Tik Tok… what is that?

As most of you know, I created a podcast with my son called Father Son Car Chats.  This was due to my son constantly talking all the time about cars.  So I figured a great way to help him learn about social media, speaking, and even more about cars while hanging out with his old man would be to start the podcast.  You can read more about that blog here.  A lot of people started asking me what I am doing with my daughter then… well… it’s called tik tok.

Before I go into what this is all about, I wanted to let people know why it took a little while for my daughter and I to figure out how to work together.  As you all know timing is everything.  My daughter is 10 and has a YouTube channel.  It took her a while to post her first video because she was nervous about what people would think.  I had a conversation about being bold and not worrying about it.  I am certainly not superdad, but she did take about a month to post her first video and when she saw me supporting her she quickly made her second and third video.  I showed her I was on her side no matter what.  A good lesson for parents right there.  She worked on that YouTube channel for awhile and then she stopped.  I was heartbroken.  She was making great videos and I was enjoying watching them and her process.  

You have to let your kids pivot.

Recently, my daughter came to me and let me know that one of her videos hit 7 thousand views.  I asked her if it was on YouTube.  She said “no Dad, it was on Tik Tok.  I make slime videos and got on the #foryou page.”  Tik Tok?  What the heck is that?  I took a look and thought this is pretty cool.  People make short videos with trending songs, hashtags, etc.  It’s all kinda silly.  I tried to put my @disrupteducation brand for a channel and it didn’t quite work.  I quickly found out that the market was different.  I found myself researching other channels and trending songs and videos.  

It was interesting to see how addicting this Tik Tok was.  I did notice young and old people interacting in funny dances.  Yesterday, I asked my daughter if she would like to do a Tik Tok channel with me and create interesting, fun, creative short videos to be funny.  She did!  I felt like superdad again.  Today we put out our first video.  Our channel is called chopinonion.  What we are learning together is how to make funny videos, how to edit them, and what different types of videos we can make together.  All of this wraps up in micro lessons on interacting with people outside of our little world.  My daughter and I are learning, dancing, laughing, creating, and most of all, spending time together.  It is all because I am taking an interest in what she is interested in right now.  This is what education should be all about.  There is a lot of experimentation.  A lot of failure.  A lot of deleted videos we messed up.  This is not controlled.  We are both uncomfortable creating and we do it anyway.  Yes, I realize she is only 10 and will likely pivot again soon.  That’s okay.  I just love to show her the fun in learning new things.  

Right now that is Tik Tok.