Going to the movies was kind of a big deal for me growing up. It’s not something we did a lot of, which made it a special experience. Plus growing up with the “Wonderful World of Disney”, made movies a part of my family’s culture. Showin’ my age a bit here…
Even the first time I met my future husband face to face was at a movie. A few stories there to share another time. While I will always choose a book over a movie, movies are pretty special in our house.
Early on in our parenting journey, we instituted Family Movie Night. One night a week, usually Friday or Saturday, we sit down as a family and watch a movie together. Sometimes a movie we’ve seen one too many times, or a new movie if we’re feeling adventurous. It’s a night of unwinding from the week, pizza, and lots of cuddles. Our recliner is getting a little small, because everyone ends up in my lap, even the dog.
I love the questions and excitement that comes from Family Movie Night. When we watched Mary Poppins Returns, my then six-year-old had a poignant question of ‘how does the Dad know Mary Poppins?’ Apparently, he had never seen the first Mary Poppins, which we quickly remedied the next Family Movie night. Then in the first segment of Ant-Man, when Scott is "found out’’ by Baskin Robbin’s that Scott had been in prison, because ‘Baskin Robbin’s always knows’. We paused the movie and talked about why Scott wasn’t able to find a job. Here’s hoping the message sticks with them so a rap sheet won’t.
But choosing movies can be hard to do. How do we as parents choose movies that will encourage and influence our kids toward a Christian worldview. This can be tricky, because the options are few and far between for Children audience. But for our family we turn to Focus on the Family’s Plugged In Movie Reviews, to help us make decisions. As well as sometimes using a date night to pre-view a movie we’re on the fence of letting the kids watch.
But like the example of Ant-Man above, if something jumps out at us and we need to hit pause, we have no trouble hitting that button and talking through the topic before moving on through the movie.
Here are my Kids list of Favorites:
The Lego Movie
Cars 1 and 3 (we don't speak about 2)
Peanuts Movie
Turbo- who knew snails could be so cute.
VeggieTales: Jonah
Avengers: Endgame (the Thirteen-Year Old’s top pick)
Sonic the Hedgehog
What are your kiddos favorite movies?