When I first came across the family tradition of a movie night with the kids, our kids were very young. I was absolutely shattered, and there was no way I wanted to get the kids into bed late, lose an evening of ‘me time’ and then suffer over tired kids (and an even more cross-patchy me) the next day.
I got the idea of ‘Movie Night With The Kids’ from a very very good friend of mine over in Ireland. They’ve done it for years and I loved everything about it. The family time, the kids enjoying a special late night (more about this in a bit) and seeing the joy of the anticipation on the kids’s faces as they looked forward to it. I wanted us all to enjoy the same thing…
SO I devised a way to solve the problem…
***I shifted everything earlier!***
And the best bit?
***The kids had no idea!***
We called it ‘late night movie night’ and the kids got so excited about being up late and guess what? They went to bed at the usual time!
It was totally fabulous. We got into PJs, fired up the TV, snuggled up together on the sofa and enjoyed every minute of it. Now the kids are older, they stay up later, sometimes than others depending on what else we have on or how tired they are.
There’s the usual scuffle over which film we’re going to watch and everyone has ‘their’ seat on the sofa and if they inadvertently sit in the wrong place, they feel ‘too weird’ and ‘can’t see the film.’ We eat popcorn, biscuits, crisps, oat cakes or nothing at all. The kids feel loved, we enjoy quiet time together and we laugh together.
Sometimes we have other people over to join us and I really love that too: all the kids lined up on the sofa and all our glasses of wine lined up in our hands…a fabulous start to the weekend.
If you don’t have this family tradition already, I can totally recommend it.
***
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HA! My wife did this to my step son for years. She also changed the clock in the middle of the night so he stayed in bed an hour earlier. Age 8 he worked it out and went MAD! Thanks for sharing this and for linking up #bigfatlinky
Oh my goodness, genius! If only our youngest would stay in bed an extra hour zzzzzzzzz.
Great idea! We quite often have ‘movie afternoons’ but I like the idea of trying an (early) movie evening!
Oh yes do try it – the kids will think you’re the best Mum ever 😉
We do movie night every Saturday night we are home. My kids and I love it. We pick a movie, eat chips and lollies (while I often have a wine or 2) and laugh together as a family. All technology is put away and its time for just us.
I’d have loved to have done this as a kid but we didn’t have a TV. Love the lollies idea! Thank you so much for popping in x
Good post. Live the way you ‘tricked’ or at least convinced the kids that they were staying up late and did a lively thing together through it. It’s something I’ve wanted to do but will definitely give it a try now. Thanks for linking up with us on the #bigfatlinky
Movie nights in our house are one of the best nights, all cuddled up on the sofa popcorn in bowls (usually the 2nd or 3rd bag after my other half has burned the first couple) I love them, thankfully so do the kids.
They’re so lovely aren’t they?? love it that you make your own popcorn too. It can be a bit temperamental I agree. I have to force myself to not get distracted while making it! Thank you so much for popping in x