On Geeking my Child Out

by Doug

My wife is heading out of the town (and out of the country) next week for a marketing conference. Want to know what she's worried about?

Not about the security screening fun she's going to encounter at the airport.

Not about about forgetting her passport.

Not about getting her presentation done in time.

Nope, she's worried about what new geeky thing I will introduce to our six year old daughter.

When one is a comic artist, and an uber sci-fi/fantasy geek, it's to be expected that I would be introducing some of that to our daughter. What I don't think either of us expected was how much of a sponge she is when it comes to some of these things. I mean she loves this stuff.

Don't believe me?

• She claims she's married to Captain Kirk (Chris Pine version), and had dumped Keith from Voltron to marry him.

• She dumped Tony Stark to be with Keith.

• She knows most of the members of Justice League Unlimited.

• Not only does she enjoy watching the original Frankenstein, but then wants to watch the follow-up documentary on Boris Karloff.

• While she does have the usual little girl toys (Barbie, My Little Pony), she also has a Nerf Battle Axe and Shield, so she can be like Astrid from How To Train Your Dragon.

• She has spent a day watching a marathon of Mythbusters episodes. By request. Related: She also loves How It's Made.

• She loves GIR.

• She has commandeered one of my Ultimate Spider-Man trades.

• When she learned what voice actors were, she wanted to be one so she could be the next voice of Dot on Animaniacs.

I think the humorous thing in all of this is that it doesn't take much of anything to get her hooked on something. It usually goes like this:

Me: Hey, want to watch (insert movie/show/cartoon that she hasn't seen before here)?

Her: Sure.

(after the movie/cartoon/show is done)

Her: I wanna watch it again! (and again, and again)

I can hear some of you out there saying, “Well, you're just introducing the stuff you like. What about letting her find her own stuff to like?” To that I say: she discovered Voltron on her own!

Nyah!

Actually, she has watched and enjoyed some of the modern cartoons and shows that you find on Cartoon Network and Nick. We spent a good chunk of our time in the hotel on a recent trip watching iCarly. What I have noticed though is that while she enjoys some of those shows. She doesn't get as psyched up as watching Transformers, or Justice League or classic Tom and Jerry. Is that a slam on the current children's entertainment industry? Maybe. But, you can't blame that on me, dear reader; she's been making that decision on her own.

So, next week I get another opportunity to get my daughter obsessed with a new...something. And, I get to make my wife's eyes roll at me again as a result. Woo!

Now I just need to figure out what to show her next. I did get that fourth series of Doctor Who for Christmas...