Our family loves these videos

Watching these videos has meant easy, engaging time with my two boys.

OK. I don’t mean to tell you what to do, but you should totally get a MasterClass subscription tonight. We got a membership in December. I’d wanted one for a long time, finally pulled the trigger, and it’s awesome.

First off, it seems like a better option than Netflix most of the time. Why? Because after 20 minutes, it leads to creative expression instead of a three-hour binge. The kids love it, too.

Last night we watched a 10-minute lesson by Tom Morello about developing your creative voice. He talked about his path as a guitarist and how he discovered his own way of playing. I’m super interested in my kids learning that they have their own voice, and that they can sound or draw or move however they want as part of being them. Neil Gaiman has a similar video on finding his voice as an author. I love my kids watching these. (Note: Tom Morello is the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, and Neil Gaiman wrote Coraline.)

We’ve also been working our way through Penn & Teller Teach the Art of Magic. What surprised me is how good they are at teaching magic. The first two lessons walk you through a simple technique and then a short routine. It’s called Cups and Balls, and it’s simple enough that my 8-year-old was doing it this morning over breakfast.

It was about $200 for a year and included all lessons. That’s about what I pay for Netflix.

I know you can find all sorts of stuff on YouTube. But whenever I pull up YouTube on the TV or my phone, the kids are looking over my shoulder and pointing at god-knows-what from their suggested videos. It’s better than it used to be, but I’m always nervous about which videos are appropriate. And suddenly I’m questioning whether we really want to know how to ollie a skateboard that badly…

With MasterClass, I don’t have to worry about who is making the videos, what their biases are, or what will autoplay next. We also let the kids have extra screen time if it’s for MasterClass. Any time they want, they can watch videos on everything from dog training to Mexican cooking to the art of storytelling, all explained by experts in really well-made lessons. Sure. Go ahead. Watch that all you want.

Anyway, I really fell in love with MasterClass, and I wanted to share it with you. I think you’re a great parent, and you’re smart and interesting, and I thought you’d appreciate this as a parenting tool. One you may not have considered, but one that is actually an act of love for your kids. It’s the kindest thing you could do for them, really. ;)

What we were watching

Some of these our kids wanted to watch, and some we wanted to watch. All were excellent.

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