Friday Family Films
Summer is here and, as part of our summer tradition which started two summers ago, we watch a movie on Fridays. For the last two summers these movies took place during the day and sometimes we invited Ashley's and Caitlin's friends. The Friday film continued after last summer and became a regular after school activity on Fridays when we decided to reduce screen time for the girls. (Neither of them watch TV per se. They watch videos or DVDs that we own, or borrow from the library or from friends.) Over the sutumn and winter the girls rewatched a lot of their favorite movies or animated programmes, and discovered so new films, like 'Tinkerbell' or 'Veggie Tales: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.'
This summer we started our Summer Friday Films the last week in May. However, this year we've been waiting for James to come home in the evening so that he can share in what we now call our Friday Family Film. It feels very satisfying to sit together and snuggle as we watch a movie together. It was particularly bonding when we watched The Land Before Time, which initially turned out to be very sad for Ashley and Caitlin when the baby dinosaur Littlefoot's mother dies early in the movie. The girl sobbed and James and I began to wonder about whether this film was a good choice for their age (the death of the mother theme is particularly hard for little ones). When we asked the girls if they'd like to stop the movie they were adamant that they wanted to see what happens. However, shortly after this, the reappearance of a T-Rex trying to kill Littlefoot an his young dinosaur friends was just too much. While both girls were scared, they reacted differently to it. Caitlin wanted to find out what happens and Ashley just wanted to stop the film. We went with our standard policy: If a family member is scared and wants to stop then we turn it off. We watched Ice Age: Meltdown instead and that was much better for them. It is at times like these that I am grateful that we make a point of watching films/programmes with them at least the first time. It really helps when something scary or confusing occurs. Then we can turn it off or answer questions as needed.
However, we did let Caitlin watch it with supervision when Ashley wasn't around. With Caitlin's reassurance that all turns out well in the end, Ashley felt braver and wanted to watch the rest of the film. Once they had each seen it through once, they were no longer fearful of its contents. It continues to fascinate me how keen they are to follow through on something even if it is scary and how comforted, and muched braver, they are once they have reassurance that all will turn out okay.
So we continue with our summer films. So far this summer we have watched:
Othe Choices for this summer:
The Velveteen Rabbit
Heidi
The Tale of Despereaux
The Tales of Beatrix Potter
Thumbelina
Chrysanthemum
We need another 6 and I am currently looking for more possibilities. I research a lot of films that will be appropriate for their age and level of emotional maturity. I would love new suggestions as I decide on future films for our Friday ritual. If any of you out there have favorite films you'd like to suggest I'd be very pleased to hear of them.
Summer Movies 2008
Summer Movies 2007
The summer of 2007 I introduced the girls to Disney! Snow White was scary for them that summer and we didn't watch it again for another year. I was also delighted to introduce Darby O'Gill, which is now a firm favorite. They were a little scared about the various scenes with the banshee, the pookah and the coach of death, but it was a great opportunity to share some of our Irish mythology with them. After explanations and reassurance they were less concerned about these scenes. I also love Happy Feet and our whole family went to see this in the cinema when it first came out. There is only one scary scene with a very frightening seal jumping out of the water to try and eat a penguin. It made us all jump in the cinema. I didn't understand why the animators had to make it so scary. A normalish looking seal in the act of being predator would have been enough! Oh, and Robin Hood led to lots of questions about why the King wanted to kill Robin and why all the poor people in England were treated so badly. I love how our Friday movies can generate big conversations about life.
Beauty and the Beast
Cinderella
Curious George
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
The Fox and the Hound
Happy Feet
The Jungle Book
Lady and the Tramp
The Little Mermaid
Pinocchio
Robin Hood
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
I hope the friday film shows continue into the Autumn!!!!
Hi ya, Susan I can't believe the girls sat through Darby !! It took me till
me early 20's to sit comfortably through it !! Brave little ladies !! The
same with Willie Wonka, the scene where they cut the chickens heads off
when they go though the tunnel on the boat is very scary !!
Ian, the Friday films are becoming a year long activity. We look forward to
you joining us for them when you are here. Ashley and Caitlin have also
discussed with Grandma coming for sleepovers at your house some Fridays and
bringing a film with them to share with you. Something to look forward too.
It's amazing what children see and don't see, understand and don't
understand, accept and reject. Various things in these films where either
over their head or topics they wanted to discuss to ensure they really got
it. Recently the girls and I were watching Barbie's Island Princess (much
better than one might think). There is a song in the film where the wicked
queen tells her history and past treason towards a king. Ashley at first
didn't realize that the words told a story and after I told her about it
she keenly listened and was amazed she'd missed it before and delighted to
have finally gotten it! :)
Hi Susan - OK I have a few suggestions !
Animated: The Lion King (a little scary in places!), Shrek, Monsters Inc.
(really not that scary !), 101 Dalmations, Ratatouille and Flushed Away.
Non-animated: Babe, Charlottes Web and Racing Stripes (a popular one in our
house and a really cute story - if you can handle the couple of crude but
funny flies !)
A word of warning on The Velveteen Rabbit - we watched it about a month ago
and BOTH kids ended up in tears. (the rabbit has to be burned and this was
apparently too much for them - both being lovers of their stuffed animals.
The fact that the rabbit becomes real and lives happily ever after didn't
really mater and was a little difficult to point out over the sobbing !!)
Good luck !
Hi Lorna. Great to hear from you and thanks so much for the heads up on The
Velveteen Rabbit. I may put that on hold for a while given all the tears we
had with The Land Before Time. I'll read the book to them a lot before we
eventually watch the film sometime in the distant future :) As for the
other suggestions, some we have seen and absolutely love, like Ratatouille
and Charlotte's Web. Some we have seen a long time ago and the girls would
enjoy seeing again, like Shrek and Babe. Rushed Away and Racing Stripes are
completely new to us so I'll check them out and add them to our summer
viewing. Thanks for the suggestions. I hope you are enjoying the first few
days of the summer holidays. Any plans for the coming weeks? Oh, and btw,
we did get the package with Caitlin's dress and game. She loved them, the
dress a particular big hit. She cried very hard last Friday because she
spilled chocolate milk on it and knows chocolate milk can leave a stain.
But supermum to the rescue and now the stain is no more. (What was that
great product for removing stains you were using when we visited? I
remember it took a lot less elbow grease!). And the top, trousers and
blanket for Ethan are very cute. Give everyone there our love.