Parenting

Like many of you, Friday night is our family movie night. I make a pizza, a huge bowl of popcorn, then flop down on the couch with the kids after a long, harried week, grateful the Saturday morning chores are still a good 12 hours away.

Lately, I’ve wanted to introduce my children to some throwback movies I loved as a kid. I know the special effects and overall pace of movies back then are no where near what kids are used to today, but there are still great plots to be shared, great scores to be heard, witty dialogue to catch.

What’s a childhood without doing the hand jive and singing who-put-the-bop-in-the-bop-shoo-wop-do-wop, I thought. I watched the first 15 minutes before turning it off. Oh. My. Goodness. I cannot believe my parents let me watch “Grease.” Granted, all the “mature” content went way over my naive tow-headed head. But I don’t think parents today have that luxury. Okay, “Grease” was out. 

Alrighty then. What else, what else…I remembered “Goonies” being an action-packed kid dominated treasure hunt. Ya, that’ll be a great one to show the kids. That one kid with the whacky inventions was hilarious. Yowzah. Oh, it was action packed alright, but swearing packed and innuendo packed as well. Goonies was a no.

“Back to the Future” made me realize I had no clear memory of the past. Also not for little ears and eyes. How did I not remember the swearing and suggestiveness? I just remembered that awesome skateboard scene and the flux capacitor.

Fortunately, we parents need not pop out our eyes in horror and rush for the eject button on our relaxing Friday nights anymore. I finally got wise to commonsensemedia.org. This website, (and there are other comparable ones out there with the same mission) explains in detail what you can anticipate from each and every movie you want to watch before you watch it.

Thankfully, they helped me remember that my grade-schoolers really shouldn’t be introduced to “Big” or “Ghostbusters”. Gee, I had completely forgotten that Lois Lane even smoked or just how much of naked toddler superman you saw. I didn’t realize that so many old movies are labeled PG, but most before the PG-13 rating was introduced, so parents beware.

What old movies have been hits with our kids? Musicals mostly. “The Sound of Music,” “My Fair Lady,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” “Singing in the Rain,” and “The Music Man” surprisingly hold everyone’s attention, drawn-out dance numbers and all. I even hear humming the next day.

“The Muppet Movie,” “Wallace and Grommit in Three Amazing Adventures,” “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown,” and “Chariots of Fire” are other favorites.

The 1971 “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” is better than the remake if you ask us. Gene Wilder makes me laugh out loud every time. “Babe” was made in 1995, but to us it’s a classic. And “The Parent Trap” starring Hayley Mills can’t touch the Lindsey Lohan version. “That Darn Cat” and “The Ugly Dachshund” are other wonderful old-school Disney pics that had them in stitches. My kids were absolutely transfixed by “Swiss Family Robinson.”

With a little research and thought, movie night can be cringe free! Finally, we can let loose and enjoy the popcorn! I know bowls of popcorn+6 kids=a huge mess, but we don’t have to vacuum it up until Saturday morning. Don’t you just love Fridays? 

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