Teaching the younglings the way of the Force

For the last year or so we’ve been waiting for the right moment to introduce Star Wars to our kids. About a month or so ago, we decided it was time. Both my wife and I prepped them a lot, talking about all the characters, before we attempted watching the first movie. My wife even went ahead and told Linnea the plot of the entire first film. And by the first, I mean the fourth, A New Hope.

I came home from work one day and our daughter was retelling the story to me, now wanting to watch the movie. We figured that she, being younger than our son, needed more prep to understand the story.

We made our way through the original trilogy and the kids wanted more. They were totally into it. Talking about all the characters, occasionally confusing Han Solo with Luke Skywalker, but ok, no big deal. They were, to both of our surprise, really consumed by story. Our daughter even more than our son. There was of course frequent pausing of the movies to explain key plot points that might have gone over their heads, which wasn’t too surprising considering their age.

I recall seeing Return of the Jedi myself, in a movie theater in Warsaw sometime in the mid to late 80’s. And I remember being completely mesmerized. I’m hoping our kids will have similar experience with watching the movies as well.

After finishing the first trilogy, my wife convinced me, against my will, to dive into the prequels. Reluctantly, I finally agreed knowing that the kids would probably like it, even though the dialog is beyond horrid. Most of that goes over their heads right now anyway. And besides, the dialog in the original trilogy isn’t a whole lot better, what makes it better is the delivery by actors that, in my opinion, were better cast for the parts played.

Tonight we finally finished Revenge of the Sith. I’m pretty sure our daughter will be permanently scarred after seeing Anakin burn to a crisp at the end of the movie. I’m just hoping that the therapy bills won’t be too steep.

Being a total Star Wars purist, I’m thinking we’re going to have to watch the original trilogy again, in order to wipe the prequels from their tiny impressionable minds. After all, we couldn’t possibly leave the younglings’ minds poisoned like this.

There is hope still though, as our daughter has been known to randomly walk up to us and say: “May the Force be with you”.

And also with you, my very young Padawan learner.