Recess Therapy has brought heartwarming relief to its millions of subscribers on YouTube in an otherwise frantic year

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Hello! Welcome! Thank you for fishing us out among all of the breaking news, Christmas promo codes and rival newsletters: we appreciate you. And here is your reward: a heartwarming ode to the loveliest channel on YouTube. No, it’s not Chicken Shop Date, although Amelia Dimoldenberg and Andrew Garfield’s date is still living rent free in my head: it’s Recess Therapy!

You’ve probably come across Julian Shapiro-Barnum and his young charges at some point over the past three years – this is the channel that spawned Tariq the Corn Kid, after all. But, in case you’ve missed it, here’s a quick rundown. Each episode sees Julian – who is a delight, by the way – set the world to rights with his fellow New Yorkers. They are, however, not grownups like him, but kids. Children are, as you probably know, notorious for being savage, which is how you end up with filter-free conversations like the ones that Julian has with Dillon, who is fascinated by Komodo dragons, and – in fact – says he wouldn’t mind seeing a Komodo dragon eat a person alive. Kids are, also, you probably know, full of wonder about the world, which is how you end up with filter-free lines like “imagination is one of the best things that has ever happened”, and “my dad has no hair, but that’s OK with me”.