Parenting Survival Mode, Childhood Nostalgia, and Raising Strong Daughters w/ Preston Geer

In this honest and hilarious episode, Matthew is joined by Hollywood actor and fellow podcaster, Preston Geer, for a raw and relatable conversation about the highs, lows, and curveballs of parenting. Preston compares raising kids to running a business you can’t quit—with “employees” you can’t fire—and reflects on how quickly parenting turns into survival mode.

Together, they discuss:

• The mental shift from idealistic parenting plans to real-life flexibility and grace
• The ever-changing “terms and conditions” of raising kids (and how quickly kids call you out when you break your own rules)
• How media and screen time evolve in parenting, especially when introducing your kids to the shows you loved growing up
• Saturday morning cartoon nostalgia—from Doug, Rugrats, and Wild Kratts to Street Sharks, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Batman: The Animated Series
• Why some childhood shows don’t quite “hold up” the way you remembered (looking at you, Are You Afraid of the Dark?)
• The challenge of raising daughters who are kind—but not pushovers—and how, as dads, we want to protect them and support them as they learn to stand up to bullies and advocate for themselves

Preston opens up about how parenting changes your priorities, increases your stress tolerance, and pushes you to extend grace to yourself and your partner. It's a conversation that will make you laugh, reflect, and feel seen in the beautiful chaos of parenthood.

Preston and his wife, Emily Bolt, are both actors working in Hollywood and parents navigating the challenges of raising a family in the entertainment industry. Check out their podcasts:
🎧 What’s Your Movie? 
🎧 Mommywood 

Girl Dad Nation is made possible by the generous support of our listeners and my wife, Executive Producer of my daughters and this podcast. 

Transcript

**Transcript Auto-Generated**

00:00:00:04 - 00:00:08:23
Preston Geer
It's a journey to be a parent and to learn all those things along the way.

00:00:09:01 - 00:00:16:21
Preston Geer
Good day.

00:00:16:23 - 00:00:44:04
Matthew Krekeler
Welcome to Girl Dad Nation. I started this podcast as a dad to daughters, and I just love my daughters so much and was just inspired by the amazing community of other girl dads. So today I have a very special guest, Preston Geer. That's GEER. And, he's an actor, based out of LA. He and his wife are both actors, making it work as both new parents and in the Hollywood industry.

00:00:44:04 - 00:00:48:17
Matthew Krekeler
So, very excited to have Preston on. Preston, welcome to the show.

00:00:48:18 - 00:01:00:23
Preston Geer
Thanks for having me. Wow. That was quite the introduction. I started feeling a little nervous when you said, like, we're actors in Hollywood. We have a kid. I started feeling like the walls were closing, and I was like, what are we doing? Like, what have I done to myself?

00:01:01:01 - 00:01:01:16
Matthew Krekeler
Now it's.

00:01:01:16 - 00:01:02:15
Preston Geer
Secret.

00:01:02:17 - 00:01:23:00
Matthew Krekeler
It's great. I was trying to go through, like, just your resume. Sorry if I missed some things up. Feel free to fill in as well, but, Very impressive. What, you and your wife were both doing got connected with you over social media, which is awesome. I follow you on Instagram, and it's cool to see, you also have a podcast.

00:01:23:02 - 00:01:46:13
Matthew Krekeler
So you've kind of got two podcasts. Your wife has her own podcast. Mommywood talking about being an actress and raising kids. And then together you have the podcast what's Your Movie? Which is a great couple podcast where you and your wife talk about movies? Try to guess what movie the other person is talking about.

00:01:46:15 - 00:02:00:15
Matthew Krekeler
Correct me if I'm wrong on some of those points. By, I listen to one of the episodes. You had a great episode recently, talking about wicked, the new theatrical movie that came out. And that was just a great time.

00:02:00:17 - 00:02:22:03
Preston Geer
Cool. Well, I'm. Hey, thanks for listening, first of all. Yeah, we've been doing. What's your movie since? Really? Since Covid, since the lockdown. It's so funny because my wife does have those two podcasts. What's your movie? Is just like a fun, unstructured podcast. I mean, there's some structure to it. Like the first half is whoever hasn't seen the movie is trying to guess the plot to it.

00:02:22:04 - 00:02:42:12
Preston Geer
And then we go watch the movie, and then we come back and we discuss how right or how wrong our guesses were. And then we rate the movie. Gives me give some trivia about the movie. So it's a fun film podcast. Then Mommywood, which is my wife, started after she had our daughter. Mommy, would she get some huge guest on Mommywood and it's wild.

00:02:42:12 - 00:03:11:23
Preston Geer
She just reaches out to them on like, Instagram and and we're at the point now where she's had enough guests, where other guests are recommending friends in the industry. But, I mean, she's had on a blog or podcast, she's had like, yeah, please do. She had like Deborah Kaplan on there. She's had, I mean, like one of the first episode she had, she had Marlis Sokolov, which big time actress, if you're a fan of friends, she played Joey Tribbiani, younger sister who got pregnant.

00:03:12:01 - 00:03:35:12
Preston Geer
Anyway. But she she's had some crazy guest, so definitely go over check out mommy would. She's you know, and she's look at my likes to become friends with so many of these people too over the years. We have a kind like this little. We live in Toluca Lake in LA, and there's a whole community of, like, moms in this area that, like, we've connected with and they've, you know, parents do become your new community of friends.

00:03:35:14 - 00:03:58:01
Preston Geer
Yeah. Because it's like, it's just so strange to, like, try to relate to people who don't have kids at some point because you're like, it's you're so deep in it, you know, you it becomes such an obsessive part of your life because it's like every moment is like being a dad or being a mom. And so, like, it just kind of makes sense to, like, make friends with other parents.

00:03:58:03 - 00:04:21:13
Preston Geer
In fact, my, my, my best friend, his dad, Victor, he told him, he said, is it Billy? When you get married, say goodbye to half your friends. And then when you get then when you have kids, say goodbye to to the other half. And I was like, yeah, that's pretty accurate, you know? You know, all those friends are out there going to go to the bar til two in the morning.

00:04:21:13 - 00:04:40:17
Preston Geer
And just like living their high life like that is not man, that is not me. Like I'm happy to be done. 830 daughter's hopefully down. She's sleeping. I can just like, watch TV for a minute, take a breath. Ideally go to sleep at a reasonable time before midnight and then rinse and repeat. Started all over again.

00:04:40:18 - 00:05:04:04
Matthew Krekeler
So yeah, your schedule completely changes when you're a parent. Like everything is like in relationship to like the kids schedule and things. And it's important to still have your own things. But I can't imagine like how many times like we've been invited to things. So it's like, wait, it starts at 8:00. But yeah, that's yeah, that's what I'm like, hoping to be like wrapping it up and like, got to get the kids in bed.

00:05:04:06 - 00:05:07:08
Preston Geer
Yeah. Well and you've got four kids. You got four kids, right?

00:05:07:10 - 00:05:11:23
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. So it's like exponentially it gets more and more complex. Yeah.

00:05:11:23 - 00:05:30:18
Preston Geer
Well that's the thing. It's like you're not only having to going somewhere past like 8:00, you're getting a babysitter or you're calling in a favor. You're getting family to come by and watch a kid. And that's the thing, like your schedule. That's why I tell you a lot. Like, the biggest, probably the biggest changes. Your schedule. It's no longer your own.

00:05:30:20 - 00:05:51:05
Preston Geer
Everything has to be coordinated, like me and my wife have a Google calendar. Like everything is on there. Everything is on that calendar because we. Because someone's got to be with our daughter. And if there's events to go to, there's a kid's birthday party, there's an event at her school. We gotta we gotta have everything scheduled and figured out because you still have to work, you know?

00:05:51:05 - 00:06:12:07
Preston Geer
I mean, my wife both still work. And so, like, everything is coordinated around this calendar, right? So it's like, again, your schedule is no longer your own. Some things you start to like weigh the inconvenience of certain social things, like you're going to go to a friend's birthday party, like on, you know, after 8 p.m. like la de da.

00:06:12:08 - 00:06:27:00
Preston Geer
That's not that's not really going to work for us. One of us might go, but you're not going to get the package deal. You're not gonna get both of us. Because then we're having to hire a babysitter. Like going out to go see a movie again with. What's your movie? What we tend to do is, I don't know.

00:06:27:00 - 00:06:40:14
Preston Geer
There's all of this happens in in Colorado where you are, but out here in the West Coast, we have, like, I feel like AMC theaters is the number one theater in LA, and they have a monthly subscription, probably in Colorado. Yeah I don't yeah, yeah.

00:06:40:14 - 00:06:41:08
Matthew Krekeler
We've got that here.

00:06:41:09 - 00:06:55:15
Preston Geer
Yeah yeah yeah. The A-list. Exactly. So that's what we use. So what do you do for what's your movie is one of us will stay home with our daughter. One of us will go see the movie, and then we'll just like flip flop where like that, you know, a couple of days later.

00:06:55:21 - 00:06:56:14
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah.

00:06:56:16 - 00:07:11:15
Preston Geer
One of the other person will stay home with our daughter, and then that person will get to go see the movie. So we just kind of like to switch off, which I never used to go see movies by myself. Now I do it all the time. It's kind of nice. Like I'm not having to like, you know, I'm just.

00:07:11:15 - 00:07:31:17
Preston Geer
I'm just dialed in on the movie, versus I know when you're, like, on a date, there's always, like, little whispery conversations. Ideally, you know, you're not, you know, not so loud that you're bothering other people. But like, yeah, now I go by myself and it's just like, I'm. I'm the weird dad who went to see Snow White by himself.

00:07:31:19 - 00:07:52:08
Preston Geer
I sat there in a theater full of kids and, and a few adults. It was a later movie, but I was the guy sitting there, shoulder to shoulder with with people. And I'm just the the dad who was just there for the love of cinema. Yeah. Watching this musical.

00:07:52:10 - 00:08:16:13
Matthew Krekeler
Well, I went to film school, and, like, I approach movies way differently than my wife. And I think most people like, I, I love watching intently and picking out, like, the cinematography or the music or. Yeah, or the editing and, and so I, I hate, like, being interrupted in a movie, even, like, at home, like, we'll watch something and then like, we hear our kids crying.

00:08:16:13 - 00:08:37:14
Matthew Krekeler
I gotta go change. Change them or up, baby. Then I'm like, wife, pause the movie. Yeah. And then I. And then I go, because I hate, like, being interrupted. And I'm like, well, what happened? Like, but I'm just kind of weird like that. So I think, like, what you guys do, where you're like, it's just you. You can focus on going out and watching the movie in its entirety, without interruptions, I think is cool.

00:08:37:16 - 00:09:03:02
Preston Geer
Well, and that's the thing, like, I think I think the key is without interruption to you, right? Like, there's so many times we've just been so conditioned because we watch, you know, our new reality is so many things that are just streamed. I am a person who if if I don't like to break a movie up like my wife or she has no problem, like watching a movie like three or 4 or 5 parts, that drives me nuts because my attitude is this movie was designed for one sitting like it's designed.

00:09:03:02 - 00:09:21:20
Preston Geer
If it's a two hour movie. It was built and designed to be told as a two hour story in one sitting. Because if you break that up and it's like, I mean, like, you know, I don't remember what happened 20 minutes ago. So like the idea of, like waiting like 2 or 3 days and you're just going to pick up the movie where you left off like that blows my mind.

00:09:21:22 - 00:09:43:10
Preston Geer
It's my TV shows are. Well, one reason TV shows are so palatable to an audience is like, it's all bite sized pieces, so, like, you can watch an hour. But even those. I feel like people break those up. They'll watch, like an hour episode. They'll break it up into 3 or 4 parts. Yeah. And it's, you know, and then like, it's the reality, like, especially if you have kids, you do have to do that.

00:09:43:10 - 00:10:07:05
Preston Geer
You don't necessarily get to sit down and watch, you know, 3.5 hours of the brutalist in one sitting. It's not convenient. Not convenient. But, you know, that's that's the thing. It's like it's it's really it's really tough. It's really tough for me. I was I was also a film major as well and in school and so like I yeah, I just, I prefer I'm a, I'm, I'm a fan of cinema.

00:10:07:10 - 00:10:25:00
Preston Geer
I'm a fan of the cinematography. I'm a fan of the editing, the score, the acting choices, the directing. I'm like, I want to like, just be totally dialed in and totally immersed. And, it's really hard to do that when you're breaking up a movie into like 3 or 4 parts. You know, it's not really. It's not really.

00:10:25:01 - 00:10:44:21
Preston Geer
You're you're automatically like, I don't want, say, devaluing, but you're you're automatically not getting the full picture of what the movie was intending. Right. But again, it's the reality. We have kids, we have to coordinate our schedule and things come up like you're watching a movie, like you're not gonna let your kid continue crying for an hour and a half so you can finish your movie.

00:10:44:22 - 00:10:53:01
Preston Geer
You got to pause the movie. So. But even, like, I feel like even now, people like it. It drives me nuts when people are, like, on their phone, you know.

00:10:53:01 - 00:10:59:06
Matthew Krekeler
Like, oh, yeah, like at the movies, especially if you're at a movie theater and people are just like, oh, that's how that.

00:10:59:06 - 00:11:14:00
Preston Geer
Happened at Snow White. I was like the woman in front of me. She was on Instagram and she was scrolling through Instagram, like responding to people's stories and sending messages, messages. And I'm like, do you know you're in a public setting? Like, what are you do?

00:11:14:01 - 00:11:17:18
Matthew Krekeler
And it's mean, especially when you're spending like $18 on a ticket.

00:11:17:20 - 00:11:45:12
Preston Geer
Yeah, yeah, it's exactly right. What a waste of money. And like, it's so funny because I think people, they go on their phone and I think they, they think that like if they keep their phone close to their body, no one can tell. But you're in a dark room, you open that phone. It's it's basically like shining a flashlight on your face so you can just like we can all see it, you know, and I think and there's I will say for Snow White, I didn't say anything because I was kind of like, I'll be honest with you, I, I was like, I was I was not going in with high expectations anyway.

00:11:45:13 - 00:12:04:10
Preston Geer
So I didn't really bother me that much. But, I mean, when I saw the Batman with Robert Pattinson, these kids were like teenagers, of course. They were like chatting and goofing off and, you know, making all this noise initially. But I don't care if you do. If you do the during the previews, fine. But when it carries over into the movie starting.

00:12:04:12 - 00:12:20:20
Preston Geer
Yeah. Then it becomes a problem. And I mean, these kids were like one of them. One of them eventually pulled out his phone. And then I use my dad voice, which is a new thing. I use my dad voice and I just said, hey guys, you're in a dark theater. We can all see your phone. Put it away, please.

00:12:20:22 - 00:12:39:18
Preston Geer
And they all shut up. Yeah, just the movie. I feel like I had a superpower. I was like, yeah, I use my dad voice, which makes my daughter cry if I have to get started with her. It's like. And like, you're not yelling, but just affirm tone really can make someone uncomfortable. It's like, necessary.

00:12:39:20 - 00:13:00:18
Matthew Krekeler
Well, I think in any situation, like, as parents, like, we want to be good examples for our kids and like if we're out at like a, like we mentioned parties or something like that, like we've got friends over or something. I've got my phone out. We're even like if we're over at the grandparents house and I'm just like on the couch on my phone, like it's it's just not a good example for them.

00:13:00:20 - 00:13:19:19
Matthew Krekeler
And then my, my kids. And like your daughter, they're not old enough. Thank goodness. Right now it's like, have devices and things all the time, but, but like, as they get older, like, I don't want to set expectations or like at the dinner table, they're on their phone or like, right on a computer and stuff like, yeah.

00:13:20:01 - 00:13:39:00
Matthew Krekeler
So much of the digital technology, I it kind of worries me. Like as kids grow up and just kind of like what they're, getting used to and normalize to with technology and just like that, being focused and, and then the inability to focus, like in other settings.

00:13:39:01 - 00:14:01:03
Preston Geer
Totally. Well, I met my wife, said it too. She saw somewhere, probably on Instagram, ironically, on her phone, she was, she saw something that said, you know, if you're with someone and you go out to have lunch, you have dinner with them. If they just pull their phone out and they have it on the table, and it's just sitting there on the table, and you want to have a conversation with them.

00:14:01:05 - 00:14:18:12
Preston Geer
If the phone's on the table, do you feel important? Do you feel like the most important person to them in that moment? It's like, no, they're waiting for their phone to go off. They're waiting to get that text or that email to come through, or a phone call to come through. It's like, and it's it's, we're very mindful of that with our daughter.

00:14:18:13 - 00:14:45:13
Preston Geer
We try not to be on our phone when we're with her, but it's also the reality of like, you know, it's we use our phone for work. We use our phone. You're checking emails. You know, sometimes you do have a text message come through that's, you know, maybe a little more urgent to respond to. But we try we're really we're really trying to be better about that now because, yeah, it just doesn't send a very positive message.

00:14:45:15 - 00:15:04:07
Preston Geer
And also, I don't want to lose that time with your kid. You don't want to, like, just be on your phone escaping. I mean, it's going to happen sometimes, right? That you can't be. We're not we're not monks, right. We have to have our phones with us. But, we really, really try to be mindful of not being on our phone when we're with her.

00:15:04:09 - 00:15:26:14
Preston Geer
So we've been I mean, like, we had a bad habit for the longest time. We would just, like, put on a movie, put on a TV show and read it like it, just watch, you know, TV and have dinner with our daughter. We're trying to be better now about like, just sitting at the table and she. You know, the thing is to with our daughter, like she might throw a fit, but that fit is very brief in my last a couple of minutes or so usually.

00:15:26:14 - 00:15:53:23
Preston Geer
And then like it's done and you can sit at the table and have dinner together and socialize and chat and talk, and it's so much better. It's so much better. Like we we still watch TV in the mornings before she goes to preschool. And she'll have breakfast. But for dinner, we we turn the TV off. We're just trying to sit there and, you know, be with her because these these this time goes quick, right?

00:15:53:23 - 00:16:15:06
Preston Geer
She's almost three, almost three years old, which is nuts. But, you know, I just want to, like, look back and just think like, oh, we just basically ignored her while she was. And by the way, no judgment to other parents. You do what you got to do. You know, we're we're you go into survival mode for a long time with especially with your first kid.

00:16:15:06 - 00:16:34:18
Preston Geer
Right. So like, you're just figuring it out every day. So you do what you gotta do. And if you need to take a break and put on a YouTube babysitter, put on Miss Rachel or whatever you got to do, like, no judgment. You do what you gotta do. But we're we're at the point now where we know, you know, we recognize we were doing that quite a lot.

00:16:34:20 - 00:16:58:07
Preston Geer
And so we're trying to scale it back. And the transition has not been that difficult. So but I only advice is like don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to make that adjustment sooner than later. Even if your kid throws a fit, every kid is different. Hopefully your kid there was a fit for a few minutes and then they recover in of the day.

00:16:58:07 - 00:17:16:03
Preston Geer
They want to be with their parents, right? They want to be around mom and dad. So turn the turn the TV off if you can, you know. Yeah, it's I'm going to say I don't want to be judgmental. Other parents who have to like, you know, pull out the iPad a dinner. It is what it is. You do what you gotta do to survive, right?

00:17:16:05 - 00:17:37:21
Matthew Krekeler
I think especially for parents that had kids like we had our kids, like, right in that like Covid era. And it's just like it was completely different because, like, you couldn't go to the library, you couldn't go even to the park or different things. And it was like so much was at home and, and anyway, and even new people.

00:17:37:23 - 00:18:07:12
Matthew Krekeler
You're preparing to have your first kid maybe, and listening to this podcast, like. Yeah, again, I don't think you'll get much judgment. I also appreciate that dads are, like, sometimes less likely to judge. And it's like, you know, I just you get it. Yeah, but but it's it's easy to compare to other people. And you see all these like Montessori techniques and all these people on Instagram with certain parenting styles, and it's easy to always compare, and feel like you're being judged or not good enough.

00:18:07:14 - 00:18:20:15
Matthew Krekeler
But then when you're in the thick of it, I remember my wife and I having conversations where it's like, yeah, like no TV, no screen time, nothing. And then like, eventually you're like, okay, Disney Plus is your parent now? Like, I just need that much power.

00:18:20:17 - 00:18:48:18
Preston Geer
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You do what you gotta do to survive. And I always like telling people, people who don't have kids. Like I tell them, like, my attitude. Here's what, here's what being a parent is, all right? When you're a parent, if you're it's either it's you and your wife. You basically you were the two CEOs of a startup, of a brand new business, and you have one employee, and that employee is like the nephew or the niece of your primary benefactor.

00:18:48:20 - 00:19:18:06
Preston Geer
So no matter what happens, you can't get rid of them. You can't fire them. This person's like the worst employee. They don't listen. Everything's combative. They want to argue all the time. You end up just like trying to appease them. You're still the boss, but, you know, you have to, like, kind of like, kind of like tiptoe a little bit to get, you know, get them to do their job and to follow your orders and then, you know, you think to yourself, like, maybe you have a second kid, you think, I'm going to hire another employee.

00:19:18:10 - 00:19:38:22
Preston Geer
This one will get the job done. And then who knows? They're probably just as bad. You also can't fire them. So it's just like you're just constantly trying to, like, keep your business afloat. You're constantly trying to, like, take these chances, run your business. You can't get rid of this one employee. They're not listening. But, you know, at the end of the day, like your business is not going anywhere.

00:19:38:22 - 00:19:43:08
Preston Geer
You got to just figure it out. You got to you got to survive.

00:19:43:10 - 00:19:55:02
Matthew Krekeler
You constantly are like updating the policies. It's like when you get those like notifications, the terms and conditions change. You're just like, all right, scroll, scroll, scroll accept. Like, okay, now we're doing this. Now I like.

00:19:55:04 - 00:19:58:22
Preston Geer
It. Exactly, exactly. No, it's that's totally it's totally true.

00:19:58:22 - 00:20:12:00
Matthew Krekeler
Once it's once you have more than one. They'll remind you though of those like terms and conditions. You're like what you said like no sweets before dinner. You're literally. But like, that was an agreement we made in the car on the way home.

00:20:12:02 - 00:20:28:02
Preston Geer
Well, and that's thing, too. I mean, we've had friends, like, regarding like all those, like, the rules you set for yourself before you have kids. I mean, people who are like, I'm not going to like, have, you know, sweets for my kids. I'm not going to, like, do any screen time, like whatever, like the the rules that you said beforehand.

00:20:28:04 - 00:20:52:22
Preston Geer
That's easy to make when you're getting a full night's sleep, right? Sure. Before the kid comes. But once you're once you have a kid again, you kind of go into survival mode. You kind of go into like social hibernation mode for a while. You don't see a lot of people. You're kind of just like you're just trying to figure it out day by day, and doing that 24 hours a day, like, you know, you're only break.

00:20:53:03 - 00:21:08:11
Preston Geer
I feel you only initially when you have a kid. Your only break is when you go to sleep at night. But then even then, if you if you don't have, like a baby who sleeps through the night, that's a whole thing too. Yeah, but, No, you just you just kind of, again, you just kind of, you go into survival mode.

00:21:08:13 - 00:21:29:21
Preston Geer
And so then all these rules, you say for yourself before you were stressed, I mean, you kind of have to give your you have to give yourself some grace. You're going to break some of those rules sometimes because of for your own mental sanity, you might, you know, people who say, like, I'm never going to yell, raise my, raise my voice, man, it's really hard to keep your patients in check 24 hours a day.

00:21:29:21 - 00:21:54:00
Preston Geer
Your kids are going to challenge you. You know, you might have more tension with your life or your or your husband, you know, like you're going to have a lot more. Everything's amplified. Right? So the emotions are heightened. The stress of the situation is heightened. You're really kind of in this like, elevated state for a good portion of the time.

00:21:54:00 - 00:22:14:23
Preston Geer
And so again, like, give yourself some grace, you know, like if you're going to break some rules, you know, you said you're only going to do like an hour screen time, maybe today turned into two hours or whatever. Who cares? Like you're not gonna do it every single day. You got to just, like, do what I do to reset, rest and get some R&R and come back stronger.

00:22:15:01 - 00:22:33:00
Preston Geer
You're going to make mistakes, right? You're going to make you're going to fail a lot, which like, there's no there's no there's no real serious book and guideline of how to do this like it's never existed. Like all these books of like how to parent like now every kid's different. Every situation is different. You're constantly having to adapt.

00:22:33:02 - 00:22:43:09
Preston Geer
So like just again, long winded way of saying give yourself some grace. If you break some rules, you know, that's fine. It's going to happen. Everyone does it.

00:22:43:10 - 00:22:46:03
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, yeah I agree.

00:22:46:05 - 00:22:53:15
Preston Geer
I have a question for you. And this is like like switch. And I'm switching gears here regarding you have four girls.

00:22:53:16 - 00:22:56:07
Matthew Krekeler
Yes. Yeah. It's good for the brand. Yeah.

00:22:56:07 - 00:23:01:18
Preston Geer
Yes. Obviously you're on brand like, how many did you have before when this podcast started?

00:23:01:20 - 00:23:11:03
Matthew Krekeler
So when I started, I just had two girls and we weren't. I don't even think we were expecting our third at the. At that point, we had just had our second daughter.

00:23:11:05 - 00:23:25:16
Preston Geer
Gotcha. Well, they got the memo like, listen, this is the podcast. I don't care. The third third kid like you just were whispering to your wife's belly like, yeah, that'll be a girl. Because if you aren't a girl, I gotta make some changes.

00:23:25:18 - 00:23:27:12
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. Or expand, I don't know, like.

00:23:27:12 - 00:23:55:03
Preston Geer
Right. I'm curious. Like, regarding. Yeah, exactly. I'm, I'm curious on the topic of, like, screen time. Do. How can I even wear this? Were you excited about the prospect of showing your kids cartoons and movies that you grew up watching, and did that change drastically? Having girls, that makes sense. So it's like the animated series or whatever you're watching.

00:23:55:03 - 00:23:57:05
Preston Geer
Like, I don't know, Pocahontas or.

00:23:57:07 - 00:24:26:15
Matthew Krekeler
No, that's a great question. So yes, I yeah, I loved, like, Saturday morning cartoons. They looked a lot different. We were watching, like, recess and dog and, Arthur and things. And so what excited me now is like a lot of those shows that I grew up with, where introducing them to our daughters, which has just been, like, such a cool thing.

00:24:26:17 - 00:24:57:05
Matthew Krekeler
But a lot of the stuff, like, I would say, like, was more gender neutral, I guess, like, so, one of the big shows, that my kids absolutely love is the boomer feel, and it's with the Crab Brothers. So there's more of a modern version of that that's animated called, Wild Kratts. And it's, Chris and Martin Crat, they're these brothers that like, they're big into animals.

00:24:57:05 - 00:25:22:19
Matthew Krekeler
And so they'll feature, like, different animals and cool traits about these animals. And there's, there's kind of like an animated version that's, I think, current now. And there's a little bit more of, like, a story. And I think there's like a spy element to it or something, and there's like good guys and bad guys. But the original was just like this show about this, like, crazy lemur that, is like a puppet.

00:25:22:19 - 00:25:47:12
Matthew Krekeler
But then they have these animals in this, like, Animal Junction, set, and they just, like, go out, and have different kinds of animals, like, like reptiles and monkeys and elephants, all these different kinds of things. But and I remember that as a kid, and I absolutely loved it. And then now my kids are huge fans.

00:25:47:14 - 00:26:09:19
Matthew Krekeler
And then Scooby Doo was another one that, like, I remember as a kid, and there's been so many different variations of the Scooby Doo series, but, we went back to like kind of the original ones. Unfortunately, like a little bit spooky, for like, young kids. Right. So some of the episodes, like, I was like,

00:26:09:21 - 00:26:13:21
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, I do kind of remember that being a little bit creepy.

00:26:13:23 - 00:26:20:23
Preston Geer
Sure, sure, sure. Well, then some shows who grew up thinking that they were terrifying, like, are you afraid of the dark? You know what?

00:26:20:23 - 00:26:33:17
Matthew Krekeler
Oh, yeah. So some of those older shows are still scary. Like, I'm like, I can't believe this was like, what we used to watch because I'm like, even now they're like kind of cringe and and kind of creepy.

00:26:33:19 - 00:26:51:10
Preston Geer
I was trying to describe one show I loved. Again, I do think you have a good point that, like a lot of the shows we watch were gender neutral, gender neutral, like, again, Doug, Rugrats. Like, there's a lot of the shows that were like both. There was a there's a lot of crossover for everybody, which is great. But then there's some shows that were very heavily marketed towards boys.

00:26:51:11 - 00:26:59:15
Preston Geer
And you know, of one I tried to described my wife and her friend, Biker Mice from Mars. And does that ring a bell?

00:26:59:17 - 00:27:00:10
Matthew Krekeler


00:27:00:12 - 00:27:03:03
Preston Geer
It's pretty much exactly what the title says.

00:27:03:04 - 00:27:04:14
Matthew Krekeler
They were animated.

00:27:04:16 - 00:27:24:02
Preston Geer
It was an animated show. Yeah, I honestly like in my head it went on for like five seasons, but in reality, I'm sure it was like one season probably got canceled. But basically it was like mice from Mars who were like super jacked and muscular and they would like, ride these choppers and like, one dude clearly was like he was a gray mouse.

00:27:24:02 - 00:27:46:01
Preston Geer
He had like, he had been like in a, you know, a war. He lost his arm. He had a mechanical, cybernetic arm. Cybernetic eye. He looked like like Kano from Mortal Kombat, Like, you know, metallic red eye. He looks more like a rat. But it was just like I'm trying to describe that show. Oh, my God, I won't run through the whole playlist.

00:27:46:01 - 00:27:49:06
Preston Geer
But, like, Street Sharks was another one. These guys.

00:27:49:07 - 00:27:51:09
Matthew Krekeler
I remember Street sharks? Yeah.

00:27:51:11 - 00:28:07:22
Preston Geer
Yeah. I feel like Teenage Mutant Turtles was also, like, heavily marketed towards like a boy audience. No reason that girls couldn't like it too. But, those are the I grew up on a lot of those shows. It was just really me and my brother growing up. So we watched a lot of that stuff. A lot of superhero stuff.

00:28:08:00 - 00:28:30:09
Preston Geer
Again, Batman The Animated Series. Oh, that was my go to. Yeah. And like X-Men, the old X-Men cartoon as well. But, a lot of shows that my wife was not into, but, I mean, I feel like even the Disney movies still like, even though it was like my wife has watched Little Mermaid, I'll go. I don't even know.

00:28:30:11 - 00:28:47:19
Preston Geer
I don't think she knows how many times. Probably 50, 60 times. Our daughter's getting into it now, but like, I grew up, like, my go to was either Robin Hood or Sword in the Stone. I didn't know that story. Stone was a boy movie. I thought everyone I thought it was a Disney movie. Everyone's going to like this.

00:28:47:21 - 00:29:08:10
Preston Geer
But, yeah, I guess it was more specific towards towards certain genders growing up. And then again, like, you know, but but like The Little Mermaid, I think I saw once in theaters and I was like, cool, got it moved on. And then like sword and Stone or Robin Hood, I would watch. I feel like being a kid, I would watch.

00:29:08:10 - 00:29:28:02
Preston Geer
There was a time where I would watch it daily and, yeah. Anyway, I was, I just I'm just curious. It's just like, you know, like, yeah, I just, I just, I think about that, like the media we were consuming. We were kids. Yeah. Just, how that's going to. I also wonder how dated it's going to be to go back and rewatch that stuff, like, does it does it hold up?

00:29:28:02 - 00:29:49:21
Preston Geer
That's always a fear I have to like. Does this still hold up like, are you afraid of the dark? Not super scary, arguably doesn't really hold up anymore. But but also if you're, you know, seven, eight years old, it's probably still pretty good, but it's still pretty scary. Ren and Stimpy was another one. We watched. We grew up watching.

00:29:49:23 - 00:30:11:08
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, yeah, there there were a lot of shows too, as a kid that were a lot more vulgar and like sexualized for a younger audience. And I was like, wow. Like. And as a kid, like mostly they just kind of went over my head. So but then watching them back as an adult, I'm like, wow. Like, I would never let my kids watch some of this stuff, like.

00:30:11:10 - 00:30:31:17
Preston Geer
My, my mom and my mom and like, she, I think she told us we couldn't watch Ren and Stimpy, but then of course, like, we just did, and it was like, I didn't realize at the time that I kind of knew was a little bit gross at times. Like, they like, you know, do these like those zoom in shots where you'd see, like, all the blemishes and the grease and like, you know.

00:30:31:19 - 00:30:32:14
Matthew Krekeler
Oh, yeah, that's.

00:30:32:16 - 00:30:57:06
Preston Geer
Stuff on, you know, people's faces. But, the I didn't realize all those innuendos when I was a kid. Yeah. But as I got older, I was like, oh, yeah, that's actually like, I can't believe Nickelodeon had this on the air. On the air. They they let this just slide past them. I just, I think, I think the executives just were totally aloof to all this stuff.

00:30:57:08 - 00:31:05:21
Preston Geer
But it's also made the show iconic. It's also made the show immortalized because it's like, you know, it's it just was like such a big swing.

00:31:05:23 - 00:31:41:11
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. I don't want to get like, too controversial. But, there was that documentary that or like that docu series that came out on like some of the Nickelodeon stuff and like, and just I think what was also cringe about that was because these were young actors and actresses. Yeah. And, just some of the things that, they put these young actors through and some of the innuendos and, and adult content that was kind of marketed as a kid show.

00:31:41:12 - 00:31:45:07
Preston Geer
Yeah. It's, Are you tired? Quiet on set?

00:31:45:08 - 00:31:45:21
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah.

00:31:45:23 - 00:32:06:21
Preston Geer
Yeah, yeah, it was that was very disturbing. Very. Yeah, I watched it. It was, it was very disturbing. Very creepy. And, you know, the 90s and the early 2000s, like. Yeah, it was really kind of, it just was a very predatory. Not that I will say the industry has really kind of been predatory towards children for a long time.

00:32:06:21 - 00:32:32:10
Preston Geer
Going back to Judy Garland, you know, for, Wizard of Oz. So. But it just it continued through, like, Nickelodeon and it's like, it's I won't get all the details. Well, but it's like, yeah, I mean, they just didn't Nickelodeon didn't do a lot of screening for who they hired for the adults they hired. And people were these kids were preyed upon.

00:32:32:12 - 00:32:35:02
Preston Geer
And it was it was a it's a whole it's a whole thing. It's like there's a lot.

00:32:35:03 - 00:32:37:17
Matthew Krekeler
Sure, sure. And, and also parents are.

00:32:37:19 - 00:32:42:22
Preston Geer
You know, pushing their kid in like the industry. It's just yeah, it's all disturbing.

00:32:43:00 - 00:32:53:21
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. And I just I don't want to victim blame or, and like even in those situations, like as a parent you look at that and you're like, how could these other parents let their kids be in these situations?

00:32:53:21 - 00:32:55:17
Preston Geer
And yeah, and I think you.

00:32:55:20 - 00:33:23:04
Matthew Krekeler
You have people that just are they were good at grooming and, and and good at convincing, this lie over this like idea of what Hollywood is and the promises of fame and stardom and money and and things like it's I, I sympathize with the people who like, have been victims themselves because, like, it's easy to kind of get caught up in in that totally.

00:33:23:04 - 00:33:54:23
Preston Geer
Well and, you know, for a long time it was, it was not really talked about to write in a way, it's it's so much better now because it's so out in the open. It's so talked about like we do kind of walk into those scenarios with a bit more paranoia. Yeah. And I think that's kind of a good thing, really, that like, it's so talked about like it's it's time in the back of your mind, because it was one of those things where it's like it was always people, either one the victims didn't talk about it, or two, the studios swept all that stuff under the rug and just like, you know, like

00:33:54:23 - 00:34:23:21
Preston Geer
squashed all that. Also, we don't have social media. Social media now makes the information being put out there like, so much more accessible where, you know, if you if you are, a victim and you go through the court process, and you have a gag order or whatever, you can kind of easily break that. Of course, there's, you know, then there's like financial, contractual, punishments for that.

00:34:24:00 - 00:34:42:10
Preston Geer
But like, you can go on social media and just kind of like, post your story, you know, before there's even a court case and, and put it out there. And so anyway, so yeah, I think it's, we're in a better environment. Now, that being said, me and my wife, with our daughter, our daughter occasionally gets auditions.

00:34:42:12 - 00:35:02:07
Preston Geer
And I think that if it's a family thing, if we're doing something as a family, we're usually okay with it. But there's been a couple times our daughter had an audition that was just for her, and I think that we're kind of getting that point where like, it's, you know, it's this back and forth where it's like, if she's on set, we're always going to be there.

00:35:02:07 - 00:35:18:09
Preston Geer
One of us is going to be with her no matter what. So and there's so many regulations too, with like Sag-Aftra, where with the actors union, where it's like, I think, you know, at a certain age you're kicking in work for like 20 minutes at a time and then there's like ten minutes off in like 20 minutes at a time, two minutes off.

00:35:18:11 - 00:35:35:03
Preston Geer
And it's like, so they're not working on a ton. And then it gets put into a Coogan account, which means, like, the kids can't touch you came and touch the money, parents can't touch the money until the kid turns 18 and the money goes to your kid. When they become an adult, they can have access to that money.

00:35:35:03 - 00:36:03:23
Preston Geer
I think it accumulates over time as well. And when you it's interest. And so it's actually like a great deal financially for the kid. And that'll that'll happen because like all those horror stories of like the really since the beginning of TV and you know, and film but in the 90s again so many kids their parents just took all their money, they took all their money like these, these, these child actors, are they the parents just, like, took all their money?

00:36:04:01 - 00:36:24:08
Preston Geer
And so now the Coogan account exists. So anyway, so we talked about our daughter working and it's but we're back and forth where it's like on one hand I'm like, okay, well, it wouldn't be that much work. And she'd be able to make some money that she could use in the future when she turns 18. But also we, we go the other way.

00:36:24:14 - 00:36:49:01
Preston Geer
We, we think, okay, but like, she's not really choosing this industry. And also, you're a kid, you shouldn't even be worried about working. Like, do you even need to worry about, like, working as a two year old, as a three year old? Like, I don't think you should. That seems strange. Like, if it's something that's fun to do, okay, that's one thing, but I don't even want there to be a financial factor involved.

00:36:49:02 - 00:37:06:12
Preston Geer
Which again, it's kind. I said, there's the Coogan account because it's like, okay, you're on set. We're not do we're not doing this so we can pay our bills today. You know, we're not we're not going to like, for lack of a better term, pimp out our kid so we can, you know, cash in and like, pay our mortgage or, you know, whatever we want.

00:37:06:14 - 00:37:23:20
Preston Geer
But that seems just I will say thank God for the Coogan like Coogan account, which I feel like I feel like is a fairly recent thing. I feel like it's if, I mean, I don't know, it's down my head, but I feel like it's been in the last ten plus years or so that that's even been a requirement.

00:37:23:22 - 00:37:43:04
Preston Geer
But again, that that's thank God. Because like, again, it used to be in the 90s where like people would put their kids out there. I won't say names, but like these kids would just be just they were the primary breadwinner of the family and they would just be forced on set into oftentimes some creepy situations that they didn't want to be involved in.

00:37:43:05 - 00:38:06:01
Preston Geer
And they would just they were the primary source of income for the parents in the family. That's creepy and weird. I don't I don't, I don't I'm not a fan of that. So I would, I would yeah. Again we're so back and forth because it's like if our daughter were to get work we'd be on set. Her money would go away until she's 18 and accumulate some interest.

00:38:06:03 - 00:38:21:02
Preston Geer
But then also like she's also not choosing to do this and something we would kind of be pushing, not pushing, but like but like kind of chaperoning her towards. And if she had fun, cool. If she didn't then like, I don't know, we would really never do it again. I don't think that me and my wife are choosing our choosing to work in this industry.

00:38:21:02 - 00:38:40:20
Preston Geer
Our daughter is not in any way right. So it's like we we do this back and forth a lot where it's like, hey, we I'm willing to introduce you to a and a new experience that might be fun. But also you didn't choose this lifestyle. We did. So I'm not trying to live through my kid. You know? I'm not sure.

00:38:40:20 - 00:38:43:01
Matthew Krekeler
I think that's a good distinction. Yeah.

00:38:43:03 - 00:38:46:23
Preston Geer
Sorry, but but it is a push pull that we have. Yeah. Not quite often.

00:38:47:01 - 00:39:07:23
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. I think it's a tough thing to navigate. And I think like most parents that are listening to this are not necessarily actors and doing that, but just by nature of we all have phones and video cameras and things in our pockets. So much of that, even now in the age of social media is like question and distinction of like, what do we post?

00:39:07:23 - 00:39:32:14
Matthew Krekeler
And it's something that my wife and I wrestle with, like wanting to do the podcast and uplift ads and share positive stories of, things my family is doing. And, and things I'm proud of my daughters for and things, and build that community of like minded people that are, just excited about being parents. And in this mess, in this journey together.

00:39:32:16 - 00:39:49:09
Matthew Krekeler
But then at the same time, like what that limit is like, how much can we show? Like, what things would my daughters be proud of out there in the public, so to speak? But then, but then, like, how much do we keep private? It's a tough thing for everyone.

00:39:49:11 - 00:40:06:17
Preston Geer
It really is. And frankly, and again, I don't judge parents either way. Like, there's people who do not post any photos, any videos of their kids at all. Totally respect. I totally get that. Then there's parents who that's like all they post. Our daughter has a separate account for her Instagram that like, just like for friends and family.

00:40:06:17 - 00:40:25:18
Preston Geer
It's like a private account. So we can just kind of post stuff for her for it just makes it easier for friends and family. And like I will post photos and video of my daughter. I don't know if my wife does. I feel like she does it on her personal account. She might for mom. For mommy would I think she'd give her money?

00:40:25:19 - 00:40:53:13
Preston Geer
What a podcast she does. But, you know, I mean, yeah, as a voice. Listen, as a voice actor, I just did an audition a few days ago for a PSA that was, it was just like, basically, like, you know, this, this radio ad, discouraging people from posting photos of their kids on. It's on, on social media because, yeah, if it's out there and it's public, people can find it and it's it's allowed.

00:40:53:13 - 00:40:59:20
Preston Geer
It's creepy. I don't want to, like, make that you make this a dark episode of your podcast, but I'm just saying, like, it comes up, right? It's like a and, sure.

00:40:59:22 - 00:41:00:02
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah.

00:41:00:02 - 00:41:21:22
Preston Geer
It's mostly like and and as a parent, all you want to do is keep your kid safe. So all you really want to do, like, keep them safe and keep them happy, you know, and like, it's, you can only do so much as well. I mean, yeah, you know, I are is switching gears, but like our daughter, she broke her arm back in like, July.

00:41:22:00 - 00:41:45:16
Preston Geer
It was like she turned two, and then like, two weeks later, she broke my arm and me and my wife were both there. We were both in the room. Our daughter was on the couch, and she kind of just climbed over the the arm of the couch and fell two feet. Maybe, onto carpet and started screaming. And we both.

00:41:45:16 - 00:42:04:11
Preston Geer
And as soon as my wife walked over, we picked my daughter up. I can just I can tell the arm is broken. I can just tell by looking at it. And, it was weird. And our daughter recovered. She's fine. She's doing great. Bones healed great. She's resilient, and she. She was a tough kid. She barely even cried.

00:42:04:11 - 00:42:07:21
Preston Geer
The hospital, me and my wife were the ones.

00:42:07:23 - 00:42:17:15
Matthew Krekeler
I'm just replaying. Like, all of the times. My my daughters are playing, like, off the couch and, like, slamming each other on and off the couch.

00:42:17:15 - 00:42:38:08
Preston Geer
I'm telling him, you know, it's wild. Like we were. We had just walked away. Our. Our daughter's a maniac. She runs and falls and bonks into things all the time. She's kind of a bit of a daredevil, which I love. She's really got no fear. And frankly, breaking her arm didn't stop her at all. She's still as lively and as wild and as adventurous.

00:42:38:10 - 00:43:01:10
Preston Geer
But it was, I think, in a weird, like silver lining. It was kind of a positive thing for my wife and I because we were so not quite helicopter parents, but we were very, very cautious about a lot of stuff and just were always like doing everything we could to like, provide guardrails so our daughter didn't get hurt.

00:43:01:11 - 00:43:18:10
Preston Geer
I mean, you know, we were on this. We were like outside the same day. We were we had just come we had just come back home after our daughter was on the street with her bike, riding up and down the sidewalk with her helmet, riding her bike. And we were like super paranoid about cars coming by or people coming in through driveways.

00:43:18:13 - 00:43:41:09
Preston Geer
And so we were like, kind of like on on guard. Got back home. I thought, okay, we're safe. We're back home, put on, put on, Disney Plus and we'll have some some dinner. And then our daughter falls off the couch and breaks her arm, and we spend the night in the air. But it's just like it was a bit of a wake up call in a positive way, where one our daughter recovered and she was fine.

00:43:41:09 - 00:44:02:12
Preston Geer
It was like, we, you know, this too shall pass. Yes. It's terrible that she broke her arm, but she recovered and again, we didn't even stop her. You know, she's not like she's not a paranoid person. She's not super cautious and scared. I wish she was a little bit more cautious, you know, just for my sake, but, but for my wife and I, it really kind of just.

00:44:02:14 - 00:44:20:07
Preston Geer
It was a bit of a wake up call that you can only do so much, and you can only, you know, your kids are going to get hurt. Sometimes you got to let them be humans. You let them be people. You can't bubble wrap them. And, they've got to live their own life and and all of its flaws.

00:44:20:07 - 00:44:39:22
Preston Geer
And if that means they get hurt occasionally or, you know, physically or emotionally, they get, you know, people. People. Yeah, people. People might not be super nice to your kids. That's the thing too, as they get older and they go through school, you've got to just deal with that. You know, they might have to deal with other people not being so kind.

00:44:40:00 - 00:45:05:01
Preston Geer
But there's only so much you can do as a parent. All you kids need to know is that you love them and you'll do what you can to protect them. But, other than that, you kind of just have to. Whatever. It's a serenity prayer. I forget. It's like, you know, gave me the strength for to recognize I'm not going to bother attempting it, but it's like, basically acknowledge that there's things you cannot control.

00:45:05:02 - 00:45:15:12
Preston Geer
And, you know, it's, anyway, it's been, it's a journey to be a parent and to learn all those things along the way.

00:45:15:14 - 00:45:25:09
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, absolutely. And that just made me think of that, like Jurassic Park quote, where you're like, you put in all the guardrails and then the quote is like, life finds a way.

00:45:25:11 - 00:45:26:01
Preston Geer
Life finds a.

00:45:26:01 - 00:45:53:02
Matthew Krekeler
Way. And it's just like you could think of, like, design the perfect thing. And then like, there there's always the inevitable. But but yeah, but you're also you're preparing your kids for the real world and like, you know, the sad reality is but the reality, like you're not always going to be there. So how you how you best prepare them so that they're like, whatever happens, they're equipped to deal with it.

00:45:53:04 - 00:45:53:11
Preston Geer
Right?

00:45:53:11 - 00:46:01:15
Matthew Krekeler
Totally in a safe and loving way. And know that they're still loved. They're still, and they can move past it so.

00:46:01:16 - 00:46:20:22
Preston Geer
Well. And it's funny, my our daughter, she's we, our daughter's been in preschool full time now for two weeks. And, I picked her up from school last week, and one of the teachers got pulled me aside, and they said. She said, hey, can I can I talk to you for a second? And I thought, oh, what's going on?

00:46:21:00 - 00:46:24:23
Preston Geer
And she told us that our daughter has been hitting people at school.

00:46:25:05 - 00:46:25:12
Matthew Krekeler
Killing.

00:46:25:12 - 00:46:47:07
Preston Geer
People, said hitting, hitting and I, you know, I kind of reprimand my daughter at school. And of course, then she cried and wanted mommy. And I said, well, mommy's not here. You have daddy. Also, you'd be in trouble with mommy too, but, there's part of me is kind of like, okay, obviously don't hit. How do you explain that to a two year old?

00:46:47:09 - 00:47:05:06
Preston Geer
You know that, like, hitting hurts and and I think her attitude is like, well, I said sorry. I said sorry after I hit someone I'm trying to get I'm trying to get it to realize just because you say sorry doesn't make it okay. You can't do something. And then sorry is the magic word that makes someone else's pain go away.

00:47:05:08 - 00:47:23:04
Preston Geer
My wife is like, if you hit people, people aren't. And people aren't gonna want to be your friend. And I'm like, yeah, that's true. I mean, I don't know, I don't know what technique is going to get her to stop hitting. So we've been having to punish our daughter more in terms of like, hey, have you hit, you know, watching TV when you get home, you hit, there's no no candy.

00:47:23:04 - 00:47:42:01
Preston Geer
No, no cake pops, no lollipops. You know that you have to, like, kind of start to take things away, which, you know, my my wife, you know, she, she her thing is like no TV if you, if you hit someone like, you're not being rewarded with TV. And my wife was like, yeah. And that was like always like my wife's punishment growing up.

00:47:42:01 - 00:47:56:21
Preston Geer
And she was a kid. Like, if she was in trouble, she would not get TV. She would because she couldn't watch TV. And she said it sucked. Now be able to watch TV, like having to go to school the next day. Like not having have had watch TV like you come home from school, you don't get to watch TV, you just go right back to school.

00:47:56:21 - 00:48:19:15
Preston Geer
It was a terrible, so it's a effective punishment. But, regarding all that hitting with my daughter. Yes. Don't hit. However, being the dad of a girl, there was one time, There's this a long time ago. There's me. Like, a year ago, my daughter was at the park and there was this little boy, and he kept kind of grabbing her and kept touching her.

00:48:19:15 - 00:48:20:05
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah.

00:48:20:06 - 00:48:38:03
Preston Geer
And of course, I'm a I'm a dad. I'm like, hey, like, I can't touch this kid. I can't put my hands on someone else's kid because this kid stop touching my daughter. And he was like, kind of grabbing my daughter and kind of grabbing a sweat. Her sweatshirt. My daughter spins around and just, like, threw like a right hook and popped him right in the face.

00:48:38:05 - 00:48:48:03
Preston Geer
And I, of course, I was like, oh, don't, don't do that. Secretly, though, I was like, you know, a girl, stand up for yourself. Take care of yourself. There's times that's that's the time.

00:48:48:05 - 00:48:50:11
Matthew Krekeler
There's times to do that.

00:48:50:13 - 00:49:10:13
Preston Geer
And particularly like, as a businessman. Yeah. My, my, my wife is like, no, you do not hit you go to a teacher, you will tell a teacher if someone's bothering you, you go, you tell a teacher right away. And I'm like, okay, maybe do that like initially at school. But if it doesn't stop, you protect yourself. You know, you can you can hit someone because guess what?

00:49:10:13 - 00:49:12:07
Preston Geer
Like that's pretty effective.

00:49:12:09 - 00:49:37:08
Matthew Krekeler
So I've got two quick stories on that. If you don't mind. You know why there is a kid like that in my daughter's kindergarten class? And, he was just, like, bothering her, and she, like, told him. Stop. And then she just, like, throw punches, and just like, he was just like, she's like, no, I'm playing with this.

00:49:37:08 - 00:49:58:07
Matthew Krekeler
And he's like, grabbing the toys or whatever. She just. And and we were like, well, you like, use your words. And she was like, he didn't listen to my words. Yeah. Because I was like, okay. Like. And we were like, now next time, like, talk to your teacher and stuff. But it is like you, you want them to have the confidence at least.

00:49:58:07 - 00:50:36:09
Matthew Krekeler
And the like self determination to say like, this is something that I do not want. And I think that that's that's a good distinction, especially as girls get older, is like to not allow anything like societal pressure or any kind of pressure if it's not something that you consent to. So I think even at a young age, I think as fathers like, we don't like condone violence and that kind of way, but it is like if someone is in your space, you have the right to tell them no, yeah, you have the right.

00:50:36:09 - 00:50:55:02
Matthew Krekeler
If you if you don't feel at a position like where an adult can come and intervene in that kind of way, it was like this kid at school. He never bothered her again after that. It's like, so in a way, there was an effectiveness. And then, this other point, once you have more kids, it also becomes more challenging.

00:50:55:04 - 00:51:22:13
Matthew Krekeler
My daughter, she was probably like 2 or 3. We're at the, the like McDonald's play place thing. And so she's having a great time, like climbing up to the slide. But at the time I had my, my, I think it was my second who was only a baby. And so I'm holding this like newborn and normally like I have no problem like getting in the play structure thing, if necessary.

00:51:22:15 - 00:51:41:03
Matthew Krekeler
But she like, wanted to go up to the slide and I'm just encouraging her. Yeah. Like, go ahead. Like I'll watch you and things, wanting her to have that confidence to do it herself. But then there was this, like little boy that was like messing with her and kept on, like pulling her hair. And she obviously didn't like it.

00:51:41:05 - 00:52:04:22
Matthew Krekeler
And it was like such a hard moment as a dad to be, like, at the bottom and holding a baby and like, not be able to, like, I couldn't really, like, take the baby through the thing. Right. And eventually, like, I think I use my dad voice and I was like, that was like kind of the first time in public.

00:52:04:22 - 00:52:22:13
Matthew Krekeler
I think I've, like, use my dad's voice to this other kid, and I think he was even, like a little bit younger than she was at the time. Yeah, but you could tell she was just, like, disturbed by this kid, like messing with her. And then she came down. And then fortunately, this other dad came up and and intervened.

00:52:22:13 - 00:52:40:20
Matthew Krekeler
And then he made his son go over and apologize to her, which good for him, too. And it was like, and then kind of dad to dad, it was like, like kind of a mutual recognition, like, thanks. Like, I appreciate like you stepping in as the dad, to to come in and then discipline his own kid.

00:52:40:20 - 00:52:52:00
Matthew Krekeler
But it's such a difficult thing to discipline other kids. But when it comes to, like, your kid and their safety and comfort, you're like, you want to step in and do it.

00:52:52:02 - 00:53:10:21
Preston Geer
Yeah, well, I think you articulated it way better than I did. You want them to go through life with the confidence and also know that they have their own autonomy. You protect yourself, like, if if someone's touching you or in your space and you don't approve of that, you don't give them permission. You can stand up for yourself, you know, use your words.

00:53:10:21 - 00:53:38:07
Preston Geer
And if that doesn't work, then, like I tell my daughter and to much to my my wife's chagrin, I tell my daughter, the only times to hurt somebody or hit somebody is to is to honestly to to protect yourself is when you're trying to defend yourself. That's the only time you can justify hurting someone. You don't hit because you're mad.

00:53:38:09 - 00:53:58:08
Preston Geer
You don't hit because you're frustrated, or someone took something from you. You don't hit someone back for that. Like if someone took a toy, if it's your turn again, you don't hit someone because you're mad or you're frustrated, like that's not the reason to hit somebody. Sometimes you're going to just be mad and you're going to just be frustrated.

00:53:58:14 - 00:54:22:19
Preston Geer
That doesn't that doesn't justify you hurting someone else. But when it comes to protecting yourself, it's, you know, then like, yeah, you're allowed and you are always allowed to defend yourself because your safety is the most important thing. That is what I, I mean, I haven't really gone through like those big ideas of my two year old yet, but, you know, I do have those conversations with my wife quite, quite a lot as well.

00:54:22:21 - 00:54:40:03
Preston Geer
It's like, yes, you are allowed to defend yourself and you're allowed. You're always allowed to defend yourself and protect yourself. And you know, you have we'll go over all the tools you have available at your disposal as you get older. Right. You can use your words. My wife's my wife's like again, go to the teacher. That's like the only place you should go.

00:54:40:03 - 00:55:10:21
Preston Geer
I'm like, man, this is my brother. It was bullied when he was in elementary school. He went to the teachers. He went to the principal's. The teachers couldn't do anything. What do you do? Like give a kid detention? My brother kept getting picked on. Eventually my mom told him. And you may want to edit this out of the podcast, but my mom, she basically said, if a kid puts his hands on you, you have you have you have my permission to kick him in the groin or fight back.

00:55:10:23 - 00:55:25:22
Preston Geer
And my, my, my mom said, I will give I will give credit to my mom for this. She said, if you fight back, if someone's putting their hands on you and they're hurting you, you can fight back. You might get in trouble with your teachers, but you will never get in trouble with me. And I think that was like the permission I.

00:55:25:22 - 00:55:46:10
Preston Geer
But my brother needed to hear. He's like, okay, if I defend myself, I might get in trouble with my teachers, but my mom, I'll be okay with my my mom won't punish me for it. And so then, like, you know, the next day, kids were picking on my brother and my brother fought back and like, hit him with his lunch pail and kicked and punched him.

00:55:46:10 - 00:55:54:16
Preston Geer
And it's like, never, never was bothered again. And so it's just like one thing a little bit different with guys. Right? With boys. Yeah. My.

00:55:54:17 - 00:56:00:09
Matthew Krekeler
Dad basically told my brother and I kind of the same thing, like standing up to bullies or whatever, but. Yeah.

00:56:00:12 - 00:56:19:06
Preston Geer
Yeah, well, and you need to hear that. You know, I think it's important because, like, you know, the teachers can only do so much. And like, I just think that the teachers are oftentimes what do you do? Like the teachers can't put their hands on another kid. You know, like if someone if some people respond to a different punishment.

00:56:19:08 - 00:56:40:12
Matthew Krekeler
I think it's a good thing just in life to learn to like solve your own disagreements and battles like, yeah, to to whatever level that is, like with my wife and I like if we have a disagreement, it's like we have to work it out ourselves. Like we're not getting the kids involved. We're not getting my parents involved.

00:56:40:12 - 00:57:10:03
Matthew Krekeler
It's like, now this is something between us. Like we're not fighting. Like, hopefully, but like, but it's like we got to use our words. We got to like, compromise. We got to. We got to be in the thick of it. Yeah. Same thing, like with people at work. There was, there's been times where I've, like, disagreed with coworkers, but, like, working it out with each other is way better than kind of getting like, supervisor or like trying to get other things involved.

00:57:10:03 - 00:57:11:05
Matthew Krekeler
It's well, it.

00:57:11:05 - 00:57:34:09
Preston Geer
Just it also just like muddies the water too. And it's like it's so much faster to figure it out yourself. I think I think you said I, you said it perfectly. It's like there's some things it's a great lesson to learn. Like you just need to solve some problems on your own. You don't need to get a third party involved who's frankly going to probably not be effective, you know, and it depends on the circumstances.

00:57:34:11 - 00:57:58:19
Preston Geer
But, yeah, it's just it's it's it's a good lesson to learn for life that there's some things you can solve on your own. You don't need to get a higher authority involved with everything. And, you know, when it comes to bullies defending yourself and standing up for yourself, it's such a cliche. But it's like, you know, once you stand up once, once a bully realizes that they're going to get resistance and you're going to stand, they're going to have someone who's going to stand up to them.

00:57:58:19 - 00:58:20:05
Preston Geer
They oftentimes stop. So, you know, like that, that boy who was bothering your daughter in kindergarten, man, if I got throat punched, I would think, I'm moving on, man. I'm not going to bother that girl ever again. Like, yeah, you're moving on so good for your daughter because, I mean, it sounds like she to you. I mean, you know, she used her words didn't work.

00:58:20:07 - 00:58:38:21
Preston Geer
So she said, what are my other tools at my disposal? And she decided to karate chop them in the throat, and, he's fine. He's, you know, he he came back to school the next day. I'm sure, you know, he had a little bit of an ego bruise, but, Yeah. Like, she, as far as I'm concerned, as a dad.

00:58:38:21 - 00:58:53:17
Preston Geer
Like, she effectively communicated that you do not have my permission to guard my space and touch me and bother me. And, if he was getting physical and, like, touching her, like, all the more reason for her to for her to defend herself. So good for her.

00:58:53:19 - 00:59:20:03
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. And, so I know we're almost out of time. I think we're a little bit past time, but, I have one question before I get to my final question. Okay. There's also there's still, like, a list of questions, that I'd, I'd still love to get to at some point, but maybe, if you're open to it, maybe we do like a follow up bonus episode and find a time if, if your wife is willing to come on the podcast as well.

00:59:20:05 - 00:59:27:10
Matthew Krekeler
It can be interesting to get her perspective. If she condones throw punching, but, but.

00:59:27:12 - 00:59:29:14
Preston Geer
She does not.

00:59:29:16 - 00:59:30:09
Matthew Krekeler
But yeah.

00:59:30:11 - 00:59:33:17
Preston Geer
I'm a. Yeah, yeah, I have a different attitude now.

00:59:33:17 - 00:59:59:08
Matthew Krekeler
That's great. So I think this is great to keep this in like, dad realm. But then, yeah, maybe we do a bonus episode, invite Emily from Mommy Would on, and I can ask kind of these general questions about, being actors and, like, balancing your career, living in LA and and raising kids. And maybe we'll kind of save that for a bonus episode if you're up for it.

00:59:59:10 - 01:00:09:17
Preston Geer
Yeah, I'm super down for that. I mean, in her and I with our daughter being in preschool, we have a lot more flexibility now. So yeah, I think that would be great. I'll talk to her about it.

01:00:09:19 - 01:00:30:16
Matthew Krekeler
Okay. Sweet. But as a dad, before I get to my final question, I wanted to just give you, like, a minute to brag on your daughter. Like I call this proud dad moment. She's almost three. You said so in the past, like. Yeah, kind of through three years. You're still a new dad. Yeah.

01:00:30:17 - 01:00:32:22
Matthew Krekeler
It's that proud dad moment.

01:00:32:23 - 01:00:36:23
Preston Geer
Oh, I think one moment. Oh, my gosh, it's really hard.

01:00:36:23 - 01:00:41:20
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, and it could either be like you as a dad or, like, something your daughter did, but, like.

01:00:41:22 - 01:00:42:22
Preston Geer
Just experience.

01:00:43:00 - 01:00:44:14
Matthew Krekeler
In general.

01:00:44:16 - 01:01:06:03
Preston Geer
I don't know if I'll be honest. I don't know if I have one moment. I think that she's she's so social. She's so friendly. I, I mean, it's just like an overall general thing, but it's like, I love I'm so proud that she is so, again, so friendly. She's sweet, she's kind. She also has no problem standing up for herself, you know?

01:01:06:03 - 01:01:07:06
Matthew Krekeler
Awesome.

01:01:07:08 - 01:01:26:11
Preston Geer
There was I don't know if I'm, like, proud of this moment, but there's one moment, like over the holidays, we traveled for Christmas. We went to see my family in San Antonio and, and in Texas, and, and she there was one of my we're in this packed house. We're in, like, this crowded house. It's a Christmas party on Christmas Eve.

01:01:26:13 - 01:01:58:15
Preston Geer
It's probably like 40 adults at this house. One other kid who's like, maybe like 12 or 13. And then there's my two year old daughter, and it's so it's so it's a packed, crazy house. My family's very loud and very vocal and very boisterous. People are drinking, people are laughing, people are cracking jokes. And then my daughter, instead of being afraid and intimidated by this busy house full of full of adults, loud, rowdy people, my daughter puts on like a Grinch.

01:01:58:17 - 01:02:13:10
Preston Geer
She put it on like a Grinch. Ski cap. Put on these big glasses, put on like, I think she had, like, a necklace on or whatever. And she was out there, and she was kind of like she had a microphone. I think she was like, performing for the crowd. And was this, like in the middle of everybody?

01:02:13:10 - 01:02:20:08
Preston Geer
Just like. Like eating it up, just like hamming it up and being like the social butterfly. And she was like. She was like.

01:02:20:10 - 01:02:21:00
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, yeah.

01:02:21:02 - 01:02:43:20
Preston Geer
Yeah. She was like the partying. She wasn't scared at all. She wasn't like shy or intimidated by these people. She walked out there with full confidence and had no problem socializing with this like room of, from my perspective, giants. You know, she's like two feet tall, looking up at these people who are literally like ten times her size, ten times her weight.

01:02:43:22 - 01:02:59:20
Preston Geer
And just like she was just again, I, I do think I was actually quite about that. She. Yeah. She wasn't scared of anybody. She just like. And I thought that was very telling of her personality. It's like she doesn't she doesn't get shy around people. She's not socially uncomfortable to be around. Like she loves being around people.

01:02:59:22 - 01:03:20:14
Preston Geer
She loves to have our friends come over or family come visit or to go to to travel and go see people. Like she loves being out, out and about and she also loves being. She also loves being outdoors. She loves to go on, there's this place nearby, this kind of gardens. It's an outdoor garden. My daughter loves going there, so let's go to the park.

01:03:20:19 - 01:03:32:13
Preston Geer
She loves to play. She loves to, like, get, get sunlight and, you know, she's not not a homebody, which I am. I like to stay home and watch TV if I have a choice. Yeah, I think that's that. I think, I think my daughter's.

01:03:32:14 - 01:03:33:05
Matthew Krekeler
That's great.

01:03:33:10 - 01:03:37:15
Preston Geer
Social life is is really, I'm really proud of that.

01:03:37:17 - 01:03:40:20
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. I love that confidence, too. That's so cool.

01:03:40:22 - 01:03:43:12
Preston Geer
Yeah. We're doing something right. I think as,

01:03:43:14 - 01:03:45:12
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, I think you're totally.

01:03:45:14 - 01:03:58:00
Preston Geer
Yeah. You're not scared of the world. Good. Broke her arm. Didn't stop her. I'm also proud of the way she's handled that. Yeah, I think. Yeah. There you go. I so I did have an I did have a very specific answer. Look at me.

01:03:58:01 - 01:03:59:17
Matthew Krekeler
Oh, yeah. Thanks for sharing.

01:03:59:19 - 01:04:00:09
Preston Geer
Of course.

01:04:00:09 - 01:04:16:10
Matthew Krekeler
And then, for my final question, and I ask all of my guests this, pretend I'm not here, and I just want to give you the opportunity to leave a special message directly for your daughter. Oh, anything you want to to share with her.

01:04:16:12 - 01:04:44:18
Preston Geer
Oh, my gosh. Okay. Mae, this is your dad. I just want to know that I. I love you so much. I'm so proud of the person you're becoming. You've just been such a light on my life and mommy's life. I'm just. I'm so proud of you. Every day. You're just a magical little kid. And I look back on two and a half years, I.

01:04:44:19 - 01:05:13:06
Preston Geer
I barely even recognize those old pictures and old videos of you. You grow up so fast. You're growing so fast and I just. I'm excited to see everything you do in your future moving forward. I'll always be around. I just am so excited that you're part of our lives and that you're here and we're going to have so much fun together moving forward.

01:05:13:08 - 01:05:14:19
Preston Geer
There you go.

01:05:14:21 - 01:05:17:16
Matthew Krekeler
Present. That was wonderful. Thank you, thank you.

01:05:17:18 - 01:05:19:14
Preston Geer
Yeah.

01:05:19:16 - 01:05:21:08
Matthew Krekeler
That's such a sweet clip. Yeah.

01:05:21:10 - 01:05:22:09
Preston Geer
Thank you.

01:05:22:11 - 01:05:45:19
Matthew Krekeler
Well, thank you so much for being on the show. And thank you to all of you out there and listener land, for following along with Girl Dad Nation. You can reach me on Instagram, Facebook and X, @GirlDadNation and then also on my website, GirlDadNation.org. So and then you can send me an email directly to GirlDadNationPodcast@gmail.com

01:05:45:21 - 01:06:03:13
Matthew Krekeler
But yeah, love hearing from people that listen to the podcast. And if you've loved this show, if you've been a listener, please rate and review it. It helps me out a ton. I love, getting those reviews. So until next time, go be a dad.