Fillin My Nights With Song

Before I go to bed, I want to share an observation I made regarding the differences between boys and girls...Girls like musicals and boys don't. I think you can draw a line in the sand and have boys stand on one side and girls on the other when it comes to this critical issue. I chose the movie tonite for me, my 3 kids and my nephew. My daughter is 5, my sons are 6 & 8 and my nephew is 7. I told them my kingdom is a dictatorship and they had to watch what I wanted to watch or go to bed. There was lots of R rated stuff that I could have picked out, but I didn't want to spend the whole movie explaining inappropriate stuff to the 4 kids, so I settled for a PG-13, Mamma Mia!

All of the boys' choices were immediately vetoed. As we left Blockbuster they hung their heads in defeat. We started the movie soon after we arrived home. My daughter was immediately enraptured. The singing, the dancing, the costumes, the love story...it was all too good to be true. She sat next to me on the couch, snuggling close and smiling from ear to ear. I could tell what she was thinking; "Where has this genre of movie been hiding for all these years?" She wanted to know all about the girl and the wedding and the dress and the traditions. Who was going to walk her down the aisle? How old would she be when she got married? In her mind, it was all good. And suddenly I had a new partner with whom I could watch chick flicks!

At the same time my daughter was experiencing nirvana, the boys were somewhere in between complete and utter disgust and bewildered resignation. My nephew could not sit still. He stood up. He sat down. He bounced to the left. He crawled across the back of the sofa. He crawled under the sofa. He crawled under the coffee table. He stood up. He sat down. He bounced to the right...About half way through the movie, he turns to me, completely befuddled and with the utmost sincerety and asks, "Why do the keep speaking out in song?" And that will be the same question that he and other men will continue to ask for the rest of their lives. Some day, 30 year from now, he will be sitting in a theater with his wife, having just paid top dollar to see Chicago or something like it and he will turn to his wife and say, "I don't get it. Why do they keep breaking out into song? When are they gonna kill somebody?" That was the question that my 6 year old had for me. "When is there gonna be some action?" As if watching Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan proclaim their unrequited love via a ballad wasn't action enough. My 5 year old daughter got it. As the credits roled, I know she would have sat there through another viewing while the boys were wondering how the could have been duped so easily. That was an hour and forty five minutes of their lives that they would never get back that they could have used playing video games or watching Sponge Bob. While I don't think I could ever get my 8 year old to admit that he liked the movie, I do think that there was some morbid curiosity on his part (like watching the monkeys mate at the zoo).

I know they will never trust me again. I don't see how they can. It was a complete abuse of my power and I know it. I subjected them to a musical without a grown man nearby to come to their defense. I suppose if I allow them to use the Play Station 2 for 4-6 consecutive hours tomorrow, I may be able to atone for my sins. But, I'm not too worried about it because I have my new ally and tomorrow she and I will probably watch the movie another time or two or at least till we know all the songs by heart!