Simple Divorce Advice

You simply cannot get away from popular culture as a parent. The latest music, TV and film, books and words will eventually work their way into your life. Kids today want so much more than the Brady Bunch and Gilligans Island. This single mother loves that her kids are exposed to the myriad of choices out there for the young and has a little challenge reining herself in.

I remember back to the ‘before children’ years when I went to the theatre, which I did a lot as my then husband worked in the theatre, I read good fiction, the sort that wins prizes by authors that consider writing a craft in more ways than just telling a story.

I mean I actually read Anna Karenina and finished it.

Then I had children and not as much time to read or go out. Sesame Street every afternoon followed by Play School. I can still sing all the songs and constantly amaze my daughter who missed this as we did not live in Australia and there was no daily children show.

Now I am very pleased I had my children and have had the opportunity to see life through young eyes for all these years, when you have 4 children with 13 years between the oldest and youngest you pretty much get every fad going around most of the time.

It is that instead of growing into more of an adult I find sometimes that I am absorbed with popular culture.
Once upon a time I would never have watched shoot’em up movies with blood guts and violence but slowly over years of having only boys around me I find I will actually now suggest these sorts of films over girlie movies.

The books beside my bed are another example of disharmony in my choices. I have books I read for work, I have books I read for education, I have very good quality fiction, I always have a crime novel or two, and then I have popular culture if there is anything interesting me at the time.

There is nothing wrong with this except that I get totally sucked into the plots of these books and if they come in a series I am not happy until I have read them all.

It was like this with Harry Potter, thankfully I read each book as it came out, it was like this with the Twilight Series, of course I now have a daughter of the right age and now I have been engrossed with the True Blood series, through my son’s girlfriend.

I have one friend who seems to be as versatile as I am with her taste in literature and books, we are the same age and born days apart, I wonder if that has anything to do with it, another post for another time I think. She is, apart from people many years my junior that gets this stuff too.

I’ve always thought it was important to know the ‘influencers’ for my kids whether they be literature, music, film or the language they use. I find the mangling of the English language rather sad but all language changes and these kids will have a great influence on language as technology becomes more and more part of everyday life.

I have also always thought it necessary that kids understand where the popular culture of today has come from. My kids have been made to endure everything from classic music through to all the Greek myths on CD, they still tell people about this torture.

I may not read the classics anymore, I watch them now, bless DVDs, so my kids are still getting them in some form I suppose but I know more about vampires and werewolves than I thought possible. The greatest piece of information I read lately was that vampires do get turned into vampires after a certain age so I can still daydream and escape into the story. You just gotta love that empathy.

Being a single parent has its draw backs in a lot of ways but it does have its advantages too. Tonight when my daughter wants to get into my bed so we can both read our vampire books together and she can ask me what happens next and I’ll tell her she has to keep reading to find out, we will be making the really happy memories that come from simple activities like these. So I am happy that I can appreciate popular culture and all it entails.

I just wish my son would turn down his music. Whoops. Age showing. Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Excerpt from: Reading, Single Parenting and Popular Culture

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