Daddy and Son TV Time
Childhood TV favourites can stir up a wonderful nostalgia in us. It’s lovely to think our children might watch and enjoy the same things we did. And it’s fun to watch along with them.
At 6 and 3, my kids have already become fans of some old favourites from when I was young such as Fireman Sam, (has it been around forever?), Thomas the tank engine and Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles which my brother used to watch and as a result so did I!
But seeing how they are completely obsessed and over excited by Star Wars, their Dad’s childhood favourite films is really something! Of course the magic that is Star Wars itself has something to do with it, but it is mostly the fact that it is a shared knowledge and love of it between father and sons. The in-jokes and the deep conversations about it are like an enchanting secret shared between Daddy and his little boys. The ugly looking R2-D2 shiny teddy that I did not want to bring home from the shop and Daddy insisted on, is now my 3 year old’s favourite. It’s special because it was chosen by Daddy and it’s Star Wars and that’s special because it’s their ‘thing’. My 6 year old talked about getting a Darth Vader costume from Santa for 6 months coming up to Christmas last year. The excitement was unreal!
Netflix have done some research into this recently and found that 85% of Dads want to introduce their childhood favourites to their own kids. It might be just an excuse to be nostalgic and watch them again, I’d partake in that myself for that reason alone, but I think it goes deeper than that.
In my house, the times Daddy is home is shortly before the boys’ bedtime and at weekends. This means that weeknight family time is story time or TV time, so a perfect opportunity to cuddle up to watch something they both enjoy at this time.
I asked my boys’ Daddy if he plans to introduce the boys to some of his childhood favourite TV shows. I figured I knew what the answer would be as it has already happened. His childhood favourites included Danger mouse, Captain Planet, Transformers, He-man and Inspector Gadget. I loved Danger Mouse and He-man too when I was a kid.
We don’t have to go to far to find some of these, Danger Mouse and Inspector Gadget are on Netflix so I’ve added them to the list now. I’m looking forward to a bit of nostalgia myself. But for now the sun is shining and they’re out on their bikes. But rainy Ireland will be back in a few days and we’ll give them a go then..
Happy Father’s Day to all the lovely Daddies out there.
Disclosure: I am part of the Netflix Stream Team, and I received a free subscription to the service in return for writing updates and reviews. I had my own Netflix subscription prior to joining and as always all opinions expressed are my own.
