When I was lucky enough to stumble upon steemit just over one year ago, I was incredibly excited. I had always wanted to write a book filled with the different life lessons that I found in pop culture... but I knew I would never write it. There is no way my ADHD and OCD would allow me to write a long book. If I start a project, I need to finish it in one sitting (you should have seen me with Lego as a kid... or as an adult "helping" my kids). So steemit was perfect! I could write a short version of each chapter I had been imagining.
This is the exact image I used for my first Life Lessons from a Geek post 53 short weeks ago. If you want a fun way to teach an average kid who has no superhero or wizard powers about courage... I'd start with Neville Longbottom.
As the year went on, my ADHD took over and I got distracted. I wrote about other silly things (and a few serious ones) instead. I had almost forgotten about the series.
Then yesterday, I finally watched Batman Begins with my 12 1/2 year old son. I made sure to include the 1/2 because it puts him closer to the "13" in the PG13 rating. It is NOT a kids movie. I get that. I purposely watched it while my 10 year old daughter was gone.
Batman Begins is a very dark and violent movie. But I know my son can handle it. In addition, I am watching it with him. Although we have watched some violent PG13 movies, I am confident that my son understands the difference between fantasy and reality. He is a nice kid. Some may argue that even fantasy violence is inappropriate for a child my son's age. I respect that point of view. But in the time we live and the technology we have access to, it would be impossible to shelter him from the types of movies marketed to 12 year olds in America. So I just do the best I can. I watch them with him and try to squeeze any value I can out of them while also reinforcing all of our family's morals and beliefs.
When we watch, I process mature scenes with him and point out "teachable moments". It drives him nuts!
As a teacher (and a father) I look for "teachable moments" everywhere. When my kids ask me questions, I give very thorough explanations. My children refer to this as "teachering" them.
For example, when my kids ask a simple question about a revolving door, I don't just give a quick answer, I explain why businesses use them in order to be energy efficient (I'm sooooo annoying).
I do the same thing during movies. I "teacher" the heck out of films. In the theater, I do it silently by making eye contact or giving my kids a little nudge when something happens that they can learn from. Then we talk about it later. If we are watching a DVD, I do the same or I may say "that's a great line", or I may even pause the movie to take advantage of a "teachable moment" (I'm sooooo annoying).
When I came up with my list of pop culture lessons a few years ago, one line from Batman Begins was very high on that list. I thought I could milk that one lesson for the entire movie. But I was wrong. There were so many more. I had honestly forgotten how many times I'd be able to "teacher" the heck out of that movie.
In my next post, I will do just that.
But for now, I am going to do something that makes me incredibly uncomfortable. I am going to fight my ADHD and OCD and leave this story unfinished. But its worth the discomfort. Instead of finishing this, I am going to take my daughter to the pool. While my son is now big enough to watch some of my favorite movies with me, my daughter is still small enough to throw around a pool without completely destroying my back. I am a lucky man.
Have fun at the pool! It's awesome you spend time with you kids and even better you take time to purposefully teach them the ways of life.
I forgot the image credits. I will add those asap but here they are 1, 2, 3
You are a respectful father , not fathers would just give a simple answer to their kids , we learn a lot from this platform and we can express our feelings and thoughts in so many ways . @hanshotfirst we can keep teaching everyone here as well and spread the knowledge
I agree. This platform can do wonders for education!
Keep your kids always educated on matters , they will always come to you with what they learn
Hi @hanshotfirst I've published a post about you, check it out if you can, thanks.
30 Best Steemit Bloggers Of The Day To Follow 3rd August 2017
https://steemit.com/steemit/@jzeek/30-best-steemit-bloggers-of-the-day-to-follow-3rd-august-2017
It's very good of you to teach your kids like that. Not many parents would even care what their kids watch and teaching is way out of the question for many.
Thanks! I really enjoy sharing these interests with them.
to being dad,just like a big responsibility and of course it's all worth that i learnt with my children
It's the best job in the world!!!
absolutely.We are so lucky.
Great Father, teacher & writer:)
Upped & Followed
Lol. I'll just taking "caring".
Thank you do much for the support
if you like cryptocurrency , travel feel free to check out my account :)
At least you're a parent that respects that a kid should probably not see a pg-13 movie, even if it is a superhero movie. I know enough that show them to 8 year olds and under.
It depends on the movie and the kid. But it definitely requires some thought.
@hanshotfirst, you're a blessed man. Thank you.
Thanks! You too man. I know you appreciate your kids!
Oh yeah, throw her around while you can!
I will have to watch myself when watching older movies with mine. Just now the life lessons are few and far between in the kiddy ones without them being the obvious rammed down the neck sort!
Oh yeah it gets better if you are on the lookout. Had a ton of fun with her and back is fine. It's a miracle!!!
Utilizing moments of teaching and instruction are good. Movies can offer many moments of resources for that with your children or others. Perhaps it would encourage a movie night with your children and their many friends. You could take the opportunity to use the movies to teach valuable life instruction from the movies in more of a relaxed informal setting yet as a class. Thanks for sharing. - Troy
I never thought of that. Including their frIends could be cool.
I'm so proud, teaching the heck out the movies to your kids, what a great dad you are lol.
Lol. Yeah some people use books and conversations. Where is the challenge in that? Lol
Exactly! That boring books... Cool dads only do the hardcore way!
If you're going to show a PG 13 rated movie to a below teenage kid, it better be Batman Begins. It's a really nice movie with many 'teachable' moments, lol! I tend to do the same with my girlfriend while watching anything. She hates it :D
Lol. Oh man she must really like you. My kids have no choice. They can't leave. Lol
Actually this is the best way to do it in order to be a good dad. My relatives, including my parents were never like this. If they wanted me to stop doing something they would make up a scary story in order for me to stop. If the question was difficult, "god did it" was the answer. This is a killer for the mind. As I was growing up, I had to fight through a lot of bullshit to understand how things worked.
I see my cousins and siblings following the same mentality today. I try to go the other way but they retaliate since it makes the child asking more and more questions. They were taught in the same fashion and thus they cannot break free from the cycle.
The more questions and mistakes a child makes, the better is prepared for the world. The more we numb their minds they harder life will treat them. If parents understood this simple fact many would be following your way. OCD or not. It works.
Thanks man.
"The more questions and mistakes a child makes, the better is prepared for the world."
Exactly!
If I didn't want to answer questions all day long there is a simple solution... don't have kids.
Although you clearly learned to question and think on your own. Good for you for trying to break that cycle.
I won't actually. I have my own reasons. Might make a post about it.
Me too. I've gotten so I can actually hear their eyes rolling when I do it.
BTW, my wife and I were so disappointed in the way that Neville Longbottom and Molly Weasley were portrayed in the final film. The book showed them as more quietly heroic as opposed to the lucky doofuses they came across as on screen.
This was a great first chapter.
Oh man. Molly Weasley is one of my top 10 literary characters ever. My kids bought me a Molly Weasley wand for my birthday. Don't know what I'll do with it... but happy they knew.
Maybe that's the reason behind the way the movies portrayed her?
She chose to be a wife & mother over pursuing a promising professional career.
We can't condone that kind of behavior. ;-)
https://steemit.com/parenting/@hanshotfirst/life-lessons-from-a-geek-part-3-harry-potter-and-parenting
I sent that to my wife.
I think good ways to discover or even bookmark older posts is something Steemit needs to address. There's a wealth of good information here that just gets swept away.
Follow x follow
Amazing
nice keep it up
oh nice keep it up
I'm the same way about the idea of writing a whole book, I'm happier with writing 'episodes'. Another trick that I learned from the Brazilian author Jorje Luis Borges is to write a book report about a book that I never bothered to write-- the Cliff Notes version, let the reader finish the details!
Congratulations on the year anniversary, I'm coming up on a year at Steemit this week too, I suppose an epic post is due for that milestone, or a book report about the epic post perhaps...
You are a great man! Thanks for sharing
Great father. I like your post.This post can teach me to be a good father to family.
Haha, I would have a hard time not laughing watching that whole scene.
Seriously though, he'll remember those moments, I'm sure you know that. My dad did something similar with us after movies. At the time, it was just dad talking about the movie, now, I imagine doing the same thing with my kids.
You're a great father. Most of us miss such lessons from a movie :)
Great, kids need to learn about these stories
HAHAH! This is awesome! As a fellow over-explainer you get my nod and a tip of the hat, sir. The PG label, I think, is more of a reminder for the parents to do exactly what you do. You really do need to drill in them the lessons as the movie goes or else they would make up their own rules if the scenes remain unexplained. It's not annoying, you're just doing what every parent should do.
The premise of your series has tons of potential. I had thought of writing similar years ago, but I haven't gotten to it. It's interesting to see what you come up with here so that I could make mental comparison. I'm sure yours is going to be great, man!
You should've finished your post with that. No periods, hanging statement. That'll teach your ADHD and OCD a thing or two! No one messes with
I know the struggles with ADHD my daughter has it, Does sound as if you now control your ADHD you know what your capable of and what you can't do :)
I just need a more violent movie like a Quentin Tarantino-like Batman movie where the enemies die ha ha. Batman movies seem to never deliver that tho.