The Geeky Family’s Guide to Sci-Fi on Netflix

It’s Wednesday night and my teen and I are curled up on the couch devouring a bag of spicy BBQ chips, and chatting our way through an episode of The Flash on Netflix. The younger kiddos are in bed, and I’m so thankful for this time.

And thankful for streaming video services like Netflix.

Really, childhood goes by so quickly, and I know (believe me, I know) that the teen years can be rocky. I’ll take whatever works to bond with my big kids before they leave the house.

My family is a little geeky. We like STEM challenges, science shows, and our new favorite thing to do is to code our own Minecraft mods (well… the KIDS like doing this; I’m not a huge player of video games). But, at the end of the day, I want my kiddos to feel like they can talk to me — really talk to me. It’s the only way we’ll all make it through puberty in tact.

One of the best ways I know to open up the lines of difficult conversations is to have a lot of not-so-tough things to talk about.

And that’s why THIS geeky family loves watching sci-fi together on Netflix. We can talk all day and all night about the different things happening on our favorite shows, and, since regular conversation becomes more natural, the difficult stuff slips in easily.

Just the other day, my son and I were chatting about an episode of Dr. Who we had seen awhile ago, and the topic of lying came up. My son has always struggled with lying. It was a great opportunity to revisit the topic and talk again about trust, faith, and integrity. All things that build character and make a teen stand out in a crowd. I want my kiddos to stand out for the right reasons, and shared conversations about geeky sci fi shows help us foster integrity, believe it or not.

Sci-Fi Series on Netflix for the Geeky Family

We love binge-watching an entire series over the course of a few days or weeks. Here are a few of our favorites.

No joke… as I was working with the techs in the Apple store last week to buy and set up my new computer, my son stood in front of a TV streaming The Flash for the entire time. He loves this show. I think it’s pretty cool, too.

IMy teen is a huge fan of Dr. Who, and was naturally drawn to the spin-off Torchwood when it was taken off Netflix.

A favorite of mine and Brian’s from early in our marriage, it’s been fun to introduce Trevor to The X-Files. I love the banter between Mulder and Skully and Trevor thinks the storylines are super cool.

Have you seen Merlin yet? I think it’s such a clever adaptation of the legends of the Round Table. My husband and son agree.

Believe it or not, my son loves Once Upon a Time. It’s such a clever way to bring the fairy tales to life in a twist of science fiction. We love watching this show together.

The thing is — parenting is tough. If watching shows together a few nights a week help you bond with your kiddos and give you something to talk about, then make sure you do it. We need all the tools available to us to raise the best kids ever.

Those five series above are just a few of our faves. Check out the list below of current Netflix sci-fi movie and series offerings if those didn’t tempt you — remember though, it’s up to YOU to vet them for your family. I’m sharing what I found and compiled these with older kids and their parents in mind. There are some that will be fine for younger kiddos, but you’ll want to look carefully to see if each of these falls in line with the choices you make for your family.

And, there are some shows that would probably be labeled as fantasy, instead of strictly sci fi. They looked cool to me, so I included them. Enjoy the list, and let me know if I missed any of your faves — I’ll add them in later.

More Sci-Fi to Stream on Netflix

What do you think? Which of those are your family’s favorites? Share the ones you like, of let me know if I missed any. And, if your teen isn’t a fan of sci-fi, I hope you’ll find something else to share together. Keep those lines of communication going, and encourage conversations all the time — you won’t regret it.

More Things to Stream on Netflix

Streaming video has been a part of our lives since we ditched cable about ten years ago, and I love sharing how we’re loving Netflix in our home and using it in our homeschool. While we’ve subscribed to Netflix on our own foryears and years, I get a complimentary subscription and fun surprises to share throughout the year with my family and my readers as part of my participation in the Netflix #StreamTeam. It’s a cool thing really, as I’d probably be writing about them anyway.

If you want to see more Netflix posts, here are some of my favorites to get you started: