One of my favorite treats before I was a mom was to go to the movies. I love the dark, cool theaters. I love being entertained without having to do a single darn thing. I especially love the chance to nibble on a bunch of food that I typically wouldn’t be splurging on.
Now that we have Jack, going to the movies has become a once or twice a year treat. Yup, that’s it. I’d be exaggerating if I said I’ve seen six movies in the past three years. Which is CRAZY, because it used to be my escape.
This past weekend, my husband took his racecar to the track all day long on Sunday and Jack and I had nothing to do. It was still too cold to go to a park, nothing fun was happening in our area of the woods and we were bored.
So, I figured we’d try to go to our first movie.
We watched a preview of “Home” online and Jack seemed like he was pretty into it, so I figured let’s do it! Of course, I mentally prepared myself with the idea that we might not even make it through the whole movie. I also prepared by putting a few snacks in my purse and changing Jack into a pull-up… just in case.
We bought a kid’s pack with popcorn, fruit snacks and water and entered the theater just as the previews started. Once the movie began, he was entranced – eyes wide staring at the screen and his hand moving back and forth and back and forth from the popcorn.
This lasted about 20 minutes.
Then, Jack decided that he had to use the potty. So, we put down our food and made the trip back out to the entrance. As we left the bathroom, he begged to buy a little toy in one of those quarter machines, so we got one and returned to our seats.
Within 5 minutes he lost the toy under his seat.
Yeah, that went exactly how you’d expect it would go. I halted a tantrum by promising to get him a new one when the movie ended. This bought 20 more minutes of movie staring. Except he would occasionally decide to ask a question. LOUDLY. Because he’s 3 and that’s what he does.
Apparently the little girl in the row ahead of us was not cool with this, as she would turn around and loudly SHUSH him every time he said a word. It wasn’t just Jack, if any kid in the theater said something loudly (which happened a lot, because it was a kid’s movie) she’d do an angry SHUSH in their direction like a pint-sized librarian.
I felt like SHUSHING her.
I mean, I was thrilled that Jack was behaving as well as he was… adding “being entirely silent for 90 minutes” isn’t the reality of a 3 year old. The way I figure it, as long as he’s not the WORST behaved kid in a room I’m doing okay!
Eventually, I overheard the mom of Little Miss Sassypants say “it is the mommy’s job to shush her little boy… not yours” and I wanted to run over and give the mom a high five. Instead, I gave her a super grown up head nod while beaming “RESPECT, girl” at her through my eyes.
Anyways, we did make it through the whole movie. Toward the end, Jack got tired of sitting and stood quietly in front of me. Luckily he’s not tall enough to have annoyed anyone around us with his standing.
The only time we had an issue is when we left the theater and Jack saw the huge display of freshly popped popcorn and couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t buy him some more. The moment we’ve all been waiting for arrived… full-on meltdown on the floor, complete with crocodile tears.
Poor baby.
{Can you feel the eye-roll?}
All in all, Jack did a really great job. It wasn’t really the ‘relaxing’ experience for me that it was in my past… but it was do-able and a nice way to spend a Sunday.
What was the first movie you took your child to? Do you remember the first one you ever saw as a kid? Does SHUSH-ing make you want to hulk out?
Go Jack! I took my “niece” to see Frozen last year. She was about 3 and a half. She did really well, although, 3 year olds totally have no volume control so all questions, giggles, and whatnot were full volume. Luckily the movie had been out for a while so there weren’t many people in the theater. Plus, my “niece” is basically the cutest little redhead on planet earth. We got more adoring “shucks she’s cute” looks than shushing.
My son’s first movie was a replay of Charlotte’s Web when a new movie theater opened up shortly before he turned two. He did surprisingly well. My daughter’s first was Rio 3 and then Spider-Man 2 at the drive in when she was 2. It was not fun wrestling her until 1:30am when she finally passed out, but at least we were in the car and not having to worry about annoying other people. She is 3 now and I haven’t been brave enough to take her to one in the theater yet.