They say you aren’t supposed to be friends with your children. “Be a parent, not a pal,” right? Well, if you know me, you know I’ve never been very good at following the rules .

This week on Wonder in the Weeds, I’m introducing a brand new series I’m calling XYZ. It’s a space where we bridge the gap between my Generation X perspective and the Generation Z reality And to kick it off, I invited a very special guest: my eldest daughter, Faith King .

Faith is a recent BFA graduate, an actor, a writer, and currently working backstage at the Guthrie Theater here in Minneapolis . But more importantly for this conversation, she is the voice of a generation that I think is often misunderstood.

We decided to do something a little different with this recording. We left it raw. You’re going to hear mic bumps, you’re going to hear us stumbling over words, and you’re definitely going to hear our dog, Fred, snoring in the background . We kept it “natural” because, frankly, we wanted to show you what real, messy, unfiltered communication looks like .

Here is a look at the “weeds” we dug into this week:

The “Turkey Timer” of Adulthood

One of the most profound things Faith brought up was this concept of the “Turkey Timer.” She described the pressure young people feel like there’s a little plastic button inside them that is supposed to pop the second they graduate college, signaling that it’s time to get a job, get married, and have babies .

For my generation, that timeline was somewhat realistic. I had to admit to her that by the time I was 27, I was married, I had a full-time job, and I owned a house . But for Gen Z? The economic goalposts have moved completely. As Faith pointed out, she doesn’t know anyone her age who is following that traditional path, largely because things like buying a house feel impossible right now . It was a reality check for me to acknowledge that the “housing bubble” experience I had is simply out of reach for her generation .

Latchkey Kids vs. Lockdown Grads

We also tackled the “Who had it harder?” debate. We compared our generation-shaping events. For me, it was watching the Challenger explosion or the events of 9/11 when I was a young adult . For Faith, her defining moment was COVID being 17 years old and locked in her bedroom for nine months during the most pivotal social year of her life .

We talked about how that isolation created a “hyper-individualism” in her generation and how missing out on face-to-face high school moments robbed them of learning “tone indicators” the ability to read a room without an emoji to help you .

From Parent to Ally

Ultimately, this episode is about the transition from parenting a child to being friends with an adult. Faith said something that stuck with me: she mentioned that even when she was 11, she didn’t necessarily think we were “friends,” but she always knew I was her ally .

That is the goal, isn’t it? To raise humans who know that, no matter how messy the conversation gets, you are on their side .

The Wonder: Strings Attached

We wrapped up the episode with a shared “Wonder” that surprised us both. At her job working with kids, Faith noticed they have become obsessed with of all things Cat’s Cradle .

In a world of screens, a group of kids are cutting up yarn and teaching each other string tricks . It was a beautiful reminder that despite all the generational differences and technological chaos, kids still just want to learn a cool trick to show their friends .

I hope you enjoy this first installment of XYZ. It’s imperfect, it’s loud, and it’s real just like us.