We went to see the movie "Earth" yesterday and it went about how we thought...Collin fell asleep after there were no animals chasing each other (plus the sound of James Earl Jones' voice just has that sedating effect) and Maura was fascinated. I was a little worried at some parts, because it seemed to me that there was lots of large, predatory animals killing and eating the smaller, cuter animals. I kept looking over to see her reaction, but she seemed unphased. There was one particular moment when a cheetah is chasing a gazelle and, well, you can probably guess how that one ended. I asked her if she was okay and she said, "Ya, most of them lived, so its okay." Good point. So it got me thinking of one of the major dilemmas of parents. Where do we draw the line on wanting them to stay innocent and pure, but not completly pulling the wool over their eyes, so to speak. A part of me wants them to believe in magic and imaginary friends, but I also want them to understand that the world is not all sunshine and rainbows and I think it is my job to prepare them for this. I don't want to traumatize them or anything, but I have a hard time lying when the tough questions are asked. At what age to you just lay it down and tell them the truth, that no, they won't be able to fly...no matter how hard they wish for it. And yes, the lions will go after the baby elephant because it is weaker and they have a better chance of killing it.
3 comments:
I never know the answer to this question. It's seriously confusing. So i try to draw from my own childhood and what do i remember? Not being bothered by my mom puking her guts out all the time and having cancer. But totally being disturbed by that big flying scary white dog thing in The Neverending Story. Plus, the part where the kid's horse gets stuck in the mud and we're left to assume he dies some horrible suffocation-by-mud-death--yeah, that bothered me too. What am I to deduce from this??? Not sure. So i just do whatever with my own kids and call it good.
There's those parenting skills shinin' thru! Did that help?
We saw Earth as well this weekend. Jefferson loved it. At first he said his favorite part was the cheetah part, and his second favorite was the shark jumping out of the water. (I'm not sure if he noticed the seal sticking out of his mouth...)
Sometimes I wonder if he realizes that the cheetah biting the neck of an animal = death. They cut away before anything too nasty happened and I think he may just believe they are wrestling like he and his dad do. He did, however, shout "he got him!" with excitement. I think he was rooting for the cheetah...
I guess it's good for your kids to see that wild animals are "wild". You can now refer back to this movie when they want to pet the cute cheetah at the zoo.
Yes, I was grateful that they stopped short of showing the actual eating of the prey. Maybe as parents we just assume what will scare our kids because as adults it is what scares us. It's true that it is always the irrational things that scare kids, like the Never-ending story dog thingy. Although, that thing is pretty darn creepy, so I will give you that one Sylvia.
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