Brenda Song has found a rather clever use for her fiancé Macaulay Culkin’s most iconic film, using Home Alone as a real-life safety lesson for their two young sons.
The former Suite Life of Zack & Cody star, 37, revealed to E! News that she and Culkin recently sat their boys down to watch his beloved 1990 Christmas classic for the very first time.
The couple share sons Dakota, four, and Carson, three, and while the little ones were thoroughly entertained by Kevin McCallister’s booby traps and slapstick chaos, Song had something a little more instructive in mind by the time the credits rolled.
“They love all the hijinks and the traps and stuff,” she said.
“They have no real concept [of the danger]. My oldest gets it more than my younger son.”
That didn’t stop her from seizing the moment.
“I remember at the end going, ‘See, your mama’s here right next to you. Don’t you want to give me a hug? I didn’t leave,'” she admitted with a laugh.
“I’m so terrible, but I feel like your children have to be a little scared. Fear goes a long way.”
It’s all part of a broader approach Song has taken to keeping her children safe. She’s been actively drilling the concept of stranger danger into her boys, with a simple and memorable rule to help them understand it.
“I said, ‘They’re a stranger if you don’t know their name,'” she explained.
“I was like, ‘It doesn’t matter if they’re someone’s parents. If you don’t know their name, or you’ve never seen them before at our house, they are a stranger.'”
Culkin, it’s fair to say, finds the whole thing a touch excessive. Song laughed as she admitted, “My partner thinks I’m absolutely crazy about it.”
