So my son and I have this ongoing battle. It’s about movies. About which ones he should watch, how often he should watch them, and if he watches them on the t.v. or the computer. Seriously. He’s not even three-years-old. The moment I reach out my arms to get him out of his crib in the morning he says, “movie.” He says it with this hopeful tone and raised eyebrows. “No movie. It’s time for breakfast. We don’t watch movies during breakfast.” I must say this EVERY morning. He still asks for one EVERY morning.
The problem is Ryan doesn’t really like to play. He likes to either be flat on his back watching a movie, or doing…. doing somersaults, putting toys in and out of containers, picking his letters out of a book or taking everything out of the kitchen drawers. So almost every day I break down by the afternoon and let him watch a movie. It’s the same every day – I get him out of his crib after his nap, he looks at me with eyebrows raised and chirps in his little voice, “Movie”. I nod this time and he says, “Yay! Movie!” He nearly wets his pants with excitement.
Okay, problem solved, you think. Yeah, not so much. See, Ryan has the attention of a 2 yr-old. He watches very few movies the whole way through. So we spend the next twenty minutes with him picking out movies, me putting them in going through the whole menu and pushing play, him watching 5 minutes before starting the process all over again. It’s painful. Very painful. The only movies he’ll watch the whole way through are The Story of Joseph, Little Einsteins (until it gets to the scratch and won’t play anymore), the Letter Factory et al, Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper, and Barbie and the Three Musketeers. Henry and I have decided he needs a boy movie for Christmas. Maybe then he’ll watch them. Any ideas?
(c) 2016 Leighann Marquiss
Comments (19)
My son is 2 1/2 and loves trains…maybe get him some Thomas or Chuggington train dvds. He also loves tractors and combines and if Ryan would like those, John Deere has a whole selection of ones geared toward kids with songs and such too. Amazon carries a lot of them for good prices.
Chris loved Diego at that age 🙂 He also likes Disney movies not so geared to girls like Finding Nemo, Lion King and Jungle Book.
Wendy
Toy story
toy story.
Cars! Lion King! Toy Story!
My son LOVED the Disney Robin Hood, because all the characters are animals…Robin Hood is a fox, Little John is a Bear, etc. It’s a really cute movie 🙂
There is a series called “Mighty Machines”, favorites of my boys.
You need short videos like the Thomas ones or Christian ones like Skeeter and there is also a car series that I can’t think of the name that is pretty good for his age. Scott-Wesley has out grown them and I woudl be happy to send them to Ryan for you to try if you woudl like. Email me mythreesonz@carolina.rr.com if you want some:)
Veggi Tales!!!!
My son who is just a little younger than Ryan loves Barney, Sesame Street and Caillou. He also likes Blues Clues.
Someone mentioned mighty machines and it was a sure fire winner in our home with our little guy (who isnt so little anymore as he just turned 14). I have so many fond memories of that movie. He watched it DAILY!! sometimes 2x’s in a row. He was utterly fascinated by the machines and the “theme song” which when we get all nostalgic around here he can still sing it. It cracks us up! I used to worry he watched it to much but he is turning out fine. 🙂 He was more into the “real thing” kind of movie and not animation so Mighty Machines was a winner for us. Good luck choosing!!
patti in Indiana
Cars was a good one. Finding Nemo is like watching an aquarium when they are too young, and so it is like a sleeping pill. Handy in the car, though.
Fisher PRice little people has some great videos/DVDs. Each vignette is about 5 minutes long, so you can watch only a couple of them or the whole thing (30 minutes total). Toy Story 2 is good. If he likes tractors/construction equipment, you can get DVDs of these. Veggie tales or any sing-a-long might be good. Just tome ideas.
My older brother LOVED Thomas the Train movies when he was little! Also, Veggie Tales is a must, because it’s in 30 chunks, good for a short attention span. 🙂
Oops! I meant to say “30 minute chunks” xP My bad!
Bob the Builder, Little Bear and Franklin are my ideas for you. I did an “AWWWW” when you described Ryan saying “movie” with eyebrows raised. Such a cute visual I got when reading that! Good luck.
My 2-year old loves Cars, Finding Nemo, Lion King, and Day of the Diesels (Thomas) but if you are looking for a shorter one, he really likes Pocoyo. And the episodes are short…like 10 minutes max.
Definitely Cars, Lion King, and Mighty Machines. Those are the ones my son loved at that age!
Our son already loved trains, and liked Thomas, but the Thomas videos grew old when nothing else did. When he got a little older, they were fine. The “movie of the year” at this age, judging by Jonathan and now friends’ kids is “Polar Express.” I’m still amazed that 2 year olds watch it all.
“Curious George” seems to be a hit, too.