What My Family Is Watching, Playing, and Listening to
It's a Stranger Things-packed installment for the Klepek family.
I was supposed to publish a piece of reporting today that was, in my estimation, pretty interesting, but as it sometimes goes, it’s taking longer than I’d hoped for the final bits to come together. Combined with a traumatic and unexpected funeral and its surrounding arrangements this past week and it’s been time-constrained Crossplay!
Thank you for your patience, though, as always, and please weigh in below with what your family has been playing, watching, and reading lately. I love getting new ideas!
What My Family Is Playing
Somewhere, a publicist is wondering what the heck happened to the interview that I did with one of the leaders of the Nex Playground that was conducted over a year ago. I know, I know. That’s my bad. It’s coming! This Kinect-inspired device is genuinely neat, and it’s become a staple for my five-year-old and her friends to waste time. There are games on here, but they spend most of their time playing with the camera filters? I have more to say, especially in the context of a trio of reviews/features I’m prepping based on the New Playground, Board, and LeapMove. They’re all in the same space with different price points and technical ambitions—but it’s about playing together.
What My Family Is (Always!!) Watching
Stranger Things (Netflix)
Something about the marketing for the final season of Stranger Things convinced my children it was a show for them. It just never occurred to my wife and I that they would want to be included. My kids say they like scary things, but also not really?
We decided to start watching the first season—together, as family—as a nightly ritual before bedtime. Fast forward a few weeks and we’re nearly done with the second season, with my nine-year-old constantly have to be told to be quiet about upcoming spoilers (she already knows everything that happens from YouTube videos), while my five-year-old constantly has to be told to be quiet because she keeps. asking. questions.
It’s also, weirdly, the show that basically prompted “the conversation” with my oldest? We were on the verge of all that already, but you forget how much of the first season is centered around whether or not Nancy and Steve are gonna get together and have sex.
I also have a lot of thoughts and feelings about how my daughter is actively spoiling the show for herself and has no problem with it, but that’s for another post, once we’ve seen further into the show and I can gauge more of her emotional reactions to it.
(Like, will she cry when someone dies/almost dies?)
It’s been a blast. The show was so different back then, too! We’re having a good time.
What My Family Is Listening to
Stranger Things
Are you noticing a theme? When we’re not watching Stranger Things, we’re talking about the cast of Stranger Things, we’re listening to music composed for and licensed for Stranger Things, and we’re asking if we’re going to watch Stranger Things tonight.
The soundtrack bit has been fucking cool, though. It’s got them listening to all sorts of different kinds of music that they wouldn’t listen to otherwise. Now, granted, we’re mostly listening to pop and pop rock in the car, so it’s not a huge curveball to introduce the litany of 80s rock and pop that’s within Stranger Things, but it’s also cool to be listening to Diana Ross’ “Upside Down” instead of Kpop Demon Hunters yet again.
Also, the soundtrack is what’s gotten my nine-year-old really into the theme from The Neverending Story. Do I make them watch that traumatizing movie without warning?
Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.
Also:
Stranger Things was such a small show in its first two seasons, before things became ridiculously sprawling in every season that would come in the years after.
My oldest started reading The Hunger Games, though she’s not far enough for me to say very much about she thinks. I’ve somehow never seen the movies before?
The Stranger Things cartoon does not look very good, but it appears I will have no choice but to watch the Stranger Things cartoon when it comes out this spring.
I watching Stranger Things on my own when it was coming out, but my kids were too young at the time. Then when my oldest hit 13 or so I showed it to him (I think only 3 seasons were out). We watching seasons 4 and 5 together (he's almost 17 now), and last year my youngest expressed an interest. He's been the more sensitive one so I held off showing it to him. But we got up through season 3 when season 5 finished and I had planned on waiting to finish it with him since the violence goes up a lot in season 4. But last month he insisted that he wanted to finish it. So the kind father that I am I watched the episodes again first to refresh my memory and document stuff I thought would upset him (I mostly got everything). I'm still honestly amazed at how gruesome season 4 goes with all the bones snapping and eyes gouging out. But thankfully season 5 goes back to "normal". And we just finished episode 4 (The Sorcerer).
It's been interesting watching the back half seasons of the show twice over the last 6 months or so. My initial season 4 experience was years ago, so season 5's pacing felt off when I first watched it as it was released. But watching the entire run of the show in parallel to that, and going from season 4 right into season 5 feels so much better than when I only had a vague memory of season 4's events. Plus it's been fun to watch it with both kids separately. The older son is plugged into the discourse, and of course started to agree with the complaints (the final season made me cry multiple times so I don't even care about the haters). But my youngest has just been enjoying the hell out of it. And it's making my cry all over again!
I had been meaning to watch Stranger Things for a long time, until suddenly my 15 year old son got interested and gave me a reason to watch it. We're going through all the seasons now and we're loving it. I particularly like Robin who was added in S3, though S4 episodes are very long!