Last night the kids, my dad, and I went to see a movie at our local, minor league, baseball stadium (basically one step below major leagues). We got there, found where we wanted to sit, talked, and soaked in the views of the beautiful blue sky, puffy white clouds, and the setting sun. Some families were using the opportunity to play catch and Frisbee on the side of the field before, and during some, of the movie: after all, how often will any of us get to say we "played" on a field like that? Everyone was content and happy to be seeing Despicable Me 2.
Sounds pretty perfect, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't. Let me first say that I had a wonderful time, as did my kids, and their Grandpa. What I am about to say has to do with me opening my eyes and seeing the sad things that we are doing to our kids. As I looked around, after the movie started, there were masses of parents who were using the time to talk to each other (no biggie as the movie was loud enough we could not hear conversations), read the newspaper, play on their phones, use the camera to take pictures, eat (understandable, not knocking that one), breastfeed (I wish I had taken a pic of that one, was so proud of the mom's out there doing that!), and chasing after their kids (also something that was fine, did not block the view of the movie at all).
In almost none of this were the parents actually sitting and watching the movie WITH THEIR KIDS! Now, I understand that there are times when the last thing any human being wants to do is zone out on a cartoon after possible hours of cartoon watching, fit throwing, fighting, and normal childhood routines. I do, I really do get that. However, when you take your child to a place where there is a family event happening, it's time to tune in and be a family. The conversations, newspaper reading, mass picture taking (take one of the family at the movie, and be done), Facebook surfing, cell phone talking and leave them at home. Seriously. Otherwise, your child will grow up and remember all the awesome things they did while mom, dad, and whomever else were ignoring them.
Now, the last thing I want to say is that kids deserve every single moment of attention from their parents. They don't, they need parents who show them that the world does not revolve around the youngsters of the family, and they need parents who do check out of family life in order to revitalize themselves. Also, I am not saying that picture taking and checking Facebook are bad. Anyone who knows me knows I am the queen of the camera and try to capture all of the moments. I've started to realize, though, that some times it's best to take a few, then set the camera down and actually be part of the situation instead of its photo journalist. The same with Facebook, I am royally guilty of checking that sucker way too often, and in watching everyone I realized I need to hit the "log off" button during certain times.
It's time, people, time to remember what life was like before texting, internet on phones, instagram, and the like. It's time to remember that we are all so very busy, and that in the busyness of life our children are rapidly growing up. Carve out some time for them, even if it's sitting through a movie you'd rather not see for two hours on a gorgeous Friday evening. I guarantee you that years from now, you will not remember all of the things you could have been doing, but will remember how awesome it felt making your children know that they matter.
