Ok wait. Don’t actually do that. Unless you are okay tolerating a little too much violence for a great life lesson. Last night my wife and I took our 5 and 7-year-old boys to see the Avengers and here are the lessons learned:
1) Don’t listen to people without kids about what’s okay for kids to watch.
2) Stan Lee is a brilliant man with more impact on culture then almost anyone appreciates (reinforcing this was the fact that only Kate and I laughed at his cameo).
3) Despite being a little too violent for them, there are two big lessons my kids will never forget from this movie that I will reference for a long time as they grow up:
Leaving the theater I asked Isaac (7), “What was Hulk’s problem?”
“He gets angry,” said Isaac.
“What did he have to do to be a good guy?”
“Control his anger.”
Now for a kid who often reacts out of anger and stays angry, I am not sure he could have seen a better example that he could internalize and that Kate and I can use to help reinforce the lesson.
“Jake, what did the super heroes have to learn to beat the bad guys?”
“To work together.”
I’m not sure they’ve seen anything else that comes close to delivering such a clear message in such an entertaining way. From that standpoint I’m not sure Avengers can be beat.
Thank you, Stan and Joss.