of their classic movies, they're putting racist warnings.
• 4:56
  So on the Disney uh Disney Plus, they have the classic movies like Dumbo, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and the Aristotle, and they all have warnings at the beginning.
• 5:06
  So they do have the movies up, which is good.
• 5:09
  They didn't take them down, but uh they have warnings about racism.
• 5:12
  And to be honest, in Peter Pan, I I kind of understand, but some of the other ones, it's for instance the Aristocats.
• 5:18
  Um for anyone familiar with the rest of the cats, there's different cats.
• 5:22
  So one of them's uh some of there are parents of Siamese cats, and they uh the warning is about how that's racist because they're very stereotypical.
• 5:31
  But I mean, they're they're cats, they're Siamese cats.
• 5:34
  So they're they're they're they're they're cats.
• 5:37
  I yeah, I'd seen some of the quotes from the the young lady, the act the actress who played Cinderella.
• 5:45
  Yeah, pardon me, Snow White.
• 5:47
  And boy, it's hard to root for her.
• 5:50
  Boy, it's hard to Yeah, for sure.
• 5:53
  Yeah, very, very hard to root for.
• 5:55
  But okay.
• 5:56
  So that's Disney.
• 5:57
  What about some of the kids' TV shows?
• 5:59
  What are some of them with woke messaging?
• 6:02
  And what what are some of the examples that you you've seen with these shows?
• 6:05
  I personally don't watch a lot of the TV shows myself.
• 6:08
  I've watched tons of all the Disney movies.
• 6:10
  Yeah.
• 6:10
  But um, I did look up uh so the conservative commentator Matt Walsh, he did a whole review of the kids' TV shows, and he pointed out a lot of uh woke messaging in there.
• 6:19
  So I'll go through a few of his examples.
• 6:21
  So one of the ones called Puppet Babies.
• 6:23
  Uh, there's a character that's gender fluid and a cross dresser.
• 6:27
  Um, this is meant for little kids.
• 6:29
  It's crazy.
• 6:30
  Wait, wait, wait, wait, whoa.
• 6:32
  Hold on, hold on.
• 6:34
  What's the show called again?
• 6:35
  It's called Puppet Babies.
• 6:37
  So this is like this is like a version of the Muppets, basically, a Muppets uh for like younger kids.
• 6:42
  Yeah.
• 6:42
  So I mean, in the past, we saw, you know, males dressing and females was kind of like for laughs.
• 6:47
  So for instance, like Mrs.
• 6:48
  Doubtfire, like that was just a funny movie because you know, he wasn't being serious, but now it's like a character is saying, yeah, this is like my serious my identity now.
• 6:58
  Which is really crazy.
• 7:00
  Really crazy.
• 7:00
  And same with blues clues.
• 7:00
  And same with blues clues.
• 7:02
  I used to watch blues clues as a kid.
• 7:02
  I used to watch blue clues as a kid.
• 7:03
  Oh, not blue scenes.
• 7:03
  Oh, not blue.
• 7:05
  They had a Pride Parade with the Dry Queens in it, uh, which was being shown to kids as well.
• 7:05
  They had a Pride Parade with Dry Queens in it, which was being shown to kids as well.
• 7:11
  They had a whole song with the Pride Parade Dry Queens, which is unfortunate.
• 7:11
  They had a whole song with the Pride Parade Dry Queens, which is unfortunate.
• 7:18
  Arthur as well.
• 7:18
  Arthur as well.
• 7:20
  Um Arthur is usually quite good.
• 7:20
  Arthur is usually quite good.
• 7:22
  They're they were uh pushing activism against racism, so they were portraying the country as being fundamentally racist.
• 7:23
  They were uh pushing activism against racism.
• 7:26
  So they were portraying the country as being fundamentally racist and that black people are being killed due to the color of their skin.
• 7:33
  So, you know, it giving kids this message is saying, okay, like this is the kind of society we live in, uh, rather than that, you know, racism, yes, although it's present, it's not like uh really prominent in our society, and they shouldn't be trying to get kids angry and being activists about this.
• 7:52
  Saying the United States is is that the country they're focused on.
• 7:56
  Yeah, yeah.
• 7:57
  I think Arthur is an American show, so yeah, they were focusing on the US saying how it's fundamentally racist.
• 8:02
  And in Arthur, the different animals, I guess they're technically different races because they have different color fur.
• 8:08
  Yeah.
• 8:08
  So they were kind of making the parallel, making the parallel there.
• 8:12
  Um, another one that's very uh pushing activism against racism, racism was the Proud Family.
• 8:17
  That was also on Disney Plus, so that's kind of tied into what Disney was doing.
• 8:21
  So the Proud family, they were specifically uh talking about white supremacy and how slaves built the country and they were very angry, the characters are very angry, making demands.
• 8:33
  So this is a lot of m messaging being pushed out against having kids being activists against their chosen cause.
• 8:42
  Yeah, I've seen some videos of this uh drag queen story hour, you know, at the Ottawa Public Library, and the kids are looking like what?
• 8:51
  They're looking like the heads tilted sideways as if to say, what the heck are you showing me?
• 8:57
  You know, so I mean, Mary Jean, do you think the kids really enjoy this kind of political messaging?
• 9:03
  Well, it I don't know.
• 9:05
  I think it depends on how it's portrayed.
• 9:06
  So if it's kind of tied up in a fun story, then that could be, you know, a very like it could it could mean that the kids are really enjoying it because it's tied up in a fun story.
• 9:18
  If it's really just you know an activist show, then I don't think the kids would really be that interested.
• 9:24
  But it depends.
• 9:25
  Uh some kids are being brought up on that now.
• 9:28
  I'd say something that was interesting.
• 9:29
  I was I was reading something.
• 9:30
  Are you uh Regina?
• 9:32
  Are you a Star Wars fan at all?
• 9:35
  Well, I have seen the original Star Wars, but I to be honest, I'm not uh quite up to date with the newer ones.
• 9:41
  Well, I haven't been a lot on the newer ones, but kind of along this woke messaging theme, and you know, Star Wars is under the Disney banner, and they they took it.
• 9:51
  So at the very end, there was like a Darth Vader kind of character, and he was fighting a female character.
• 9:57
  And you know, those fight scenes in the in the original ones are very iconic, and this one was very weird.
• 10:05
  Like because the female character couldn't really fight the male character, and it was just uh I I it's just interesting you mentioned Disney because it it it had that like female empowerment, but then and she's supposed to have all these powers, and I'm going, well, she's so empowered.
• 10:21
  What why can't she fight better?
• 10:23
  It it's so weird with some of those things where you go, okay.
• 10:27
  If if we're gonna go female empowerment, and you're gonna say that you know, she's just as strong, and and the characters played with this actor, Adam Driver.
• 10:36
  He's very tall, he's imposing looking.
• 10:39
  Um, I guess Mr.
• 10:40
  Draver had been a marine previously.
• 10:43
  And so when you look at the guy, you go, oh, like that's a man who looks like he can fight.
• 10:50
  And they had yeah, they had her, and it just went it it fell so flat.
• 10:55
  I yeah, these shows and Disney and and what they're doing.
• 11:00
  It's what what are some other things that Matt Walsh had said?
• 11:03
  I just wanted to make that comment about that, just to kind of post some additional, you know, framing on this.
• 11:09
  Yeah, for sure.
• 11:10
  Yeah, I mean, he did have some examples of like a book.
• 11:13
  So there's a book called uh I am jazz, like J-A-Z, uh, about a boy who likes girly things, which is fine.
• 11:20
  However, they also call him a girl.
• 11:22
  They say he's transgender.
• 11:24
  Uh and I think this, yeah, this is especially bad because I think it's great that boys and girls have different interests.
• 11:30
  Some of them like more typically girly things, some of them like more typically boy things, but that doesn't mean they are a boy or girl.
• 11:37
  If you know, that doesn't mean the boy is a girl and the girl is a boy.
• 11:40
  So pushing this messaging is uh extremely harmful because the kids will grow up thinking, oh, well, if I want to be a boy, I can be a boy, or if I want to be a girl, I can be a girl.
• 11:50
  Yeah, I'll be a girl.
• 11:52
  I or you know, what I've always wanted is hey, I'm a teenage boy, and I decided I want to be a girl today because I want to go walk in a girl's locker room.
• 12:00
  You know, exactly when when I was growing up, and I'm 73, actually today.
• 12:05
  Oh, happy birthday.
• 12:07
  Thank you.
• 12:08
  Uh, when I was growing up, it was normal to have some girls who were like tomboys, you know, they were rough and tough and stronger than some of the boys, and they'd play in basketball against us and beat us.
• 12:19
  And that was okay.
• 12:20
  We didn't say that they were boys, they were just tomboys, they were just rough and tumble.
• 12:26
  And similarly, we had some guys that were pretty effeminate, you know.
• 12:29
  And and that was fine, but we didn't try to redefine their gender.
• 12:33
  We just accepted that they had characteristics that were more feminine, and that's fine, you know.
• 12:38
  So I mean, why can't we just do that, Mary Jean?
• 12:41
  Yeah, I mean, I wish we could.
• 12:43
  I think a lot of parents, um, they don't buy into the woke stuff, but unfortunately, uh a lot of people in charge, so the people in charge of the schools um are pushing that, some of whom are parents.
• 12:55
  So some parents are totally on board with this, unfortunately.
• 12:59
  But the thing with transgender, that can be very harmful, but especially because of the surgeries that kids can undergo, and those are you know, life damaging.
• 13:07
  Yes, they are.
• 13:08
  What are some of the uh before we get to some of your your own talking about some of your books?
• 13:13
  Um what are some other children's books that kind of getting into this whole woke messaging thing that kind of the wrap this up?
• 13:21
  We've talked about movies, TV shows, what about some of the books?
• 13:25
  Yeah, so there's there's tons of books.
• 13:27
  So uh some examples are ones called The Anti-Racist Baby, Daddy and Dada.
• 13:31
  No, my first book of protest.
• 13:33
  A lot of ones encouraging activism for kids.
• 13:36
  So uh I did uh see an article about this actually uh from 2021 about woke books in kids' libraries.
• 13:45
  So uh one person, uh John Butcher, he's uh uh Will Skillman education fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
• 13:51
  He made some comments on this.
• 13:52
  So he said that the notion of anti-racism portrayed in the anti-racist baby is a perfect trap, and that um it really has no place in children's books.
• 14:00
  Um, it really has no place in children's books.
• 14:03
  And he said that everyone's a racist unless they're an anti-racist.
• 14:03
  And he said that everyone's a racist unless they're an anti-racist.
• 14:06
  It's not enough to say that you think racism is is evil.
• 14:06
  It's not enough to say that you think racism is is evil.
• 14:10
  You're racist unless you're an anti-racist.
• 14:10
  You're racist unless you're an anti-racist.
• 14:12
  There's no way out.
• 14:12
  There's no way out, it's an infinite loop.
• 14:13
  It's an infinite loop.
• 14:14
  And so he's saying that's a bad thing because children shouldn't be taught that you know they're inherently racist just because they're they're white.
• 14:14
  And so he's saying that's a bad thing because children shouldn't be taught that you know they're inherently racist just because they're they're white.
• 14:21
  Um, and that book is basically promoting that.
• 14:21
  Um and that book is basically promoting that.
• 14:24
  And so especially anti-racist baby, that's really getting it to very young kids.
• 14:24
  And so, especially anti-racist baby, that's really getting it to very young kids.
• 14:28
  So preschoolers.
• 14:29
  So preschoolers, toddlers, they might not understand a lot of it, but if they're growing up with those books, that's gonna be influencing them.
• 14:37
  Another person who made some comments on this was Christopher Rufo.
• 14:40
  He's a senior fellow and director of the Institute on Critical Race Theory.
• 14:45
  Um, and he wrote that anti-racist baby and other books like it are not designed to teach basic literacy or character formation, they're designed to indoctrinate children into a specific ideology.
• 14:56
  Well, let's move something a little more positive.
• 14:58
  What tell us about you know, but about your about your books, about you know things you've written.
• 15:04
  Let's yeah, let's let's talk about let's talk about something more.
• 15:08
  Oh, yeah, how your books are healthy and they're positive messages for children.
• 15:14
  Yeah, sounds good.
• 15:15
  So I write uh children's books.
• 15:18
  So I have my first children's book that came out uh just last month, actually.
• 15:21
  It's called Princess Lyria's Last Collection.
• 15:24
  It's a princess story uh for young kids.
• 15:26
  So I say like three to six-year-olds, and uh it's kind of one like similar to a classic Disney story.
• 15:32
  So it's not, you know, there's no woke messaging or things like that.
• 15:35
  It's just a fun story.
• 15:36
  There's plenty of other authors who are also doing some like you know, just regular books as well.
• 15:42
  Uh the problem is is that parents don't know beforehand which books are safe or not.
• 15:47
  Um, and so by introducing my own children's books, I want to make sure that parents know ahead of time.
• 15:52
  Okay, these books are safe for kids.
• 15:54
  Uh I'm gonna be introducing a lot more, for instance, I have two more coming out later this year, uh, which uh should be a lot of fun.
• 16:01
  So it's called Fairy Tale Stories.
• 16:03
  What's the story about?
• 16:04
  And it's Princess Lara, right?
• 16:06
  And could you say the headline again?
• 16:08
  Yeah, Princess Liria's last collection.
• 16:11
  So it's with fairy tale stories.
• 16:13
  So it's basically about a princess who wants to collect all sorts of different things, but she eventually learns that having a collection of birds, which was next on her list, is not really a good idea because birds should be free.
• 16:26
  And so I do want to promote good messages.
• 16:29
  Fun stories are great, but it's also good to have some nice messaging for kids um woven into the story.
• 16:35
  Um nothing in too, nothing insidious or woke, but uh messaging about treating animals with respect and thinking about well, what's important in life, not the material things, like all these collections, but having friends and respecting others.
• 16:48
  So that's what that's woven into the story too.
• 16:51
  And I think those are values that everyone can agree upon.
• 16:53
  So it's not really controversial in that sense, but it's nice to for kids to be able to have a fun story, but also one that gives good messages.
• 17:03
  Yeah, the other message I got out of the book when she was very generous and gave emeralds from her crown to her different uh assistants, you know.
• 17:11
  So she wasn't greedy in keeping it all for herself.
• 17:14
  Yeah, yeah.
• 17:15
  So she was learning about how you know, all having all these collections and all these material of all these emeralds, that's not what's important.
• 17:22
  And so when she gave up her emeralds, that was sort of a symbol of her saying, yeah, I've uh I've moved on, moved on from that.
• 17:31
  Yeah, yeah, it's great.
• 17:32
  And people can get the book, how do they get it?
• 17:35
  Well, I have it on my website, uh, but as well as Amazon.
• 17:38
  So uh on Amazon, it might be easier depending on what country you're in, then it can be shipped directly to you.
• 17:45
  Yeah, great.
• 17:46
  Yeah.
• 17:47
  How did you get into this?
• 17:48
  How did you get into you know, writing, you know, children's books and yeah, how did what what what's uh what's the inspiration?
• 17:57
  So a few different things I'd say.
• 17:58
  I say uh the first is my Princess Party company.
• 18:01
  So we do Princess and Superhero parties for kids in Ottawa, and having a my own original characters was you know a real draw about writing writing the book.
• 18:12
  So I could write stories about not just you know, Elsa Cinderella, which would be copyright anyway, uh, but about my own princess characters.
• 18:20
  And I love writing anyway, because I've I've written novels and short stories for the last 10, 15 years.
• 18:27
  Um, so I've had uh a lot of experience with writing.
• 18:30
  Children's books are very different, I have to say, but uh I've learned a lot in the last year, and so and also when I tell stories at birthday parties as princesses, I have a lot of experience about what kids like, what makes them bored in a story, what makes them really excited.
• 18:45
  And so I thought I kind of bring that into my own story books.
• 18:49
  Yeah.
• 18:50
  So I have a lot more more planned, a lot more planned with fairy tale stories.
• 18:55
  Curious, what makes a children's book so hard?
• 18:57
  You said it it they can be a little difficult.
• 18:58
  What makes uh a children's book difficult to write?
• 19:02
  I think the main thing is the length, telling a whole story in a quite a short uh amount of words, and also just having it at a language and level that kids can understand.
• 19:14
  The ones that I'm doing are kind of aimed towards like preschoolers, kindergarten students, kindergarteners.
• 19:20
  And so it has to be something that's really fun for them and interesting, and you know, a full story, all in just like in this case, it's like 32 pages.
• 19:32
  Well, that includes the cover page and all and all that.
• 19:34
  So it's really just like um 28 pages, 28 pages and a lot of pictures.
• 19:40
  Yeah.
• 19:40
  Yeah, a lot of pictures.
• 19:42
  Yeah, so you got to tell a whole story in that.
• 19:44
  And for someone who's used to writing novels, uh, it was a bit of a challenge at first, but now that I have kind of gotten the hang of it, uh, I've written a few.
• 19:52
  This is the first one's published.
• 19:54
  It's a lot of fun, and I'm I'm gonna have a lot more coming.
• 19:57
  Yeah.
• 19:57
  Can you tell us about your novels?
• 19:59
  Because they're for young people generally speaking, aren't they?
• 20:01
  Like teenagers.
• 20:03
  Yeah, they're more like young adults.
• 20:04
  Uh so I write historical fantasy as well.
• 20:07
  So I have a few.
• 20:09
  Yeah, I have a few novels out.
• 20:10
  So Night of the Immortals is the most recent one, and it's a historical fantasy about uh being from another world that comes into 19th century Bristol, England, and sort of uh the secret societies and a little mystery to solve.
• 20:24
  I actually um like to include places I've traveled to.
• 20:28
  So I've actually traveled to Bristol in England.
• 20:31
  Uh obviously I didn't go back in time, but they have a lot of historical buildings there.
• 20:35
  So I was able to incorporate that into the story as well.
• 20:38
  Um, I have some other books like Paraless, it's a novella, it's an Arthurian legend.
• 20:44
  So it has to do with Arthur, Merlin, the Holy Grail, kind of another take on the the holy grail.
• 20:49
  So that's what I've been doing a lot.
• 20:52
  Sorry to interrupt, there's positive messaging in those books, aren't there?
• 20:55
  Yeah, I mean, I like to add like philosophy and get the readers thinking.
• 20:59
  I wouldn't say like I'm specifically trying to instill good values in people like I would for a children's book, just because this is more for like teens and adults.
• 21:00
  Wouldn't say like I'm specifically trying to instill good values in people like I would for a children's book just because this is more for like teens and adults.
• 21:07
  Um, but yeah, definitely I think the characters can be inspiring with the adventures they go on.
• 21:07
  Um, but yeah, definitely I think the characters can be inspiring with the adventures they go on.
• 21:13
  And uh so yeah, that's what I've been working on for the last few years.
• 21:14
  And uh so yeah, that's what I've been working on for the last few years.
• 21:19
  Curious, because obviously what you're doing is it's positive, it's fun.
• 21:19
  Curious, because obviously what you're doing is it's positive, it's fun.
• 21:24
  Um I can only imagine children must love this.
• 21:24
  Um I can only imagine children must love this.
• 21:28
  Are people pushing?
• 21:28
  Are people pushing a bat, but not just back against your positive and healthy message, but are you seeing whether they're pushing back against you or your company?
• 21:38
  Are you seeing you know, in in larger macro ways that people are pushing back against this?
• 21:45
  Well, not necessarily not against me in particular, because I haven't really spoken out against the other books or the other things on Disney.
• 21:54
  Um, but there's been like protests and counter-protests.
• 21:57
  So when people are, you know, saying things against Disney.
• 22:00
  There's a lot of people who come to Disney's um like Disney's Defense and saying, oh no, you know, we need to, you know, stop these damsels and just dress movie.
• 22:11
  We need to have you know female empowerment, we need to have anti-racist stuff.
• 22:15
  So it's kind of a discussion back and forth.
• 22:17
  A lot of keyboard warriors, I think we do people call it nowadays, uh, going back and forth on this.
• 22:23
  So there's definitely been a lot of debate, mostly for the movies and TV shows, I'd say.
• 22:28
  It's so hard to believe in so many ways that people are weaponizing children these days.
• 22:34
  You know, the whole the activist thing, it I don't know.
• 22:38
  I I I get just my mouth hangs open thinking that I'm gonna weaponize a child for my political activism.
• 22:45
  Yeah, they don't seem to have any shame, eh?
• 22:48
  I mean, it it's it's really sad.
• 22:50
  But Mary Jean, you're saying that there are groups that are pushing back against the woke agenda, people that are on our side of the argument.
• 22:57
  Can you talk a bit about that?
• 22:59
  Yeah, so there's been uh actually quite a rise in like having an industry for clean content for kids, it's called.
• 23:06
  Uh, so things that don't have you know messaging and it there's different takes on it.
• 23:11
  Some of it is against having like things like swearing or sexual content in the books, other things it's more like you know, we don't want woke messaging.
• 23:19
  Uh it depends on if it's looking at young adult or adult.
• 23:22
  So the Daily Wire, which is a pretty prominent uh conservative platform, they introduced uh children's streaming TV show called Bent Key.
• 23:31
  They start in 2023.
• 23:32
  Uh and so they've been putting out their own original kids' shows that parents can trust.
• 23:38
  So, you know, it even though they're not all kids' shows are woke now.
• 23:42
  The problem is the parents they can't vet everything themselves and they don't know ahead of time.
• 23:47
  Uh, okay, if I turn on Netflix, is you know, this show gonna be woke or not.
• 23:52
  Uh, is there gonna be are there gonna be things hidden inside that my children, my child's gonna be exposed to?
• 23:57
  So that's why it's kind of good to have totally different platforms.
• 24:00
  So Bentkey, that was one of them.
• 24:02
  There's also other uh books uh book companies.
• 24:06
  So for instance, one called Chicken Scratch books, they make clean content for middle grade kids, Heroes of Liberty, these are some books that support American values, those are some picture books, brave books, Christian publishing company.
• 24:19
  And yeah, there's uh quite a lot of different different companies that have come up with that.
• 24:24
  So I haven't seen as many for TV shows.
• 24:27
  However, I'm sure that more will come as more parents push push back against the woke agenda.
• 24:33
  Yeah, that's great.
• 24:35
  Now, just to we only have a couple of minutes before our break, but can you start talking about your company Fairy Tale Princess Parties?
• 24:42
  And I know they do a uh a superhero oath when they have superheroes.
• 24:48
  Yeah, can you tell us about that?
• 24:49
  Because I think that's also very positive messaging, isn't it?
• 24:52
  That you know, the parents hopefully would appreciate.
• 24:55
  Yeah, so when we do our party is either princess or superhero, we always try to have some good messaging at the end.
• 25:02
  So we do a princess promise or a superhero promise, and we talk about how it's important to be kind to stick up for your friends, to be brave and strong, and we have the kids do a little promise, putting a hand on their heart and one in the air, and the beginning goes like this as a well, let's say for the superhero one, uh, as a true superhero, this is what I swear to be noble, courageous, and true and fight for justice everywhere to use my powers only for good and always to be honest, etc.
• 25:30
  So we do talk about those values, and then we get the kids to say it with us.
• 25:34
  And they're not any strange values, they're all just things about being a good person.
• 25:39
  And so when a superhero or a princess is saying that to the kid, I feel like it's a lot more meaningful because yeah, their parents could tell that to them every day.
• 25:48
  But if Elsa or Spider-Man tells it to them, that makes it special.
• 25:53
  Yeah, and they get a certificate, don't they?
• 25:56
  Yeah, yeah, they get a certificate and you and the princess signs it or Spider-Man signs it, and the kids are really pretty happy about that.
• 26:05
  Yeah, for sure.
• 26:06
  It's always really special because then they get like a keepsake just with their name on it.
• 26:09
  And it's a lot of fun.
• 26:11
  That's that's great.
• 26:12
  That's that's so cute.
• 26:13
  Yeah, that's that's really that's that's so much fun.
• 26:17
  Kids, yeah, they they love that.
• 26:18
  I know when my kids were younger and we would, you know, some of those we had a couple of those parties and my son, you know, loved Thomas the train, and so just those things are they're great.
• 26:30
  So yeah, thank you for for doing that.
• 26:32
  What you're yeah, what you're doing with that.
• 26:35
  So, how do people actually book uh an engagement?
• 26:38
  Because I know you'll do some by Zoom.
• 26:40
  I can remember you did a Zoom visit with Spider-Man with a little boy who was in the hospital with a very serious illness.
• 26:48
  So people can actually book it anywhere in the world, I suppose, if if they do a Zoom visit.
• 26:53
  Yeah, so we're in Ottawa, so anywhere around Ottawa can do in person, but anywhere in the world really can do Zoom.
• 26:59
  We actually introduced that during COVID when no one could really go anywhere.
• 27:04
  And unfortunately, that lasted a very long time.
• 27:07
  Uh so we did video calls.
• 27:09
  Also, very special because when kids couldn't see characters in person, they were able to see them on their computer.
• 27:15
  And although it's not the same as seeing it in person, it's a nice alternative, also cheaper for parents.
• 27:20
  So yeah, we're still offering that, and especially in cities where people don't have their own uh princess or superhero companies, it's nice so that they can get a special one-on-one call with one of their favorite characters.
• 27:33
  Yeah.
• 27:34
  The thing I thought was pretty cool is one little boy had some sort of permanent illness in the hospital.
• 27:39
  Yeah, and he had Spider-Man visit him and jumping all over the place.
• 27:43
  And that was pretty true, it really cheers up his day.
• 27:47
  And and they were saying that we shouldn't mention his illness, right?
• 27:50
  During the actual discussion.
• 27:53
  So that totally takes him out of his problem to be with Spider-Man.
• 27:58
  We have to go for we have to go for a break now, and Todd's gonna be leaving because he has another appointment.
• 28:00
  Break now, and Todd's going to be leaving because he has another appointment.
• 28:03
  But hey, Todd, it was great having you on, especially since you have children that are what teens, I guess, eh?
• 28:03
  But hey, Todd, it was great having you on, especially since you have children that are what, teens, I guess, eh?
• 28:09
  Absolutely.
• 28:09
  Absolutely.
• 28:10
  Absolutely.
• 28:10
  Absolutely.
• 28:10
  So yeah, thank you for what you're doing.
• 28:10
  So yeah, thank you for what you're doing.
• 28:12
  And yeah, this has been this has been a treat.
• 28:12
  And yeah, this has been this has been a treat.
• 28:14
  Yeah.
• 28:14
  Yeah.
• 28:15
  Uh great.
• 28:15
  Great.
• 28:15
  Yeah, thanks.
• 28:15
  Yeah, thanks.
• 28:16
  Nice change.
• 28:16
  Nice change.
• 28:17
  So this is Tom Harrison, Todd Royal with our guest Mary Jean Harris.
• 28:17
  So this is Tom Harrison, Todd Royal with our guest Mary Jean Harris, who will be right back after the break.
• 28:21
  We'll be right back after the break.
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• 34:43
  So we're back with Mary Jean Harris.
• 34:45
  She runs a business fairy tale princess parties, and I wanted to talk a little bit more about that, Mary Jean.
• 34:50
  You have what, about a dozen uh contractors who work on staff, young people who play roles in these different for these different characters, right?
• 34:59
  Yeah, so I'd say probably about 20 uh people on staff.
• 35:00
  Yeah.
• 35:00
  So I'd say probably about 20 uh people on staff.
• 35:03
  Oh, wow.
• 35:03
  Oh wow.
• 35:04
  And yes, I mean, everyone's availability is very different.
• 35:04
  And yes, I mean everyone's availability is very different.
• 35:08
  Some people are in Ottawa for the school year, uh like university school year and then away in the summer and vice versa.
• 35:08
  Some people are in Ottawa for the school year, uh, like university school year, and then away in the summer and vice versa.
• 35:14
  So it's kind of uh in flux all the time.
• 35:15
  So it's kind of uh uh in flux all the time.
• 35:18
  It's a very different kind of company than you know, say a store where people all come in because this is a mobile service, right?
• 35:18
  It's a very different kind of company than you know, let's say a store where people all come in because it's the mobile service, right?
• 35:26
  So we go to people's houses, we don't have a venue.
• 35:26
  So we go to people's houses, we don't have a a venue.
• 35:29
  And uh
• 35:29
  And it also takes a very specific kind of person to do the job as well.
• 35:33
  So it is definitely uh a very niche, niche kind of job.
• 35:39
  So can you name the characteristics of a good fairy tale princess or uh superhero, for example?
• 35:47
  Yeah, so someone who is very good with kids, that's that's the main the main thing and is confident in front of a crowd, leading activities, doing story time, songs, superhero training, jumping around.
• 36:01
  They can't be afraid to basically be embarrassed, but they shouldn't they shouldn't be embarrassed by um you know acting over the top.
• 36:10
  So for instance, you know, coming into a party and saying, Oh, I just came from my fairy tale kingdom.
• 36:15
  It's so wonderful to see you for your birthday.
• 36:17
  Which, you know, some people wouldn't be able to say that with a straight face.
• 36:20
  Yeah.
• 36:21
  Um, so yeah, definitely good at acting, good with kids, and uh have a availability on the weekends.
• 36:28
  So this works well with students who are in late high school years, early university, won't be able to do it at any age, but up until you know late 30s at least.
• 36:38
  Uh and who are your characters?
• 36:41
  Can you name some of the more popular ones?
• 36:43
  Well, Elsa and Spider Man are always up there every year.
• 36:46
  So this year and the end of last year, K-pop demon hunters have been extremely popular.
• 36:52
  Oh, what if it's a new movie?
• 36:54
  Can you tell us something about that?
• 36:55
  I don't know anything about those characters.
• 36:57
  Yeah, so that's a new movie that came out on Netflix, the 2024, 2025.
• 37:03
  Um, so it's these three K-pop idols, so in South Korea who are also demon hunters and they have an adventure.
• 37:12
  Uh but speaking of that movie, that actually was a surprising movie that um was not, I did not think it was very woke personally.
• 37:20
  Uh, it came out from Netflix, so it wasn't a Disney movie.
• 37:24
  And it actually did a very good job at representing like strong female characters without going over the top and making them try to make them seem too tough.
• 37:34
  They they seem very real.
• 37:36
  And I think that they did a really good job of they they were fighting evil.
• 37:40
  It wasn't like uh, oh, everything's like in flux.
• 37:43
  Uh there was some nuance in terms of you know fighting demons and you know, some of the demon characters turned out to be good, but there was a big bad villain, and they defeated the big bad villain.
• 37:56
  And uh I know some Christians did not like the movie based on you know there being demons in it and everything, but personally I thought it was not woke and it was a it was a fun movie for kids.
• 38:06
  So and you're more your more traditional characters are things like Cinderella and the mermaid, the little mermaid as well, right?
• 38:16
  Yeah, yeah.
• 38:16
  So we got all the traditional princesses too.
• 38:19
  You know, the popularity comes comes and goes for those.
• 38:22
  And Cinderella is always quite popular.
• 38:24
  She's a classic Disney icon.
• 38:26
  So um she does get booked a fair amount, not as much as Elsa though.
• 38:29
  Elsa is uh at the top.
• 38:32
  Can people order any of those characters by Zoom?
• 38:35
  Yeah, yeah, we can do anything by by Zoom online as well.
• 38:39
  So whenever we do that, we have like an all nice backdrop set up.
• 38:43
  So for instance, Elsa in her winter kingdom, and uh she'll interact with the kids, do some uh story time, some songs, and you can even do games online as well.
• 38:53
  So we do always try to make it special even if we're not there in person.
• 38:56
  Last weekend I know you had about 15 parties.
• 38:59
  So it sounds like it's pretty popular.
• 39:02
  Yeah, for sure.
• 39:03
  It's always uh really special for kids when they have their favorite character show up and especially for them.
• 39:10
  Well, yeah, it's cool because they could say, Hey, look at the TV.
• 39:13
  Look who's come to for your birthday party.
• 39:16
  And of course, they can do it with anybody in any city.
• 39:19
  Like I think with one boy, he was at the Toronto Sick Children's Hospital, right?
• 39:24
  Mm-hmm.
• 39:24
  Yeah.
• 39:25
  And yet Spider-Man was here in Ottawa, so that's that's okay.
• 39:28
  So the I want to change over to a topic that's not so positive.
• 39:32
  It's a bit it's kind of insane, and that is um drag queen story hour.
• 39:38
  First of all, tell us what it is.
• 39:40
  And tell us what the controversy is.
• 39:42
  Yeah, so they have dry queens come in to do story time at libraries, schools, or other venues, and this is for kids.
• 39:51
  So normally you'd think drag queens are some sort of adult entertainment, a bizarre sort of entertainment, if you ask me.
• 39:58
  Um, what is it like?
• 39:59
  Can you define what is a drag queen?
• 40:02
  Well, a man who dresses up like a woman.
• 40:04
  I mean, I don't know what the technical definition is, but he dresses up not just like a woman, but an over-the-top, heavily styled makeup, wearing huge wigs.
• 40:13
  I was reading sometimes it's a woman doing that, but yeah, you're right.
• 40:17
  It's largely gay men, I guess, that do it, right?
• 40:21
  Yeah, I don't know.
• 40:21
  I don't know if they're all gay, but it I know that you know it's it really is just men doing that.
• 40:27
  And yeah, it's a very bizarre thing that's come up and it's becoming more normalized.
• 40:34
  If they want to do it, fine, but the sole story time for kids, that's not not fine because they don't want to have kids exposed to you know, these very bizarre people.
• 40:45
  And uh when they do story times, sometimes it's like these woke books as well.
• 40:50
  And they even had like a drive workshop for kids.
• 40:54
  So kids could learn how to do drag themselves.
• 40:57
  Oh and you know, that's that's also troubling because when that's normalized by the library and the schools, it's like saying, Oh, this is a you know normal thing for for anyone to do.
• 41:09
  Yeah, so you're nor you're you're saying the schools and libraries, public libraries are doing this too.
• 41:15
  Yeah, so for instance, um in Ottawa, which is where we live in 2023, they participated in what we have cap we have something called Capital Pride every year um in August.
• 41:27
  Oh yeah.
• 41:28
  And they had a drag story time at the library, and so they did it again this year, this past February.
• 41:36
  But in 2025 on their website, this is what it said.
• 41:40
  It said, join us for a joyful and inclusive drag story time at Dun Donald Park on Saturday, August 23rd at 2 p.m.
• 41:47
  We're fabulous local drag performer.
• 41:49
  We'll bring stories to life in celebration of diversity, creativity, and self-expression.
• 41:53
  So this was in 2025 in Ottawa.
• 41:56
  The library put that on.
• 41:58
  Um they're presenting it as normal.
• 42:00
  Presenting it as normal.
• 42:02
  Yeah, they're presenting as normal.
• 42:02
  Yeah, they're presenting as normal.
• 42:03
  And I think it's great to celebrate diversity, creativity, and self-expression.
• 42:03
  And I think it's great to celebrate diversity, creativity, and self-expression, but to have someone dressed up in this big mockery of women as a dry queen, I think is not the right way to do it.
• 42:07
  But to have someone dressed up in this big mockery of women as a dry queen, I think is not the right way to do it.
• 42:17
  Yeah.
• 42:17
  Yeah, it's because yeah, personally, I think the the dry queens, it's it's not just that you're dressing up, it's that you're it's a mockery of women.
• 42:18
  Because yeah, personally, I think the the dry queens, it's it's not just that you're dressing up.
• 42:23
  It's that you're it's a mockery of women.
• 42:26
  It's like, you know, we're not just dressing up as a women.
• 42:26
  It's like, you know, we're not just dressing up as a woman, we are doing extra
• 42:28
  We are doing extra flamboyant wigs, crazy makeup, not just like stage makeup for a performer, but like really over the top and just the attitudes that they have.
• 42:39
  Um, I think it's really denigrates women.
• 42:43
  Well, I've also noticed some of them tend to be very sexual in their in their orientation, you know, with all kinds of props that are not the kind of thing you'd normally show to children.
• 42:53
  So that's a problem too, isn't it?
• 42:56
  Yeah, for sure.
• 42:58
  And you know, when they do like their dances and activities, you know, that's that's really not meant for kids.
• 43:03
  And I don't think that the kids should be exposed to that.
• 43:06
  Fortunately, though, there have been protests against it.
• 43:09
  Um, for instance, in Ottawa, there there was a protest against it.
• 43:14
  But when people catch word of the there's a protest, they have counter protests.
• 43:19
  So there's the dry queen story hour, then there's the protest at the same place and a counter protest and the same thing.
• 43:25
  So people go back and forth on this.
• 43:27
  And but it is encouraging to see people to see people speaking up against it.
• 43:33
  Although Drag Queen Story Hour as still prevailed in Ottawa and in other cities, there are a lot of people speaking up against it too.
• 43:42
  And so even if let's say parents are bringing their kids, maybe they'll see the protesters, and instead of just thinking, oh, they're nasty protesters, maybe they'll start reconsidering and say, okay, I wonder why they're protesting.
• 43:54
  Um, maybe there's a reason.
• 43:55
  And yeah, hopefully they'll and it's not sort of a natural thing for the kids to be interested in, quite frankly.
• 44:02
  I saw a video I was saying in the first half of the show.
• 44:05
  I saw a video of uh Drag Queen Story Hour in which they had local Ottawa children, and the children were had their heads sideways going, wow, like what's like, huh?
• 44:16
  And they didn't seem interested in the story.
• 44:19
  They just thought the kids apparently were very uncomfortable with it.
• 44:24
  Yeah, I think it's not something that you know most kids would really naturally veer towards.
• 44:29
  Uh it is very strange.
• 44:32
  But some parents are, you know, totally okay with it, and they think, oh, it's a great thing to have kids uh be exposed to more diverse people.
• 44:40
  And I don't think I don't think that's the a good way to do it.
• 44:44
  Yeah, for sure.
• 44:45
  Now tell us more about the groups that are fighting back against the whole woke ideology in films on TV, Drag Queen Scoria, all those things.
• 44:54
  Can you tell us?
• 44:55
  Like, I think Action for Canada, I wouldn't be surprised to hear if they're one of the groups pushing back.
• 45:00
  But can you tell us in general who is pushing back on from our side?
• 45:05
  Yeah, so there are definitely are people who are pushing back against it.
• 45:08
  So in particular, a lot of Christian groups are pushing back against it, Action for Canada as well.
• 45:14
  They've had some petitions that go up.
• 45:17
  Elon Musk actually encouraged people to boycott Netflix due to a transgender themed kid show called Dead End Paranormal Park.
• 45:25
  Um the show was actually canceled after two seasons, maybe wasn't as popular, but um already in two seasons, the main character came out as being transgender, and it was advertised as being for seven year olds to watch that.
• 45:38
  So seven year olds on transgender.
• 45:41
  Yeah.
• 45:41
  So the the main character was a kid and they were transgender, and so the kids were being exposed to that, saying that this is a normal thing.
• 45:49
  But uh fortunately the show was canceled.
• 45:52
  There's also been protests against the drag story time.
• 45:55
  So some library events were actually canceled or uh moved to private locations due to safety concerns.
• 46:01
  The media is portraying this as being intolerance against dry queens, but this doesn't really highlight the fact that a lot of parents are being are actually are concerned about it.
• 46:12
  Um so there have been other protests.
• 46:15
  So in Canada, Finland, Australia, the US, France, Germany, New Zealand, and the UK, those are just some uh places that protests have taken place against the story hour.
• 46:24
  Yeah, yeah.
• 46:25
  You know, with Donald Trump getting elected as president, I think it probably emboldens people on our side to speak out, you know, because he sort of pushes the envelope, and so you can be more moderate.
• 46:37
  And do you do you find that there is an increasing trend of people speaking out?
• 46:44
  Yeah, I think so.
• 46:45
  I think a lot of people, you know, were afraid of speaking out because they'll be canceled, they'll be, I mean, they would even be able might even lose their job or their their livelihood based on what they say, especially during COVID, a lot of people were afraid to speak out because you know, there was so much stigma against speaking out against COVID or the vaccines or anything to do with that.
• 47:08
  Yeah, but now that that's over, hopefully, uh for good, and now that you know things are different in the US, I think definitely people are more open to say what they think about this.
• 47:20
  And yeah, even Disney has backtracked a bit.
• 47:24
  So last year they dished their whole the all their diversity and DEI terms in their business report.
• 47:32
  So DEI is diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• 47:36
  So that's been taken out, even though they've had that in their business reports for ever since 2019.
• 47:43
  Yeah.
• 47:43
  Are other companies doing a similar thing?
• 47:46
  Yeah.
• 47:47
  So there was actually a study done by the conference board, and they found that 53% of the SNP 100 adjusted their DEI messaging in their filings for 2025 last year.
• 47:59
  Yeah.
• 48:00
  So the term DEI declined by 68% from 2024 to 2025 in these major filings.
• 48:07
  So it sounds like a lot of companies are realizing, okay, well, you know, we might have been doing this just to look good, but it's not really helping anyone.
• 48:17
  And, you know, it's not necessarily something that is going to be promoted by the government anymore.
• 48:23
  So we don't have to do it.
• 48:26
  However, there is, yeah, there it kind of goes back and forth.
• 48:29
  So yes, that is positive, but sometimes they're reframing these commitments.
• 48:34
  So although, you know, they might not be saying it publicly.
• 48:38
  Um, in the conference board, uh, I'll just read a quote.
• 48:42
  They said this shift in public disclosure doesn't signal companies are abandoning DEI.
• 48:47
  Rather, they're selectively reframing commitments, reducing public exposure and embedding oversight more quietly yet firmly into governance and human capital management.
• 48:58
  So it might still be there.
• 48:59
  Um, but it sounds like there's been enough people that are against it in order for them to hide it so that they don't want to be, you know, so to avoid the criticism.
• 49:00
  But it sounds like there's been enough people that are against it in order for them to hide it so that they don't want to be, you know, so to avoid the criticism.
• 49:08
  Yeah.
• 49:08
  So I think that's a positive thing because if they have to hide it, then that means that okay, well, there's enough people who are being vocal.
• 49:08
  So I think that's a positive thing because if they have to hide it, then that means that okay, well, there's enough people who are being vocal and they're not gonna put up with it.
• 49:15
  Um, and they're not gonna put up with it.
• 49:18
  Yeah, for sure.
• 49:18
  Yeah, for sure.
• 49:19
  Now, one thing we should have done earlier, and we'll certainly do it when this goes to podcast, is listing how do they contact you?
• 49:19
  Now, one thing we should have done earlier, and we'll certainly do it when this goes to podcast is listing how do they contact you, how do they arrange a Zoom fairy tale princess or Spider Man or
• 49:25
  How do they arrange a Zoom fairy tale princess or Spider-Man or Batman?
• 49:30
  Batman's amazing, by the way.
• 49:32
  I've seen his Batman, your Batman.
• 49:34
  He's a big strong guy.
• 49:35
  He's got a presence that kind of emanates from him, you know.
• 49:38
  He's he's really fun.
• 49:40
  Um, but he's he's serious, you know.
• 49:42
  It's not like a goofy, goofy character, that's for sure.
• 49:45
  So, how do people get a hold of you?
• 49:47
  And how do they book a party by Zoom or in person?
• 49:50
  How do they get your books?
• 49:51
  We need all your links, please.
• 49:54
  Yes.
• 49:54
  Well, we'll put them in the show notes.
• 49:57
  But uh for the fairy tale stories, it's actually an imprint of Fairy Tale Princess Party.
• 50:02
  So they're all related, they're all the same website, actually, Ottawa Princess Parties.com.
• 50:07
  Ottawa princess parties.com.
• 50:09
  And is there a tab or something to click on to order one of the children's books?
• 50:14
  Yes, got a tab for fairy tale stories.
• 50:16
  So everything is yes, everything is there.
• 50:19
  And although we don't have the video calls promoted on our website anymore since we're mostly doing in person, anyone can just send submit the contact form and ask for a video call because we still do those for kids in the hospital or for people in another city who aren't able to have the princess or superhero come in person.
• 50:36
  So they can uh just always just contact us there and then we can set up a fun video call.
• 50:42
  Yeah.
• 50:42
  And what's the the link for the novels for young people?
• 50:47
  Well, uh my novels are on my website, the soulwanderers.ca.
• 50:52
  The soul wanderers.ca.
• 50:54
  Okay.
• 50:55
  And that's those are those are fantasy um type fiction stories.
• 51:01
  Yep.
• 51:01
  So most of those are historical fantasy.
• 51:03
  I've got a few novels up there.
• 51:05
  I actually do have another novel that's coming out later this year called Mask of the Raven, which is also.
• 51:11
  Say that again, Cast.
• 51:12
  Mask of the Raven.
• 51:14
  Mask of the Raven.
• 51:15
  Okay.
• 51:15
  Yes, it's another historical fantasy.
• 51:17
  It has to do with John D.
• 51:19
  If anyone's heard of John D, he was also known as uh Queen Elizabeth's uh magician or her his her spy.
• 51:26
  So it has to do with the book that he wrote and a lot of magic in it and history.
• 51:33
  So that's coming out later this year.
• 51:36
  So, Mary Jean, we have to wrap up in about five minutes, but can you give some suggestions for parents to help protect their kids from this woke stuff?
• 51:44
  Like what should they do?
• 51:45
  Should they pull them out of school or or what should they do?
• 51:48
  Yeah, so there are some alternatives.
• 51:51
  They can, of course, pull them out of school.
• 51:53
  Um, but this really great website called Read Lion.com.
• 51:57
  They listed some Read Lion.
• 51:59
  So they're a news service and uh they talk about you know Larry's things in the news.
• 52:04
  I'd say they're more like um conservative Christian.
• 52:08
  Um, but when they're talking about uh kids' media, they have four solutions.
• 52:14
  So the first one is shifting the narrative.
• 52:16
  So this is seeking content for kids that aligns with your values.
• 52:20
  So for instance, like my uh books in fairy tale stories.
• 52:23
  Um, I always make sure that they're clean and they're not gonna have anything shocking in there.
• 52:29
  But when kids are exposed to content that goes against their values, um, they shouldn't normalize it.
• 52:35
  So they should, if the kids are shocked, you know, don't say, oh, you know, this is just normal, but keep keep the shock saying, yeah, okay, this this isn't normal.
• 52:43
  So I know you read this book in school, but you know, have a discussion with your kids about that.
• 52:48
  So shifting the narrative and talking about it when they are exposed to these sorts of things because it's inevitable that they will, because unless they're, you know, totally in a different separated community, then they're gonna be exposed to to things that the parents don't like sometimes.
• 53:05
  Yeah.
• 53:05
  Second is homeschooling or alternative schooling.
• 53:08
  So bringing them out of the system entirely because public school has really been infiltrated with woke messaging.
• 53:14
  And sometimes, you know, it's better just to avoid the system entirely.
• 53:19
  There's already a lot of other problems with public schooling.
• 53:21
  They are um, you know, changing curriculum to have more social, uh, what they have a special name for it, social emotional learning, which is fine in some cases, but when it comes to things like math, they're really preventing kids from learning what they need to learn.
• 53:39
  And so I think sometimes just doing a totally alternative schooling is better.
• 53:43
  There might be either uh homeschooling groups that kids could join or they parents could just do it themselves.
• 53:50
  Co-ops.
• 53:50
  I know during COVID there were a lot of co-ops that had groups of kids with parents of similar values who brought all the kids together.
• 53:59
  They split the split the teaching amongst themselves.
• 54:01
  So it's not it's not a totally insurmountable task.
• 54:05
  It's not necessarily that you're gonna have your kid home all day and you're gonna have to entertain them and teach them 24-7.
• 54:12
  There's definitely alternatives and other groups that they can join.
• 54:15
  Yeah, for sure.
• 54:16
  Yeah, and so that's number two.
• 54:18
  Number three is to seeking out new sources of content entirely.
• 54:21
  So this is like what we talked about before, having something like Bentkey from the Daily Wire with their own kids' shows or Chicken Scratch books, Heroes of Liberty, Brave Books.
• 54:32
  And uh, we can send a link for this as well.
• 54:34
  But Reed Lion actually gave a whole list of different publishers who promote uh val good books that have good values and no woke messaging.
• 54:42
  So that's a great place to start for getting books.
• 54:45
  Yeah.
• 54:45
  So I'll include those links under the podcast when it goes up on Monday.
• 54:49
  Uh so people are hearing it this when it's live streamed on Saturday and Sunday night.
• 54:54
  Uh do check in back on Monday and uh we'll have the links.
• 54:58
  It'll be easy to hear.
• 54:59
  You just go under uh the radio shows and choose the other side of the story.
• 55:03
  So Mary Jean, do you feel optimistic that we can succeed in pulling back to more traditional values where people, you know, are not being preached at by a drag queen story hour.
• 55:16
  Are we gonna win this war?
• 55:18
  I think so.
• 55:19
  I think eventually.
• 55:20
  By the way, the last uh the last the fourth point that uh Reed Lion pointed out was tying off from the first one.
• 55:26
  It was creating new libraries.
• 55:27
  So building your own library at your at your home, your church or community with good books.
• 55:32
  A lot of people have these little free libraries outside on um their front yard, actually.
• 55:37
  And you could have a curated one where you only you make sure that the the books are all, you know, safe for kids.
• 55:43
  Yeah.
• 55:43
  Uh but overall, yeah, I think I think that there is a lot of pushback, and especially with the changes in the US politics that people are gonna be more likely to speak out.
• 55:53
  And parents are gonna get fed up with a lot of these movies and TV shows.
• 55:58
  And, you know, they're gonna have to eventually just cave in to supply and demand because if no one wants to see, you know, woke Disney, then Disney's gonna have to change.
• 56:00
  just cave into supply and demand because if no one wants to see you know woke Disney then Disney's gonna have to change they've already changed a bit but if they're losing millions hundreds of millions of dollars then it's not gonna you know they're not gonna be able to continue that way yeah for sure well we have to sign out thanks for so much for being our guest Mary Jean Harris is a children's book author business owner and children's entertainer you've got quite a busy schedule don't you yeah it is a lot of things to do but I am really passionate about all of it so it's a lot of fun yeah for sure so thanks so much for being our guest Mary Jean yeah thanks for having me okay well this is Tom Harris Todd Royal and our guest Mary Jean Harris signing out from the other side of the story
• 56:07
  They've already changed a bit, but if they're losing millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, then it's not gonna, you know, they're not gonna be able to continue that way.
• 56:16
  Yeah, for sure.
• 56:17
  Well, we have to sign out.
• 56:18
  Thanks for so much for being our guest.
• 56:20
  Mary Jean Harris is a children's book author, business owner, and children's entertainer.
• 56:25
  You've got quite a busy schedule, don't you?
• 56:28
  Yeah, it is a lot.