Let’s Go To The Movies…Let’s Go See The Stars…

If you’re familiar with The Orphan Annie, you’d probably be humming the tune from that musical right after reading the title of this blog post.   My two preschoolers have seen Annie several times this summer and are familiar with the songs there. So when we told them that we’d be taking them to the cinemas, they expected it to be something like what Daddy Warbucks, Grace, and Annie went to.  And they were singing the song Let’s Go To The Movies on our way to the mall.

The kids were definitely excited to go to the cinema for the very first time but I was anxious about how they would behave inside the movie house.  I certainly wished we were going to watch in a state-of-the-art theater such as the Vue cinemas. So, how did we all fare on the kids first trip to watch on the “big scream” (as Jakei adamantly calls it)?

I can say that we managed fairly well albeit there was some fussiness halfway through the movie.  Both kids weren’t afraid of the dark nor were frightened by the loud sounds.  They did sit still for several minutes but lost interest in the movie when there was mostly conversations only.  Little Jakei would only watch with intent during action-packed scenes.  Then a little more than halfway through the movie, our little boy became really fussy.  He alternately wanted to go home, to go to the play yard, and to go eat something.  He didn’t throw a tantrum though nor raise his voice the tiniest bit and he did wait until the movie was over.  When I asked Jade how she found her first trip to the movie house, my four-year-old replied, “Uhm…I liked the movie but I just got a little bored.”  Then asked if they wanted to go watch a movie on the big screen again, both kids exclaimed, “Yes!” Well, we should probably choose animated movies or other family movies at Vue next time we take the little ones to the cinemas so they wouldn’t get “bored.” 😀

What have we learned from our first family trip to the cinema?

Still with the Spiderman fever after watching the movie. Hungry tots snacking on Spiderman themed doughnuts at Krispy Kreme

1. Bring plenty of food! Popcorn and drinks would probably have kept the kids’ fussiness at bay.  We didn’t bring any snacks because we just had lunch and had full tummies.  I’m not going to ask anymore how two little ones could go hungry sitting and watching a movie for two hours, I’ll just make sure I have a full snack bag next time.
2. Choose an animated movie.  Or maybe a musical. My kids love musicals and cartoons which would hold their attention more than action and adventure films.
3. Put some pull up diapers on the lil ones. Oh, okay. So this is more for our convenience rather than a necessity. It’s a bit bothersome to keep on running to the potty every few minutes. But, yeah, that comes with having two preschoolers. 😀