Who’s picking the movie?

Do you remember the Disney ‘Frozen’ movie craze? That time when little kids were singing the lyrics to “Let it Go” on every playground and inside every store, every single time you turned around?

Yeah, we basically missed the boat on that one. We watched the movie ONE time when it came out, and that’s it.

So this past fall when we were at Disneyland and we saw the theater sign that read, “Now playing, Frozen” we joined the lineup immediately. This was our chance to see Frozen the live play complete with costumes, set changes, and questions of, “How are they going to freeze everything for a live audience?” My homeschooling mama brain was spinning, and so excited to be adding yet another Fine Arts experience to the short list belonging to my boys.

40 minutes later, the boys were sitting beside us, and a little bit on us, inside the dark theater.

So many princesses fluttered across the stage singing their songs.

“When’s the part with the snowman?” a little voice said kind of loudly in the quiet theater.

Interpretation: “When do we get to the good stuff?”

I live with 5 boys. 5 boys who usually don’t watch plays like Frozen. They like to watch a crazy show called Battle Bots, which is basically like a boxing wrestling match with fighting robots controlled by very grown men standing on the sidelines.

My boys then build LEGO versions of the bots so that they can act out the show long after it’s over.

“I’m Tombstone today, you can can be Minotaur,” I hear them saying as I walk by with a load of laundry.

They take it pretty seriously.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that shows like Battle Bots, are the shows that I’m going to be watching over the next few years. I do willingly watch a lot of them (so much Star Wars) because I like my boys, and I like choosing to be interested in the things that they find interesting… but every now and then I like to remind them that at some point they’re going to marry a nice woman, who will also probably like watching movies with princesses, and totally unrealistic ‘happy ever after’ endings.

So they might as well learn to slot one of those shows into their life now and again too.

There is an ongoing list of movies watched at our house that are referred to as, “Mom’s movies.” Frozen, Mulan, Beauty and Beast, that long Cinderella one with the real people… all of these movies are on the list.

To get on the list you need to have some sort of princess character, lots of spontaneous singing, and at some point it must make mom tear up and declare a heartfelt, “Awww!”

The biggest ‘get on the list’ requirement of all though, is that Mom is the one who likes the movie more than anybody else sitting on the couches in front of the TV.

It’s no Battle Bots, I tell you what.

“It’s Mom’s turn and she really wants to watch this one, so sit down and pause your whining, and we’ll break for popcorn in 20.”

The words of their father. We’re so lucky to have him. He’s showing theses boys how to love a lady, not just by occasional grand gestures, but by the everyday gestures of plain old thoughtfulness.

He’s teaching them that loving somebody means you willingly stay beside them even if they pick a movie you don’t want to see.

He’s showing them that being thoughtful is letting somebody else enjoy something, and allowing that to be the most enjoyable part to you.

And he’s demonstrating how not to leave the room while saying,”Go ahead and watch your movie…” because he knows that the greatest gift he can give, is a shared experience through quality time spent together.

And so it turns out, a Relationship 101 lesson in romance, thoughtfulness, and give and take, CAN be hidden in the bottom of the popcorn bowl after all.