Reflections on Fatherhood: Culture

Being someone who has devoted the last ten years of his life to the pursuit of the performing arts, it is important to me that Overlord has an appreciation for the arts and is a cultured overlord.

Now, I realize that the term "cultured" can be rather vague, so I'll break it down this way: To be a cultured individual, one must have a basic understanding of certain subject areas within his/her society, and at least an appreciation for differences between those subject areas among different societies. These subject areas generally include but are not limited to: music, theater (both live and recorded), sports (yes, sports are a part of culture...), art, literature, history, science, language, and basically anything else that can be included in a liberal arts degree or found on a Trivial Pursuit board...

So how does one accomplish this? I believe one starts with children's versions of some of these art forms. As much as I have complained about playing more parts in children's theater productions than any normal person should ever have to, I believe that it instills in children an appreciation for live theater that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. So we have children's theater, children's museums, science museums, books, and lots of travel. As (s)he gets older, we can begin mixing in easier-to-understand non children-specific works, i.e. Two Gentlemen of Verona as opposed to Titus Andronicus, Salvador Dali (surrealist, but kids love it) as opposed to Jackson Pollock, The Marriage of Figaro as opposed to Wozzeck, etc...

Hopefully this will eventually lead to a well-rounded overlord who has developed his/her own complex tastes. Now of course we will inevitably run into the snobby taking of one idea and going WAY too far with it: Picture a 20 year old overlord dressed in black from head to toe at a coffee shop in Chelsea saying things like "I don't understand how anyone can even watch American movies, they've been nothing but drivel for the masses since Citizen Kane..."

We could also end up with an overlord wearing a beret and speaking on street corners through a megaphone about the need for the proletariat to rise up while asking to be referred to as "Che."

Just about everyone goes through a phase like this, and there's really nothing wrong with it. I'd much rather have my child sound like an idiot for being a little too passionate about something than sounding like an idiot because (s)he simply doesn't know anything.

Next up in the Reflections on Fatherhood series: Censorship. How far should I go (if at all) in sheltering my child from the bad things in this world like violence, R-rated movies, or High School Musical?