Mommy Thinks: Should I Let My 6 Year old Child Watch Maleficent?

It was an ordinary Thursday and I knew my 6 year old was bored at home. So I told her we’d go watch Maleficent. I thought the announcement will delight her, but instead, she told me she’d rather stay home and just watch the Disney channel. I was surprised, as I thought she’d been looking forward to seeing this movie. She said, “It’s just about the witch called Maleficent. Princess Aurora will just sleep the entire movie, and then wake up towards the end.” I was amused at her wit and practicality. Oo nga naman. Since I was curious and she gave me the permission to watch it alone, I left her with the yaya and off I went to see Maleficent. I was there early, thus, was able to see and observe the families trickling inside the movie house – most are with their kids. Half of these kids are my daughter’s age. Part of me felt guilty for not bringing her along. Part of me felt bad for her for missing this movie event. The lights went off and the trailers for upcoming movies started. Violence after violence flashed onscreen and I thought to myself, if Aliya was here with me, I’d be covering her eyes 80% of the time. Then the main feature began… the visual feast at the first 5 minutes of the story made me feel even guiltier. I know my baby will love to see these awesome scenes. I thought, I should’ve convinced her that it was worth the trip. However, when the friendship between the young Maleficent and the ordinary-looking Stephan began, and infatuation set in, and the kissing and falling in love part took place, I knew I made the right decision of not insisting we make this a mother and daughter date. You see, I am not a prude when it comes to crushes and attraction, I myself had my first crush when I was in Prep school. But indulge me and believe me when I say, and I say this without bragging, that my daughter has been and is the common crush of 50% of the boys in her class. It started in Nursery (her first year in school, goodness!) and she was only 3 and a half years old, when a classmate said he wants her to be his girlfriend. A few months after, another classmate admitted to having a crush on her, too. Come Kinder year and Prep year, name after name of boy classmates are being mentioned to me by teachers, co-mommies, yayas, to be crushing on my daughter! It was amusing and flattering at first, for it tells how pretty my girl is. But having so many boys getting attracted to her and being teased whenever she’s around isn’t cute anymore. Another huge factor why I’m trying to veer her away from these topics, is when I started noticing how often she mentions this boy’s name from Kids Church. Being her mom, I know something was up. It took only a few days before she admitted, without any prodding from me, that she, indeed is crushing on this boy from Kids Church. I tried to act nonchalant and told her I wasn’t surprised, for I want her to know that first, she can’t keep secrets from mommy, second, that mommy always knows, and third, that there’s nothing wrong about having a crush and that she can always tell me anything. During the same conversation, she admitted to having a crush on this boy from Prep class, too. That one took me by surprise because I only was aware that this particular boy was attracted to her, and that was it. I didn’t know she was attracted to him, too. That made me feel a bit awkward and nervous because come school days and she’d be seeing this boy everyday again. Oh shucks! In fact, I didn’t tell her that this boy’s mommy messaged me if they can visit us at home that weekend. I just didn’t want to entertain any malice, even if they’re only 6 and 7 years old! Anyway, with Maleficent’s story starting with childhood love and attraction, I knew it was very good of me not to bring her with me that day. We could always schedule another mommy-baby date, and we could always pick a movie with a more age-appropriate and innocent but educational theme. So there. If you’d ask me what I think of the movie, well it wasn’t perfect but the entertainment value was excellent. I was never bored and I don’t regret braving the outdoor heat to get to the mall. But when it comes to whether I should bring my daughter along, it was best that I didn’t. A DVD will always be available for when she’s ready and more matured already. 