‘The Family Man’ on Amazon Prime has taken the country by a storm and you can see a lot of people discussing and reading the reviews about this Amazon Prime video web series. This blog post is not another review of ‘The Family Man’. I am not going to talk about the storyline or the characters, but going to concentrate on the parenting tips that ‘The Family Man’ brings to our attention.
The entire series is worth binge-watching through the tightly knit story and good actors who assayed their roles with relative ease. The story is relatable to our everyday lives and one can easily associate themselves with the lead artists in the show.
Why Parenting tips from a Spy thriller like ‘The Family Man’?
One may ask how can a spy thriller give us parenting tips? But yes, this spy thriller is different. As the series name itself suggests, the lead protagonist “Manoj Bajpayee” tries to balance both his work and family. So in his struggles to balance the family, there are certain eye-openers for parents, which I am just trying to bring out to the forefront.
- Parenting is a shared journey: The very first episode of ‘The Family Man’ consists of the fighting scenes between hubby and wife as to who is responsible for the kids. The moment this fight starts, the expressions on the kids show how frustrated they are with these fights. Parenting is a shared journey and a single parent can’t shoulder this responsibility all the time.
- Parents need not have to show their frustration in front of kids: This is one rule which Manoj follows very ardently in the entire series. Even when he gets frustrated with the motorist hitting his car, he stops using cuss words at that person the moment he realizes that kids are there in the car along with him. Then he explains, to the kids, that even though he is frustrated, the reason why he doesn’t use those words is that they are bad.
- Kids blackmailing is a part of life: Kids are expert negotiators and they know when to beg or when to blackmail us. As parents, we have to be careful not to yield in those situations. Manoj clearly portrays the amount of frustration every parent faces when they have to yield to those negotiations/blackmail. So this is an eye-opener for all the parents that we are not alone in this journey and every other parent also suffers the same. I wish we have some ready-made tips available with us to easily navigate through those circumstances.
- Must have a direct connection with the kids: This is one aspect that comes out clearly in the entire series. Both mother and father don’t know what the daughter is doing all the time with the mobile. But the father tries to get into her phone to understand what is going with her, through his surveillance tools. This scene stresses the need for a more solid connection with our own kids so that they can disclose their thoughts with us.
Though these are mostly the well-known and everyday tips in parenting, I liked the way, they were portrayed in ‘The Family Man‘ series. I felt that this series is giving subtle reminders about the Parenting that’s grounded and is based on the Indian Culture, which is my style too. And maybe, that’s the reason why I liked this series.
Please let me know your views about this series. I just hope that the lessons I observed in ‘The Family Man’ are not the way of the mark. Waiting to hear more of your comments.
I am yet to watch the series, but the takeaway from it are so true. The parenting tips hold true for parents of kids across all ages.
Very true Pragnya. Honestly, I was surprised the way these parenting frustrations were handled subtly in a spy thriller like this one. Looks like our writers and editors are changing finally
I watched the first two episodes of the series and it has started giving me goosebumps already! Nice take on.
Thank you, Aditi, yes it’s really an entertaining and captivating series
I like this approach of yours for a web series. Instead of regular reviews you have taken to highlight the pointers of being a parent is very refreshing. Loved your take.
#readbypreetispanorama
Thanks a lot Preeti.
Wow that’s a nice post, so much to learn from daily web series too. I binge watched Family man and loved it a lot. I did question myself when i compared myself to being a parent. You are very right that in today’s times as parents we need to have direct connection, and we must control our anger in front of them as kids learn form there parents only.
Thanks a lot Pragun
I am not familiar with this series. I don’t watch much tv! You have an interesting perspective. 🙂
Thanks a lot for dropping by and showering the blog love
[…] I was browsing the OTT platforms the other day to spend some time. Then I came upon Kota Factory as the most trending show on Netflix India, and I heard about this title on social media too. So thought of giving it a shot. I am a little weary to watch the OTT series on the family television, as the tween in my house is getting curious day by day. Despite knowing that this series is a coming-of-age series, somehow, I braved to watch it, as I know that my child is busy with his world cup matches. But, after watching this series, I felt that there is no need to worry too much as a parent of a tween. But there are important teen parenting tips from the Kota factory, that one shouldn’t forget to learn. Since this series revolves mostly around teenage problems which I see most of the time in my profession, I have decided to write about them along with the review of this series. Otherwise, I am not the person, who would write in the entertainment genre. The only other show, that I wrote about is the Family Man again from the parenting coach perspective. […]