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.