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Thursday
Jan182007
Gore (Not Al)
January 18, 2007
The other day I was watching Kid A in the Big House. A while ago, while Chinua and I were on vacation, a major overhaul was done on this house, which is the community space, and some very motivated people got rid of all the ugly couches that have been passed down to us over the years (and believe me, these were some UGLY couches) and the ugly nasty carpet that had been stained and burned over the years (and believe me, it was REALLY stained, ugly and burned. One of the people who had lived here had even burned his name, MIKE, into the carpet with a poker. Why? These are the sort of mysteries that plague our lives.) and redid the main room. They painted the floorboards, and in place of the couches, they laid mattresses around the perimeter of the room, covering them with high thread-count sheets and delightful body pillows. We have LOTS of delightful body pillows. What they didn't know was that in addition to being great seating/lounge space, these mattresses would provide a much-needed function here at the Land.Â
Kid Bounce Space. Every single day (and believe me, I MEAN every. single. day.) the kids take off their shoes and bounce bounce bounce on the mattresses. You might not believe it of me (No, not you, you think) but I can be a bit annoyed about things like pushing the mattresses which are our seating back together, or rearranging the cushions. This is why I have no throw pillows in my home. I cannot bear the strain of putting them back in their places. And because I've never bought any. Okay, there are two reasons that there are no throw pillows in my home. Anyways, I was a bit annoyed with this whole jumping thing until I shook myself by the shoulders, which is not so easy to do, and realized, HEY. KID BOUNCE TIME. We need Kid Bounce Time. And we don't even need to have any bulky equipment, just these innocent mattresses on the floor, doubling as nice seating and Kid Bouncers. The pillows make great log cabins, too, because there are just so many of them. And wouldn't you like to jump into a big huge pile of delightful pillows that are just as big as you? I would. And then I would like them to turn out to be chocolate, so that I could eat them.
So, I was watching Kid A, and he was playing out some scene over and over. Running over to one side of the room, then turning and running and jumping on the mattress, dropping his sword and falling down dead. He did it, maybe... sixty-eight times. Finally I asked him what he was doing. "An Orc is shooting me in the back with an arrow," he replied. Ohhhhhh. I don't know why I didn't think of that.
This is my son who cried his way through the entire movie, "Curious George," because the monkey was sad.Â
This is my son who cannot stand most Disney movies because he is shaking and crying by the time whatever disaster befalls a parent/brother/close friend of the main character happens at the beginning of the movie.Â
I talked about empathy a little bit a couple of posts ago, and the truth is that Kid A has always been really, really empathetic. It is what makes him unable to get through a movie with a plot, because the plot usually involves someone being hurt or alone. But I'm realizing that he really is like other little boys in that he doesn't automatically equate getting shot with arrows or cut with a sword with physical pain. Thus, the gore.
There is a family who lives here now with two little boys, one Kid A's age and one a couple of years older, and I think that this has to do with his recent steps towards manly sword fights and battles. I often come out of my house to find myself under mild attack. Either that or they scurry back toward their "castle", which is a clump of three very tall and thick Douglas Fir trees stuck together at the base with a space in the middle big enough for three or four tiny warriors. Then I find myself looking down a bow shaft. The arrow does have a sucker on the end of it, so I don't feel too threatened.Â
I love the fact that Kid A has other little boys to play with, and I especially love that their castle is made of trees, and I also laugh at the fact that Kid A is busy getting shot in the back (sixty-eight times) and having swords run through him. However, I totally can't relate. My son is, well, a son. I'm a girl. A woman. I'm the one who doesn't like the fight scenes, who yawns her way through the fight scenes, either that or flinches and leaves the room. I love the movie Hero (Chinua is big on Kung Fu) because of the colors, the flying, the breathtaking art of the movie, not the fight scenes.
So it's a bit mysterious to me, this gore, the dying over and over. I'll just watch from a little ways back.
Â
Kid Bounce Space. Every single day (and believe me, I MEAN every. single. day.) the kids take off their shoes and bounce bounce bounce on the mattresses. You might not believe it of me (No, not you, you think) but I can be a bit annoyed about things like pushing the mattresses which are our seating back together, or rearranging the cushions. This is why I have no throw pillows in my home. I cannot bear the strain of putting them back in their places. And because I've never bought any. Okay, there are two reasons that there are no throw pillows in my home. Anyways, I was a bit annoyed with this whole jumping thing until I shook myself by the shoulders, which is not so easy to do, and realized, HEY. KID BOUNCE TIME. We need Kid Bounce Time. And we don't even need to have any bulky equipment, just these innocent mattresses on the floor, doubling as nice seating and Kid Bouncers. The pillows make great log cabins, too, because there are just so many of them. And wouldn't you like to jump into a big huge pile of delightful pillows that are just as big as you? I would. And then I would like them to turn out to be chocolate, so that I could eat them.
So, I was watching Kid A, and he was playing out some scene over and over. Running over to one side of the room, then turning and running and jumping on the mattress, dropping his sword and falling down dead. He did it, maybe... sixty-eight times. Finally I asked him what he was doing. "An Orc is shooting me in the back with an arrow," he replied. Ohhhhhh. I don't know why I didn't think of that.
This is my son who cried his way through the entire movie, "Curious George," because the monkey was sad.Â
This is my son who cannot stand most Disney movies because he is shaking and crying by the time whatever disaster befalls a parent/brother/close friend of the main character happens at the beginning of the movie.Â
I talked about empathy a little bit a couple of posts ago, and the truth is that Kid A has always been really, really empathetic. It is what makes him unable to get through a movie with a plot, because the plot usually involves someone being hurt or alone. But I'm realizing that he really is like other little boys in that he doesn't automatically equate getting shot with arrows or cut with a sword with physical pain. Thus, the gore.
There is a family who lives here now with two little boys, one Kid A's age and one a couple of years older, and I think that this has to do with his recent steps towards manly sword fights and battles. I often come out of my house to find myself under mild attack. Either that or they scurry back toward their "castle", which is a clump of three very tall and thick Douglas Fir trees stuck together at the base with a space in the middle big enough for three or four tiny warriors. Then I find myself looking down a bow shaft. The arrow does have a sucker on the end of it, so I don't feel too threatened.Â
I love the fact that Kid A has other little boys to play with, and I especially love that their castle is made of trees, and I also laugh at the fact that Kid A is busy getting shot in the back (sixty-eight times) and having swords run through him. However, I totally can't relate. My son is, well, a son. I'm a girl. A woman. I'm the one who doesn't like the fight scenes, who yawns her way through the fight scenes, either that or flinches and leaves the room. I love the movie Hero (Chinua is big on Kung Fu) because of the colors, the flying, the breathtaking art of the movie, not the fight scenes.
So it's a bit mysterious to me, this gore, the dying over and over. I'll just watch from a little ways back.
Â
Reader Comments (9)
Boys. They really are their own thing. And we love them for it. Yesterday my boy and man were fighting a giant, and invisible one no less, who kept blowing Peregrine over because his breath was like the wind. I think they must have conquered him though because we've seen no trace of him since.
Watch your back!
My poor only son....I struggled with all of this so much when he was small and obsessed with All Things Weaponlike. He sounds like your guy too, he and I are the ones who cry through the movies and have to leave when they get too intense or sad. It is a lovely combination IMHO, and now that my son is 15, he is no longer obsessed with weapons (maybe a little, he does play WOW) and is so very loving and responsible and still just so sweet.
Trust your innerMamaSelf, and trust your son's. It will all be OK, I promise ;)
This was lovely....I want a room of mattresses to bounce in too, my girls are allowed to do this on our sad saggy mattress. When we get a new one though....not so much.
Mike burned his name into the carpet so he would never be forgotten. I walked into the big house as he was finishing the last letter of his last name and was horrified, to say the least!
well-he got his wish about not being forgotten, but i think he wanted to be remembered with fondness
Oh yes, boys must be boys. I cringe over the gore too, yet I have the gall to ask my boys (8 and 10) to kill big, ugly, hairy Florida-type spiders for me. Then they are my heroes and the gore just makes me happy! ;)
even though i have two daughters i want to post:) i can totally relate to with the roudy energies, Laksmi is six and is constantly doing headstands, on the couch, on her bed near the kitchen table, often kicking others, I thank her dad Ron for that because he taught her,
ever since i became pregnant with both daughters wished i had a son, turns out i'm pretty happy with girls, and there are lots of boys in the world to love and honour.... hearing all you lovely ladies' stories is fullfilling...:)
what fun!
ps.
we have about four giant yoga balls at the krishna farm in our cabin, we've had them for years and are are missing them while in Vancouver, they provide endless hours of safe jumpy fun, (sometimes safe) and are used for some cool yoga poses:)
happy romping!
and i too get board and scared of gore,
my girls can't stand to sit through disney movies long because of the gore thing, and scarry music and yelling, and whats up with those creepy woman queens and sorceresses? especially snow white and sleaping beauty are scarry,
we like aristocats:)
peace...
Ahhh great pillows melting into chocolate. Nice dream. :)
This weekend I was going through the photo albums and remembered what great fun my nephew was. I need to fix him up a collage for the young engineer at work. He will be graduating from Texas Tech this year. One time he had a big rifle. He was trying to get into my car's back seat but the rifle was in the way. We stood there trying so hard not to laugh and giving him enough time to figure it out. After about 10 minutes he got it! That little diaper dude knew just how to get in the tire swing on the tree when he was barely able to walk. And diaper dude had an eye for the pretty women and they of course for him.
the neices were/are great kids. But the biggest laughs we all remember came from boys.
I'm glad you are enjoying your kids and letting them be kids as long as they can be.
I too have a boy who can't sit through a movie with a plot. And he has been playing with swords and stuff ever since he began playgroup. A couple of months ago he told me he doesn't like that kind of play any more, because it isn't nice. I think he has made the connection between real violence and play.
For the time being he plays a lot with the girls in his group, plays with dolls and is constructing LEGO structures. I'm curious how long that will last. And I believe that all children, even girls, have to play out the nasty stuff too.
Mattresses for jumping - how much we would have loved to have them as children.
We definitely need to come and visit now. kids jump time sounds great. Did they fill in the holes in the floor baords too, or can you still look down and see outside?
The Boy does the same. His days are full of slaying giants and fighting monsters but he would run away during the first part of Nemo because he didn't like watching the part where Nemo's mom dies.
Always good quality info from this site!