A Few Firsts

So we had a few firsts this weekend.

Big Brother saw his first Star Wars film.

And both he and I saw our first movie in 3D (it surprised me when I realized that I hadn't seen any 3D films before).

Big Brother has had, to this point, a more "peripheral" interest in Star Wars. Mostly I think because we haven't really "talked it up" than anything else. But he could recognize some of the characters, including Yoda and Darth Vader.

And I'll admit that the idea to go see the movie was mine (of course knowing full well that he'd like it, both the idea and the film itself.)

Mom-E and I had a long discussion about whether or not Big Brother was old enough to watch a Star Wars film.

Fortunately, despite having friends who have seen most all of the films and/or had a Star Wars-themed birthday party, we've been lucky that Big Brother hasn't pressured us with the "all of my friends have seen it" line (fortunately we haven't heard it about anything yet).

I read reviews on www.commonsensemedia.org (which incidentally is an interesting site), that said it was appropriate for age 8 and up.

As best as I can remember, I was about 6 the first time I saw a Star Wars film.

Mom-E and I also "previewed" the film (since we have them all on DVD).

And so ultimately we decided to let him (but he only, which resulted in a major meltdown from Little Brother - who will get his own individual date with Dad-E in the near future).

We both enjoyed the movie and company, especially the 3D glasses.

I think of Star Wars as one of the defining movies of my childhood, and so I'll remember for a long time Big Brother's introduction to this series.

And I'm also interested in your thoughts on determining what movies are age appropriate for your children. (I had already warned him that it'd be a while before we watched any of the other films.)

Have a good week,
May the force be with you,
Busy-Dad-E