One of the best parts of being a 43-year-old dad to a 7-and-a-half-year-old son is "involving" him in regular metaphoric trips back to your own childhood. Whether he wants to go there or not.
I say this because, on Saturday morning, Jamie and I are off to the cinema to see Creed. My idea.
If you don't know, Creed is the seventh and latest Rocky film. This time our hero - finally retired at the age of 81 - returns to boxing to train the son of former heavyweight champ Apollo Creed, who appeared in the first four films before being battered by a big Russian. And the reviews have been very good, which is an added bonus.
The only thing is, I haven't taken Jamie to a "live action" movie before and I wanted to minimise the risk of him spoiling my day out. So I made him do his homework.
Rocky fans will know that the original was a bit more adult-orientated than the others. Plus Rocky loses, which is disappointing - particularly for Yo Adrian. I therefore didn't force Jamie to sit through that one.
Instead, I started him off last week with the fight scenes at the end of Rocky II when the Italian Stallion first wins the title. And Jamie took an interest. Excellent. Cue Rocky III.
A much bigger HIT!
Indeed, so much so that Jamie insisted on recreating the training routines.
Genuinely his idea.
Rocky IV was next (you can't fool me), with Jamie claiming this as his favourite thus far.
We're not going to bother watching Rocky V, mainly because it's crap. Even Sylvester Stallone has admitted that.
So, with Vanessa and Charlotte out tomorrow night, we have Rocky Balboa (aka Rocky VI) lined up to pass our boys' time together, leaving us fully prepped for Creed the following morning.
And when Saturday comes, Jamie had better be prepared to sit through all 133 minutes of it.
Because as Rocky himself would readily confirm, "it ain't over till it's over."
