Movies!
Yesterday, our fabulous surprise adventure that started with a gorgeous nature walk ended with a surprise trip to the movie theater—our first as a family since 2005, when we made the mistake of thinking that 3-year-old Lucas was ready for this type of thing and tried to see a kids’ movie on a rainy Thanksgiving Day in Eureka, California. We managed to stay only ten minutes that time, before the noise and the frenetic film content thoroughly freaked out our kid. (Oh, the GUILT!) Needless to say, we learned a valuable lesson about Lucas and media that evening and we’ve been rather hesitant to try the movie-going experience since then.
But, you know, he’s 8 now. And begging for bigger boy experiences. (He is really wanting to see Star Wars, which is the BE ALL, END ALL for all second-grade boys (even Waldorf boys), and man!—if he were any other kid … ) Although I wish to protect my son from media influences that might upset him or be too mature for him, I also don’t want him to be the only kid he knows who has never been to the movies!
So, Ian and I decided to give the theater a try, reasoning that Lucas is much older now and Asher … well, Asher just isn’t as sensitive as his older brother. He also seems more media-savvy, and is quite keen to watch anything at any time. Moreover, he’ll follow along with just about anything Lucas does, which I suppose is the karma of the second son.
We didn’t tell the boys what was up until we pulled into the theater parking lot.
“What’s this place?”
“This, dear Lucas, is the movie theater. We are going to see a movie.”
“All RIGHT!”
We saw How to Tame Your Dragon and it was great fun! Some parts were very intense and I wondered if we’d be leaving before we got to the end of the film, but my kiddos stuck it out! Lucas laughed out loud a bunch of times and Asher didn’t seem at all fazed by the scary dragons, fire, dramatic flying/falling scenes, or angry Vikings (with mysterious Scottish accents). I was happily impressed with the film’s story, and as we left my boys were chattering about which types of dragons they liked best.
[My, my! Movie tix for our family of four: $33!!!]
May 18, 2010 at 4:40 am
Great story. My son didn’t go to the show until he was about 9. He’s 16 now and shows no signs of early childhood trauma! I agree with your sensibilities. There’s a right time for everything! I look forward to reading more of your lovely blog.
Janet : )
May 19, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Oh good! Please do come by again, Janet. Thank goodness children are so adaptable. It seems we are always trying new things out on them, hoping they are ready.
And by the way, I’ve enjoyed the felt I purchased from you a few months ago on Etsy. I’ll ping you when I finally post pictures of my creations.
May 22, 2010 at 8:04 pm
This echoes my experience almost exactly, except that my kids are 4 and 6. I was very proud of my 6-year-old for not freaking out, I had no concern at all for the younger one’s well-being. What a great movie!
May 23, 2010 at 2:02 pm
I thought so, too. It had a much better story than I expected.