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Stumbling Upon Lessons

Ben, Logan and I saw How to Train Your Dragon on Saturday. I went in with little to no expectations. After seeing it, this movie will go on my list of all-time favorites. The music, scenery and characters were superb. The story was a beautiful one. It had two simple messages:
  • Believe in your child.

  • If you've had the same solution for a problem and it has not worked, try something completely different.
I will keep these two lessons close to me as I go through life. They are easy to understand, easy to facilitate and easy to forget in times of stress, lack of sleep and pressure.


And if while reading this, you pictured us sitting three in a row, sharing popcorn and pop, watching the movie in silence...it was not quite like that. Ben complained loudly and grabbed at me non-stop in the beginning. After a few seat changes (on my lap, off my lap, next to me, out of his chair, in his chair, laying down, 10th row up, 4th row up) and a sad thought that we may have to leave the theater, I moved Ben about 15 feet away from me, at a diagonal. I could see him out of the corner of my eye. Knowing he could not bug me, Ben decided to watch the movie. I tried not to feel guilty and wonder what other people thought of my decision to seat my disabled child so far away from me.

If I re-frame our movie-going experience and apply the lessons learned from the movie, then it seems I took a creative approach to a common problem we encounter at the movies with Ben. I believed Ben could enjoy the movie so I tried a new way to solve the problem - and it worked! In the end, we all had a great time. Whew - I feel good about that one now :)
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Comments

  1. CristyLynnMay 12, 2010 at 5:51 AM

    I never would have thought about sitting him away from you, but good job finding a solution so that everyone had a good time!

    ReplyDelete

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