Everyday Dadding

EVERYDAY DADDING
https://everydaydadding.com/ and on all good podcast providers.

What are you watching this year?

Have you been binge watching all four series of The Crown on Netflix? Or maybe you’re one of the millions of families who have survived lockdown with a subscription to Disney+ and the joys of The Mandalorian? Whatever your tastes, the reality is that most of us have spent more time consuming TV and films in 2020 than ever before.

And so have our children. What are they watching? Do you know? Does it matter? Everyday dads Robin Barfield and Ben Putt (whose combined output of seven children range from 15 to 7) think it does. In an episode of their Everyday Dadding podcast, they confront the particularly tricky question of the 12A. Every other film classification gives clear guidance for parents. The 12A more or less leaves it up to you to decide. Should you protect your children from things which might be frightening? Should you censor all the language they might hear? Do 12A films include sex or violence in ways that children aren’t equipped to process?

Robin and Ben are reassuringly willing to admit the mistakes they’ve made – for Robin, that once meant sitting in a cinema with sobbing children piled all over him. And they are refreshingly honest about the need to sometimes leave children sitting in front of the TV while getting on with other things. But they raise good questions for parents to consider: how important it is to know your own children well, and how important it is to know the content of the show yourself.

On which note, it’s also worth checking out Popcorn Parenting*, a more detailed look into well-known children’s films from a Christian perspective, hosted by James Cary and Nate Morgan Locke.