#SOL18 Day 17 The Flower

Friday is often "Family Movie Night" in our house. We have a "smart TV" which includes Amazon right on it. Most of the time, we select a new movie to buy to add to our Amazon library of movies. We are building quite a collection. I always encourage my children to watch one of our purchases again, but they always seem to want a new movie. It's way cheaper and more convenient that actually leaving the house to go to the movie theater, and by Friday, I'm usually fine with spending the money to have some snuggly couch time with my 7 year old and 5 year old. 

 Last night, Alex chose Ferdinand, a movie based on the story of the flower-loving, peaceful bull. Near the beginning of the movie, there is a part where the young Ferdinand is trying to protect a little red flower that he found. The other bulls don't understand his peaceful ways and pick on him. One bull angrily stomps on the red flower, crushing it. Right at that moment, my son's eyes filled with tears and he wept with sadness about the flower. 

 I scrambled to tell him the flower would pop back up again (such a lie) and it would be okay. His reaction surprised me. It was sad to see the flower crushed, but I didn't realize how upsetting it was to him. I think he really felt how much Ferdinand loved the flower and felt outraged/sad that the little flower got crushed. 

 Megan, meanwhile, spent the next portion of the movie worrying that Ferdinand was going to step on flowers at the farm he escaped to which was literally covered in flowers. I told Megan he wouldn't and it was fine, but the worry persisted. I think she didn't want to see her brother upset again, but it was the meanness of crushing that one little, lone flower that saddened Alex- not really the idea that a flower might get stepped on by a flower-loving bull. 

 The movie was very sweet and made me think of the dangers of toxic masculinity- the idea that we all have a role to fulfill and you mustn't step out of your assigned role. Ferdinand was big and strong but didn't want to be a fighter, even though that is what every other bull was brought up to be. There was the theme of being yourself but we often find that in movies with girls as protagonists. I don't recall that many movies that show a boy choosing to do peaceful, artistic things instead of fighting. (If you know some, remind me!)

 There are many moments in a day and even more in a week and so much goes by and out of my mind, but I know I will hold onto the moment that my son felt so much empathy for a little bull who loved a red flower. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#SOL16 Lesson From Piper

Image
Have you seen the Disney Pixar Short film Piper ?  If not, go watch...I'll wait. :) I watched this movie today with a few of my students who stay after school for "Club Success" (formerly called "tutoring" but this feels way more positive for the kids who are asked to stay). After we watched Piper , we wrote about the movie and then shared our writing. Each of the three students who wrote touched upon the idea that Piper had to learn how to get the food for herself. Some students mentioned the pride she felt after she learned how to survive the big waves and find food.  We talked about the mistakes she made and how they helped her to learn.  I think this video is a MUST WATCH for a few reasons.  1- It really makes you think about the process of learning and how uncomfortable it can feel when you move to trying something new for the first time.  2-Piper learned by her failed attempts and eventually by finding a mentor and trying his strategy. 3-When
Read more

A Working Mom's "I am" Poem #sol15 Day 16

Image
Disclaimer: I have nothing but respect for moms who "stay at home." It is the hardest job.  In my brief stints being a stay at home mom while on maternity leave and on summer vacations, I know that the days are exhausting and challenging.  This poem attempts to capture how I feel about life at the moment, being a third grade teacher and a mom to 2 kids under the age of 5. I am a Working Mom I am exhausted and never done.  I wonder how to find the elusive "work-life" balance  I hear my alarm go off at 3am and trudge downstairs to do the work I couldn't do when the kids were awake I see my work bag,bulging, begging me to finally pay it attention. I want 5 minutes to myself. I am exhausted and never done. I pretend I can do it all I feel the need to eat lots of chocolate I touch my children's soft little cheeks and hug them. I worry I am missing important moments with them. I cry when I feel like I am drowning from it all. I am exhausted and n
Read more

#SOL19 You Can Go Your Own Way

Image
If you were looking at an Identity Web for me right now (Sara K. Ahmed's Being the Change has been on my mind with our recent #twtblog series and a book study/ workshop I facilitated with the Long Island Writing Project), you would see the added role of "Daisy Co-Leader" as another hat (or Girl Scout tunic?) I am wearing. My daughter, Megan, is a kindergarten student and I have signed on to be her Girl Scout troop co-leader. My fabulous friend and colleague (and down the street neighbor!) is the leader of the troop and she is everything you've ever dreamed of in a Daisy troop leader- enthusiastic, creative, organized, kind, thoughtful, and ambitious. Our troop has done A LOT in our short six months together.  Last night was another Daisy event. We met up with other Girl Scouts from our town and the town right next to us for a "Paint Night." Each girl got a canvas and paints and was instructed, step by step, on how to make a snowman in a winter sc
Read more