Something that made me laugh (and I needed it!)

[lurker]

I have 2 little girls, 5 &3/4 year old and 7 ½. And we have been watching the whole SW series off and on over the last month or so. Tonight we got to ANH. Now for the funny part …

When you first see Moff Tarkin, my girls went “Ohhh daddy he HAS to be a bad guy” (I’d been doing the is he good or bad – clueing them in on the lighting, color, shading, and music etc ). Their reason … “His hair is like yours, but his head isn’t round and he doesn’t look happy, so if he isn’t happy like you, and looks like that he has to be bad!”

For some reason, that made me laugh! I'm not sure what that says about how I look to my girls ... but at least I smile

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"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Forgive all spelling errors.

[DougRed4]

That's awesome, lurker! All five of my children love Star Wars, so I've passed along at least one good thing to them!
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[garhkal]

its like that commercial for Audi. All the great bad guy players these days seem to be British. Ergo if someone speaks in a British accent, they must be bad.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[griff]

I'm.six foot one and two hundred pounds, but for some reason my two year old son saw a picture of Jabba the Hutt he pointed at it looked right at me and said "Daddy".
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"EXECUTE ORDER 67. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound like order 67..... No, wait. Yes, yes it does. EXECUTE ORDER 68" Palpatine's last moments - robot chicken.

[lurker]

[gavin storm]

Make sure they never live that one down when they're older LMAO
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Gavin Storm
Causing Imperials headaches, one punch at a time, since 2000

[Whill]

[lurker]

[Whill]

From one father to another, I really appreciate your feedback on that. Thank you.
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[cheshire]

[Whill]

[cheshire]

I said it mostly tongue in cheek, and I hope it didn't come across wrong. And if so, I'm sorry.

Though yeah, I showed my kids ANH when they were 4 and 5. It worked well enough, though some of the intricacies of the plot went over their heads. They thought it was all about the rescue of Leia and the rest after that was mere denouement.

I showed each of them ESB individually before they went off to kindergarten. I was hesitant to do so, but I knew that going off the kindergarten increased the likelihood of plot spoilers, and I wanted to be present when the children had the full realization that (and spoiler alert for everyone here) Darth Vader was Luke's father. In the end, that backfired. The carbon freezing chamber was REALLY scary for the younger child, though Luke's hand being severed wasn't an issue. Though the reality of the statement didn't quite sink in. My eldest was left with the impression that Luke somehow had two fathers. One that Vader had killed, and the other was Vader. (I mean, hey, we're already suspending our belief for rubber puppets moving spaceships... WHY NOT!?!?) So, they had a lot of processing to do.

They got to see RotJ together shortly before the release of TPM 3D in theaters. It was a little rushed, I'll admit, as I wanted to show them the redemption part of the story a little later. But I thought they may never get a chance to see a SW film in the theater, and it wouldn't make sense to not have the whole story before seeing how it began. I prepped them by showing them sections of From Star Wars to Jedi: The Saga Behind the Saga, particularly at how the monsters from Jabba's palace were created, how the cast was costumed, and how the rancor was really only 18" high. I was kind of frightened by the Jabba scenes when they came out in the theater, and maybe I was projecting... but I thought if they saw the reality behind the fantasy it would make it an easier sell. That worked. They'd asked to see the making of again after that, now that they had the fantasy in the forefront of their minds, but things went well.

Then they saw TPM in the theater. They must have been 6 and 7. They loved it. They wanted to see it again and again on video, and I acquiesced. They would ask me questions on plot holes I couldn't answer, but that's fine. However, in the end, their exposure to RoTJ and TPM wound up being a good thing. Last year our dog died. Well... he had bone cancer and it'd metastasized everywhere before we'd found it. So, we made him comfortable as long as it was humane to do so. I told the kids that the dog would probably die soon, and yadda yadda yadda. I gave them as many answers as they had questions, but didn't volunteer too much info. After he'd been euthanized, one of the girls asked, "What did the vet do with his body?" And you just don't tell a 6 year old, "Ever heard of an incinerator?" Instead, I drew parallels for how Jedi show respect for their fallen comrades and how the Jedi do their funerals. That answer seemed pretty useful to them.

I showed them AotC just recently. they must have been 7 and 8 at the time (our eldest just turned 9). The Clone Wars tv series is on, and I thought it was reasonable to give them the movie background. They handled it well, though I'm still hesitant to show them RotS, as it has some REALLY intense scenes, and I know my youngest will not handle it particularly well. I get the sense that it will frighten the ever loving crap out of her to watch Padme die of... of... well, whatever. And I think the killing younglings thing will probably be too much for her, particularly as Anakin is still a good guy in the cartoons. I don't think she'll much understand that transition. Especially since both of them currently have a hard time distinguishing between the Rebellion and the Republic.

I'll be previewing EVII when it comes out, and am withholding judgement until that time.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[DougRed4]

I know I showed them to my kids very young, but I don't know the exact ages. In retrospect, and while I very much appreciate the desire to protect one's kids (and find that admirable), I think the more important part is to make sure you're there to discuss troubling scenes with kids afterwards. Another thing that is there, for those that need it, is the fast-forward button. If you know your child has trouble handling certain stuff (and I agree that each child is completely different), you could always fast-forward over that scene with Anakin getting horrifically burned, etc.

This discussion (especially Cheshire's last post) reminds me of this, which - especially if you haven't seen it before - will give you a chuckle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCjMGOvMghY
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[cheshire]

[Dromdarr_Alark]

These kid stories are great.

I don't have kids, for I am 22 years old. However, i am an aspiring teacher and I regularly work with kids.

I used the Jedi Code as a behavior management plan with one of the students in my afterschool program. He behaved indifferently to others and was sometimes sadistic. He was also an avid Star Wars fan (instead of getting gifts from Santa, they came from Luke Skywalker). So to help him manage himself, I made him my padawan and taught him the Jedi Code. Once a week during freeplay, he would ask for a Jedi lesson. I would use one of the tenets of the Code to teach a behavioral skill that I thought he needed to work on at the time. It was quite fun.

When the kids made posters about why they love the YMCA (which my program is part of), he wrote that he likes his Jedi master and nothing else. It's the little things....
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"I still wouldn't have a roll for it - but that's just how I roll."