Family matters

Bare with me, this post could easily stray from one topic to another.

It’s Showtime

Yesterday, Julia and I had a date. We left Corbin (4 1/2 months) with his aunt and cousins for the afternoon and did some grown up things. But actually, this is our second date in a week.

Yesterday’s date consisted of a nice lunch at one of our favorite eateries – Red Robin. Aside from being quite a good meal, we also ha fond associations of our Seattle trip in that we ate there like 4-5 times in our 10-day vacation. Unfortunately for us, our Local Red Robin is not so local.

After lunch, we went and saw a grownup’s movie – Horton Hears a Who. OK, so maybe it’s not so grownup but the other choices didn’t seem very interesting as we’d already seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall last weekend on our other date. Corbin’s other cousins watch him that time.

What Life?

You see, as any new parent will tell you, even the best baby in the world can limit your social life tremendously. Corbin is very easy going. He has a pretty regular routine, smiles all the time and sleeps through the night (sort of). But there is still a downside.

Corbin naps 3 times a day, for 45-90 minutes, every three hours. He goes down for the night around 7pm and wakes up around 7am (plus once around 3am). That means we don’t go out after 7pm which, it turns out, is when all the action starts.

Family does Matter

Here’s the deal. Happy parents mean happy kids. You need to take care of each other so that you both can take care of your children. If you let personal stresses build up, they will tend to boil over at the worst times. Like when you’re try to dress your baby or get them into the car seat or give them a bath.

That’s why it’s so great that many movie theaters, including Ultra Star Theaters, have special showings and pricing for families to see current or recent favorite movies. Unfortunately, sometimes they don’t think these things through.

Ultra Star Theaters has a program called “Parent Movie Morning – Bring the baby to the movies” where they show the latest movies with some very parent-friendly features including:

? valet stroller parking
? dimmed lights
? reduced volume, and
? changing facilities in the auditorium!

PMM is a unique opportunity for new moms and dads to get out and see a movie that they want to see… Not an animated or children’s film… without having to leave their baby at home or worry about their little one disturbing other guests.

Great idea and very considerate, except…

Last week, when we saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall (rated R), we went to a late night showing – late night being around 7:50pm for us. Overall, we enjoyed the movie. It was kind of crass, but a lot more intelligent and credible than most movies in it’s class. Very funny but definitely not something my family would enjoy. Their tolerance level for “adult themes” is a lot lower than ours – and mine aren’t that high to begin with. But we still enjoyed the movie (despite the shock value they included). Simply put, not “family-friendly”.

But that’s the point of the PMM, isn’t it. A chance for grownups to see grownup movies without having to find a baby sitter and mess up a baby’s sleeping schedule. But here’s the kicker.

Did you see it? Did you notice it? Let me make it clear “Under 4 years of age: FREE” Isn’t that setting the bar a little high? Let me spell it out. No parent should take their 4-year old to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Corbin can barely see our TV, so taking him to a Movie Theater to watch an R-rated movie isn’t too worrisome. But then again, he’s not 5-months old yet. A 4-year old would notice the adult content and remember it (and repeat it at Thanksgiving dinner in front of Grandma)