I did something similar when I drove my daughters to school a few years ago. The story and characters were different (in our case, woodland creatures having adv

I did something similar when I drove my daughters to school a few years ago. The story and characters were different (in our case, woodland creatures having adventures), but the overall idea — and, it seems, many of the benefits — were similar. One of the great outcomes of it was that when my wife or I heard the girls say interesting things about their social dynamics at school (another child getting picked on, kids with "fancy shoes", questions about kids with different-colored skin, a new kid to the school, etc.), I could weave those situations into the narrative. It gave us a safe space to explore the issues, and to help the girls process various lessons in an enjoyable way. Eventually, we moved on to audiobooks and then the girls reading to themselves. But what started out as frustration at a "long" commute ended up being one of the highlights of the day.