Growing at Home - Learning from Movies
Chances are that even if your family is not big on screen time, you will probably have several movie nights this summer. Let’s face it, kids love movies, so let’s turn movies into learning opportunities where our kids can reflect and experience personal growth from the lessons they learned through the film. Movies are very influential to our children so choose family movies with fun and healthy life lessons.
One of my favorite movies growing up was Ratatouille, and if you haven’t seen it, I definitely recommend it for the entire family. Ratatouille is about a rat named Remy, who dreams of being a chef, everyone tells him to get his head out of the clouds, that being a chef is impossible. However, Remy chooses to pursue his dream, though the odds are stacked against him. Even as a child, I gleaned so many valuable life lessons through this movie, some of these included:
Always pursue your dreams
Try new things and find new discoveries
Don’t be afraid to create something new
Believe in others, as you want them to believe in you
Help others
Always wash your hands (strangely applicable during this time)
Everyone has a story!
Just like Stan the Man always says, “never judge a person or a book by their covers,” in Ratatouille every character has a background story that you cannot know based on their appearance. Each character has a life time of experiences that make them who they are. Ratatouille shows how important it is to get to know people and not just jump to conclusions about people based on your first impression.
At camp, we always debrief after every activity so that every participant can learn from the experience and apply those lessons to their daily lives. You can do this at home after any activity, and movies are a fun way to start. You’ll want to create your own questions based on the movie you are watching, but here are some ideas to get you started:
What was your favorite part of the movie? Why?
What was your least favorite part of the movie? Why?
Who was a kind character? What made them kind? How can we be more like them?
Who was a mean character? Why were they mean? What can we learn from them?
What did the main character learn on his journey?
How would you have handled the situation in the movie?
So many great movies teach compassion, grit, kindness, courage, friendship, and so much more! A few favorites include:
Soul Surfer
How to Train your Dragon
Free Willy
Up
Nanny McPhee
Coco
Finding Nemo
Lilo & Stitch
Beauty and the Beast
Inside Out
The Iron Giant
Megamind
Ferdinand
Mulan
The list goes on! Try to think of some of your favorite movies as a kid, these are the perfect movies to share with your family and have a nice stroll down memory lane together. Let us know what movies you choose! Happy watching!