Monday, September 03, 2007

And now we're back...

We are back in Switzerland, safe and sound, enjoying the attention and purrs of a long-neglected little Sierra, and desperately trying to make it just a few more hours before we allow ourselves to crash into bed and sleep for as long as possible. The flight was ok, our plane from SFO to Paris (the long leg-- 11 hrs) was a double-decker, and Zach got us upgraded to the top level which was considerably more comfortable. It's no business class, mind you, but seeing as how cramped those Air France seats usually are (when little 5'5" me has her knees touching the seat in front, that's cramped, people) we were both VERY glad for the extra several inches of legroom. Unfortunately it was still fairly uncomfortable, and I hardly was able to get any sleep despite being utterly exhausted, but oh well. We're here. It's over. I won't have to make another trip like that for... 9 months. Of course, by then we'll have an infant child to deal with as well, I'm sure that makes flying much more convenient and easy, right? ; )

The movies were ok, I got to watch part of Ocean's 12 and most of one of the Shrek sequels (the one where Fiona has a baby). I have to say, I like the Shrek movies and they're cute and all, but they are so not geared towards kids. Every joke seemed to be plays on stereotypes and things that only adults would get, and did they really have to slap and punch each other all the time? (or introduce children to the stereotype that men are afraid of babies and fatherhood? Or have even the good characters be so friggin rude and mean half the time? And let's not even get into the scene where Arthur throws a huge tantrum to get his way with Merlin... yeah that's a great lesson to teach kids...) I dunno. I guess I've started seeing Disney movies in a new light the past few years, and especially now on the cusp of mommy-hood, and this one in particularly struck me as not very young child friendly. Yes, they have the nice message at the end, but do I really need to sit through 1.5 hrs of glorifying violence, rudeness, and unabashed name-calling to get to it? Then again, it's one of my big goals to stay away from TV and movies as much as possible for the first several years of my kids' lives, so I guess you can just call me a Montessori nut.

Ok, random rant over. I have been so exhausted the past few days... I think I overdid it a bit the first 3/4 of our trip, with all the shopping and weddings and going out with people, and it started catching up to me a few days ago when suddenly I was wanting naps all the time again. I'm hoping a few days of rest and lots of sleep this week will get me back on track.... and I'll have to watch it from then on.

4 comments:

  1. Shrek was Dreamworks, not Disney. The Disney people seem to be more conscientious about what they put on screen.

    I haven't seen the third Shrek yet, but I remember the second one crossed the line too many times for me. I'm all for thowing in jokes the adults will appreciate, but it seems the second movie stopped being for the kids and now was just for the adults - but the kids still want to see it. I guess the third one went even further in that direction.

    Maybe you should try British Airways next time - the long flight was always a nice, big plane for me. The crummy part was the flight from London to Madrid, where they stuck you in a little plane after being in the nice, big one.

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  2. We've been flying Air France b/c they have the most convenient flight path between here and San Francisco, so Zach's used them a lot for business and when we moved, and so now also have a bunch of miles. We may try someone else for when we fly directly to Texas or something...

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  3. Don't think it's just you. I won't even turn on Fox in the evenings because of the level of violence in the previews, and the thematic elements of most Disney teen and pre-teen targeted shows are awful - kids running wild, getting into trouble, disobeying mom and dad, with trite punishment or consequences to wrap up the episode.
    The electronic babysitter can be a nice break now and then, but Ryan's play is so much more imaginative when I leave that puppy off, so I'm making a concerted effort (including not having cable) to keep it turned off.
    Especially now that we don't have as much time together I find it much easier.

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  4. When we had fosterlings (ages infant-3) we bought a bunch of Blue's Clues, Dora & Diego videos. I found that there might be a decent program on TV for the kids now & then, but the commercials that they played during the kids show for other shows were awful!

    When the kids were getting closer to 4 we let them watch the old live action Batman & Robin & Wonderwoman rather than the cartoons. They loved playing superheroes & there wasn't the dark undertone that is in a lot of the new superhero stuff.

    Anyways, glad you made it home safe & sound. :)

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