Tender Hearts and the Big Screen

For Valentine’s Day, we took the girls to their first movie.  I’d seen the previews for Paddington, and I thought it looked sweet and funny.  I checked with a couple of friends who’d seen it, and they said it was very benign.  Their kiddos loved it.

The girls were excited to go.  We saw a “movie” at the planetarium a few months ago, and they have been talking about it since.  I prepped them as best I could, telling them how big the screen would be (“As big as the WALL???” Baby A kept asking), and that it would be dark during the movie.  They were set.

The movie began sweetly, but it was no time until there was a devastating earthquake.  Baby B hid her head, and Baby A started to cry.  Baby B remained tentative throughout the movie, and A cried off and on for the next 90 minutes.

My A was upset that the father of the family didn’t take kindly to having a bear in the house.  She was terrified of the villain in the film, the taxidermist who kept trying to steal Paddington from the family.  (Yes, a taxidermist.  Why I didn’t read about this and consider it might present a struggle, I don’t know.)

Baby B sat in my lap, and A sat by her daddy.  He kept hugging her, reassuring her.  A couple of times I tried to get his attention to see if he thought we should leave.  I had mixed emotions, for sure…it was torturous seeing A upset…but I thought it might be helpful for her to see the story through to witness the conflict resolution.

The movie had a happy ending, of course.  Walking out of the theater, Baby A said, “I liked the end, Mommy.”  She loved seeing the last couple of minutes, the family playing in the snow with Paddington.  And we talked a lot about the movie the rest of the day, confirming the girls’ understanding of certain parts, and trying to put them in context.

I don’t think the girls are scarred from the film, but I don’t think we’ll be making it back to the movies very soon.  Baby A has only seen a few movies (including Curious George and Milo and Otis), and she’s found both of those to be too intense, or “scary”, as she calls them.

Certainly I hate to see my babies in distress, but I so loves their precious, tender hearts.  I do hope they’re able to enjoy a good movie one day, but I hope that dear part of them never, ever fades.