Watch This!

Watch This! Using Screens (instead of them using us) to Build the Relationships You Want With Your Kids, by Anna Darrah

As a 34-year-old single mom, I got the job of my dreams watching movies for a living. There were not enough hours in the day to consume the stack of films I had to get through daily, so my six-year-old daughter often watched with me.

When she graduated from high school I realized that I had raised my kid on films. And she was the most articulate, emotionally intelligent teenager I had ever met. We have an incredible relationship: honest, caring, and open. What a gift!

I began to wonder if I should share the unique way we learned to consume media together in the hope that it might help other parents to connect with their kids as well.

I considered which films brought the most important and memorable conversations into our lives, and which appropriate ages matched up best with which movies. I started a list of topics, noting the films that deal with different milestones in every child’s life, and began making notes on the appropriate age range for each of these films.

Watch This! lays out a simple method for you and your kids to watch media together, and offers an amazing arsenal of spectacular films hitting the most important topics in our lives, with guidance on the best ages to watch each film.

These are the movies that helped us reach new levels of trust, communication and appreciation for each other. I hope this book can create the same kind of bonding for you and your kids.