When my youngest child graduated from high school this past June, I was ridiculously proud of her. I positively glowed as I took in the amazing young woman she has become. Well done, Mama! Then I started to realize that this would be, in the words of ABBA, “our last summer”. I had less than 3 months to do all the things I told myself as a young mother I would do. Obviously, this was ridiculous thinking. 

Narrowed down, the questions I asked myself that I could answer or have some control over that were not really of the “deep” variety came down to:

“Did we watch (insert classic movie title)?”and “Did I introduce them to (insert musician name)?”.

For both of these, I had my own opinions, but reached out nonetheless to my generally Gen X/always spot on village and received a varied list. Their recommendations are intermingled with mine below.

In regards to the classic movies that one should be sure to watch with their teenagers prior to their nest leaving, the titles ranged from the classics, to romance, to sports, to tear jerkers, to academy award winners, to comedies, to “teen” movies. 

• In light of Olivia Newton John’s recent passing, I’m inclined to say Xanadu and Grease.
• Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
• Legally Blonde, 13 Going On 30, Pretty Woman
• The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Some Kind of Wonderful, Heathers, Can’t Buy Me Love, Clueless, Say Anything, Valley Girl
• Hocus Pocus, My Cousin Vinny, The Princess Bride
• Serendipity (John Cusack anything seems about right)
• When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless In Seattle, You’ve Got Mail (The Meg Ryan trifecta)
• Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, Mr. Holland’s Opus, 
• Breaking Away (My kids is going to IU), McFarland USA, Hoosiers, The Blind Side, A League Of Their Own, Friday Night Lights
• E.T., The Sound of Music, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, The Wizard of Oz, Airplane!, Shawshank Redemption, Saving Private Ryan, Original Top Gun,
• To Kill a Mockingbird, Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany’s – because Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn
• Stand By Me, Karate Kid, Back To the Future, all the Harry Potters
• Titanic, The Notebook
• Adam’s Rib, The Philadelphia Story, Singing In the Rain
• Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Fault in Our Stars
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Animal House (I made sure to watch this one together, as she was going to University of Oregon where it was filmed)
• All the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies if you haven’t already.
• Napoleon Dynamite, Blazing Saddles (with an explanation of Mel Brooks’s humor so Gen Z MIGHT get it–forget it, they’ll be offended)

Now, for the music and artists that are thought to be our “responsibility” to introduce our children to while they are still under our roof….

• Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra
• Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly
• Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys
• Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Cat Stevens
• Led Zeppelin, Rush, the Who
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell, Indigo Girls
• Soundtracks to Grease and The Sound of Music
• Oingo Boingo. 2 of 3 offspring give it a thumbs up (without Dad’s input). I think I passed it down in genes.
• One friend suggested “Have you thought of sharing a little Bruce Springsteen with her?” to which as a lifetime uber fan, I promptly cued the laugh track.
• Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, John Denver, Garth Brooks
• Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder
• Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Green Day
• Dusty Springfield, Carole King
• Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna
• Queen, David Bowie, Elton John
• Blondie, Ramones, the Clash
• Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jackson Browne
• Tom Petty, Guns N Roses, Journey
• Bob Marley
• Alanis Morisette, Lenny Kravitz, Red Hot Chili Peppers
• The Cure, The Go Go’s, Beastie Boys
• Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Beyonce
• The Supremes, The Temptations

My personal feeling on this one is to share YOUR favorites with them, give them a basic working knowledge of all genres and eras…and then have THEM share THEIR favorites with YOU. My youngest has been super into a couple Australian groups, Spacey Jane and Lime Cordiale, and you know what? They’re great!