It’s up to us to ensure that our kids get a balance in the stories they’re told. What’s also imperative is that among the stories told to our kids by others (through popular culture) and those that they ‘cobble together’, we include one about ourselves. Kids love to learn their family history through tales of ‘when we [the grown-ups] were young”. What grandma and grandpa did as kids; how mum, dad, their parents’ friends, teachers and other adults in their lives coped with the joys and rigour of childhood. Don’t rely on stories form other sources alone to shape your child’s sense of self. Take advantage of the rich variety of narratives on offer, mix them with your own, and allow them to be both a window to the world and one of the many doors that your child chooses to open.

Excerpt from Consuming Innocence: Popular Culture and Our Children by Karen Brooks. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.