Every month, as part of the Netflix Stream Team, they send me a suggested writing prompt. This month, it’s all about Netflix conversations. It’s about having difficult conversations with your kids and how simple shows that we see as entertainment can often open the door to have meaningful conversation about touchy or even taboo topics.
Think afterschool special for the modern era. So I took a look at the list and decided we’d give it a try.
Find these Big Kid shows on Netflix:
The Adventures of Puss in Boots
Project Mc²
Fuller House
I figured that, at 9 years old, Evan could appropriately be deemed a “big kid” especially since the next section was specifically for teens. In fact, on the list for teens, I saw Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, a show that I begrudgingly admit that I watch with my son.
Before you judge, I did stop once and tell him that the show might be too grown up for him. He replied, in all his infinite wisdom, saying, Most of the stuff that’s too grown-up for me I don’t understand anyway.
Maybe it’s Bad Parenting 101 to let him watch more grown-up shows but we just can’t resist some Titus Andromedon.
But for this exercise, my “afterschool special” exercise, I decided to keep him at his age level and told him his assignment was to watch these three shows with me. And that’s an assignment my son can totally handle.
The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Ep. 113: Star
While we loved the Puss in Boots movie (because mama loves her some Antonio Banderas), we never tuned in to the Netflix original series. This was our first pass and we started with the episode “Star.” It was all about this cat named Dulcinea who wanted to be helpful but no one seemed to need her help. She made a friend with a wishing star and decided to help everyone with her wishes, even if they didn’t want her help.
Well, everything backfired and she felt even worse until she realized she could help everyone but wishing everything back to normal.
Evan wasn’t buying it and neither was I. He wasn’t really amused and didn’t really get a lesson out of it (I know, I asked). However, this is a great show for younger kids. I’d vote for the 5-7 year old crowd.
Project Mc², Ep. 103: Smart is the New Cool
Now this is a show that would never even occur to Evan (or me) to watch. Probably because it’s all girls. But when we turned it on, it totally kept his attention as McKeyla reluctantly works with her friends to foil a caper involving “the Prince.”
The personalities couldn’t be more stereotyped and the humor was super cheesy. But guess who liked it? Evan didn’t say he would watch the show again and he didn’t quite get the message that teamwork works better when you work together. But this one was definitely more in line with his tastes for showing like Kickin’ It and Lab Rats.
Fuller House: Ep. 106: The Legend of El Explosivo
If you’ve read some of my posts before, you know that I’m not any more of a fan of Fuller House than I was of the original show. So I turned to Evan and told him the last show to watch was Fuller House but we didn’t have to if he didn’t want to. Oh, I love that show! he exclaimed.
In fact, he wanted to move to Episode 2 since we had only watched the pilot episode. But I made him skip straight to Episode 6 when one of the boys sneaks out against his mother’s wishes. She finds out – hilarity (and punishment) ensued. Evan didn’t really take away a lesson but did ask if we could watch another episode.
***
Although none of these shows sparked important or meaningful conversations between us (we’re pretty open and honest anyway), I had an important Netflix conversation with myself. Let a kid be a kid. He may be wise and mature beyond his years but he’s still 9 years old and he still likes the corny humor.
Lesson learned, Netflix. Lesson learned.
If you’re a parent looking for kid-friendly, age-appropriate shows on Netflix, these conversation-starting episodes might be a good place to begin.
Find these Little Kid shows on Netflix:
The Hive
Veggies Tales in the House
Puffin Rock
Find these Teen shows on Netflix:
Girl Meets World
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Degrassi Next Class
This post was written as part of my role on the Netflix Stream Team. Topics, selections, and all opinions are my own.
