Tag: Disney

How to Talk to Kids About Life and Death

“I’m not going to lie to him,” she said, turning to me. “He should know what’s going on.”

My wife seemed to expect a different reaction from me but I wasn’t going to argue. I agreed with her; it was better for him to be told the truth. I didn’t want to cover it up and have him start wondering what we were hiding. He didn’t need every detail but he deserved enough information to understand what was happening around him.

This also wasn’t his first experience with death. Two of his mother’s relatives passed away within the last five years. He has multiple friends who have lost relatives. He was three years old when we flew to Chicago for multiple days of post-funeral gatherings for family members of ours. And that is to say nothing of the more public tragedies to which he has been a virtual witness.

“I agree with you,” I said. “He should know where we are going.” Continue reading “How to Talk to Kids About Life and Death”

Why Men Should See Frozen 2

“Do you think she’s okay?” she whispered.

We were at a movie theater for a screening of Frozen 2 for our son’s friend’s birthday. I had just settled back into the red recliner at the rear of the movie theater after bringing three party attendees – my son among them – to the bathroom. It had taken some small extra effort to sit back down without disturbing the two bags of theater popcorn and the Ziploc bag of candy we had brought with us but I had managed it. I returned my attention to the screen just in time to see Elsa grappling underwater with the Water Spirit who had taken the form of a horse – a sea horse, if you will.

We had known that Frozen 2 was supposed to be darker than the first movie but this was a difficult moment. Elsa was in mortal peril and, while I wasn’t the least bit worried about our seven-year-old son’s reaction, our three-year-old daughter had insisted on sitting in the second row with the birthday girl’s eleven-year-old sister instead of with us and she might be having more difficulty with the intensity of the scene.

I rose from my seat and ran, bent at the waist so as not to block too many people’s views, down the aisle to S’s seat.

“Are you okay? Is this scaring you?” I asked.

She smiled widely.

“This is my favorite!” she said.

I made my way back to my seat, sat back down gingerly and leaned over to T.

“She’s fine,” I said. Continue reading “Why Men Should See Frozen 2”

Rise of the Machines

I went to Disney World for the first time for my 21st birthday.

I usually get a number of different reactions to that statement, including “Oh, that’s so cute!” and “I’ve had so much more fun at Disney when I’ve been older” and “Really? Your 21st birthday was at Disney? And your first legal drink was a Michelob Light?”[1]

My first visit to Disney World and the subsequent discussion of when my wife and I will be introducing E to Disney are both topics for a different blog entry. The reason I brought up Disney is because while T and I were there, we went on the “ride” at Epcot all about evolving technology and the ways technology affects our daily lives.  Anyone who’s been to Epcot knows exactly the ride I’m talking about.  It’s the one where you sit in the seats and see the same family living room over the course of different decades and they sing that song, “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” over and over again. And while I’m not sure today is particularly greater, bigger or more beautiful than yesterday[2], I have been thinking a bit more about the ways technology is changing and what that’s going to mean for E as he grows up.  Continue reading “Rise of the Machines”

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