Have you ever been excited to share a movie you enjoyed in “childhood” with your kids? You know, watch it again. Spread the joy. Share the laughter. Reminisce.
That was before PG-13.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve stumbled a few times in recent years, picking some of those funny favorites to watch with my kids. “You’re gonna love this,” I say.
And they do.
And I whisper to my husband, “Did you remember that from this movie?”
Things seem a little different when viewed through the eyes of . . . a . . . parent. From behind those “parenting goggles” some things just jump out at us (!), such as certain words . . . and content . . . that we just never even noticed before. Before we were parents, that is.
Some of the ones I recently “stumbled upon” were BIG and Forrest Gump (coincidentally enough, both with Tom Hanks). Yep, some words, some humor, some scenes . . . that I just didn’t remember (without my parenting goggles on). And here’s my latest: Eight is Enough. For any of you parents who grew up in the 70’s, you may remember it well. It was my favorite. Wednesday nights. 8 o’clock. Never missed an episode. Knew all the characters’ names and the actors who played them. I lived vicariously through that family of 8 kids. And I lived vicariously again, almost 40 years later, watching with my daughter just the other night. (I bought the DVD of the first season; just couldn’t resist.)
Good ‘ole Eight is Enough. Prime time, Wednesday nights. 1977. Good ‘ole wholesome t.v.
Or so I remembered. As a kid. Without my parenting goggles on.
The 70’s weren’t quite as I remembered it, as a kid, without my parenting goggles . . .
Women were “liberating” . . . and kids were experimenting . . . and free love still abounded from the 60’s. Let’s just say there were some teachable moments for my 10 year old. Funny enough, I was just her age when I watched it. Hmmmm…..now that’s food for thought, on our parenting plate. Tune in, chime in, and let me know what you think. Leave a reply below: Is t.v. today really more risqué than it was when we were kids? Or do we just see it all through our parenting goggles?
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LOVED this post! I thought we were the only ones who ran into problems when trying to watch “appropriate” movies (from our childhoods) alongside our three sons. Ferris Bueller comes to mind. We had to turn it off because of language. Funny, I don’t recall hearing those words BEFORE we had kids.
I loved Eight is Enough too! This happens all the time in our family too….But, one that we all really enjoyed was Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. More swearing than I remembered, but still super funny!