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Dropping off a kid at the movie theatre
Jan. 2nd, 2019 09:53 amI have reached that stage of parenting where dropping a kid off at the movie theatre starts to look pretty reasonable. On the boat — totally different environment (no cars!) — T. walked over to watch movies by himself. He was complaining yesterday that he could do that on the boat and he wanted to go see a movie today. I thought, Self, you do not want to watch Ralph Breaks the Internet a 4th time. You do not want to make R. watch it a third time. And there are two perfectly nice theatres that are super familiar and one even has reserved seating. What is the problem with this?
Think think think.
Couldn’t think of one. I told T., it has to be one of these two locations, because a half hour drive means I have to stay. (Argument about why that.) But a 10 minute drives means I don’t have to stay. The movie was in one of them (the one with reserved seating. Yay!). I said, I will bring you; I will buy the ticket. I will give you money for food (this is a theatre that does actual food in addition to concessions). You will call me when it is over or if there is a problem.
And it worked! W00t! After the fact, I poked around online to see what Other Parents Think, and I appear to have more or less identified the constraints (theatre should have reserved seats, so there won’t be arguments over where people sit, it should be perceived as a safe theatre in a safe neighborhood, the kid should be believed to be capable of this level of independence without anxiety or randomness), and I apparently more or less nailed the age. People do this for kids a couple years younger, even, but presumably they are neurotypical.
As a middle kid, I was only ever dropped off at a theatre with older siblings. By the time I was dropped off at a theatre to see a movie by myself / not with older siblings, I was the one driving. This not only seems ridiculous, but on one of the occasions that I saw a movie with an older sibling (who drove), we saw An Officer and a Gentleman (yeah, I was 13, and the older sister brought a bottle of Andre champagne that we decanted into 7-up cans and brought into the theatre. Great supervision there. Also, rated R. Also, she took me _out of school_ to do this. NO, parents did not know).
I feel pretty good about how my son’s experience of being 13 is going, compared to mine.
Think think think.
Couldn’t think of one. I told T., it has to be one of these two locations, because a half hour drive means I have to stay. (Argument about why that.) But a 10 minute drives means I don’t have to stay. The movie was in one of them (the one with reserved seating. Yay!). I said, I will bring you; I will buy the ticket. I will give you money for food (this is a theatre that does actual food in addition to concessions). You will call me when it is over or if there is a problem.
And it worked! W00t! After the fact, I poked around online to see what Other Parents Think, and I appear to have more or less identified the constraints (theatre should have reserved seats, so there won’t be arguments over where people sit, it should be perceived as a safe theatre in a safe neighborhood, the kid should be believed to be capable of this level of independence without anxiety or randomness), and I apparently more or less nailed the age. People do this for kids a couple years younger, even, but presumably they are neurotypical.
As a middle kid, I was only ever dropped off at a theatre with older siblings. By the time I was dropped off at a theatre to see a movie by myself / not with older siblings, I was the one driving. This not only seems ridiculous, but on one of the occasions that I saw a movie with an older sibling (who drove), we saw An Officer and a Gentleman (yeah, I was 13, and the older sister brought a bottle of Andre champagne that we decanted into 7-up cans and brought into the theatre. Great supervision there. Also, rated R. Also, she took me _out of school_ to do this. NO, parents did not know).
I feel pretty good about how my son’s experience of being 13 is going, compared to mine.