Dec. 23, 2025
Jingle All the Way (1996) Time Over Toys and Parenting Through the Holidays | Christmas Special
Summary Aaron and Brasher discuss the 1996 Christmas film 'Jingle All the Way,' exploring its themes of consumerism, parenting, and the emotional dynamics between characters. They analyze the satirical elements of the film, particularly how it critiques the commercialization of Christmas and the pressures faced by parents. The conversation delves into the character of Howard Langstrom, his relationship with his son, and the often-overlooked role of the mother. Aaron and Brasher emphasize the ...
Summary
Aaron and Brasher discuss the 1996 Christmas film 'Jingle All the Way,' exploring its themes of consumerism, parenting, and the emotional dynamics between characters. They analyze the satirical elements of the film, particularly how it critiques the commercialization of Christmas and the pressures faced by parents. The conversation delves into the character of Howard Langstrom, his relationship with his son, and the often-overlooked role of the mother. Aaron and Brasher emphasize the importance of time spent with children over material gifts, and reflect on how the film's messages resonate in today's society.
Takeaways
Consistent presence is more important than grand gestures.
The film critiques consumerism during the holiday season.
Howard Langstrom represents the struggle of modern parenting.
The mother’s emotional labor is often overlooked in the film.
Satire is used to highlight societal issues around Christmas.
Character dynamics reflect common tropes in family films.
Consumer guilt is weaponized during the holiday season.
The film's humor contrasts with its serious themes.
Time spent with children is more valuable than material gifts.
The film's ending lacks character growth and resolution.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Jingle All the Way
01:29 Film Synopsis and Themes
04:11 Satire and Consumerism in Christmas Movies
06:29 Character Dynamics and 90s Tropes
09:56 Parenting and Presence vs. Materialism
13:50 Modern Relevance of Jingle All the Way
17:35 Consumer Guilt and Marketing Tactics
22:26 Cultural Commentary on Christmas Consumerism
28:23 Quality Over Quantity in Parenting
30:46 The Emotional Labor of Parenting
32:32 Male Role Models and Redemption
34:21 The Performative Nature of Fatherhood
37:17 Casting Choices and Audience Alignment
39:58 The Dark Humor of Parenting
46:39 Lessons Unlearned in Holiday Films
Keywords
Jingle All the Way, Christmas movie, parenting, consumerism, satire, Arnold Schwarzenegger, family dynamics, holiday films, emotional connection, marketing tactics
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00:00 - Community Pick And Setup
01:34 - Razor-Sharp Satirical Synopsis
04:05 - Core Takeaway: Time Over Things
06:40 - 90s Tropes And Character Parallels
10:40 - Satire Of Scarcity And Holiday Hysteria
15:48 - Consumer Guilt And Media Amplification
20:40 - Working Parents, Cost Of Living, And Guilt
25:05 - Quality Time Over Grand Gestures
30:00 - Invisible Emotional Labour Of Liz
35:02 - Casting, Audience Alignment, And Slimy Ted
40:10 - Bomb Gags, 90s PG, And Missed Growth
WEBVTT
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Didn't a little delay a fun Christmas comedy or a warning about replacing time with toys.
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Welcome to the Phantom Portals, the podcast that proves your favorite films have something to teach you.
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I'm Aaron, a teacher and a lifelong film fan, and today I'm here with my co-host Brash.
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This week we have been looking at the movie Jingle All the Way.
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It was made in 1996, and this one is part of our Christmas special episode.
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Merry Christmas, everybody.
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Christmas.
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Yeah.
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And this one was actually voted in by you guys, our community.
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It beat out titles such as I'll Be Home for Christmas.
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It beat out Rise of the Guardians.
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It beat out Christmas Chronicle.
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And it also beat out Klaus.
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So you guys voted for this one, and you guys surprise us with your votes all the time.
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It's never the one that we could predict.
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Hey, Brash.
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No.
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No, I really didn't think this one was going to make it at all.
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Yeah, yeah.
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I know it's got like a bit of a cult following, or not really a cult following, but it's like a a niche Christmas movie.
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But, you know, there's the ones that stand out that are your must-watches, like everyone watches The Grinch and everyone does Home Alone almost every year.
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So I think like this one came out of a bit of a left field.
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So all our suggestions also came from our community as well.
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So yeah, here we go.
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Jingle all the way.
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So yeah, without any further ado, Brash, do you want to give us a film synopsis of Jingle All the Way starring Arnold Schwarzenegger?
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So Jingle all the way.
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Parenting by credit card, capitalism by flamethrower.
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Howard Langstrom is the kind of dad who thinks showing up is optional.
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As long as the receipt is impressive.
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He misses Kafari class, birthdays, and basic human connection.
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But don't worry, he promises his son Jamie the hottest toy on earth.
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Turbo Man, a plastic deity forged in the fires of late-stage capitalism.
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Naturally, Howard waits until Christmas Eve to buy it because playing is for people who actually raise their kids.
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He then discovers Turbo Man is sold out everywhere, launching him into a festive dystopia where moles become war zones, grown adults commit felonies over dolls, and corporations quietly smile because artificial scarcity is their love language.
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Enter Ted, a single dad neighbor, part baked goods enthusiast, part emotional vulture.
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While Howard is gone all day, again, Ted spends his entire movie aggressively orbiting Howard's wife like a suburban shark.
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He fixes things, bakes cookies, compliments her constantly, and subtly suggests that if someone were around more, she wouldn't be so stressed.
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Ted doesn't want Turbo Man, Ted wants Howard's wife.
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Meanwhile, Howard gets arrested for toy crimes, is hunted by police, and a postal worker who's snapped under consumer pressure.
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Causes multiple car accidents and loses all dignity.
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All while insisting this is for his son.
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A child learning that love equals products and dad only appears during retail emergencies.
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The movie ends with Howard accidentally becoming Turbo Man himself in a parade because in this universe the only way to be a good father is to literally become the brand.
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Jamie finally loves him.
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Not for emotional growth, but because Dai can now fly and shoot discs.
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Moral of the story is not to be emotionally present, not to be not to respect your partner, and let capitalism nearly kill you while a horny neighbor tries to steal your wife.
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A heartwarming class Christmas classic that boldly asks, what if bad parenting, but make it festive and aggressively commercial?
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See, I think that is a really awesome synopsis.
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And the like at the start of that, when you were describing this movie in your way, I was like, that actually sounds like a good movie.
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But this one, like somebody on our threads, they're named the real Mike Gilberts and they said worst period Christmas movie period ever.
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And, you know, it does not scream like holiday season in terms of you know how most Christmas movies show you that like warm and festive sort of message.
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This is not that.
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So if you're coming for a Christmas movie that has those kind of vibes, this is definitely not the one.
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But our takeaway for this one, Brad, was that consistently showing up matters more than last-minute gestures because connection is built through time and not through things.
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Yeah.
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And like at the end, he sort of nods to the fact that he's going to do that, but at no point do you really like see it.
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Promises the world and says, I will never do it again.
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I don't know if that's true.
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Oh, yeah.
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They need to make a um jingle all the way to where he's actually followed through what I promise him.
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But I think it's important to note for this movie as well that obviously we are looking at this through through time being more important for parents to consider than than than things, but we do acknowledge that this movie is obviously satire.
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Like this is and to be honest, like I did enjoy watching this movie.
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Like it was it was fun.
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Like the m well like if you don't think about any messaging in this movie and just take it for what it is, it's just a fun movie of a dude running around town trying to get a doll.
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Yeah, it is chaotic.
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It is fun.
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It is like um, let's say it's like the not the prequel, let's say it's the the gateway drug into like uncut gens in terms of an anxious movie watch.
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Yeah.
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So yeah, so this is like satire, which means it's it's it can be humorous or it can be non-humorous, but it's also a way that people like a vehicle that is artistic sometimes, not really in this case, but yeah, it's artistic in the fact that it illuminates or explores or critiques like a social condition or a system of power.
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And in this case, it was obviously the marketing hysteria that surrounded Christmas at the time.
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So and they use the character of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Howard Langstrom as the the person that was the victim of that, you could say.
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Because I think, yeah, we're gonna talk about a few things in this episode, including like consistency versing spectacle when it comes to to fatherhood and parenting, and then we're also gonna talk about consumer guilt and how people weaponize that, especially during Christmas time.
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And we're also, I want to actually talk a lot about the mother here as well, because I think her emotional presence is really overlooked throughout the movie.
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She's there always for this young man, and he's like obviously Arnold gets the starring point of the show because he's Turbo Man, but I think she does a good job too.
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But then also, there were some familiar 90s character tropes in this movie that I want to discuss, and we might touch on that first, actually, because Brash, when I was watching this movie, I was so like, I feel like I'd known these characters, and I feel like they did that on purpose.
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And the character tropes and the characters that they're actually portraying being Howard Langstrom and Ted, you know, they're neighbours of each other.
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One is a bumbling father who means well but always seems to fall on his face, and the other one is their well-to-do neighbor that everybody in the community seems to be feeling like like well-to-do enamored with and are enamored with, yeah.
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So I feel like I've seen that dynamic before, especially during the 90s when this was made in 1996.
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Like it screams The Simpsons to me.
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Did you get that as well?
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So think about it.
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Because if you've got like Howard as Arnold Schwarzenegger being Homer, and then you've got this guy, Ted, Ned Flanders, and I think there was also a point in the movie where I saw him wearing like a green sweater and he's got the glasses too.
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I'm like, this is literally Ned Flanders.
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Like he's always around, he's imposing his he's like being the better dad and the community favorite.
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And you know, later it's revealed that obviously Ted is overcorrecting for it for a divorce confession that he's had.
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But I think, yeah, familiar characters for me.
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One thing I do like about these Christmas movies though is that they're all fairly unique compared to nowadays.
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Like nowadays, Netflix will pump out like five to eight Christmas movies, and they're all just the same plot, just different uh locations.
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Yes, that is very true.
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Yeah.
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So I I do I do like the fact that yeah, that these movies try to do something different.
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And as we said earlier with the satire, if you watch it that way, it is like uh a warning against sort of these things like uh like to not to get your presence early to save on trying to buddy hustle and bustle and trying to run around and uh navigate through shopping and navigate through all the crowds of people and uh problems that that causes.
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Also with the neglecting of children and stuff like that, like the whole moral of the story is that the kid realistically doesn't care about like but then again, I feel Jamie is a lot mature than some children.
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I mean this movie.
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Yeah, not to say that ch well, not to say that all children are shit heads, but like I know when I was a little kid, when I was like five when I was like six, seven, I know that on my birthday, I know I I could have been a little greedy little shit too.
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Uh it's yeah, it it's it's like shows that I'm just being present and uh like being a party of a child's life is more important than toys.
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Because like honestly, this could have all been solved by him just being like got to get to the toy before it's sold out.
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I'll get you one.
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I'll just have to wait until they're back in stock again.
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For now, let's just uh hang out for the day, play catch, yeah, go to this parade, bake cookies, roll credits like that.
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Yeah, I definitely think that's that's that's something that came into my head too, because he could have solved this all by telling the truth, for one.
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For two, I can I can see why Jamie wanted this toy so badly because when I first watched this as a kid, I also wanted a Turbo Man toy, and Thomas Craig on our threads said the same because I always wanted that toy for Christmas too.
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So I can see where the the attraction comes, but I do agree with what you said about Jamie because at the end, I wrote a note here that said he's probably the most like emotionally sort of correct character when it comes to the spirit of Christmas in this movie because everybody's falling into this consumer marketing trap, but the kid's the one that goes, you know what, Christmas is about giving, let's give it to this guy that's just been villainous to everybody, gives him the Turbo Man special limited edition toy, and basically just says, you know, I've got the real Turbo Man here, which is my dad anyway.
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So you can see that he truly just wanted some time, and the toy was just not really an issue for him.
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So the honesty probably would have gone wonders.
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But I think that's also apparent at the start of the movie because the first time that we see Howard actually letting his son down, we will say, is obviously during the Missed Karate tournament scene, and he's you know, he's he's at his workplace and he's answering all the phone calls the same way, and he says, You're my best customer, you're my favorite customer, and he's really just collecting the numbers instead of creating those personal relationships.
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So it's a real blatant way for us to say this guy cares about his job and not really about the personal connections he's making along the way.
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And then everybody's warning him, saying, You said that last time, holding up the cards, which is a classic trope from another Christmas movie that we all know and love.
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Yeah.
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And yeah, you know, you'll be late, you have to leave now, and he's just pushing it, pushing it, pushing it until you finally see obviously he walks into the auditorium, it's completely empty, and he goes home and he's with his tail between his legs.
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And he faces his wife and he's full of excuses to start with, but then one he does actually make a genuine apology to Jamie.
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He does say that he's sorry.
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Because I think overall, Howard doesn't fail because he doesn't care, he fails because he believes that like big gestures will replace showing up in the long run.
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So the big promise that he gives him is like, I'll get you a turbo, man, this is gonna be great, and we'll have lots of awesome time playing with it together, instead of like a genuine kind of apology and saying, I stuffed up and I'm gonna change my ways in the long run.
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So yeah, it makes a spectacle out of growth, but the real connection is real connection with with kids is built quietly and repeatedly and on purpose across time.
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And I think that was something that I took from this movie because yeah, I didn't really think that Howard was a was a deadbeat kind of father.
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Like I really did see that he loved his son.
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And the thing is, I reckon this movie probably hits hard like hits harder nowadays with the cost of living as it is currently.
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People have to focus on their just focus on work and work and work and work purely just to be able to afford the basic needs that needed to live.
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So the fact that like I can understand uh his need to like just want to work and work and work so he can get that money so he can give his family what they like whatever they want.
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Um and and like that does come with sacrifices, unfortunately.
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Um like but I think like back in that, those days, uh the cost of living wasn't so bad.
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So him just working, working, working really had no other consequence than just making more money, which I suppose is never a bad thing, but that that he does neglect his family when realistically he didn't need to.
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But having like a move like this come out now, I think would hit harder with the whole like I think more outside would be more understanding of power's position and be like, yeah, that's what we can do.
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We are we are working constantly 24-7.
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The only way we can make up with that is by using that money that we work so hard for to make a big gesture at one point in time, to be like, oh, so we want you so much, but here's something to like to show that I really care and I've been thinking about it.
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Yeah, I can I can agree with that man, especially because in this day and age, like modern dads, for example, me, myself being one, I'm only speaking for myself here, but I'm sure there are others out there that can resonate.
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Like, I'm constantly dealing with this guilt of like if they if I spend a lot of time at work, I'm providing for my family, which is what my role is as a as a father and a parent and a and a husband in a house.
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But then at the same time, because I'm working, you don't get time with me.
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So you have to really strike that balance.
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And when that balance gets out or or misaligned, it can force people to to do these grand gestures that Howard does at the end of this movie or to like overpromise on occasion as well.
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Because the last thing any dad wants to see is their kid being let down, especially when it's by them.
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So like this time scarcity that everybody has is a result of the pressure that everybody's feeling to to work more.
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And you know, it's it's a double-edged sword now these days, too, because when we're talking about even mothers these days, sometimes two income households, like parents are finding it hard to find time with their kids.
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And I feel like this movie would resonate more now, looking at the cost of living in through that lens than it did back then.
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Because, like, if you look at where they live, for example, Howard's house is pretty pristine, like it's a good-looking house made of brick in a terraced sort of estate.
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Obviously, they're they're they're well to do.
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I don't think I saw that the wife Liz had like a job of any kind that I could remember, but they're in very sort of traditional kind of roles in that space.
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But you know, this day and age, that is not really the norm for families to be.
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Usually you've got both parents working just to make sure they can pay for everything.
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Because they're chuck, you know, well, you you know more than I do because you have children I don't, but um, they're expensive.
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Oh, yeah.
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Yeah, they are a definite pit for money to go to.
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I have kids that have both parents working and because they like they tell me how much their daycare for a week costs.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, it is it is definitely a battle because then you're obviously picking like daycare so you can both work, but then you're balancing the the finances there as well.
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So it it's hard, man.
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It's very hard.
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And I I didn't feel that way when I was watching this because I did see it a little bit from Howard's perspective.
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Whereas if I was watching this as a kid, which I have done, I was like, man, I hope that dad gets him that toy, because that would be awesome.
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Like that's what you think about when you kind of watch it.
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But yeah, I could definitely see the panic in Howard's eyes, in in Arnold Schwarzenegger's eyes, as he was failing his son, sort of like time and time again, and just really desperate to make that grand gesture to actually pull through on Christmas and you know not let his son down.
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But you know, Jamie is like that emotional mirror in this case because he he does kind of lower his expectations to protect the connection that he has with his his dad, like and he accepts responsibility and effort and and accountability when it really shouldn't have been his accountability to take, like when they're fighting on the phone.
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On fighting on the phone, yeah.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So obviously that was him soaking up that emotional responsibility that obviously Howard should have should have sort of focused on.
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But again, it goes back to the fact that Jamie was probably the one who's embodying the spirit of Christmas and good spirit more so than Yeah, even after like when he's on the phone, he's like he like he no mention of any toys or anything like that.
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He's just well, he's like, I want you home so you can come to the parade.
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Yeah.
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As anything you ask for.
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Yep.
00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:37.600
And Dad's like, but I have to run around and get this toy for you when he could just be like, yeah, you're right.
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Go to the parade.
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Yeah.
00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:40.879
Like he missed the point on that part, yeah.
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:43.360
And you know, some people would be tearing their hair out at that point as well.
00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:47.600
But I think he was just so deep in the struggle of wanting to get the toy.
00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:55.919
Because, you know, let's move on to talk about like consumer guilt and marketing being weaponized, because even in this movie, they s they make a satire of it.
00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:07.359
You can see it through the character of Myron and the post office character because he sits in that dino with Howard after he's failed a few times, and he says, You know why I hate Christmas is because my dad didn't get me this toy that one time.
00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:18.880
And then, you know, it goes down that rabbit hole of Howard actually envisioning his son in Myron's uniform drinking from the bottle, and he's the cautionary tale that he doesn't want to repeat.
00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:21.519
So he has to get this Turbo Man toy for his son.
00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:26.160
But like that, like things like this actually happened in the in the 80s and the 90s.
00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:43.279
So marketing companies with cabbage patch kids is one that I looked up, where they initially launched in 1983 and they sold for like$25 apiece, but because they limited their stock and re and and sold them out so quickly, demand vastly exceeded the supply.
00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:46.079
So people were reselling these dolls for$100 to$500.
00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:53.920
And then the news outlets at the time were marketing it and making it even worse because they were showing people like fighting in stores, showing physical aggression.
00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:13.920
There was people in hospitals, and then also stores were including these ticketing systems to purchase items on a limited basis, but also to like control the crowds, as we saw in this movie too, with the lottery system with the bulls, which was probably my favorite scene, by the way, just because of how much mayhem was occurring throughout the world.
00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:17.200
Everyone just went apeshit and yeah.
00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:17.839
Yeah.
00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:26.880
But it it's not uncommon because these marketing companies and even the toy retailers, like cabbage patch kids, for example, they were sold with like adoption papers.
00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:38.480
So it's like this emotional responsibility is coupled with the toy, and you know, the kid had to get the toy because all the ads told the parents that they had to get it, and the toy equaled love, especially during this sort of time of year.
00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:52.559
And then coincidentally, I also read that when this movie came out, when they're pretty much like taken the piss out of people doing this at shops in 1983, it happened the same year this movie came out in 1996 with a tickle me elmo doll.
00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:57.839
Like over five million units were sold, and it was deliberately under-supplied for release.
00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:11.200
So it would create this widespread increasing panic, and like national programs were were all on it, and there would be news stories on a nightly basis that would say, like, this is where the Elmo shortage is at at this minute.
00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:29.359
So it's like it's so weaponized to the point where this corporate marketing is just it's so indoctrinating for everybody and all these families, especially this time of year, because the culture exploits these working parents and it turns that parental guilt into competition between other parents that are trying to do the same thing as you.
00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:34.559
But then framing love as something that can be proven and driven by purchase.
00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:38.400
So it's it's definitely satiring that really, really well.
00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:46.000
But I found it really interesting that it was satiring something and then that very same year deciding that they were satiring.
00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:52.000
So yeah, it just goes to show scarcity, object scarcity is something that they're doing through like laboobus and things like that now, too.
00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:56.559
I was gonna say laboo boos are like the new sort of cage patch kids.
00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:56.960
Yeah.
00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:04.960
Like even South Park did a um labos were Like one of the new um show like new episodes of Seth Park was all about laboo boos.
00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:12.000
And how like if you get the special like one of the special edition laboo-boos, you can do like a blood ritual.
00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:13.920
Oh my god.
00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:15.519
Stop and Christmas and shit.
00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:23.839
It was like but uh it was all about yeah, the boo boos and you're like trying to get like the most most rare ones.
00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:35.680
I think luckily lucky for us nowadays because it's so easy to get your hands on things through online and like no one really has to go into the stores to really get things anymore.
00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:38.240
You can just order online and have it delivered to you.
00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:38.799
Yeah.
00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:48.000
Also, also in terms of like advertising, I think in the 90s it was a lot easier for advertisers to get their product in front of people.
00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:53.599
Yeah, and now because of streaming, obviously we see a few ads here and there, but you can pay to remove those ads.
00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:58.960
I don't think I've seen a proper ad for a really long time, except for obviously signage when you're driving around.
00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:08.400
But I think it was very much part of the zeitgeist back then, as you know, you saw the the film or the the the advertisement and it was replayed over and over and over again.
00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:12.960
Like you remember those old 90s action figure commercials?
00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:17.359
Like they were so cool to watch, and I actually miss watching them sometimes because they were really, really cool.
00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:20.720
But you don't see anything like that really anymore, at least in Australia.
00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:28.960
I'm not sure what it's like in other countries because obviously you don't watch TV in other countries, but in Australia, it's very difficult to see ads on anything other than like gambling or fast food.
00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:47.680
This movie especially real relies on that Christmas pressure cooker, and obviously the in this case it's the working fathers, but in in time it's been working parents because there's that time guilt which already exists, but it's also like it's time to make up for the year that you obviously have been working all this time.
00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:55.680
And you know, I I do, as we said before, I do sympathize with with working parents in this space, and I think it's really hard time of year for a lot of people as well.
00:21:55.839 --> 00:22:03.599
So just going back before we move on as well, on that like being there consistently for your kids is better than like one grand gesture and things like that.
00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:13.920
You know, I think an unpopular opinion that you might say around this sort of aspect is obviously you have to kind of it goes back to putting your own oxygen mask on first.
00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:27.119
If you're like tapped out, or if you really feeling the pressure in these kinds of situations of consistently like showing up for your kids, there is obviously that guilt that you have to be able to do and provide everything that you can.
00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:41.599
But there is also a lot to say about being able to, you know, take five, ten minutes when you need to, go and find a space or do something, or if you can like ask your partner or whoever to to have the children for that moment.
00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:47.359
But obviously showing up is is good, but you have to be ready and able emotionally to show up as well.
00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:55.599
So obviously Howard's going through a lot of stress at this time, but also you know, there is that that part that we kind of have to look at as well.
00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:01.599
Whereas there is that pressure to be there, and you know, time is better than than toys.
00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:07.200
Yes, absolutely, but make sure that time is spent quality instead of quantity, yeah.
00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:12.079
So I I actually was speaking to somebody about this when I was having some trouble with it.
00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:24.079
And because I used to work away, and when I'd come back, I'd only have an hour or so in the afternoon to spend with my kids, and it was really getting me down that I was unable to do that and I was feeling that that guilt and that pressure.
00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:39.119
But one thing that this person said to me was it's not about if you have three hours with your kids, it's if you have one hour or ten minutes or 30 minutes with your kid, and that actually just is time with your kid, you know?
00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:53.200
So it's not about the amount, it's about the quality, which I think is important for people to to understand and know, and also like be easy on yourself because most parents that I know are probably doing way better than they give themselves credit for.
00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:54.160
So 100%.
00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:55.759
Especially this time of year.
00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:57.119
It's very hard for a lot of people.
00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:04.880
So acknowledging that even like I've got single parent friends that just I I don't know how they do it.
00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:10.000
Like they impress me every day about like they'd be able to keep it together.
00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:12.000
Like, I don't know, I don't know how I go in there shoes.
00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:26.559
Yeah, no, it's definitely like any time is better than no time and quality time, like doing something like you know, like even even like you're like, I've got 20 minutes, going to Kim, like and you mean saying like what do you want to do?
00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:29.759
And then just taking whatever they say and just running with it.
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:37.519
Yeah, just absolutely how long you can just doing what they want to do, and then at the end they're probably gonna be like, Oh no, can we go 10 more minutes, five minutes?
00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:40.000
And you're like, I wish yeah.
00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:44.240
And you know, my kids are at an age now where they just really want to just do whatever you're doing.
00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:57.920
So yeah, and I I think there is an age bracket where this is probably appropriate and applies, but even if you find yourself like short on time or like the day's running away from you if you've got all these shorts to do, like there is nothing my son likes to do more than hang out or washing.
00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:07.359
Like, I don't know where he got that from, but like it's not you you could say that it's quality time because we do that together and we talk and it's a job that we're sort of doing side by side.
00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:08.880
But is it a big grand gesture?
00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:10.400
Am I wearing a turbo man suit?
00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:10.720
No.
00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:16.480
So it's it's looking at those little things that you do in the everyday that provides that connection.
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