You know that zombie trance that your kids get when watching Cocomelon or other fast paced “kid shows”?  Do you ever experience the epic meltdowns that come with the phrase “turn it off”?  Well - I’ve got great news.  You can avoid these by using kid podcasts to buy yourself 30 minutes for dinner prep/making the needed phone calls/car rides instead!

Andi Smiley, the host of The Friendly Podcast Guide @friendlypodcastguide, is awesome!!  She created a podcast that helps moms find podcasts for themselves and for their kids. 

No more zombies!! Build strong imagination muscles by exposing your kids to some of the great kid podcasts out there.

Healthy Screen Habits Takeaway

Resources

Show Transcript

Hillary Wilkinson: (00:00)

I've got a fun fact. This thing that you're listening to, this type of media was originally called audio blogging. People wrote, read and shared their content over the internet, like audio blog posts. And then in 2004, a writer for The Guardian, his name was Ben Hammersley, combined the words iPod and broadcast to create the portmanteau podcast. And since then, podcasting has boomed. There seems to be a great discrepancy, kind of in the true number of podcasts currently available, but the numbers range , I got it real tight here between three and 5 million. So clearly my, uh, my top-notch research is on point. But I'm telling you all of this because I understand how hard it is to find something good to listen to. And my guest today has taken the frustration of trying to find something that you'd like to listen to and created a great resource that we are gonna learn so much about. It's called the Friendly Podcast Guide. It's going to save you so much time and frustration. Welcome to Healthy Screen Habits. Andy Smiley.

Andi Smiley: (01:48)

Thank you so much. I am so excited to be here and talk podcasts with you.

Hillary Wilkinson: (01:53)

Yeah, yeah. Pod podcaster to podcast or audio blogger to audio blogger .

Andi Smiley: (02:00)

Correct me up? Truly? I, I feel like I've heard that before, but I did not remember until you told me audio blogger. That is a rough, I'm really glad we switched because that

Hillary Wilkinson: (02:10)

Does not have

Andi Smiley: (02:10)

The same ring to it.

Hillary Wilkinson: (02:11)

Exactly. And it gave me an excuse to use my fancy pants word portmanteau. Yes, . Yes. 

Andi Smiley: (02:18)

It's a beautiful word. I mean, thank you. We've gotta slide it in wherever we can.

Hillary Wilkinson: (02:21)

Exactly. It, it served me well in the SATs. And now again, you know, 30 years later or however many . Okay. So Andy, let's talk about the friendly podcast guide. Can you, I want just like, let's go right into it. Can you talk about like the format and what gave you the idea to create it?

Andi Smiley: (02:43)

Yes. Okay. So like you were saying, I want it to be a time saver. If you wanna listen to podcasts or find a new podcast, I don't want it to be an arduous process. I want it to be easy. So all of my episodes are around 15 minutes or less. And it just helps you kind of get a feel for the vibe of the show so that you can either decide to go and listen to it or decide that that one's not for you. And I want that to be like a quick, easy thing so that you still have time to go and listen to that podcast that you just found out you wanted to listen to instead of listening to me for 30, 45 minutes to an hour, and then not have time to go and listen to whatever new podcast you just found out about.

Andi Smiley: (03:27)

So that's the format of the show. And the reason I started it is because I love podcasts. Podcasts have like, made my life so much better as a mom. And so I wanted to share all of this goodness with other moms. Like, I use podcasts like to, like, when I'm doing dishes, I'll listen to an entertaining podcast to make it less awful. Or if I'm trying to learn about something, I can listen to a podcast about healthy screen habits or something in history that I find interesting while I'm also doing something else. And yeah, podcasts are just awesome and I want more moms to understand how many podcasts are out there and just like, know all of the resources that are there, but in a way that doesn't take over their life. .

Hillary Wilkinson: (04:35)

It kind of reminds me of like the little mini TV guides that we used to get Oh yeah, yeah. When like, like way back in the day, you know, Gen X talks here, , but you'd get your TV guide and then you'd get like a, just a little synopsis of like what each show was gonna be about. Mm-Hmm. . And so then you could, you could schedule your weekly viewing . So now we can schedule our listening. Thanks to you.

Andi Smiley: (05:06)

Yes. Luckily it's a little bit more flexible though. Like you, you can just listen to me whenever you don't have to like

Hillary Wilkinson: (05:13)

For sure.

Andi Smiley: (05:13)

Tune in at 10:00 AM or whatever,

Hillary Wilkinson: (05:15)

. Right, right. And so, so I'm gonna kinda like switch lanes here 'cause we're talking about podcasts, but like you said, this is a healthy screen habits platform, but I really do think the tech kind of holds hands here. And can you explain in your words what makes podcasts such a great alternative to screens or having your children on, you know, that, that word screen time.

Andi Smiley: (05:46)

Totally. So let me back up just a smidge and say that the other like, part of the friendly podcast guide is I also introduce Parents to Kid podcasts. So I do have loads and loads of podcasts that are for moms, but I also have a lot of kid podcasts that I talk about on my show because kid podcasts have made my motherhood experience so much better because it, I can entertain my kids without a screen, um, if that's in the car, if that's when I just need a quick break. And I feel like not very many parents know about kid podcasts yet. So I want to spread the word and help more people know about kid podcasts. So back to your question about screen time and like how podcasts can be an alternative to screens, um, at least for kids, I have noticed from like my own experience and other people's experiences, um, that I've talked to that have kids that listen to kid podcasts is that their imagination muscle just gets worked so much better when they're listening to a kid podcast than when they're watching a show or playing a video game.

Andi Smiley: (07:04)

And I know that there's research out there, and I do not remember numbers, but I know that listening to stories for kids is, is so good for their little brains and kid podcasts are a great way to introduce them to that almost. Audio books are awesome, love a good audio book, but they are long. And we've got kid podcasts, I have kid podcasts that my kiddos listen to that are five minutes long. So like there's something out there for every kid. And also at least like as an anecdotal evidence, my kids are less like zombie-like , we wanna say that after they listen to a kid podcast, then when they have their screen time during the day, and I feel like, it's usually easier for us to pivot or like for us to like move on to the next thing when it's a kid podcast compared to watching a show or playing a video game.

Hillary Wilkinson: (08:04)

Right, right. And I can tell you from the brain science perspective, it doesn't hit that dopamine reward circuit as hard that the screen time would. And so that's when you're talking about that, um, they don't seem to be so zombie-fied . Yeah. And, and I, um, now I, I could be wrong about this because I don't have littles anymore, but I would expect that transitioning to a next activity off of a podcast might not be as, you know, volcanic as as get getting off of one screen and then going to a next thing.

Andi Smiley: (08:47)

Yes. My kids do love kid podcasts a lot, so sometimes they're frustrated at me when I turn off a kid podcast, but I feel like it's usually a little bit easier for them to almost like, listen to my reasoning if they if that's a good way to say it. Like, to be like, actually now we're going to the park. Like, it's not like we're, I'm gonna go torture you, like we're gonna go do something else fun. Like, so I think maybe they're just able to like use that front part of their brain a little bit faster than, than when they're watching tv.

Hillary Wilkinson: (09:20)

Yeah. I love it. When we come back, I'm gonna be asking Andy Smiley for tips and tools surrounding kid based podcasts.

—-------

Ad break - Thank you to Danielle Waters an

Hillary Wilkinson: (10:54)

I'm speaking with Andi Smiley, the founder of the Friendly Podcast Guide. She's a mom of three littles who are ages six and under and podcasts have saved her sanity. Now she wants to help other moms find podcasts without getting overwhelmed. So she started her own podcast about podcasts.

Hillary Wilkinson: (11:39)

As the host of the friendly podcast guide, Andy helps moms find podcasts for themselves and for their kids. So before we start diving into like actual titles, Andi, I have a nuts and bolts question . And it seems like with littles, oftentimes when a phone is present, it kind of becomes this thing of greatest interest. Like that's what they want. Mm-Hmm. , you know, so knowing that your intent is strictly audio here with listening, what devices do you recommend using to listen to podcasts with kids?

Andi Smiley: (12:21)

Okay, so I actually kind of have a long list, but we're gonna try and narrow it down a little bit. So because my kiddos are six and under, a lot of the time, especially when we're in the car or altogether in the kitchen, like doing stuff like that, I will ha I'll do it on my phone and then like put it to a Bluetooth speaker so that like the phone, like you were saying, the phone isn't really the thing that's playing it. And so they're not wanting to like play on my phone, they'll just listen to it. Or, um, I know we don't have an Alexa in our house, but Alexa is another really great way to play kid podcasts because kid podcasts are on all major podcast players. A lot of parents don't know that. Like there aren't, there are specific kid podcast apps, but that's not the only place you can find kid podcasts.

Andi Smiley: (13:10)

They're on like, Spotify, apple and Overcast, all, all of the podcast apps. Um, you just have to go looking for 'em. I will say when my kids get a little bit older, I think I will get them, um, have them have their own kid podcast app or we'll probably have an app on a device and then each kid can have their own like, profile on these kids apps, kid, kid podcast apps. Um, some of my favorites are Story Topia and Kids Pod. Those are kind of like my two favorites right now. And both of them have the opportunity to have multiple profiles so that, you know, I have three little, so each kid can have their own profile and they can just like flood that profile with all of their favorite kid podcasts. Then it's not gonna be taken up as much space on my phone, which will be nice . Um, um, so that's like podcast apps. There are, you can access a lot of podcasts via like their, like audio players, like a Yoto player. Um, we don't have a Yoto player. We have a Story button, which is a literally just a kid podcast player. Um, that one my kids.

Hillary Wilkinson: (14:16)

So what does it, oh, sorry. So Oh no, go. So what does that look like? It's not it because I feel like I've seen it on your website. It's it's not like on your phone. No,

Andi Smiley: (14:27)

It's, no, it truly looks like an old fashioned radio. Like, it's like a box and it has like a speaker on the front and technically there's a screen so that you can like toggle through all of the kid podcast options, but it's not very exciting. It's just literally what you see on a, on your podcast player, like on your phone. Um, so it's just like play and pause and like where you are in the episode. Um, and that one I love because like I said, we don't have Alexa or anything like that, especially not in the kids' rooms. And so we just, the story button mostly stays in my kiddo's room and they, they listen to it as they're winding down for bed. So like, we read books and then they're usually not ready for bed because they just have so much more energy than I do.

Andi Smiley: (15:14)

And so they can sit and listen to some kid podcast to kind of wind down play Legos or whatever while they're listening. And then when it's, when it's like time for them to actually get in their beds, we'll turn on a Sleep podcast, I'll sing to them and then they'll like go off to sleep while listening to a Sleep podcast. So kid podcasts, like I said, are kind of like in every aspect of my life, but that, um, so to answer your question, there are kid podcast players like a Storybutton or a Yoto player. There's also kid podcast apps. Um, and then if you, if that feels overwhelming, don't do any of that yet, just pull up your own podcast player that you're listening to this podcast on and search for some kid podcasts and they will be there for you.

Hillary Wilkinson: (15:57)

Okay. Okay, awesome. So also I have a, uh, I have kind of a challenge in my house and I am, I am a lover of all, all things verbal. I love stories. I'm a huge NPR listener. I love like This American Life , subscribe to the Trader Joe's podcast, , like will base my grocery shopping off of that . Um, but all of that aside, my people, meaning my teenagers do not love a podcast and I get it, they're, they're in a very different stage of life than I am where they have to sit for hours in a day listening to others lecture and they're really into exploring like different musical genres and stuff like that. But that being said, I feel like I could have done a much better job introducing podcasts to them and I think it wouldn't have elicited such a knee-jerk reaction that they have now, you know? And so I'm just kind of wondering it, you're in describing your day, I feel like you've kind of covered a lot of that, but do you have like, steps to a successful introduction to podcast listening with kids? Do you recommend, like, would it be in the, like you said in the car? How did you do it so that you have good little listeners, not somebody that's like not “more voices” ?

Andi Smiley: (17:30)

Well, truly, I'll tell you my experience and then I'll tell you some other advice I got from other people. So for me, my kids, when I started my podcast, my oldest was four, so they were just excited to do whatever mom was doing. I feel like I caught them like at a really good age. And they were like, you have podcasts mom, why don't I get podcasts? And I was like, I didn't even know kid podcasts existed at the time when I started my show. I didn't even, well I had just found them when I started my show. And so I was like, oh look, here's some podcasts for you. So I think I kind of lucked out. Like I like I hit that sweet spot. But I will say, um, I recently did a interview on my own show with Rachel Lacey, who is one of the co-founders of Kids Pod, one of those kid podcast apps.

Andi Smiley: (18:18)

And she said, when you're trying to introduce podcasts to your kids, don't make it a big event. Like she said, don't say turn off the TV, we're going to listen to a podcast together. Like, don't make it a thing. Um, instead when everyone's already doing something in the same general area, if that's driving in the car or if that's eating a snack, just turn it on, don't say anything, just turn it on. And we both, um, commented in that interview that no one's ever asked us to turn off a podcast when we just kind of turn it on while everyone's kind of doing their own thing. And usually like when the podcast is done, they'll either say like, they'll, my kids at least will be like, why'd you turn it off? I'm like, I didn't. It's just going to the next one.

Andi Smiley: (19:06)

Or like a conversation will start about whatever that podcast episode was about. Like one of, um, Rachel Lacey, the gal I interviewed one of her family's favorite shows is Wow  In the World, which is like a science podcast and it brings up really interesting sciency things. And so she said that a lot of times after they listen to an episode, they'll talk a little bit more about it and be like, can you believe that? Or How does that even work? Let's look that up. Or, you know, whatever. So it like brings that like family time, it continues it and, and makes it just like more memorable I guess.

Hillary Wilkinson: (19:43)

Yeah. Yeah. So you've given us some good titles already. Do you have, do you have like, uh, it's probably really difficult to ask like you to narrow it down, but do you have like a, like a top five list of kid friendly, do you call 'em kid podcasts or kid friendly podcasts? What do you call them?

Andi Smiley: (20:04)

Truly for ease, I just call them kid podcasts, but

Hillary Wilkinson: (20:07)

Okay.

Andi Smiley: (20:08)

I don't know if there's technically a name Uhhuh.

Andi Smiley: (20:12)

I just, yeah, it's just like the shortest, I think to call them kid podcasts 'cause so that's what I call 'em. But some people call 'em family friendly podcasts. Some people call them kid friendly. Mm-Hmm. I think it's just podcasts for kids. Mm-Hmm. So whatever you wanna call it, I think we all get it. Um, as far as recommendations, you're right, it is very hard. So pretty much, I just kind of thought of some of the podcasts that my kids love right now and then some for like, 'cause my kids are little. I also thought of some that are like for older kids because you know, a 14-year-old doesn't wanna listen to the same thing that a 6-year-old does. Right? So some of my kiddos favorites right now are Bobby Wonder, which is about a boy with blue hair who turns 10, finds out he's an alien and has superpowers and he has to save his or keep his town safe from the evil villain who is also a 10-year-old.

Andi Smiley: (21:03)

Adorable. Each episode's like if I'm m 10 to 15 minutes and good sound effects, each character has their own voice. So it's really engaging like an audio drama. Love it. Um, another one of our family family's favorites is kids Animal Stories. So my kiddos love animals, they love learning about animals. We have so many animal books in our house right now. And so when we found kids animal stories, it was a like home run. The each episode is about a different animal and it's a story that like has the animal as the main character. So it's not just like listing a bunch of animal facts. You learn animal facts while you listen to this story about this animal. So cute. Each episode's about 10 minutes and, and truly I do have to add those. Sometimes they have mystery episodes when like you have to guess what the animal is and like he, Mr.

Andi Smiley: (21:57)

Jim is the host. He tells the story without telling you what kind animal and you're try, you're supposed to try and guess by the end. Super cute. My kids love it. They yell at Mr. Jim. I think it's a monkey . So yeah, very, very fun. At our house, um, one of my, so I have two little girls and, and a little boy and the two little girls are obsessed with Frozen right now. So I found a frozen podcast, which has been another home run. It's called Disney Frozen Forces of Nature. And this one is, it like takes place, it takes place after Frozen two, the movie. And it's just another adventure that they go on. And it has all of the characters, Elsa, Anna, Olaf Christophe, all of them and all of their voices, the lovely one. Um, so those are kind of like for younger kids, Uhhuh.

Andi Smiley: (22:42)

And then I have two for older kids. Um, the first one's called Six Minutes. Um, this one's like an audio drama. This one's fun 'cause honestly, have you ever, did you ever watch 24 that TV show? Yeah. Mm-Hmm. . So it kind of has that similar vibe. Um, each episode is roughly six minutes long and it just takes you through this like, super intense story about this family who finds a girl and they don't know where she came from and she's lost her memory. But she has a cool hoverboard, like really interesting. This one I honestly would say would be a good one for road trips or for like every day after school we're gonna turn on Six Minutes and listen to a snack, uh, and listen to a snack, eat a snack while we listen. And like, just something to like look forward to as a family.

Andi Smiley: (23:29)

Mm-Hmm. . Um, that one would be a fun one 'cause it's more of an audio drama. It like builds on itself. So you are on the start on episode one, that type of thing. And then the last one, truly, I already mentioned it, but Wow. In the World is a really fun science podcast because it's super well produced. It's got a lot of different sound effects in there. And like, they talk about things that are like, I don't understand . Some of them I'm like, okay, I need to listen to this one 'cause I don't know what you're talking about. So that one's a fun one. If you're, if your kids are like, wanting to learn or like just wanna understand how the world works a little bit better that wow. In the world's a fun one.

Hillary Wilkinson: (24:07)

I just have one more quick question before we go to break and that is that I feel like you touched on it a little bit before, but I wanted to go back to, you know, some of the stories or some, some podcasts. I'm a huge fan of, um, like true crime . I listen to a lot of true crime while I'm, you know, cleaning the bathroom or doing something like that. But that type of listening is absolutely not appropriate content for all age levels. So do you have techniques about how parents can manage, like setting boundaries or, you know, on podcast listening?

Andi Smiley: (25:00)

So I kind of do. Um, the main thing that I will say is like those kid podcast apps, I know at least with kids pod and story topia that they've been vetted by a adult , like a mom who has listened to it and said, okay, this is okay for kids. This doesn't have any content on there. And truly I would say that would probably work for teens as well. I know that, I know that on each of those apps, there are podcasts for older kids, um, but not really, like there isn't really any like, I can't even think of the word, like filters for right? Like normal podcast apps. Mm-Hmm. . Um, I think this would just have to be one of those things where you're like checking in with your kids or being like, Hey, what podcast are you listening to? Right. Um, and, and this sounds a little silly, or maybe not silly, but like self-promoting, but one of the things that I talk about in each of my episodes is, is this podcast okay for little ears?

Andi Smiley: (26:04)

Um, like that's one of the questions that I ask because it is for moms. Mm-Hmm. . And so you could take that as like, if you're listening to an episode and you know that your teenager's interested in this podcast that I'm talking about, and the host is like, well we drop a lot of F-bombs and my interviewees have full reign to say whatever they want about their sex life, then you're like, “Hmm, my 14-year-old shouldn't be listening to that episode!” So I think that's kind of, that's why I put that in there, because there isn't really a filter at this point, um, for podcast apps. Um, so that's kind of like not my favorite answer to give, but that's kind of where that

Hillary Wilkinson: (26:45)

Is. Well, but it's realistic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Well, we have to take a short break, but when we come back I am going to ask Andi Smiley for her healthy screen habit. 



—-----------

Ad Break - Gabb Wireless

—----------

Hillary Wilkinson: (27:58)

I'm speaking with Andi Smiley, the creator of the podcast and website that goes by the same name, Friendly Podcast Guide. And I wanna urge everyone to check out the website at friendlypodcastguide.com. Of course, this as well as any of the shows that she had talked about is all going to be linked in our show notes. And Andi, on every episode of the Healthy Screen Habits podcast, I ask each guest for a healthy screen habit. This is going to be a tip or takeaway that our listeners can put into practice in their own home. 

Andi Smiley: (28:42)

I have one that I use regularly. So during the witching hour at my house, that's around four o'clock when I'm trying to make dinner. Um, instead of letting it get the best of you, try grabbing some coloring pages, Play-Doh, magnet tiles, whatever to keep kids' hands busy. And then turn on a kid podcast and you'll get at least 30 minutes to make dinner or just take a breath. Um, and your kids will be working their imagination muscle while also being entertained. And if the podcast recommendations, the kid podcast recommendations I've given today aren't floating your boat or you don't think your kids are gonna like them, I have a whole kid podcast guide with 28 different shows, um, for you to choose from. And I'm pretty positive that there will be at least one on there that your kids will like.

Hillary Wilkinson: (29:34)

As always, you can find a complete transcript of this show and a link to any of the resources discussed by visiting the show notes for this episode. You do this by going to healthy screen habits.org. Click the podcast button and find this episode. Thank you so much, Andi, for being here today. I can't wait to go listen to your latest episode so I can find out other fun things to listen to!

Andi Smiley: (30:03)

Well, thank you so much for letting me be on the show today. It's been a pleasure.