The Adventure Agents
Stick to… adventure.
Life is an adventure. And love is the key.
My wife and I have always been big on limiting screen time for our kids.
But then best-laid plans met Covid.
Between daycare closing, us being a little scared to send them back, and various pre-school shutdowns due to Covid-exposures…our boys have been home A LOT over the past 18 months. And we both work full-time.
We tried to keep them busy as much as we can with bike rides, science projects, coloring books, and even giving way to educational games on their tablets.
But there were times when we both had to be on calls, and the TV became a necessary evil (aka babysitter).
My guys just turned 4 and 6, but they were 2.5 and 4.5 when the pandemic first hit. At the time, they were into the typical shows boys that age are into: Paw Patrol, Thomas the Tank Engine, Disney, etc. We’ve gotten them into some other good non-brain-rotting shows that I’ll write about some other time, but they eventually discovered YouTube.
They mostly started out on stuff like Blippi (I’ll probably write another post about that dude some other time) and unboxing videos (notably Jack Jack plays). One morning when they were like 3 and 5, the algorithm took them to something called The Axel Show.
Nothing too different than a lot of the content-creator stuff you see on YouTube — basically a goofy (in a good, endearing way) dad and his cute kid playing with toy trucks and stuff like that. But for whatever reason, my guys were glued to it. And every morning for the next six months, they woke up and asked to watch The Axel Show. It literally became a part of their daily routines. Wake up and see what Axel and his dad were up to.
Eventually, we started realizing that we were watching uploads from a few years ago, and Axel and his dad had started a new spin-off called Adventure Agents. As Axel had aged, he obviously started outgrowing trucks and his dad started taking him more into the outdoors — exploring outside, building tree forts, designing places to keep their guinea pigs, riding go-Karts. And as much as my guys loved The Axel Show…they LOVED Adventure Agents even more.
Throughout the course of (I think) a couple years, The Adventure Agents tried to track down D.B. Cooper, adopted a new dog, ventured out to Maui to solve missions from “the Game Master”, build shelters to survive the zombie apocalypse, and whatever creative things Axel’s dad Patrick came up with for content (and ultimately adventure) for his son.
YouTube is super weird in that it’s almost like a more real reality TV because the layer of Hollywood (or wherever they produce reality shows) and scripting is pulled away and you almost feel like you know these people. Strangely enough, Axel and Patrick and their family had become part of our Covid lives. And I could see the (good) influence on my kids.
They stopped caring as much about toys (though they still love their trucks), and they started asking to go exploring in the woods near our house, wading into the streams, digging for worms, tracking down clues, and just generally being outside and in nature more. They’d even pick up a lot of the exploration language they heard on the show — and I think I even picked up some of the (again, charming) goofball dad behaviors from Patrick along the way.
Sometimes I think Patrick is a ridiculous hippy (and I don’t mean that in a bad way. We’re all ridiculous in our own ways —myself included). Other times I think he’s figured out life (especially since he seemingly makes very good money by hanging out with his kids all day and having fun). And honestly, it’s probably a little bit of both — and I mean that in the best way possible. I’ve been lucky enough to connect with him a bit on social media, and he couldn’t be a nicer guy (and obviously a great dad).
Anyway, this is getting longer than I thought it would be, but I’m genuinely thankful for the influence Patrick and Axel have had (and continue to have) on our lives.
My kids have gone from asking for 100% crap (trucks, toys, etc) on their birthdays to asking for like 25% crap and 75% outdoors stuff (this last birthday, they got a tent, sleeping bags, flashlights, binoculars, and a bug box). And they’ve become much more explorative, inquisitive, and just generally more adventurous about life. We’ve always done morning walks/bike rides/scooter rides (usually to a playground), but those have turned into hour-long adventures in the woods like this:
I’ve learned to tap more into my previous very outdoorsy side that I had left behind in my 20s for a corporate job and suburbs life — and it’s been great to tap back into. And I’ve also been able to just be more in the moment and carefree when I’m in my kids the way Patrick is (seems to be? Who knows…it’s YouTube) when he’s with his kids.
These past 18 months have been super weird for everyone, but I’m really glad we found Axel, Patrick, and the South family. They’ve been a great lesson in getting out of your comfort zone, keeping things simple, cherishing your family, and ultimately focusing on what’s most important: love.
Needless to say, I would very much recommend The Axel Show (for ages like 3-6) and The Adventure Agents (for ages like 4-10) if you’ve got young kiddos who are looking for something new to watch.
As always, let’s end with some music…
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