Our kids are banned from computers on weekdays, says Helen McCrory: Actress says she worries technology will stop them being able to express themselves
- Miss McCrory and husband Damian Lewis limit kids' time on computers
- Couple, of North London, also sit their children down with a thesaurus
- Actress says 'there's a whole generation' who can't express themselves
- Couple met when they starred in a 2003 production of Five Gold Rings
Strict: Helen McCrory and Damian Lewis are formidable parents
They are a formidable acting duo – and it seems Helen McCrory and Damian Lewis are just as formidable as parents.
The couple’s children are banned from using computers during the week and are only allowed on for ten minutes a day at the weekend.
Miss McCrory and Wolf Hall star Mr Lewis worry that using technology too much could prevent their daughter Manon, nine, and son Gulliver, eight, from being able to express themselves properly.
The couple, who live in Tufnell Park, North London, often sit their children down with a dictionary and a thesaurus to encourage them to think about words.
‘There’s a whole generation of children growing up who don’t seem able to express themselves,’ Miss McCrory said.
‘They are not actually experiencing putting the ink in the pen, putting the pen to paper, thinking about what they are going to say, looking up the words they want to say it with.
‘Damian and I often sit down with Manon and Gully and a dictionary and a thesaurus and encourage them to write.
When they say they want to look something up on a computer, we say no. We want them to have the space to think.’
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph’s Stella magazine, she went on: ‘We also worry terribly that they are growing up in a society that is about instant gratification.
‘If something’s wrong – their appearance in a photograph, say – a child can now edit it to their liking or just press delete. But life’s not like that, is it?
‘I don’t want my children growing up wanting to be perfect beings in a perfect world. I keep saying to them, “Darling, there are times you will be sad and unhappy and you mustn’t worry about it. Melancholia’s very interesting you know... you should read a bit of poetry”.’
Miss McCrory, 46, and Mr Lewis, 44, met when they starred in a 2003 production of Five Gold Rings and married in 2007. She has had an impressive stage and screen career, with credits including Harry Potter, The Queen, Skyfall and BBC2 drama Peaky Blinders.
Mr Lewis won an Emmy award in 2012 for his role in American TV series Homeland. More recently he played Henry VIII in the BBC’s adaptation of Wolf Hall, above
Mr Lewis won an Emmy award in 2012 for his role in American TV series Homeland. More recently he played Henry VIII in the BBC’s adaptation of Wolf Hall.
Miss McCrory said she knew ‘right down to the very core’ that she wanted to have children with him. Speaking about their relationship, she said: ‘You want the other one to be the best they can possibly be and to realise their ambitions but you also have to balance that with your own wants and keeping the children at the centre of it all. It’s a constant dialogue.’
The couple have a live-in nanny but make sure that one of them is at home with the children at all times.
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