The joys of cinema trips with kids

Cinema trips with N haven’t always been a success. It was a long time coming to when he could sit quite happily and watch a film all the way through at home. At home there’s always distractions which means it’s rare a film gets watched all the way through even now. Rio. I think I watched the first part of it about 30 times before we got him to agree to watch it from where we got up to, and actually finish the film.

He is a lot better nowadays and will quite happily sit and watch the normal length film as long as there are no restrictions. But the cinema is different to watching it home.

He did go with a friend to watch Peppa Pig when he was about 3 but that was a few short Peppa Pig shows in one film, so it didn’t require lots of concentration.

Because N rarely watched a film all the way through I didn’t want to start taking him to the cinema. It can be really expensive and unless I knew he was going to actually sit still for the whole of it, we didn’t bother. You obviously need to allow for the trailers and adverts as well, because they can easily add on another 20 minutes to the start of a movie.

The first time he really wanted to go to the cinema and I agreed to take him, was for Finding Dory when he was 6. He’d seen Finding Nemo at home several times so going to see a sequel is usually pretty safe. So you would think. All I can say is I’m glad it was a kids club £2.50 a ticket film because we had to leave a short way into the film because he was scared. I was not best pleased.

Thankfully now we seem to have mastered movie going. And we’ve seen quite a few films in the last couple of years. Quite a few have been sequels to other films that he’s enjoyed when he seen them on TV like Paddington 2 or Peter Rabbit which he knew his like because he really used to like the TV show. And of course things like Minions and Despicable 3.

We’ve also been to see films that he is seen bits of previous versions like the recent Johnny English movie which he loved and still goes on about the several parts that made him laugh. And the Grinch which he’d seen a trailer for and adverts on TV.

We have seen a few that weren’t really his cup of tea. He got bored in Smallfoot although bizarrely considering he’s not interested in superheroes really liked Incredibles 2. When he gets bored in the cinema he does stop fidgeting and asking what the time is and how long is left, but so far we’ve not had to leave another movie yet.

After seeing Secret Life of Pets 2, it looks like we’ll be going to the cinema quite a few times across the summer as he’s already spotted several movies he wants to see. Toy Story 4 of course being top of both our lists which I’m very excited about as well.

I love going to the cinema with N now that he can cope with it. We have a lot of fun and I think we get the same kind of things out of it and certainly have similar commentary running throughout. Because isn’t it annoying when you go with someone and they have a totally different way of watching movies to you. That’s why I’ve been to the cinema on my own lots, because it’s a lot less hassle than finding someone else to go with who wants to talk or not talk the same amount as you, before and after the movie.

Going to the movies with kids is great because

• You laugh a lot
• You get to spend time with your child without any other distractions and can concentrate on the same thing together
• Provides a conversation starter about plots, characters, upcoming movies and you can find out what they enjoy and don’t enjoy
• They get so animated and just want to tell you everything about it afterwards, it’s a great bonding experience
• You can get to go and see kids movies without feeling a bit embarrassed
• Kids Club tickets on weekends and school holidays, £2.50 a ticket including premium seats compared with about £20 for the two of us to go at other times.

It really shows me what N enjoys and the kind of things that we can talk about will look out for him future. N is quite chatty anyway but we get so much laughter during films and afterwards, remembering the funny points. If you’re feeling a bit down then you’re not going to after going to see a family movie with your child.

I’d love to have movie nights at home but the OH isn’t the type of person to do that, and he certainly doesn’t like commentary through a film. So I think N and I would drive him mad if we started a film night and discussed things like we do at the cinema.

How often do you go to the cinema with your children or do you prefer to have film nights at home?