Parents Watching Movies

Parents Watching MoviesI love watching movies. Don’t ask me to list a top 10. Too hard.

While I have not been a regular movie theater goer in a while – three times a year seems about right – well that is if you don’t count kids movies, I’m happy to sit down and watch a movie. And it’s not just for an excuse to munch munch on popcorn. Serious movie fan!

It’s Been Years

Over the years, I’ve had conversations with other parents about watching movies. The conversation often goes something like this.

So, you seen any good movies lately?
Nah, I haven’t seen a movie in a while.
What’s a while mean?
Like years.
What? You haven’t seen a movie in years?
Well, other than kid stuff, I don’t think so.
Don’t you like movies?
Yeah, sure. Some of them. I just don’t have the time.

At that point, I usually shake my head in disbelief and question how busy they really are.

Non-Movie Watching Pit

But, lately, I’ve been sinking into the non-movie watching pit. I don’t want to become a parent who does not watch movies.

How rare has my movie watching become?

The other day I watched the movie Sully. I know what you are thinking – how could I say I’m in jeopardy of falling into the non-movie watching pit if I just watched one a few days ago.

I checked my Nextflix account and saw that I had Sully on hold to be watched since February. Four months! By the way, I enjoyed the movie, but it was weird to see Tom Hanks looking so old. Where have you gone Bosom Buddies?

I digress.

Non-Movie Watching Excuses

There must have been 25 times during those four months where I said aloud or thought to myself – I’m going to watch Sully. And then for one reason or another, it didn’t happen. One reason that is not on the list is watching television instead. I hardly watch television either. The one television show I watch regularly is Gotham – hey, it’s Batman. I also watch some sports and Modern Family when I can.

I wish I could tell you some high falutin reason why it took me four months to watch Sully and am becoming a parent who does not watch movies.  I’m not learning Latin. I’m not organizing a charity. I’m not becoming a first class chef. And I haven’t made a conscious decision to give up movies for reading (Shakespeare of course).

There’s no crazy or even interesting reason for the descent into the non-movie watching pit. However, I have found that it is a challenge separating work time from home time. While I take my work very seriously and am a fanatic about delivering assignments on time, I’m not a workaholic. I appreciate that there needs to be down time which ultimately makes me more effective in all my roles.

Work/Life Balance

Since I’ve been working from home, I’ve never set a formal work schedule. I’ve found that challenging. Between parenting responsibilities, home obligations, and irregular work flow, sticking to a formal work schedule is a challenge. There’s also walking the dog and petting her belly (oh does she love that!), and I get sleepy in the early-mid-afternoon. Rather than fight it, I take a brief nap. I get an energy burst in the evenings and work then. By quitting time, I’m not in the mood to stay up a couple more hours and watch a movie.

Between the semi erratic schedule, work obligations, and family time, the time to watch movies has slipped away.  I know, I know – first world problem.

Truthfully, it’s not even a problem. I just miss watching movies. I want to be a parent who watches movies.

Give me hope parents – tell me you find time to watch movies.

PIcLink

19 thoughts on “Parents Watching Movies

  1. Sorry Larry, I’m no help. Nowadays I spend all my evenings writing the second draft of my novel (squeals excitedly!) so last time I watch a movie was I believe in February! Eek!

      • It’s about a lady who travels to Amsterdam to attend her mum’s funeral and in her mum’s house she finds her grandmother’s diary from during the second world war. It turns out that she was hiding a jewish girl in her attic (just like my own nanna did). The diray suddenly stops without explanation and she goes on a journey to find out what happened, whilst dealing with plenty of troubles in her own life.

        I think I need to work on my synopsis writing skills But I am sure you get the picture.

        • Hmm, interesting. Are there more ties to your grandmother? Is that what inspired the idea? Does it involve alot of history?

          • The idea for the story was inspired by my grandmother, but it is all fiction. The story switches point of view between several people including the lady hiding the jewish girl so it does include quite a bit of the war, again all fiction but all based on my knowledge and a lot of research on that horrible time in history.

  2. I have a DVD from Netflix since DECEMBER!! It’s sitting on the DVD player and gets dusted… every now and then!! I guess it’s time to return it… unwatched!! Ugh!!

  3. I go to a lot of movies in the theater, but I don’t watch as many at home. I find when I have time to watch something at home, it’s TV shows. They’re so good now–better than movies a lot of times–so I prefer to spend my time on them. Fargo, Better Call Saul, The Americans–such great writing.

    I did see Sully though. Enjoyed it!

  4. I spend many years not watching movies cause Mr. T was too young to sit still – once he got older, we enjoyed movies a lot – fortunately, I love kid movies!

    • Kid movies – ehh. I just saw Cars 3. It was entertaining – better than number two but not nearly as good as number one.

  5. I feel you, Larry. There was a time when I felt like I wasn’t watching any movies either. Really. The stuff is just sitting there whenever I want it – even on my phone if I’m too lazy to get to a TV. Then the insomnia came back. If you want to watch more movies, I recommend forcing yourself into erratic sleep patterns that, once they take, keep you guessing as to when you’ll be tired or even if you’ll be able to fall asleep while you are tired (that’s even worse).

    But really, ebb and flow. One day, you’ll realize the NBA sucks and baseball is three hours of not really much happening and damnit, I haven’t seen Tom Hanks crash a plane in almost ten years! Anyway, thanks for the share. You may not be watching movies, but at least you’re still writing.

    • While it would be nice to watch more movies, I’m not hoping for insomnia. I’d like more sleep – not less.
      I have made time to watch a couple since I wrote the post – both were with the family – Rogue One and Cars 3.

  6. Sometimes I just live for our evening down time in front of the screen, either movie or, more often, tv show we have on DVD. We’re watching the series Monk right now. We don’t binge watch anything, just one or two episodes a night, not always the same show back to back, but it’s great relaxation after the kids are in bed. I’m with them all day, every day. The break from reality is nice. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *