New Ways to Watch Movies

My family has a tradition that on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day (as long as it isn't Sunday) we will go see a movie at the theater. That's just what we did since I was a teenager. We rarely hung out with extended family.  My husband and I carried that tradition over into our married life as well. Until we had kids.


One thing I swiftly learned with Rose and Cyprus is that we probably will never go to see a movie at the movie theatre until they are much, much older.  They cannot/will not sit through an entire movie, let alone be quite for one. As a result Frank and I have learned to wait until movies come out on Netflix or Redbox to watch it (except on those rare occasions that we can save up for a babysitter + the cost of a movie).


The problem with watching a movie on DVD or instant streaming is that we either assume we are not going to hear most of the movie amongst the commotion of our rambunctious house hold, especially if the movie doesn't catch the kids' attention within 2 minutes.  We're pretty safe with the Toy Story movies or the Monsters Inc./University movies.  I've often tried to show my kids some of the classic Disney movies, but its only been within the last six months that Rose has even been keen on watching Cinderella or  Sleeping Beauty.


I've loved the movie Brave ever since it came out on DVD (first time I go to watch). I've been trying to get my kids to watch it and every time they either pitch a fit or turn off the DVD player. Until today. I started watching it while Cyprus and Rose were at school. It still had about 20 minutes left to go when their bus pulled up outside. After watching the end of the movie I went to switch it out and Rose yelled, "No. Now I have to watch the beginning."


This is the second time something like that has happened in the last week. So I guess the trick with my particular kids is to show them the end first, then they'll watch the rest.  Sounds horrible to me, like reading the last chapter of a book before you take the journey through the story. But hey, to each their own.