The Answer - Paws and Tales

I used to teach parenting classes. Two of the most common times that parents express despair and anguish over are bedtime and car time.

Of course some people swear by in-car DVD players. We're not there yet. I still remember the days before car seats (until age 10 - ugh! ) and seat belts. When we got bored we would just jump over the backseat of the old mammoth of a station wagon and play back there. Gone are those days. My kids can't even lay down on the seat - even if there WAS room.

So I thought I would share the solution we came across by accident: Paws and Tales.

It is a radio drama produced and sold by Chuck Swindoll's Insight For Living Ministry. The vocal acting, plots, and messages are amazing. After years of listening, I have all 3 seasons memorized. Although that happened in the first couple of months we listened to them so much. My boys and our foster daughter at the time demanded them for every car trip (no matter how short), and then began to request them at bedtime too. All of a sudden the only fighting we had in the car was whether we had just listened to that story the last trip or not! And the kids actually laid in bed or on their floor at bedtime - and they were quiet!!!

The story is about a group of animal children who have adventures and learn lessons. It is nothing like Adventures In Odyssey (which I've never cared for). It is much more kid-friendly and fun. It's sort of a Christian Little House on the Prairie - except with animals. Oh - and the music is nothing short of genius - seriously. M.C. loves to listen to CDs of just the songs. The characters grab your attention and heart from the first story. By the 3rd season, the characters are learning about Bible characters such as Gideon, Samuel, and Esther.

Listening to these fun stories made my kids think, and question, and discuss ideas about faith, friendship, morality, and justice. They gave us all a starting point for talking about things that we would have thought our kids were too young to think about. The Bible stories in Season 3 made the Bible come alive for my kids in a way that I never could have created. Chris and I are pretty progressive, tolerant, New Testament kind of believers. There has never been an episode that made either of us nervous that our kids were being taught something we weren't comfortable with. I can't express how important this series has been in our family. I can't think of anything else that we have stumbled across that I could recommend more highly!!

I'd say ages 4 and up. Our 4 year-old at the time was just as interested as our 6 year-olds. They both still love to listen, especially to the Bible stories (because they are so exciting) at 6 and 8. I guess we have a couple of more years before we begin all over again with our younger two. We'll probably need a new set by then...

They are currently on sale. Yes, there are a few episodes on DVD, which are well done, but I have to say that in some ways they are disappointing compared to what your imagination can do with the characters!

There are now theology kits that go along with them for homeschooling or Sunday School. We haven't used those, we felt like we could discuss them with our kids pretty freely with just the stories. Chris and I are starting to lose faith that there will be more seasons. I would finance them myself if I could. - They are that good!