Connecting With My tweens: Zootopia Edition
I will confess that our family has watched Zootopia at least five times since it was released on DVD a few weeks ago. We loved the movie when we saw it in the theater and Grandma bought it for the kids when it was released. And, surprisingly, our active four-year-old will sit and watch the entire thing. We don’t watch it every day, but he would love it if we did.
Although I write a lot about my four-year-old, because he is still a preschooler, we also have older kids, girls nearly 11 and 13 years old. They are fabulous girls who love their little brothers, but they also crave time to be just themselves and not an older sibling.
Earlier this week, after our girls’ Bible study was over, my oldest and I were chatting with one of the other girls and discovered (SHOCK HORROR!) she had never seen Zootopia! It took me about 10 seconds to decide that we were having a tween showing on the next Saturday night. I texted my daughter from the living room to invite five friends for a movie on Saturday night at 6pm. She texted back from her bedroom three minutes later “They’re coming! THANKS MOM!” We ended up inviting a few more and so we currently have eight girls sitting in our living room, along with my three little boys, watching Zootopia. And eating so much popcorn I can’t even measure it.
If you are the mom of bigs and littles, it doesn’t have to be complicated to let them know they are a valued part of your family.
Write a few Facebook messages, send a few texts, pop some popcorn and they will come.
Side note: My oldest told me thank you about 23 times this week and she also told me what a fun mom I am (which was a surprise, because I honestly don’t feel like it most of the time). The interesting thing is that even though this night was for my big kids, my oldest daughter has had her littlest brother sitting on her lap almost the entire evening. Sibling love.
-Michele
Kendra says: Michele is one of the most hospitable women I have ever known. But do you know what is so special about her hospitality? She just does it. She has a heart to welcome people into her home and she doesn't fuss over the details. She pops the popcorn and invites the tweens over. People over perfection!
