“What we are teaches the child far more than what we say, so we must be what we want our children to become.” (Joseph Chilton Pearce)

In a media-rich culture, we often get locked up on what our kids should watch (a challenge for sure). But we forget to ask how our families consume media. And how interactive we are with one another after watching.

Today’s guest is Erick Goss, CEO of Creative Trust and co-founder of JellyTelly, the Christian streaming app for kids. As the dad to three elementary aged girls, Erick understands the media challenges. And he longs for his children to know and love God. Erick shares some great insights and practical ideas on using media to build a firm faith foundation and foster a healthy imagination.

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In this episode, Erick shares how conversations shape our children’s theology. Through sharing our current challenges and past struggles, our kids find comfort knowing they aren’t alone. Just like a fictional story fosters confidence. We see a character overcome a challenge and get inspired that perhaps we can too.

I loved Erick’s thoughts on jazz musicians. How artists know the basics well: scales, chords, melodies. So in a moment of improvisation they can be ready. With our children we help them know the tenets of their faith so in an ever-changing, dynamic world they can imagine and improvise to succeed in it.

 

Connect with Erick Goss:

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Featured Sponsor: Jelly Telly

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JellyTelly is the only streaming video app designed specifically for kids where God is real and His Word is true. Co-developed with VeggieTales® creator Phil Vischer. Instantly stream hundreds of hours of safe, affirming videos and movies for kids about God, the Bible, and faith. Available on iOS, Android, and Kindle. Popular shows include: VeggieTales, Hillsong Kids, the Jesus Storybook Bible and MANY more!

Check them out at here. Make sure you use the special discount code for GodCenteredMomPodcast listeners mentioned at the beginning of this week’s show.

What we chat about:

  • The Christian media economy. . .for creatives and consumer.
  • The struggle for parents to want good things for their kids to consume.
  • Training your kids to filter media through conversation.
  • How our brains are drawn to the negative over the positive, impact in adolescence.
  • Sharing our struggles with our kids and honesty in our story.
  • Helping our kids understand in challenges, God is involved and cares about them.
  • How Erick helps his girls imagine who God is in their real life.
  • Using conversations to model that it’s okay to make mistakes and our faith can waver.
  • Using different kinds of media to communicate the same thing.
  • Not just looking at the family as a whole. . .but get to know children as individuals.
  • The use of rituals and traditions to foster conversations.
  • Jazz improvisation and the model to use in our parenting.

Links Mentioned:

**Amazon Affiliate Link

How to listen to the podcast:

1.Listen on the blog. Click through to GodCenteredMom.com and click the play button at the beginning of this post.

2. Listen on your smartphone, iPad or iPod Touch – There are a lot of great podcasting apps. Apple has a free one (that I mentioned) in the app store, there is also one called Downcast. It allows you to search for shows, subscribe to them and even speed up the audio. If you don’t have an iDevice, you can listen via Stitcher.

3. Subscribe to the Podcast – access the podcast in iTunes (Click here to access via iTunes). You can also search for it on your smartphone app (like the ones listed above) and subscribe.