← Stories Podcast: A Bedtime Show for Kids of All Ages
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- [00:01]
A
Hello, welcome to Stories podchats.
- [00:04]
B
I'm your host, Amanda Weldon.
- [00:06]
A
We have Stories podcast merch available@storiespodcast.com shop. We're also on Cameo for all of your personalized video message needs. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram oriespodcast. If you send us a drawing of your favorite scene or character, we'll share it on our feed. Now, here's a word from our sponsors Experience the beloved Harry Potter series like you've never heard them before on Audible Harry Potter the full cast audio editions present the iconic series as a truly spellbinding listening event for the whole family. The adventure will surround you. You'll hear footsteps echoing off the walls of Hogwarts and the whoosh of a golden snitch as it darts past your ear. And the production also features a rousing new musical score that heightens every magical moment. Listen as a list Stars like Hugh Laurie as Albus Dumbledore and Keira Knightley as Professor Umbridge create a spellbinding experience for not only longtime Harry Potter fans, but also those brand new to the magical world of witchcraft and wizardry. The first story, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, is available now, with new audiobooks releasing every month. Moving forward, it's Harry Potter like you've never heard it before. Listen on audible go to audible.com HP1 and start listening today. It's the busiest travel season of the year and I think we can all agree that traveling long distances can be rough, especially for kids. Luckily, Netflix has everything you need to keep your family entertained during even the longest cross country trek. Download your kids favorite Netflix games, shows and movies to watch anywhere for on the go entertainment. Netflix kids games are fun and educational and will keep your kids entertained with their favorite characters in games like Paw Patrol, Academy, Barbie Color Creations and World of Peppa Pig. The games all work without Wi fi, so they're travel ready and perfect for road trips, flights and travel downtime. All games are fully unlocked with your existing Netflix membership. No extra costs or in app purchases. Visit netflixfamily.com traveltips for all your kids holiday entertainment. Thanks. Enjoy the episode.
- [02:32]
C
Oh and I'm your other host, Daniel Hines. How you doing Amanda?
- [02:35]
B
I am okay. How are you Dan?
- [02:38]
C
Pretty good. Today we're going to be talking about video games, but I kind of, before we get into that, I kind of wanted to know, how's your Christmas shopping going in general? Are you. I mean, I'm going to. I can ask you the question, but I know you're a last minute person.
- [02:54]
B
Yes. I didn't mean to stress you.
- [02:57]
C
I'm just wondering.
- [02:59]
B
No, Yes, I am a last minute person. It is every year the holidays sneak up on me in general with gifts. If there's a deadline, I struggle, but other times I will be struck with. I want to get this specific thing for this specific person when it's not connected to a reason to give them a present. And then I won't buy it, but then I won't remember it when it's time. And I just wish that I could just. I should just buy people things when I think of it, you know.
- [03:29]
C
But I'm a big proponent of buying people little things as you find them.
- [03:33]
B
I know it's fun, but. Yes. No, we're pretty, pretty last minute over here. I'm also trying to like consume less at this time. I'm trying to like buy less stuff in general. I have a lot of things so I'm trying to like see like make things or gift people things that I'm not using that I know other people would appreciate more. Things like that too. So just kind of, I don't know. How's your, how's your Christmas shopping going?
- [04:03]
C
Oh, I'm going pretty good. Pretty good. All the, I'd say all the big stuff is done, but I like to fill in, you know, a lot of little things. Little, you know, little cutesy stuff for the girls, some pet gifts. Kelsey Lee always wants a present for her dog. She's upset if her dog Logan doesn't get a present.
- [04:21]
B
And he likes to open gifts. He's like very good at opening presents and unwrapping them. I've watched videos and it's very impressive.
- [04:28]
C
Yeah. If you give the dog a gift, like, and he knows it's for him, like if you put it between his paws, he will rip it open to get the toy inside and then carry the toy away very happy. Which makes me, you know, begs the question how often is she giving him wrapped gifts that he has been trained to do that?
- [04:45]
B
I don't, I mean, probably a lot. Probably a lot. I think Kelsey Lee is very generous.
- [04:50]
C
Yeah. So I kind of wanted to talk today about video games because I've been playing a lot of video games lately and going into Christmas when we people kind of ask like what we'd recommend and like always, we always do our book recommendations and stuff like that. But I'm a big proponent in video games and. Okay, let me tell you why for a second if that's okay.
- [05:10]
B
Yeah, go ahead.
- [05:11]
C
So it's sort of like I'm a big fan of like stories. Right. Obviously we like stories. And video games are just a great way to, you know, you can read a story, you can watch a story in video games or when you can play a story and it really like no other medium, it can kind of put you in the spot of the character because you're like making the decisions and moving through them. And I find it's a really impactful storytelling form. And the second part of it is, I just think, I think like, like screen time as a bad guy is a little overblown because not all screen time is created equal. Right. Like, that's how I feel. And like if, yeah, if you're like sitting down playing a like Mario game together, like that is not the same as a kid with an iPad watching something independently while you're, you know, while you're cleaning the kitchen or something like totally different screen times.
- [06:01]
B
Yeah. I think there is a difference between sort of engaging in something more active especially that has a social component than kind of the like doom scrolling or whatever that. That we do or that kids might do, which maybe is a little less. Has like more or less like, is a little bit more isolated perhaps, is what I would say. And video games, I think especially when they're played like with family, can be connective and, and a fun thing to like bond over.
- [06:32]
C
Yeah. So tell me, do you have any. Do you guys play at all growing up? What'd you guys play?
- [06:37]
B
Okay, I. We did. So we had like a Sega Genesis.
- [06:43]
C
That you're gonna show your age a little bit.
- [06:45]
B
No one knows anymore. That's okay. I feel very young, but perhaps the years would. Would argue. But yeah, we had like a Sega Genesis that we got at a yard sale. It wasn't like it was like old when we, when we got it. And that one I remember had like some like plant zombie game that I remember liking. And then shortly afterwards we got a Nintendo 64 and that one had different games on it, but I believe one of the. And I don't actually know if this was on the Sega or the Nintendo 64, but was the Goldeneye game.
- [07:22]
C
Oh, that's. That's Nintendo big time. Yeah.
- [07:24]
A
Okay.
- [07:25]
B
I played that with my brother and I wasn't very good at it and I remember it being kind of scary.
- [07:31]
C
So how my sister would describe it as. Well. Yeah.
- [07:33]
B
Yes. And like. And because my brother and I were never on the same team, somehow or maybe we were supposed to be, but like, I don't know we just were always.
- [07:43]
C
That's a death. That's like a fighting game. Yeah.
- [07:46]
B
I remember, like, being stuck in a corner one day and having a hard time figuring out how to, like, turn around. You know, when you're, like, stuck in, like.
- [07:52]
C
Yeah, a corner.
- [07:53]
B
And then I was trying to figure out how to turn around, and then I turned around and my brother was there. And then I died and it was really scary. And. Yeah. So I didn't. We didn't play a lot together after that. And then kind of video games became like my brother's thing. But I did have a Game Boy color that was like the purple one that was clear and it was cool. And. And I did play a lot of Mario, like just Super Mario Brothers on that. And that was fun. And I was always Luigi.
- [08:22]
C
Luigi's incredible. I also love Luigi. I'm more of a Donkey Kong man. When you get the full rock. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's. Let's take a step back.
- [08:29]
B
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Take us through your story.
- [08:32]
C
Well, no. So I've always played stuff. But the big thing I found when my daughter was younger and still to this day with my partner Sarah, or still my daughter now that she's older, it's what really resonates now are these co op games. So if you're like a family out there, I think what you have to find is they're called co op games and especially couch co op games. And that's obvious to some of you. But if you haven't heard the term coach, co op is when you're on the same team and you have to be. You're sitting in the same room playing together. Couch co op is the genre. Right. You have to communicate a lot. Right. And like, different games have different levels of that, but it's a lot of. It's a lot of problem solving, kind of talking through things. You kind of have to listen and resolve things to win. You know what I mean?
- [09:17]
B
Yeah. Can you give some examples of couch co op games?
- [09:21]
C
So that's what I wanted to do kind of for the rest of this episode is just kind of talk through some of the ones I love and what would be some great ones. So the first, again, this will be a little switch heavy, but I love them all. But the ones I play a lot with my family on the Switch, we love the Mario Karts. Right? The Mario Karts have been since Super Nintendo really came into its own in Nintendo 64. I know even you as a. Not the biggest gamer I know you've put in some time in Mario Kart. Right.
- [09:48]
B
Um, I don't know about Mario Kart as much, but we. I did. I have played a lot of Super Smash Brothers.
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C
Okay, what about Mario Party? There's a lot of these ones.
- [09:56]
B
I don't know. I just remember Super Smash Brothers and I was always Kirby. Because I like that you could do that thing where you go like, we like suck up the other people.
- [10:04]
C
Kirby's special ability is. Yeah, he sucks up enemies and then takes their main power.
- [10:08]
B
Yeah. And then he like shows up in the little costume for a minute. And I always thought that was funny. So that one I played a lot.
- [10:16]
C
It sounds like you just like dressing up Kirby more than you.
- [10:18]
A
You know, that's kind of true.
- [10:20]
B
Any, any video game that I actually like the most are the ones that you get to like dress up your character first. That's true. Across the board, I like to create an avatar.
- [10:29]
C
I also love to create an avatar. A great one for that in a good, like vibes game across. Pretty much every console is Stardew Valley.
- [10:40]
B
I have heard of this one, so.
- [10:42]
C
I think you would legit love that. I don't know. I don't think you have time for it in your life. But it's sort of like the old like Harvest Moons or any of those like farmville sort of games. Like you're running a little. Or Animal Crossing, New Horizon, Nintendo Switch. Like it's sort of like those. But where I think it's. It's strength is it's not tied to the real clock. Like so you do as much farm stuff as you want and then you go to bed in the game and it passes the day. So imagine like an animal crossing that kind of works on your own time. Right. And you lose the. You can't like visit other islands like Animal Crossing because that has like the Nintendo Online element. But what Stardew does have is couch co op. And me and my partner and daughter have like a three person farm. And we all do and we go do our farm chores and like one of us has like a big wine making operation. I have like all these, all these bins of jellies and pickled fruits. I do. So, yeah, just to sum it up, co op games, you're. You're in the same room, you're on the same team and you're all trying to accomplish an objective together. Right. And some of them aren't co op, like, and there's some that are sort of co op adjacent, like your Mario Karts and stuff. Where, you know, it's. It's a. It's a race, but everybody's placing. Everybody's in the race. You know what I mean?
- [11:56]
B
Yeah, that's the one. Could you throw banana peels and stuff out the back?
- [12:00]
C
In fact, you have to. If you want to win, you gotta chuck banana peels.
- [12:04]
B
Oh, okay. I think perhaps I have played Mario Kart.
- [12:07]
C
I think I know I definitely have Mario. It's turtles. It's banana feels.
- [12:11]
B
Yeah.
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C
It's the whole shebang.
- [12:13]
B
Yeah.
- [12:14]
C
So let me give you some of my favorite co op games. I'll kind of do it by age here. So a big one is Pokemon. Right. If your kid loves Pokemon. Hey, if you're a kid and you love Pokemon, you want to play a game with your parents, then Pokemon, let's go Pikachu. Or let's go Eevee. That's still kind of the gold standard. So, Amanda, when you're. When Birdie inevitably begins to love Pokemon because she sees somebody holding a Pikachu in like, a year.
- [12:40]
B
Yes. Or herself because she has already two Pikachus that she will sometimes carry both of them around at the same time.
- [12:47]
C
She has Pikachu's.
- [12:48]
B
Yeah. I thought. I. I think I sent you a picture a long time ago of her with two Pikachu.
- [12:53]
C
Maybe a long time ago.
- [12:54]
B
And she, like, held them both like this for a picture, and it was cute.
- [12:59]
C
What I always find cute is when little kids try to say Pikachu, because it's kind of a hard word with a lot of little vowels in it, and it's always like, Pikachu.
- [13:08]
B
I remember one time when Grace was really little that I asked her if she could spell Pikachu. And I remember that she was, like, sounding it out out loud and being like, pika ch. Like, and I was, like, just really impressed with her that she was like, wow. And. Cause she knew that ch was a ch sound. She was young enough that I was impressed with this. So she must have been.
- [13:27]
C
It was many years ago if you thought she was. You should see her read. At 16, she's flying. She barely needs to sound out anything.
- [13:36]
B
Pretty cool.
- [13:38]
C
She's doing excellent. She's reading at. I don't know. I'm. College level, I'm sure. Why not?
- [13:42]
B
She's brilliant. She's always been very smart.
- [13:44]
C
Yeah. We're all doing everything at a college level, guys. We're all doing great jobs. It's funny when you're not in college yet, doing anything at a college level is considered good. But then once you're past college age.
- [13:56]
B
I think that would be an insult. I was just thinking to myself like, I'm 36, like am I doing anything at a college level? And is that positive?
- [14:03]
C
Like, I don't know, it probably should not be.
- [14:06]
B
No.
- [14:08]
C
Okay, so here's some other games that I would call Couch Co Op and these are ones that can be a little competitive. Depends on how you run them. And this is your Mario Kart is the first big one. Right? We love Mario Kart. Super Smash Brothers is another one. Who's your guy? It's Kirby. Kirby, like you could take in the guys. Yeah. I myself am a Donkey Kong Samus and the newest super smasher, McGann Dorf. I like the heavies.
- [14:34]
B
Yeah.
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C
Because I'm very skillful and I like to deliver a killing blow. That's, that's Gannon with my sword. I've been very good at Smash Brothers since the original on Nintendo 64. In fact, I won multiple Smash Brothers tournaments in college and I think I might.
- [14:52]
B
Oh, playing at a college level.
- [14:54]
C
I do play at a college level and Modern Smash has left me behind. When I go on Modern Smash Online, I inevitably get just absolutely Destroyed by some 7 year old playing Pikachu. But if we could do Nintendo 64, Smash Brothers Online, ooh, I would put the hurt down on that seven year old. You know what I mean?
- [15:14]
B
Yes. And that is quite something to brag about, I think.
- [15:16]
C
Thank you. Thank you.
- [15:17]
B
You're welcome.
- [15:18]
C
And so also in that so a couple non Nintendo games in that same kind of competitive ish lens are the sports games. Now any sport you want, pretty much there is a big money sports game and a lot of them have really cool co op or head to head play. You know, if you're into like management and stuff. A lot of the big games have like season modes and stuff. Now with the new Switch 2 you can actually play Madden on the Switch for the first time, which is, is big. The new Switch is actually really powerful. It can play Cyberpunk and Madden plus all the original Switch games too. So the Switch 2 is a great, great kind of addition to the console lineup there. But yeah, any of the sports games on any of the consoles are going to treat you good. And again to go back to Nintendo, the Mario sports games especially, very, very sweet. Especially I'm a big Mario soccer and tennis fan.
- [16:09]
B
Fun. You can play as like Luigi and Peach and stuff.
- [16:14]
C
So all the Mario games, it's sort of the same as it is as Mario Kart or Smash Brothers. Where you have that whole roster of Mario characters to pick from. And just like you'd imagine, you know, Donkey Kong maybe doesn't accelerate as fast in his go kart, but he has a higher top speed and he has a higher weight to bump other carts. And in tennis, he's slow, but he has a wicked powerful serve. You know what I mean?
- [16:35]
B
Yeah.
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C
And in soccer, when you do his special, the ball turns into a giant banana and boomerangs into the.
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B
If I was Kirby, if I was Kirby in tennis, would I be able to suck up my opponent?
- [16:48]
C
You would inevitably suck up the ball and spit it out at Mach 9 or something.
- [16:52]
B
Okay, I would do that.
- [16:54]
C
But see, Kirby. Kirby's not usually in the Mario games as much because he's a Nintendo guy, but not necessarily a Mario buddy.
- [17:01]
B
Sure, yeah.
- [17:02]
C
Mario buddies include Yoshi, Donkey Kong, of course.
- [17:08]
B
Of course. I understand.
- [17:11]
C
So, yeah, any of those are going to be great. And then for your slightly older kids, I think the Diablos run really well. Split screen Diablo is pretty customizable difficulty levels and violent stuff. But Diablo is a good, like, high fantasy rpg. You might remember it, parents from when you were a kid. It's still around and kicking. Diablo 3 is pretty cheap now. I think that's on every console and including the. The switch handheld. And yeah, the Diablos are great for older games. And then for kind of the mid range, you can get into some of, like the snipperclips, which is sort of a puzzle game. You'd like kind of snipperclip Samantha. Like you have, like, two little guys. You have to arrange yourselves into shape. It's almost like a geometry buddy game.
- [17:57]
B
Okay, I like that you, like, work.
- [17:59]
C
Together to make shapes. Yeah.
- [18:00]
B
Okay, that sounds fun.
- [18:02]
C
Yeah. Or it takes two is a really fun one.
- [18:07]
B
Is that based on the Mary Kate and Ashley movie from.
- [18:10]
C
It's not based on the Mary Kate and Ashley movie, unfortunately.
- [18:13]
B
Oh, man.
- [18:15]
C
But you play like, a couple, and it's like, very much like a new. It's like a video game for people who are, like, kind of new to video games.
- [18:21]
B
Okay.
- [18:23]
C
So it takes two, and the sequel is a little harder, but still great. The sequel's called split fiction now, so ones that are very fun, But I don't necessarily recommend playing as a family unless you can handle a little stress. Okay. Oh, no. These are what I call the overcooked genre. You know, overcooked.
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B
Amanda, I do not know that. What is that?
- [18:46]
C
So let me explain. Overcooked. Overcooked. You are working together and you're working together to prepare a dish. Right. So one person. So let's just say it's a common one is like, like a hamburger, right?
- [18:57]
B
Yeah.
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C
One person's getting the plates, another person's putting the bun. A third person has to get the meat and cook it and then they have to plate it, they have to put it on the bun, put on ketchup, put on the top bun, and then bring it to the window to serve it, you know.
- [19:11]
B
Yeah.
- [19:12]
C
But usually there's like four or five steps to the process. There's usually always like one more step than there is player. Right. So there's a lot of frantic. Sure. And also, just as that sounds frantic enough, it's also a lot of stuff like, oh, by the way, half of this kitchen is split between two moving trucks that are driving at different speeds. So the kitchen only lines up every 15 seconds. You have to like run across the truck beds and like put your burgers on the grill before the trucks don't line up. Or like this, this, this kitchen has a series of conveyor belts running through it that only move in one direction, you know, like stuff like that.
- [19:47]
B
So that sounds like a lot.
- [19:48]
C
It's very stressful. Yeah. So it's one of the most popular co op games and people might recommend it. But just, just do be careful because I've. Sometimes it ends in legitimate stressful fights.
- [20:02]
B
Yeah. That seems like the kind of game that maybe I would just sort of be like, I'm not good at this and kind of just quit before I like, like got better, you know what I mean? Like, it would just be. I would, I would get frustrated and then just be like, never mind, never mind.
- [20:16]
C
But, but if you can handle, if you want a little bit of that tension, then you're generally overcooked, you're moving out. Heave Ho, I think is another one. These are games where you're kind of working together, but it's, it is difficult and stressful.
- [20:31]
B
Nice.
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C
And then I just had a thought too. On the Diablo one, if you feel like Diablo is a little mature because Diablo can be, you know, it's a little bloody. You have to look into it for. But for older kids, for younger kids, very similar gameplay. I believe it's only on the switch is Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. And that's very similar where like you all control a superhero and you just run around a map, like solving little puzzles and just beating up generic bad robots and stuff. But like it's like the entire Marvel roster of guys, so it's wicked Fun. So like, yeah, like when like I was Wolverine and Grace was, you know, I think she was the Human Torch most of the time.
- [21:11]
B
Cool.
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C
Or like Spider Woman I think was in there. There's a Spider man. All the Marvel guys are there. I took another great one and yeah, I just, I guess I just kind of feel like once we start talking about different games we play, I start to ramble. I guess you've kind of rambled through this whole thing and you've, you've been a nice audience because I know you don't play a ton of these, but I don't know, have I persuaded you to. Would you give any of these a shot with Birdie down the line, you think?
- [21:39]
B
Yeah, I mean if there are things that Birdie wanted to do, I, and I would rather play with her than not play with her, I think. And Mark likes to play games so like he would play. Um, I like any, I like a racing game. Like I would play any kind of racing games. I think. I, I always have.
- [21:56]
A
I don't.
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B
It goes back to the 007 thing where I just like don't love like combat games, but I don't think that that's most of this genre that we're talking about. And, and I, but I, and I also just like, I really like anything that involves like a puzzle. Also the animation is always like really fun to watch. It's like, it's, it is very like cool looking. So there's.
- [22:17]
C
Yeah, yeah, they're really fun. There's some really great stories in there and there's some really good family time to be had in these games I think. So kind of let me give me, give me some of this up, run you down, give you kind of a list sort of if you can only have one as a family. I think I'd recommend the Nintendo. The, the new Switch 2 is great and because the new Switch 2 is so great, the, the older Switch you can probably find more affordable now too. And on that pretty much any of the Mario games are going to have multiplayer and they're all going to be great. But especially the Mario Kart or the Mario. Wonder if you want like an old school like 2D side scrolling Mario that plays like old Nintendo.
- [22:55]
B
Yeah, like the regular like the Mario that I recall from my Game Boy.
- [22:58]
C
What you'd think of as Mario left to right jumping on goombas heads.
- [23:02]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the music which is really iconic.
- [23:05]
C
And the music is awesome. Yeah. And you'll find that. And like that's like a super Mario Wonder, the new ones. And there's a bunch of new Pokemon games, too, if your kid's a Pokemaniac. I know mine certainly was. It's a real thing, Amanda. It comes out of nowhere. All of a sudden. They like. They know every Pokemon and they love them. Listen, it happened to me. I remember getting a lot. I had a Game Boy color. I had a lime green Game Boy color with Pokemon Blue.
- [23:28]
B
Yeah.
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C
And I had a Bulbasaur starter and I played it constantly.
- [23:32]
B
Yeah. You just brought back the, like, the colorful games like Pokemon Blue. What other ones were there?
- [23:39]
C
Was there Pokemon Blue and Red and then Pokemon Yellow came later.
- [23:42]
B
Yeah.
- [23:42]
C
A lot of the Game Boy color cartridges had different colors. Like, not. I know this is offensive now, but all the girly games were pink and stuff like that. Yeah.
- [23:52]
B
I think that. I think that Doug must have had Pokemon Blue or Pokemon Red. I think that that was. Doug is my brother.
- [23:58]
C
Yeah, I'm sure he did. Yeah.
- [24:00]
B
Yeah.
- [24:01]
C
So. Yeah. So on the Nintendo, all the Mario games, And with the Switch 2, it can get some of the sports games on there now. And if you're on PlayStation or Xbox, I would do the sports games again. Really great. Stardew Valley on any console is just amazing. Amanda, I can't encourage you enough to try Stardew Valley with Mark. If you and Mark ever sitting there and you'd like a chill night, instead of throwing on a movie, try to start a Stardew Valley farm. It's beautiful.
- [24:27]
B
I'll bring it up with him and we'll see.
- [24:29]
C
I don't think he will, but I appreciate you humoring me. Thank you. PS5. PS5, the sports games, it has a lot of. It has split Fiction and It Takes Two. Thank you. You remember, and if you want, like, a kind of single player platformer that feels very Mario, like the new astro bot for PlayStation is really, really cool. It plays like a classic platformer, like a Mario. And on Xbox. The thing about Xbox now is that you have Game Pass, which is like one monthly fee, and you have, like a million games on there, so.
- [25:03]
B
Oh, cool.
- [25:04]
C
Yeah. Ooh. And the other thing with the Switch 2, I just got the Switch 2, which is why I'm particularly high on it. I really love the Switch, but they have the virtual console there, Amanda, where you can play old games, like, perfectly emulated on the mobile, which is, like, very exciting. And for the Switch 2, they added the GameCube emulator and they added Wind Waker, which is, like the best Zelda game of all time. It's like, everybody's favorite Zelda game.
- [25:28]
B
Cool. That sounds fun.
- [25:30]
C
I know you don't care, but in Wind Waker, you sail around in a ship.
- [25:33]
B
Wow. Neat.
- [25:37]
C
So those are kind of my short list, which is very long and rambling. But I just, you know, I see a lot of stuff about screen time, and we do a lot of Christmas stuff, and by all means, get them books and board games and all that stuff, but I just, I think some. Some parents, and it totally depends on the generation and the parent and how they were raised, but just don't dismiss video games out of hand, because some of my. Some of my best times with my kid were playing through games together, and then as she got older, playing through more advanced story games. And, like, you know, I'm just a really big advocate for gaming with kids, whether that's, you know, the pen and paper stuff I do like the stories RPG and we play D and D together and that kind of thing, or video games. Just, you know, you get to see. You just get to see them in different situations. You get to talk through problems. You get to handle, like winning and losing, which is big.
- [26:25]
B
Yeah.
- [26:26]
C
Like, if your kids are losing and getting frustrated, that's a really easy time to address that. And, you know, I'm just a big proponent of it. And I know Amanda has played a lot and humored me, but I know, like, when we talk about it, she also know, like, has talked about the power of, like, games and gaming with.
- [26:40]
B
Yeah, no, I think. I think especially the part about having to solve problems together, because I do a lot of the video games that I'm. I think a lot of the times that I've played video games in recent years, too, have been at your house, Dan. Like, the, you know, one or two times that I played anything. And I remember, yeah, it's. You're in a situation and you have to approach it and figure out how to solve a problem and, like, know how to talk to people and know how to, you know, maneuver through the game to get to your, like, desired end. And I do think that that's an interesting thing to do with kids, too, to see. See their approach in problem solving and then also work through it with them. Like, I just. I think that there is a lot of value in that, and I think video games are, like, one. One avenue to do that. And I think role playing, like, the RPG games also are a really great space to do that. But I think in general, it's fun to watch kids, especially, like, as they're growing up and their Brains are developing and all these things to watch the different ways that they're approaching problem solving. I think that. And games are a place where we do that in a really safe way, in a really safe and appropriate way.
- [27:42]
C
That's the best. Thank you so much. You said it better than I did.
- [27:44]
B
Yeah, anytime.
- [27:47]
C
Hey, so that was this week's Pod Chats. Well, next week we will have a Dog King Christmas story for you.
- [27:54]
B
Fun.
- [27:56]
C
Do you want a little hint about what it is? I guess they've listened this far. They deserve a little preview.
- [28:01]
B
Sure. I don't know it either.
- [28:04]
C
So I'm writing because it's almost done. I'm writing it now. It's. The idea is Pickles shows up and he has. He's caught a little something and it's in his mouth and he doesn't want to let it go. And what it is, it's an elf from, like the elves and the shoemaker that came to help his. And Pickles just saw a little guy stealing his dad's leather scraps and wasn't going to let that fly.
- [28:26]
B
Oh, that's funny.
- [28:28]
C
Dog King has to legislate Pickles in this cobbler holiday elf.
- [28:35]
B
Cool. I'm excited. That'll be a lot of high, squeaky voices in one one episode. Probably. We'll have to figure that out.
- [28:42]
C
Yeah, well, sometimes, you know, you can get like a gruff. Well, because he's not. He's not a Santa elf. He's a cobbler elf, which is a similar holiday story, but.
- [28:51]
B
But he's still small, so we will have like a small larynx, you know?
- [28:55]
C
Yeah, but he could have like a. One of those.
- [28:59]
B
Maybe you should do a guest appearance and maybe it should be you.
- [29:02]
C
Don't chew on me. I'm a cobbler. I can see he'll say, I'm a cobbler, and then Rambo will be like a cobbler.
- [29:09]
B
A peach cobbler.
- [29:10]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you see how it's coming together?
- [29:13]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's good. It's good.
- [29:15]
C
All right, so look out for that next week. And is there anything you want to hear? Any pod chats, you want to hear, any games that you played as a family that you've. That you've, you know, found really good? Whether there be board games or role playing games or video games, let us know and we'll shout them out. And as always. Yeah. If you have more podcast topics, just hit them with us. And you please share the show with a friend.
- [29:37]
B
Yeah, and, and, and that's everything. And happy holidays and thanks for listening.
- [29:42]
C
Yeah, thanks for listening.