How do your kids broaden their horizons?

When I was a kid, 100 years ago, no one had DVD players and certainly didn't have a collection of favourite shows to bring with them. My parents went to dinner parties and I was expected to disappear under the table or into another room that may or may not have a TV.

There was a season when the late movie every Saturday night was a Vincent Price flick. I loved these movies, even though I was terrified at the same time. They were bad, and I never got to see the end, because I fell asleep or my parents went home. I can't even tell you what happened in them, but many years later, as a 12 year old, I discovered Vincent Price did audio cassettes (I'm old, remember) of Edgar Allen Poe. I'd never heard of Poe but I liked Vincent Price's voice in the movies, so I borrowed them from the library. I used to listen to them on my Walkman at night and scare myself silly. To this day I adore Poe. As a 12 year old, I was a poor reader and not a very mature reader. I didn't know Poe was a literary genius. I loved him all the same. Tell tale heart, The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usher, the lot. I was spellbound, and would listen repeatedly, never growing tired of the words.

Long story to explain that being forced to explore new things can lead to better things, and broader interests.

These days, if kids are tagging along and going to be bored, we bring a DVD they like, we bring a DS or something to entertain them. I do too. How are they ever going to extend their horizons if they're always accommodated with their own interests?

We can take them to museums, or recommend books or music, but there's something really special when you discover it for yourself. I went to Paris as a very naïve and uneducated 20-something, and went to the Orangerie to see the works of Monet and Picasso. I returned home and told my mum "There was this other painter, I'd never heard of, but he's brilliant. I loved all his works". She looked at me, smiling, and said "Andre Derain is really famous. Really, really famous." An eon later, he's still my favourite, and I'm sure it's because I felt I discovered him for myself, not because I'd been told by other people to think he was good.

So how do kids these days explore new things if everything is either catered for them, or on demand? Or am I doing that old lady thing where I over sentimentalize the past?

Interested in thoughts on this. Is it a problem? Are we creating cookie cutter kids?

Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT.