For New Year’s this year we rented a house in the Catskills with our good friends and their son. He and my daughter have been best friends since birth, and they’re now six years old. Our plans for the weekend were simple: eat delicious food, drink delicious drinks, and introduce our children to Star Wars.
As every good parent knows, Episode IV comes first.
I was a little nervous. The first time we introduced our kids to a classic was a couple months ago with The Goonies. Boy, that has a lot more swearing than you might remember. But it went OK. My daughter thought that Chunk and Sloth were awesome just as I did as a kid. But Star Wars is bigger. There’s a real pressure to introduce it at the right time. Her best friend is well primed with Star Wars books and card games and a general sense of who Chewbacca is. My daughter prepared herself last week with something she found streaming on Netflix – an episode of Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater entitled “Cat Wars.” Yes, that’s what it sounds like.
Screen capture of Hello Kitty on Leia duty in "Cat Wars"
The moment arrives. We pick a quiet, chilly afternoon while our toddler is napping. Our friend does a dramatic reading of the opening text, trying to convey the importance of this moment. The kids settle in and start watching. I think it’s going well. My daughter moves to the floor, and I can sense her being drawn in by The Force.
The two 6-year-olds settle into watch Star Wars. Photo: Amy Kraft
20 minutes later…
Read the results of Amy Kraft’s introduction of Star Wars and comment over at GeekMom.
