RonVitale: January 2009

It's funny how parenthood can bring out the best and worst in you. On Friday night, I was trying to clean up from dinner and my 5 1/2 year old son was begging to watch TV. As I had thought he had watched enough TV that day, I didn't want him watching the Disney channel so I shouted to my wife: "He can only watch TV if he watches Star Wars." You see, in my mind, I knew (or so I thought) that he would not want to see Star Wars so I would win the battle over the TV. Little did I know the power of the television. He agreed to see Star Wars and a little while later I found myself sitting in front of the TV.

I had first seen Star Wars when I was six years old (the summer of 1977) and I've asked my son, from time to time, if he would like to watch it with me. Each time he'd say know, being more interested in My Little Pony or Winnie the Pooh or Dora the Explorer. He just wasn't into Star Wars. Which was fine with me, but I think it was rather funny that when I didn't expect him to watch Star Wars he outdid me and did. We saw about 20 mins. on Friday night and then saw the rest of it yesterday. It was funny to see how he knew he most of the characters were and how glued to the TV he was while watching.

I answered any questions he had about the movie, but tried to just sit back and relax it with him, lending support during any scary scenes (he didn't like the Sand People). He told me his favorite character is Princess Leia and that he liked the movie. I often wonder what will be the "big" movie of his day. For some it's Star Wars, others The Matrix and more recently Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. I can't wait to take him to the movies and experience what his big film will be.

But in the end, it was great fun to watch Star Wars with my son. I just didn't expect it would be that way. Never assume you know your kid's disinterest in a movie as his/her love of TV will always trump you!