The littlest member of our family recently had a fun rite of passage: his first official movie attendance! His school was closed somewhat unexpectedly for half a day on a recent Friday which, combined with rainy weather forecasts, led to the perfect reason to go for it!
Prior to having kids, I’d never much pondered when or how kids go to their first movies. Even now, I have no idea if there is a ‘right’ age or recommended age. I do know we had fun, and overall, I’m calling the entire experience a success because there were no tears, frustrations were minimal, and almost an entire movie was viewed without interruption! It might help that I set very low expectations and had a ‘roll with it’ attitude – but there were some concrete factors that seemed to create an environment where fun could be had by all. I’d love to hear what you’ve done, to add to this non-exhaustive list!
1) I chose a movie that a) presented something novel or interesting to my child, b) wasn’t too long and c) I didn’t mind sitting down to watch, too. I went with the recent Disneynature release Born in China, which is live-action and had a bit of an experience similar to a zoo – with music and constantly moving animals. Will loves watching animals, so I hoped it would appeal to him and it did. It was also a short movie – 80 minutes running time – which seemed like the absolute max a not-quite-three-year-old would be expected to sit quietly in a large, dark space, no matter how entertaining the screen in front of them was.
2) We went in the middle of the day. This meant very few people in the theater and low chance of ruining too many people’s day if it didn’t go well. It was also low stress in terms of parking, finding seats, and, in general, made the experience something my toddler could handle.
3) We brought our own snacks. I know this isn’t something I probably ought to encourage, but I don’t really love movie theater popcorn, and Will is obsessed with the white cheddar popcorn. A small baggie of that popcorn, plus a handful of M&Ms leftover from Easter and he was in HEAVEN. I also brought a healthy snack for me, and water for both of us. Let’s be real: kid was just excited to have a little snack bag with popcorn and chocolate in it, which would have been enough WITHOUT the huge screen, ha!
4) We arrived with just enough time to pee and wander a bit… With about fifteen minutes to spare before the start time, Will was able to ‘play’ on the race car video games in the lobby for a good ten minutes (I’m not the only one that lets their kid sit there and think they’re actually driving/playing, right?), we got to the bathroom, and in our seats with a few minutes to spare before the trailers began.
5) …But not so much time that my child’s entire amount of patience/focus was zapped before the movie. One could argue that you could easily arrive AT the movie start time and fit in all the things I just said, to arrive to your seats just as the actual movie is beginning. Not a bad idea. Will ended up lasting in the theater for close to 90 minutes, including the 15 minutes of pre-movie viewing, so a whole movie might have been in his wheelhouse if we’d arrived “late”/just as the movie began.
6) I talked up what the social mores of movie-going involved before we arrived. We actively discussed the importance of whispering in the theater, not talking during the movie, and staying in our seat once we arrived for a few days before the actual movie. I still had to give lots of reminders but didn’t have to answer “why” dozens of times at the movie, as we took care of that before hand.
7) I did not expect Will to last the entire time. So, when he didn’t, I wasn’t angry about leaving. This was as much about managing my parenting expectations as anything. It seems so easy to get wrapped up in creating an imagined belief of how a rite of passage – large ones and small ones, like this one – could or should go. I think it helped me to get past all of that by laughing up front and knowing that if we even go to see half the movie, it would be awesome and something to enjoy.
In our seats, ready for the movie to begin!
How old was you kid when they first went to the movie theater? What would you add for fellow parents who want to have some air-conditioned fun this summer?
blogger / apricot / 250 posts
This was such a helpful post. We’ve been thinking about taking Max (2.5) to the movies too but have been on the fence about whether he is too young. I guess there is no right age. We might take him to see Cars 3 when that comes out over the summer!
blogger / nectarine / 2043 posts
We waited until she was 3.5 and went to see Moana. My kid is very twitchy so I didn’t think she’d last any earlier than that. We went with a friend who’s a few months younger but has a calmer temperament, so it helped my kid sit more still, and I think she was so entranced by the experience that she barely moved. When we went the next time to see Sing, it wasn’t nearly as calm, so I think it’s somewhat age dependent but also movie dependent. She’s since seen Smurfs and Boss Baby and did great at both of those.
nectarine / 2210 posts
We’re that thinking of taking our 2.5 year old to see Cars 3 this summer for her first movie. We’re big movie people (although not nearly as much movie viewing happens post-kids) so it’s something I’ve looked forward too since before she was born.
coconut / 8079 posts
We’re taking our 3 year old to see Cars 3 this summer. We can’t wait! He is a huge Cars fan so I hope he enjoys it.