Last night one of my twitter friends asked me how we talked to No 1 Son about the facts of life. ‘We relied on school and episodes of Friends,’ I replied.
And I’m really not joking about Friends. Every conceivable life lesson is contained within the 10 seasons of Friends and can be used as a conversation starter about topics you/they may find embarrassing/difficult to talk about:
1. Having unprotected sex can lead to pregnancy (Rachel and Ross)
2. Stealing (and mugging) is wrong (Phoebe)
3. Sometimes women (and men) can love each other (Carol and Susan, Chandler’s dad), and they can also get married
4. Divorce can be messy (Ross, Rachel’s parents)
5. Infertility (Monica and Chandler)
6. Adoption (Monica and Chandler)
7. Bereavement (Rachel, Phoebe, Monica and Ross)
8. Transexuality (Chandler’s dad)
9. Affairs/cheating can cause a lot of pain (Chandler, Ross and Rachel)
10. Weddings are expensive (Monica and Chandler)
11. Labour can hurt like hell, but having the baby (or babies) at the end of it is wonderful (Phoebe, Rachel)
12. Some people like to watch porn (Chandler, Joey)
13. Shark porn isn’t a real thing (Chandler, Monica)
14. STDs (Joey)
17. Surrogacy (Phoebe)
18. Eating sensibly is better for you (Monica, Brad Pitt)
19. Alcohol can be an addiction and a prop (the boring friend in season 1)
20. Chain smoking can lead to a heart attack (Phoebe)
See what I mean? Trust me, if it’s time to have The Talk, they’ll be there for you.
[…] I said OK, but I’ll find a poem or something similar. In the end, we agreed on the theme from Friends, by the Rembrandts, because my sister and I have always watched Friends obsessively. I stood up in […]
Ha! Excellent – I’ll be getting the 10yo to join me on the sofa for Friends extravaganzas!
Brilliant, now I have an excuse to keep my entire every episode box set until my daughter is old enough to, ahem, learn from them – take that husband!!
I just had to comment – and here I was banging my head on the wall because my daughter watches Friends endlessly! Who would have thought it wasn’t such a bad thing! Thanks your post made me laugh and think.