Fatherhood, with Charlie Higson

Bestselling author and comedy writer Charlie Higson explains his take on fatherhood to FQ’s editor, Tim Barnes-Clay.

I have three boys. Well, technically they’re young men, but they will always be ‘my boys’. They have all, over the years, left home, but now two have come back. Relationships end, friendships collapse under the strain of flat sharing and renting in London is surreally expensive. But I’m happy to have them back home. Living alongside them keeps me in touch with their generation and stops me from becoming an out of touch old fart. Thankfully we never had the cliched parent/child relationship you see in lazy sitcoms – “Oh, dad, you’re so out of touch”.

There were rarely any sullen uncommunicative silences. They were never rude or dismissive. We’ve always got on well and shared mutual respect. I’m genuinely interested in what they have to say, what they think and feel, and how different their lives and worldview are to mine. And I believe the reverse is true as well – they’re interested in what I have to say.

I think this is fundamental to a healthy parent/child relationship. We don’t have to agree with each other, but we do have to be interested in understanding our differing opinions, and experiences. As Bob Hoskins said, “It’s good to talk” – although that’s not a cultural reference that would mean anything to my kids. It comes from a prehistoric era when a telephone was a very different tool to the magic devices that we all now have.

The important thing to remember is that it’s not a question of right and wrong when it comes to your worldview, and we need to appreciate the differences not rail against them. Terms like ‘Gen Z’, ‘Snowflake Generation’ etc. are unhelpful. It’s really all just about young and old. About inevitable change. You go back to Ancient Rome and old men were writing despairingly about the young in the same way that stuffy, red-faced, columnists go on about them today.

Don’t dismiss the views and attitudes of young people – they are as firmly and genuinely held as the views and attitudes you had when you were their age – and probably still do.

So, I’ve always talked to my boys and treated them like adults since they were old enough to talk. And I’ve been gratified that they in turn have felt comfortable talking to me, sharing their problems, telling me what makes them happy, sad, fearful or anxious.

When they were teenagers, I felt able to write a series of books about a group of London teenagers (The End) because I’d seen how my boys dealt with the world. How their friendship groups worked, the language they used, the way they looked at and talked about the world. The books were also a way of exploring the relationship between parents and children. In the series the older generation has been infected by a disease that makes them behave like zombies – and they try to eat their healthy children. In return the kids get to kill the adults attacking them. It’s generational conflict writ large.

If I hadn’t had first-hand experience of contemporary teenagers I wouldn’t have tried to write the books. Now that it’s been a few years since any of my boys were teenagers, it’s not a world I’d be comfortable exploring. Instead, I’m writing about younger kids in a series of comedy books about a shy little boy called Stan. And, in these books, I’m essentially channelling my own boyhood. In the new one – Worst. Superhero. Ever. – Stan accidently gets a part in a TV series about teen superheroes. The book is about how TV shows are made, but it’s also about social media and the endless scrutiny that kids have to learn to navigate these days.

About Charlie Higson

Charlie Higson is a highly successful author whose books have sold over 1.5 million copies in the UK. Puffin has recently published his new children’s book, Worst. Superhero. Ever. This hilarious, touching, and exciting middle-grade comedy captures the voice of a worried child on the brink of adolescence. It also draws on Charlie’s own experiences to provide a glimpse behind the scenes of a famous TV show. Filled with laugh-out-loud moments, this story is both brilliant and necessary, demonstrating that feeling anxious, scared, and sometimes even a little brave is okay. This book is perfect for readers ready to transition from works by David Walliams, David Baddiel, and Wimpy Kid.