This summer my husband and I took our two daughters ages barely 3 and 4 ½ to a movie for the first time, along with their older brother. We hadn’t taken them to the theatre yet because one, my youngest has a hard time sitting still and two, my older daughter wears hearing aids and doesn’t like loud noises. But we decided it was time, especially when we got free tickets from a friend for the local summer movie program. The movie Ice Age 2 happened to be playing that week. Which incidentally was really funny.
Our kids were really excited about seeing a movie on the big screen. Especially my son, since he had been to the theatre before and knew what it was really all about. At the theatre my children each got their own popcorn, drink, and candy (a great deal for only $3 a piece). My husband was late meeting us so when we walked in the lights were already down. My youngest was scared and I immediately started thinking this was a big mistake. My husband found a seat next to a light on the floor for Kelsey to sit by and we all filed in. Then the movie began. My children were mesmerized by the action on the screen.
They laughed and made comments on the antics of the characters. Sometimes a little too loudly, but hey there were only three families in the theatre and it is a kids movie. All in all the experience was a success.
Since we had such a great time at our first movie experience we decided to see another movie as a family on Labor Day. We went to our local Dollar (now $3) movie theatre. The movie we chose was “Cars.” This experience was not as great as our first one to say the least. Kelsey was bored and halfway through the movie requesting to leave. Alysta kept changing seats, luckily we had an entire row to ourselves. Only my son was glued to the screen. Later I told my husband, who thought the movie was better than Ice Age 2, that we should have picked something that was more unisex, after all cars are a “guy” thing.
So I learned a few valuable lessons that I am passing on to all of you parents out there with young children.
- Pick your movies carefully. Make sure that the premise of the movie is something that your young child will be interested in.
- Buy popcorn and a drink for your young child. This will give them something to do during the slower scenes, which every movie inevitably has.
- Just in case you spend more time referring or sitting in the lobby than watching the movie don’t pay a lot for your movie tickets.
- Always go to a matinee where there are a lot of parents with children. That way your children’s noises blend in with all the rest. As an adult there is nothing worse than going to a movie at night and having young children making noise during the show.