Animated does NOT mean for children.

There are some seriously great movies out there. I however find myself trying to figure out which ones are actually for children and which ones are simply adult movies in animated form.

I recently watched "UP" for the first time. What a fabulous movie! It had humor and adventure, a great moral and dialogue. I LOVE that the first portion of the movie is devoted to the wonderful marital relationship that was there. Trying to keep promises to each other. They helped each other deal with hardships. They worked together for common goals. They spent time together and enjoyed each others company. It almost made me cry how beautifully it was done. It was one of those " I want that kind of relationship" moments. I love watching old people who still love and court one another. It was completely a beautiful thing for children to also witness and draw from the example.

Contrast that with another Pixar movie that I think was completely inappropriately marketed. The "Incredibles" movie was in no way acceptable for children in my opinion. Yes, it was animated, yes there are scenes that are perfectly fine. It had some good kid humor in it. What was the over arching theme? At least what I mostly got out of the movie was a married couple not only arguing, but actually YELLING at each other. How often does yelling at your spouse improve the situation? There was lying. There were accusations of cheating, what kid needs to hear about parents having an affair? There was lack of communication and trust. These are not issues or examples that kids should have to deal with.

Then again, maybe this is what a lot of kids are dealing with and thus they think they should address it in the movie theater. Just the other day at the bus stop the 11 year old said to me, " I can't wait for my birthday. I don't have to go to my dad's house any more." How heartbreaking is that? He doesn't even want to deal with his own father. Maybe situations like this are just more common than I would ever like to imagine and thus movies are just an outlet for this kind of pain. At the same bus stop there is a grandmother that has several of her grandchildren, not all from the same family, that live with her. Their parents, though have different excuses, all simply were working too much and in the end their own children moved in with their grandparents. Why on earth did you have children if you don't even deal with them? Do you honestly believe that it is grandma's job to raise them for you, so you can occasionally take them to the zoo or out to a movie? I understand that things happen and not everyone lives in the ideal situation. It simply makes me sick to see so many examples of terrible relationships at just ONE bus stop. I can't imagine how much there is in that entire school.

Ok, so I started with movies. I just end on families. I get off track sorry. I also think that Cars was not that great of a kids movie either. I want to know who thought putting in "Hill billy Hell" not just once but TWICE was acceptable for a children's film. Are you making a movie for kids or adults, pick one and work from there.

The pretend monster.

I remember being afraid of the dark. I even admit that once in a while I may walk faster than needed up the stairs from the basement late at night.

I am, however having a very hard time knowing how to deal with my children's sudden terror at walking up to the bathroom in the evening, even if the light is on. I am told that Victors room is scary. I am finding the fear of the dark to be draining and obnoxious. I realize nearly every kid goes through this. It is common and normal. I HATE it.

I was losing my temper with Naomi over it the other night. I know that that isn't a great plan. She really is terrified and yelling at her over it isn't going to improve the situation. I honestly think part of my problem is that I feel partly guilty about it. A while ago we had a neighbor boy over to play. He is a great story teller. My kids eat up every word. So we all went through the house with a flashlight pretending to find monsters. OK so Brahim and I were pretending to find monsters, I didn't realize that Naomi and Victor were 100% convinced there really were monsters in our house. Had I realized they were scared out of their minds the game would have ended MUCH sooner. So since that point Naomi won't go up stairs after dark on her own, thankfully during the day she isn't like that. I don't know what I would do if she was that upset.

We have managed to convince them that the monster is pretend. It appears that that is only an adjective, like saying he is yellow. Yes he is pretend, still just as horrific, but he is pretend. Naomi will even talk about the fact that she can hear the pretend monster breathing in the basement. I guess we need to go over the definition of "pretend".

She pretends to be a Ninja Turtle (Raphael for those interested), but simply refuses to pretend she is any kind of monster or powerful being when a trip to the bathroom is needed. Why does the imagination only work when they want it to?!

I guess in the back of my mind I knew someday I would have to deal with the dark issue. They have been so good about it for so long, too good I guess. Now I get to deal with the fact that my kids really are kids and really are afraid of perfectly normal things. Grrr. Maybe that is better than being afriad of wierd things, I don't know.

My little princess

Today I asked my nearly 4 year old daughter about some of her preferences. If you thought she was a girly girl this should remind you, she's just not.

What is your favorite color? red, blue, orange and purple

Do you like Princesses or Ninja Turtles? Ninja Turtles

Puppies or kitties? Both

Birds or turtles? Turtles- NINJA turtles!

Dress up in a pretty dress or batman? Batman

Godzilla or Winnie the Pooh? Godzilla



Yup, that is my daughter. Kinda lacking in girly girlness. I think she is great.

Christians

Lately I have run into two instances where I have been really bothered by the speakers sentiment.

" He's no Christian, I tell you." and,
" I've decided that apparently my definition of Christianity and his must not be the same..."

Seriously, is it really up to you to decide how "Christian" or not someone ELSE is? You can't see their heart, you don't know why they act they way they do, and in the end God is the only one that is going to have to deal with them.

The idea of deciding how religious or even what religion someone else is really bothers me. Unacceptable as far as I am concerned.

My twerpy son

So every so often a work book comes home from school for us to work on at home and then PROMPTLY return. Victor for no reason that I am able to discern WILL NOT turn the stinking book in . He turns other papers in all the time. Each week they send home a folder of things they worked on that week for the parents to read and look at, then sign and send back.

I decided to outsmart Victor and stick that work book inside the folder so he will turn it in. So he came home today, I look at the new papers he brought home and there.... there is the work book. He purposely REMOVED the book from the folder before handing it in. It appears that there is some mental block against his teacher ever seeing that book again.

I don't get it. What a twerp.