I am a proud aunt. My niece and nephews are the best people in the entire world and I couldn't possibly enjoy spending time with them more than I do.
Now, I know that everybody says this, but these kids truly are the best. They are funny, they are sweet, they are kind and hearing them laugh is my favorite sound. Thankfully, they do it a lot! Hardly a moment goes by that they aren't either doing something to make each other laugh or laughing at something around them and it's intoxicating to hear.
One of my favorite things to do with them is to watch movies. Which works out well because they love movies. They love all movies. And they love to watch them on repeat over and over and over... When they were younger we ended up watching Scooby Doo and My Little Ponies more than I care to remember. They were movies with good moral values and fun and "entertaining" stories. Which is great for kids. But not so fun for adults. Now they've graduated to films that I not so secretly enjoy watching too and I'm loving watching their reactions to films I saw growing up or hearing them laugh at parts in movies that I thought they may not get.
Last week I spent 7 days at the beach with them and we watched a total of 3 movies. We watched 3 movies, but I saw each of them probably about 45 times. Most notably we watched the new Lego Batman Movie and a personal favorite of mine, Superstar. I was not expecting to particularly care for the Lego Batman Movie, but I must admit that I found it to be humorous on so many levels that I actually enjoyed watching it more than once. The kids liked it so much that they were screaming "BARBRA!" to me as they zipped past on their jet skis.
Superstar was my pick and probably not a typical movie to show to young(er) kids, but I'm an aunt and I'm supposed to do things with them that maybe others wouldn't do. Or at least thats the excuse I will use for letting/making them watch a movie that uses insults like panty waist and boob sweat. (Two phrases that we used repeatedly over the week - what can I say, I'm a bad influence.) Don't worry, the kids are old enough to know that calling people those names is NOT okay and they know it's JUST a movie.
The point is not that I'm a horrible influence on them - even though I absolutely love to see their faces when I say something they know I shouldn't! - it's that watching a movie with a kid brings a whole new level of enjoyment. So often as adults we forget how to laugh at ourselves or how to belly laugh at something just because it's funny. When you watch a movie with a kid it's so easy to get lost in their enjoyment and see the movie in a completely different light.
I really cherish all of the time that I get to spend with them and I don't care what it is we are doing. As long as they laugh. And as a film buff, I'm thrilled that they like movies so much. It's something we can share. And I would do anything to hear them laugh the way they do when they see Molly Shannon slam a door dramatically screaming "You're Horrible! Horrible! Horrible!"
above clip credit YouTuber WreakXHavoc
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