In reading today’s Penny-Arcade about introducing children to Star Wars, no doubt in preparation of the upcoming new movie this Christmas, I imagine many people my age with older children are trying to figure out how to entice their children to want to see this, and like it.
It’s actually something I’ve often thought about. I am a bona-fide nerd, and have been into nerd fandoms since I was about ten. I was a huge fan of the space program in the 1990’s and have been paying moderate attention to the SpaceX trials and other projects in today’s space program. But where the rocket launches and the Apollo Program were my parents’ generation of space, the Space Shuttle Program and the International Space Station were my generation of space, what will our kids generation of space be?
My hope has always been that we return to the moon, build a base, and actually do more exploration and experimentation. I find it hard to believe we have not tried to go back there since Apollo, and it stands to reason that technologically speaking, this is something we can do without too much trouble. Our exploration programs with rovers and satellites have been especially successful, and with one of the last shuttle missions to repair the Hubble, we continue to learn about space. But it’s just not in the public forefront as it once was. Star Wars and Star Trek used to dazzle audiences with depictions of a different human society exploring space and waging battle, but more importantly it often showed us how life would be if we discarded a lot of the animosity and strife that defines us currently on this planet, bound by borders and squabbles over land.
We talk about Mars often now, with the possibility of sending a manned mission there. Again, why not the moon first? Why are we not testing the technology on something close? Why are we not expanding the ISS into a larger, more functioning space station? It stands to reason that in order for us to really entice a new generation in space, we need to actually be more willing to push further into space, and establish ourselves where no man has gone before. Popular science fiction can help this, as it helped me develop my love for space.
Children are impressionable, and as Tycho’s post espouses, they are less likely to latch on to your love of something when it means they might be you. As humans mature into teens and adults, they want to assert their own values and identity. My father wasn’t/isn’t into almost all of the things I am in, and vice-versa. That is fine. You want to encourage your children to think and develop their own tastes and create their own worlds. Sometimes they will overlap with your own, but the worst mistake a nerd parent can ever make is trying to force or otherwise impress themselves on their kids. It’s plain embarrassing.
That being said though, I do hope I can get my kids into enjoying super robots with me. I’d settle for that.