It’s funny how motherhood changes the way you see the world around you. Everything you watch, you see it through mom eyes. Every song on the radio you hear it through mom ears. And while there are many things we try to protect our children from seeing on TV and many songs we quickly change on the radio – it’s awesome to find something with a positive, important message for our children.
I know that all parents and families are different and it’s important to make these decision for our own children as parents. There is no right answer for every family. But for us, here are the main reasons why I want my children to see the new Star Wars movie!
- The Heroine! Without giving anything away – I cannot wait for both of my kids to grow up watching the new female Star Wars heroine. She is wicked smart, tough and strong! She doesn’t need a man to rescue her and her adventure is just starting. She is the exact type of female lead that I want both my son and daughter to grow up with.
- Good versus evil. I know the bad guys in Star Wars can be a little intense for some kids, but I do think the overall struggle of good versus evil presents some good lessons for our kids. We’ve been able to use Star Wars as an example to our 5 year old on choosing good, or the light side, and fighting bad, or the dark side, to make good choices. It helps put his big 5 year old feelings into perspective for him!
- Hours of imaginative play. All you need is a pool noodle and some duct tape and your kids can have hours of imaginative play pretending to save the galaxy, fight the bad guys, fly spaceships, meet aliens — and so much more! My kids and their friends play Star Wars every single day and they never run out of things to do. Add into that Legos or Playskool toys and they’ll probably never come out of the toy room!
- Something for our whole family to do together! My husband and I are both huge Star Wars fans to begin with – so we love watching the old movies over and over again. My older step kids also love the Star Wars world, which allows the whole family something to get excited about enjoy together. We can talk about characters, theories, our favorite scenes and parts of the stories for hours. It’s great bonding all of us and really fun for the little ones to have something in common with the big kids! I loved watching my 18 yr old stepson and my 5 yr old talk about the movie and their favorite parts with each other!
I do recommend watching the movies first if you have any hesitation on it being appropriate for your child or children. Websites like IMDB and Kids In Mind have detailed reviews on movies with specific information on what might be inappropriate for kids – and I find those super helpful!
And if you do decide to take them — enjoy the movie! And I definitely recommend the pool noodle lightsabors. I say this as a mom who’s been accidentally hit by a few lightsabors in my life. And have fun playing!
lightsabEr
I took my 8 year old and we both loved it. I did note two swear words, one beginning with a “d”and one “h”. Overall it was appropriate for one of my kiddos but not both, so judge each child individually.