Rethinking Family Movie Night

My kids are 9 and 11. They are focused on their friends, their interests (at the moment R.C. cars, hockey, reading, playing the drums, creating comics), and oh yeah, school. I want to raise them with an awareness that the life they have is pretty amazing. So, every so often, I try to push the boundaries of their world, just a bit. Just because of the life they happened to be born into, they are very lucky. I believe in the JFK quote...

"To those whom much is given, much is expected."

In our house the media time is limited. When I say "Hey guys, I want to show you something. Let's watch a documentary on Snow Monkeys!", they are pretty excited. Other topics have included; Jane Goodall, living on one dollar a day, Deers, Whales, birds, and the effect of plastic on our oceans and health. When the show is over we talk about what we learned and what was most interesting to us. There is some heavy stuff going on in the world around us. But I really think kids raised with an appropriate awareness of the issues facing us, will be better equipped to be part of the positive change in the future.