I’ve spent the better part of last night and today renting and watching kid movies with my boys. Honestly, we haven’t just vegged out and watched movies together for quite some time. It’s not all we did as we started the day with Sunday School and hit the Putt-Putt golfing event they put on every so often at the golf course. It’s a cute little 9 holer that the golf course manager sets up on the small putting green near the clubhouse. He’s very inventive though as the challenges include hitting the ball through a large piece of PVC piping which runs over a small fence from one of the tee-boxes across the walkway and onto the putting green where the hole lies. A particular favorite for my youngest son is the “toilet bowl” hole where a red toilet seat marks the entrance to and surrounds the target. There’s also the water hazzard hole with the small plastic baby pool to launch your ball over to hit your mark. It’s small and simple, but loads of fun for the kids. They also usually set up the bounce house and sell hot dogs and such in the club house, so you can make an afternoon of it, and the kids can play as much as they want all for no charge. The only downside is that it takes place in the middle of the afternoon from 1-4, so it’s quite hot. In addition, the golf course is not short ride from the housing area on the island, and upon returning, the boys simply wanted to rest for awhile, and the movie watching resumed where we left off the night before.
There’s a lot to be said for kid’s movies these days. I love children’s books and have been disappointed in the past by the movies made from the most popular of these books, but there’s just as many that I absolutely love, mostly because of how much fun I have enjoying them with the boys. Tonight, we are watching “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” which had to add a good bit to make a full length movie from the book, but even before the movie, it’s always been a favorite of mine, my kids, and most of the children I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading it to. One of the second grade classes even did a mini unit on the book in class last year as a fun activity when they were done with their other work.
What I love about reading kid’s books, writing them, and watching movies made for children is that it helps me go back and view the world through a child’s eyes. For example, tonight as we started watching the boys commented on their favorite part of the movie (as they’ve seen it a few times before), and it was when the two main characters get to jump in a house made of Jello! And if we adults stop long enough to think about that, we’d appreciate that part the most too. Doesn’t it sound like fun? It’s whimsical; it’s creative, imaginative, and just plain funny to think about and watch on the big screen or to picture in our minds. Seeing the world through a child’s eyes is the stuff of our best dreams, our silliest moments when our “giggle boxes” get turned over, and we just can’t stop laughing, and it feels good. There’s rarely a time when at the end of watching movies with my kids or reading books to them at bedtime that I have any lingering heaviness from the day, that I don’t feel more relaxed, that I haven’t improved my health by laughing and daydreaming together with them. It’s another form of therapy that I wouldn’t give up for the world! Gotta get back to the movie...one of my favorite parts is coming up soon!
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