How Summer Has Changed

·36 min·3 clips

Kim and Penn reveal how their 14-year-old son's summer is dominated by video games, sparking a debate on screen time.

Kim and Penn Holderness open the episode by welcoming listeners to summer and sharing updates on their projects, including a book club for their ADHD book. They immediately dive into the challenges of parenting during summer, contrasting their experiences with their children's realities. Their 14-year-old son is heavily into video games, leading to a discussion on managing screen time with rules like 'an hour of not video games'. Their daughter Lola, a rising high school senior, has a meticulously scheduled summer focused on tennis and college applications, reflecting a shift where fewer teens have summer jobs due to academic pressures. The hosts reminisce about their own childhood summers, with Kim recalling indoor time in Florida and Penn biking to pools. They discuss pool safety, with Penn proposing a controversial rule about swim diapers and a modified swim test involving a 'bully'. A sponsored segment for BetterHelp transitions to a deeper conversation about body image, sparked by a video where Penn tried on women's bathing suits and felt objectified. Kim and Penn explore their personal insecurities, with Penn admitting he works out to maintain attraction and Kim trusting his love despite body changes. They share anecdotes, like Lola's honest fashion critique and a story about baby Lola reacting to Penn nude. The episode concludes with lighthearted questions about summer memories, revealing that songs like 'Summer of '69' and 'Watermelon Sugar' have adult meanings they were unaware of, prompting reflections on generational differences in summer activities.

As heard by us

A poolside comedy detour turns summer routines into a warm check-in on family momentum and overwhelm.

Summer starts in loose, familiar territory: a song debate about 1969, a quick Wikipedia aside, and Kim Holderness and Ben Holderness settling into pool-season comedy.

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Why you'd press play

You can turn pool rules, bathing suits, and suspiciously meaningful children's songs into a summer laugh.

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