Today I’m doing something a teeny bit different. I’m talking about a book, because, well, everybody knows I love to read. Reading is a definite part of my life, just as much as my kids are. And this book actually has to do with my kids.
Geek Parenting: What Joffrey, Jor-El, Maleficent, and the McFlys Teach Us about Raising a Family, by Stephen H. Segal and Valya Lupescu was a really entertaining and fun read about what parents can learn from families in pop culture. Segal and Lupescu took everyday television shows, movies, and books and dissected what the families looked like in them, and then pulled out one important pillar of parenting that we could learn from those families.
The book included people like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, Stewie and Lois (from Family Guy), Thor, Loki and Odin, Dorothy and Auntie Em and many more. It’s a compilation of mini-essays, which I appreciated, because I could digest a few of them at a time before my kids started trying to take apart the steam cleaner I accidentally left unattended in the living room corner. The mini-essays were perfect for busy parents who have opportunistic children. And by opportunistic children I mean twins who wait until your back is turned before they pick up the dreaded plunger and go to town on a brown-water toilet that won’t flush.
What I liked most about Geek Parenting was the range of material the authors drew from. Some of the movies or books were older (like the movie Teen Wolf), which made me want to go watch them again, some were new, which meant I didn’t really know what they were talking about since I stopped watching television a few years ago. But, regardless, the lessons were always fun and wise.
What I also liked about this book is that I was reminded just how much we can learn from pop culture. Sometimes I get in these weird moods where I can feel guilty about reading instead of spending valuable time with my children. Or I can feel like Husband and I wasted our date night watching the latest episode of “Once.” But the opportunity to learn is everywhere. The only thing we really need is an open mind. Also, I am now less apologetic about my bookish nature, because I’m going to write a book like this someday.
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The authors presented a parenting style that Husband and I adopted several years ago, so it wasn’t that I learned so much about parenting. It was more that I learned to appreciate the things that we already do and the lessons that we can learn from screens and pages if we only take the time to look.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this inside look at my life and family and what I’m reading. Every Friday, I publish a short blog on something personal that includes a valuable takeaway. For more of my essays and memoir writings, visit Wing Chair Musings.
