“All this”
Most days I don’t want my son to grow up so fast. I don’t know if there is a term for this phenomenon. But parents often complain how fast their kids are growing up! May be we want to freeze the time so that we get to enjoy these precious moments longer.
But for certain things, I want my son to grow up quickly. Movies is one of those things. I can’t wait for the day when he starts appreciating the magic of movies. Currently, he is too scared to watch any movie. If there is any conflict or tension in the movie, he will hide his face and start scolding me for making him watch the movie. Wait a min, let me check my notes. What had the therapist said about me avoiding conflicts? Is that shit hereditary? I am sure it is contagious. Need to work on this.
Most of the times, when I want to watch a movie with him, I will put on something funny. We then laugh and giggle overtly, sometimes to tell him that this is supposed to be funny. He will try to mimic us. He will let out a nervous laugh. But you can tell he is not comfortable. Within a few minutes, he won’t be able to take it any more and he will ask us to turn it off.
But tension is an essential part of any story. I would argue that there is no interesting story without some tension. Kung Fu Panda is funny, not only because Po the Panda is cute and funny, but also because he is so while fighting the fierce and gruesome Tai Lung. Master Shifu’s dry humour is funnier because he is not supposed to be funny at all. But obviously, I am realizing this at the age of 36 so my progeny will take a little longer than just 5 years to grasp this.
Growing up I was taught to treat movies as frivolous, not necessary, and sometimes even bad. Studying was everything. But when I was in engineering, I realized my love for the movies. With my friends I used to watch almost all the movies that came out. We exchanged pen drives, and CDs with movies we had never heard of. It was an education - a parallel stream running along the official engineering course. I am not sure if I want to wait that long for my son to start liking movies. Or may be, I want to. I am an Indian parent. I am sure at some point I will tell him, “first finish your engineering, then do all this”. I secretly hope that watching movies is never a part of “all this”.
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Archana K B
16 days ago
Under 10 years, some kids dont have the patience to sit and watch through long periods of time. Maybe find some other pastime which does not include study. My kid too doesnt lke movies apart from Harry Potter. One hour series is okay. We grew up on Shaun the Sheep and Dora. 10 mins is the max attention span within which they judge something! As if they were meant for the reel and shorts generation.
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