The actress added that while her kids don’t yet understand danger, they are very enthusiastic about Kevin McCallister’s booby traps.

Brenda Song used Home Alone to teach her and Macaulay Culkin’s kids about stranger danger: ‘Fear goes a long way’

The actress added that while her kids don't yet understand danger, they are very enthusiastic about Kevin McCallister's booby traps.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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February 26, 2026 2:16 p.m. ET

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Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song; Macaulay Culkin in 'Home Alone'. Credit:

Michelle Quance/Variety via Getty; Don Smetzer/20th Century Fox

In the hands of the right parent, even *Home Alone* can be educational programming.

Brenda Song, who has an intimate relationship with the franchise thanks to fiancé Macaulay Culkin, is using the beloved holiday classic to instill some very core lessons in the couple's two young children. The *Suite Life of Zack and Cody* alum recently shared that their sons Dakota, 4, and Carson, 3, have become very well-acquainted with their dad's most famous movie — even though they don't fully understand what's happening in it.

"They love all the hijinks and the traps and stuff," Song said on E! News' *The Rundown*. "They have no real concept [of the danger]. My oldest gets it more than my younger son."

Taking note of that innocence, Song made an effort to emphasize that, beneath all the fun, poor little Kevin McCallister was in a very dangerous situation.

Macaulay Culkin, Brenda Song and Dakota Song Culkin attend the ceremony honoring Macaulay Culkin with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Dec. 1, 2023.

Amy Sussman/Getty

"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 said. "I'm so terrible, but I feel like your children have to be a little scared. Fear goes a long way."

Song shared that the film also prompted a conversation about "stranger danger," lest her kids ever encounter their own version of the Wet Bandits.

"I said, 'They're a stranger if you don't know their name,'" she recalled. "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.'"

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The gravity of Kevin's situation isn't the only facet of the movie that her young kids have yet to catch onto. Both Song and Culkin have confirmed that their kids have no idea that their dad plays Kevin. And if Culkin has his way, that will remain true for at least a few more years.

"They’re only three and four years old," the actor said during a November stop on his *A Nostalgic Night *tour, adding that he wants "to keep up that illusion as long as possible."

Macaulay Culkin in 'Home Alone'. 20th Century Studios

While chatting with Parade the following month, Song said, "We showed *Home Alone* to our oldest a few years ago. He was really young and he did not understand at all. Like, he thought *he* was Kevin."

She shared that her kids did have one big takeaway from the movie — and it has nothing to do with safety or their father. "I think this is the first year they were comprehending the movie and now they've set traps in our house," Song revealed. "And I'm like, "Oh no, we're at that phase.'"

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But booby traps aside, Song noted that it was a meaningful moment to see her kids enjoying a movie that was such a huge part of her partner's life and career.

"It was really really emotional, I think for both Mac and I," she shared. "It was a very surreal moment, very surreal for Mac as well. But for me it was really heartwarming to be able to see my boys watching their dad in something very very iconic."

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