{"id":471897,"date":"2026-05-28T20:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/471897\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T20:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:52:13","slug":"what-mandy-moore-watches-and-listens-to-with-her-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/471897\/","title":{"rendered":"What Mandy Moore Watches (and Listens to) With Her Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images (Edward Wing\/Daily Express\/Hulton Archive, Michael Ochs Archives, Gary Gershoff), PBS, Everett Collection, Courtesy of retailers, Courtesy of distributors\n <\/p>\n

Mandy Moore\u2019s youngest child is a girl, and for that she\u2019s grateful.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say the singer and star of the new movie The Breadwinner isn\u2019t absolutely enamored with her eldest two boys, 5-year-old Gus and 3-year-old Ozzie. Talk to her for just a few minutes and it\u2019s clear that she loves all three children she shares with her husband, Dawes front man Taylor Goldsmith, dearly. But after spending the first few years of motherhood immersed in nothing but Cars movies and Star Wars, she\u2019s looking forward to finding out what kind of TV shows and movies her 18-month-old daughter, Lou, might grow to love.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to see what she might discover that the boys aren\u2019t as interested in,\u201d Moore says. \u201cThe Princess Diaries is something that comes top of mind, like, Oh, maybe she\u2019ll actually want to watch this. I mean, it\u2019s Julie Andrews, it\u2019s a princess, and it\u2019s such wish fulfillment.\u201d<\/p>\n

By contrast, Moore says, her sons haven\u2019t been as interested in her acting work, eschewing Tangled even after she joked, \u201cBut doesn\u2019t Rapunzel sound a little familiar?\u201d They\u2019re more keen on Moore\u2019s music, going so far as to request her 1999 bop \u201cCandy\u201d in the car and before doling out a heartfelt compliment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were listening to \u2018Candy\u2019 on the way to school and then \u2018Only Hope\u2019 came on from the soundtrack to A Walk to Remember,\u201d Moore says. \u201cGus had never heard it before and he was like, \u2018Mom, is this you? It\u2019s such a beautiful song. I really like your voice.\u2019 And that was like \u2026 Oh my gosh, I could swim in those compliments for the rest of my life. Coming from my child, it\u2019s just the greatest thing ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

But not every piece of media consumed in Moore\u2019s house is from her own body of work. Here\u2019s what else she listens to, watches, and reads with her tiny trio.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photo: Disney+\/Everett Collection\n <\/p>\n

My kids only really watch TV on the weekends, like either Friday to Saturday or Saturday to Sunday, whatever we decide.<\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s a little more strict than I am, because I get a little loosey-goosey when he goes out of town. All bets are off when you\u2019re solo parenting. That\u2019s when it\u2019s like \u201cOkay, I have to put the baby down and that\u2019ll mean leaving the two boys by themselves, so I\u2019ll just put one episode of Bluey on, go put her down real quick, and when that\u2019s done, we\u2019ll read a book and do whatever else.\u201d<\/p>\n

I love that all the Bluey episodes are perfect little bite-size morsels; they\u2019re long enough that I know the boys will be sucked in but also not too long so that I\u2019ll be able to come back, turn off the TV, and not feel super guilty.<\/p>\n

My favorite episode of Bluey<\/a> is \u201cSleepytime,\u201d which I think is everyone\u2019s answer, right? There\u2019s just no more perfect seven minutes of television that\u2019s ever been created.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My husband is on a Harry Potter journey with the boys right now that I\u2019m excluded from, which kind of makes me sad because I thought we were all going to read them together, but that\u2019s their little nighttime ritual right now.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to think of what else is popular with them right now, because they have this sort of rotating roster. Elephant & Piggie always come back into fashion, as do Drew Daywalt\u2019s Crayon books.<\/p>\n

Oddly, they\u2019re always very into a holiday book, like whether it\u2019s Little Blue Truck Springtime or something Halloween or Christmas. They\u2019ll just get back into reading them in the middle of the year, like, \u201cOh, okay. I see we\u2019re back on this book about ghosts.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photo: Paramount\/Everett Collection\n <\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny watching kids cycle through phases. We were in such a deep Star Wars phase with Gus, our 5-year-old, for the last year. He even had a Star Wars\u2013themed birthday, but now that\u2019s all been unceremoniously dumped because my husband showed him Indiana Jones and now that\u2019s what he\u2019s obsessed with instead. He loves LEGOs, too, so he did all the Star Wars LEGO sets and now he\u2019s onto the Indiana Jones LEGOs. It just feels endless.<\/p>\n

With Star Wars, we started Gus with the OG movie from 1977, Episode IV, and we just worked our way through in the order that they came out. He really loved them.<\/p>\n

I think some of them might have been a little too much for his 3-year-old brother. We even have some friends who have older kids who have said their kids aren\u2019t there yet, but for some reason Gus has been fine with it all.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re not completely through the whole series because there are so many movies and offshoots, but I think they got through the original six. That\u2019s something he and my husband shared, really. I\u2019ve seen the first three and loved them, but when they wanted to keep going I was like \u201cThis is where I\u2019m going to bow out and let you two continue the tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last summer, Gus was all about dinosaurs, and the amount of money we spent on those expensive figurines \u2026 I mean, they\u2019re not cheap. When he decided he was over them, I was like, \u201cOh no, no, no, we\u2019re not giving these away. These are going in a bag in the basement because I know they\u2019re going to come back around again,\u201d and they did! Sure enough, they saw a little bit of that dinosaur documentary Morgan Freeman narrated on Netflix, and that ignited the dinosaur craze again.<\/p>\n

They came to me like, \u201cLet\u2019s go to Dinosaur Farm\u00a0\u2014 a toy store in Pasadena \u2014 and get more dinosaurs,\u201d and I was like, \u201cNo, let\u2019s go shopping in the basement for dinosaurs.\u201d So now that\u2019s our thing. We go down and they pick two at a time and bring them back upstairs to their room. Everything old is new again.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s going to be my thing now. I\u2019m not throwing or giving their things away anymore. I\u2019m just going to save them because inevitably they\u2019ll resurface again.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photo: Associated Film Distribution\/Everett Collection\n <\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t really brought my kids any of the live-action stuff that I have loved as a kid just yet, although I will say we did The Muppet Movie, and that was like a big thing in the house for a while. They loved it, so we\u2019d listen to \u201cIt\u2019s Not Easy Being Green\u201d and \u201cRainbow Connection\u201d on repeat in the car.<\/p>\n

It never really took off from there, though. I was like, \u201cWe could watch A Muppet Family Christmas!,\u201d but they didn\u2019t really care. It might just be more of a nostalgia thing for me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m excited to show them movies when they get older like Cheaper by the Dozen and Uncle Buck and The Princess Bride and all the John Hughes movies. Stuff that I loved as a kid.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photo: Walt Disney Studios\/Everett Collection\n <\/p>\n

They\u2019re not too into Disney stuff at the moment. I even tried to show them Tangled and they weren\u2019t interested, even when I was like, \u201cDoesn\u2019t Rapunzel sound kind of familiar?\u201d<\/p>\n

We went through a whole Cars thing though, with Cars and Cars 3. Cars 2 is garbage, though. That\u2019s my hot take. It\u2019s unwatchable. Just skip over it. It\u2019s like Disney realized it was bad, too, because they just made Cars 3, which doesn\u2019t acknowledge anything that happened in Cars 2, so none of it really matters.<\/p>\n

Cars and Cars 3 are masterpieces, though. All the Toy Story movies too, and Encanto \u2026 Coco \u2026 There\u2019s some great stuff there, but the kids just aren\u2019t into it at the moment because they only get so much screen time, so they don\u2019t really go for movies.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photo: Everett Collection\n <\/p>\n

My kids are in a deep, deep Wild Kratts hole right now. Everything is Wild Kratts. The boys run around the house going, \u201cI\u2019m Chris and you\u2019re Martin,\u201d like they take turns being each one.<\/p>\n

I love that you can put Wild Kratts on and know that your kids are gonna walk away with some fun facts about animals. I\u2019m really enthused by that, because if they\u2019re going to watch something, then learning something is the best possible outcome.<\/p>\n

Anything PBS Kids is okay in my book. Early days we were into Daniel Tiger, but they\u2019ve graduated now. Wild Kratts is a very sweet show. It doesn\u2019t get a ton of co-viewing from me, but when I do sit down, I find it delightful.<\/p>\n

Actually, both of the boys\u2019 first TV moment was Mister Rogers. I\u2019ve tried to introduce Lou to it too, but I think she\u2019s still a little small. That show really holds up, though. It\u2019s so peaceful, and it feels so good and calming. It\u2019s also educational!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s what I grew up on, so there\u2019s definitely the nostalgic quotient, but I feel no regrets or remorse when I put that on. Instead, I\u2019m just crossing my fingers hoping that they\u2019ll find it interesting. I think when they were first introduced to it, it was like they had no other point of reference, but now that they know other TV shows and movies, it\u2019s a little harder to get them interested. But I do still love that show, and I love that it\u2019s an option to watch on the PBS Kids app, too.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photo: Edward Wing\/Daily Express\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

We do \u201cNo kid songs allowed\u201d in the car. They\u2019re in a deep Beatles phase right now, which feels really good. They love nothing more than watching, like, the official live \u201cHey Jude\u201d video, where they\u2019re on some show and the audience comes around them for the last two minutes and does the \u201cNa-na-nas.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that, it feels like \u201cPat yourself on the back, parents. We did it.\u201d They love David Bowie, too, and Thin Lizzie. \u201cThe Boys Are Back in Town\u201d is a big request right now.<\/p>\n

Gus likes to call himself \u201cTom Petty,\u201d too. I feel like I\u2019m in very good hands letting Taylor take the lead in terms of the playlist, because then the kids are only going to listen to good music.<\/p>\n

The only podcast that has really taken them by storm is something called Gardenkeeper Gus<\/a>, which literally only has 12 episodes. It\u2019s a Canadian production, which you can hear in their accents. It was recommended by someone at Ozzie\u2019s school, which is a Waldorf school, so I knew it was going to be something very sweet.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the show is literally just about Gus, this 8-year-old kid who sounds like a 6-year-old kid, and he\u2019s doing stuff like picking a pumpkin or making soup, or picking vegetables in the garden to help his mom. There\u2019s always some sort of task that he has to do, or he\u2019s going on a picnic with his friends. All the episodes are very sweet and very calming, and all three of my kids like them. They zone out and they get to use their imaginations.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t understand what happens with these podcasts that don\u2019t get a second season, though. It feels like such a no-brainer and a low lift to do more. They\u2019re just seven or eight minutes. I can think of ten adventures off the top of my head that Gus could go on, and it would all be wish fulfillment for me because all we\u2019ve got now is just those 12 episodes.<\/p>\n

I must have heard every episode at least 20 times now, but that means I can use that time to just zone out. It\u2019s when I get my own time to think. There\u2019s something very Mister Rogers about it where it lowers my blood pressure. Even if I\u2019m sitting in ridiculous traffic on the 134 highway, it\u2019s like, Okay, I can get through this because Gardenkeeper Gus is keeping me calm.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

The boys were on a big Michael Jackson music video binge for a while, which was a tricky situation. The music\u2019s undeniable, though, so we decided to just focus on that.<\/p>\n

Around that time, they also started this big phase, which they\u2019re still in, where they talk about who\u2019s dead and who\u2019s alive. We\u2019ll be listening to the Beatles and Gus will say, \u201cGeorge and John are dead but Paul and Ringo are still alive,\u201d and it\u2019s like, \u201cIs this something that has to be mentioned every time we get in the car and put on a Beatles record?\u201d We get it.<\/p>\n

Then Gus\u2019ll always go, like, \u201cJohn and George were your favorites, Dad, so are you sad that they\u2019re dead?\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201cGuys, stop rubbing it in. Yes, we\u2019re sad that two of the members of the greatest rock-and-roll band of all time are gone.\u201d But we\u2019re just in that phase right now, I guess, where if people are alive or dead is a big factor in everything we\u2019re listening to or watching. They just need to know who\u2019s still with us.<\/p>\n

Gus will always talk about how Tom Petty is dead when we\u2019re listening to his music, but he\u2019ll also make my husband smile because when there\u2019s a big guitar solo Gus will be like, \u201cYeah, Mike Campbell<\/a>! Listen to Mike Campbell, dad!\u201d Like, he\u2019s 5 years old and he\u2019s cheering on a Mike Campbell guitar solo.<\/p>\n

I remember telling Taylor, \u201cYou must feel so good about yourself,\u201d and he said, \u201cThis is all I ever wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Vulture Daily<\/p>\n

An entertainment newsletter for the pop-culture obsessed.<\/p>\n

Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms<\/a> and Privacy Notice<\/a> and to receive email correspondence from us.<\/p>\n


\n See All<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images (Edward Wing\/Daily Express\/Hulton Archive, Michael Ochs Archives, Gary Gershoff), PBS, Everett Collection, Courtesy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[14507,321,93,14510,61,60,14509,51948,278,14505,9007],"class_list":["post-471897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-bluey","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-family-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kids-movies","tag-mandy-moore","tag-music","tag-quality-time","tag-vulture-homepage-lede"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}