The Geeky Parent Guide is in its third year, and 2019 was a year of focus on specific geeky qualities: trying to find positive messages for young kids and sharing enjoyable activities for parents. This year has included a variety of content. Like other years, we’ve discussed NASA research and missions, Star Wars, San Diego Comic-Con, and Free Comic Book Day to name a few.
Unique to this year, we interviewed Clarissa Thorne for her perspective as a geeky parent and her creative process with her crafting book, A Geek’s Guide to Cross-Stitch: Journeys in Space. We also spoke with professor Steven J. Kirsh, Ph.D. about his experiences in psychology and how he wrote Parenting in the Zombie Apocalypse. One of the most positive messages we can share with kids comes with good sportsmanship, which is easily seen in The Great British Baking Show – also one of my favorite focuses of the Geeky Parent Guide this year, along with my coverage of The Clone Wars and its positive messages for young viewers.
Geeky Interviews
As a parent, I thoroughly enjoyed getting another geeky parent’s perspective on her creative process. Parenting is a full-time job, so when you throw in another job, the workload around the house, plus trying to complete a book, it was encouraging to hear Thorne’s thoughts. The role her family plays in her process as a creative, geeky parent really highlights how a family can truly share quality time together:
“I’ve always felt my husband and son are an integral part of my creative endeavors. My husband is also an artist, and we’ve been attending local comic conventions in a vendor capacity for a number of years now. We generally share and interact with our fandoms as a family. Both my son and my husband frequently suggest design ideas to me, so much so that I usually can’t keep up with all of them. They both had a significant hand in helping me with many of the practical aspects of the book and by helping pick up slack in other areas.
Outside of the specific ways they helped me, they’ve also had a much more intangible influence in helping create an environment where I continue to want to be creative. A large part of that is because they are both actively geeky and creative about their own interests.”
For the interview with Steven J. Kirsh, Ph.D., the title of his book immediately drew my interest. Parenting in the Zombie Apocalypse: The Psychology of Raising Children in a Time of Horror generates chills just thinking about the title. It was absolutely fascinating to learn about Kirsh’s experience and how he translates the idea of parenting during a zombie apocalypse to real-world hardships. It’s important to highlight how mindful his approach was to creating this book, not wanting to “sensationalize or minimize the difficulties that parents face under such challenging conditions.”
This book brings together academic experience with a long-time love of zombies. It’s such a positive example of bringing geeky passions into your work. It’s always important for kids to understand that the things we truly enjoy in life don’t have to take a backseat to our work lives. Kirsh explains how he introduced this to the classroom, as well:
“I also teach an Honors seminar called Parents vs. Zombies. To understand parenting among the dead, it is first necessary to learn about parenting among the living. Students in the class read social science theory and research about parenting and then apply that information to the zombie apocalypse.”
The Clone Wars
Not only did my analysis of Seasons 4 and 5 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars include topics of equality and having a voice, it’s a wonderful show for both parents and older kids to enjoy together. This show has the amazing fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano, and you continue to see her mature as she deals with extraordinary and dangerous circumstances. There are often times in TV or film when you just want to see more of a specific character. Tano is absolutely one of those characters.
In addition to wonderful character building, The Clone Wars has wonderful storytelling and fantastic action sequences. One scene specifically highlights the reason why this show could be argued to have some of the best moments in the Star Wars franchise.
“Obi-Wan Kenobi faces off with a lightsaber in each hand against two of the most powerful Jedi or Sith the galaxy has ever seen. If anything, other than pure joy to watch this scene, you can point out to your kids the amazing work that goes into making an animated series like The Clone Wars. The artistry behind his fighting style, matched with pure determination, and the level of lightning fast movements highlight how incredibly talented the creators of this show are.”
Baking Knows Best
I love watching The Great British Baking Show. It’s not only a great show to watch as a family, it has entertaining challenges and excellent show of camaraderie amongst competitors. I grew up watching a lot of sports, and although I rarely watch sports now, I’m familiar with how well sportsmanship, or the lack thereof, can occur during any competition. Simple actions or kind words truly resonate to the viewing experience.
This show is also entertaining from a production standpoint. Along with fun musical scores, there are often times when you’ll see nervous bakers preparing something as a judge looks on in the background. It’s also important to understand the stress involved with wanting to compete and win, so the hosts do try to provide moments of levity to lighten the mood. Perhaps, with the stresses of parenting, it’s a show that should always show up in your queue for weekly watching.
Thankful for Continued Kindness and Support
Through every article, with every single word, this year seems to really revolve around quality family time with shows both parents and kids will want to watch together. It’s also safe to say that positive messages continued throughout the year, perhaps because I always want my kids to treat others like they want to be treated – an important message that will always hold weight in the world. Also, kindness from members of Fanbase Press speaks volumes to the Geeky Parent Guide, with excellent leadership that continues to be a shining example that I want to continue to follow.
For everyone that enjoys the Geeky Parent Guide, thank you for reading, liking, sharing, or commenting on this year’s articles. It genuinely makes me happy to know people have taken time to be involved in these ways. My hope for this year was to continue to create ways for families to connect, whether it be with movies, activities, or kid-friendly introductions to everything from technology to Batman. My hope for the coming year is to hear more from fans, as to better dedicate content to what you’d like to see covered, continue to explore missions in space, and, above all other things, to analyze the first couple of episodes of Star Trek: Picard.
As always, please feel free to share your comments, like and share our articles, and continue to visit fanbasepress.com for amazing geeky goodness. Thank you again for all of your support.
Until next time, happy parenting and happy geeking.
