Grace has been wanting to see a "real" movie for a few months now, so we decided that a kid-friendly movie would be the perfect birthday afternoon activity. So while Tess was napping, we presented Grace with a viewing of Finding Nemo. I chose this movie because she is familiar with the Nemo character (ah, the power of marketing), and because I remembered the film as a cute story about a daddy fish looking for his son, with the help of a hilarious sidekick fish. I warned Grace about the brief scene in the beginning when Nemo's mommy and all of his siblings are killed — which happens off-screen, and which she didn't really seem to get anyway. But I had forgotten about the sharks with the HUGE teeth who try to eat Marlin and Dory, and the whale who does eat them, and the pelican, and so on and so forth. Add to that the fact that the poor little fish had been separated from his daddy, and sweet Grace was a complete stress case. Our sensitive child sat completely still (no small feat for our little wiggle-worm) the entire time — and even covered her stuffed squirrel's eyes. In the end, I felt really guilty about causing the poor child so much anxiety on her birthday. And right before she went to bed that night, she said, "Can you please erase Nemo?"
Last weekend, in an effort to redeem myself, I let her watch Lady and the Tramp. A cute story about dogs, right? No — Tramp gets his leg run over by a carriage, thus rendering the movie too sad to enjoy. So, tonight I tried Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a classic we all remember with a good message about nonconformity. I even checked out a review of it on Netflix first: "Appropriate for ages 3+." And I warned Grace beforehand about the "Abominable Snowman." Once again, she sat completely still, and held my hand the entire time. I gave her several opportunities to stop watching, but she insisted on seeing it through to the end. And then right before bed, she said, "Can you please erase Santa?"
Travelingjenny 
Leave a comment