Helping children detach from the zeitgeist feels important in our algorithmic age. Branching out is hard when there’s always more of what you already love
Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Sharing childhood faves with the kids can be one of the most rewarding and most disappointing parts of parenthood. I will admit that one of the main reasons I was keen to start a family was to indoctrinate a new generation in the film, TV and music that has meant so much to me. Part of this was the arguably noble impulse to share great art with young minds. Part of it was wanting to experience the joy of those young minds discovering things I’d loved at their age. And, yes, part of it was me wanting to drag out my old Doctor Who DVDs.
These viewing sessions haven’t always gone to plan. The kids were unmoved by ET – the first time I watched this as an adult I was so distraught that when my wife returned from a night out she assumed a parent had died – but adored Flight of the Navigator, which had left no impression on me. For years our girls re-enacted the single dramatic scene from The Railway Children but could I get them excited about Krull or The Goonies? Reader, I could not.
