Worst Date Night Ever

I need to take this moment to share a #momfail with you. Oy. So remember when I was all happy with myself because I tricked, oh, I mean, made a deal with my tweens that if they read the book first, they could watch the movie after? Yeah so this is what went down last weekend on our worst date night ever.

 

 

My 12 year old read all the Maze Runner books in record time. I’m super proud of her for finding her book groove finally, especially since her grade 1 teacher told us that there was something “wrong” with her because she couldn’t spell her own name (RIGHT?! but that’s a whole other blog post). Once she was finished reading the first book we popped some popcorn and watched the first movie on Netflix at home. Total success.

And then came the second movie.

Like any mom, I was super excited to give my kid a reward for doing such a great job and following thru on her promises and goals. I planned a date night to take her to see the second movie of the series in the theatre and even invited a couple of her besties to come along. The plan was for the 3 girls to see the Scorch Trials in one theatre while hubs and I saw a different movie in another theatre. Kinda the perfect date night, no?

 

 

Everyone got tickets, popcorn, drinks, liquorice and a seat and I told the girls where we would meet them after the movie was over. I left them thinking, huh, this whole independence thing isn’t so bad after all.

2 hours later.

Our movie got out 5 minutes before the girls’ movie. We stood outside the theatre door and waited. And waited. And waited. And then there were no more people and no girls.

Ummm.

What the heck? So, of course, mom panic starts to well up in my belly and I start looking around the lobby for the girls and thank goodness, I spot them right away. Walking up to them I asked, “how was your show?” and it was that moment that my 12 year old, not as big as I thought she was, girl burst into tears right there in the concession.

As it turns out, they only made it thru the first 30 minutes of the movie because despite having read the book and all the others in the series AND that she knew every plot twist and intense moment that was coming up, she didn’t account for the scary visual effects that would bring the creepy creatures to life on a very large screen, at full, chair shaking volume.

Poor kid.

Her 2 best friends did what best friends are sworn to do and they followed her out of the theatre when she bolted in tears while muttering that she wanted her mom and dad. Once she calmed down, the 3 of them spent the next 90 minutes sitting at a table laughing and talking and eating their movie treats, patiently waiting for our movie to finish. I’m sure this will be a date night she will never forget.

I guess if I look back at the night now, it’s not so much as a #momfail but more of a #tweentrial. I’d say the lessons here are 3 fold.

1. Kids aren’t always as ready as we think they are for more grown up situations.
2. Everyone needs a couple of best friends who will leave a movie they’re otherwise enjoying to comfort you.
3. We’ll stick with Netflix movies for the next few books. Small screen, safety of home and mom & dad on the couch.

This tween thing is tricky, you guys. Do you have tweens? How are you dealing with older themed movies?

 

 

Special shout out to the gal working the customer service desk at the Crowfoot Cineplex theatre for giving each of the girls a free movie pass to make up for the missed movie they’d already paid for. Kindness counts!