Educational purposes
I had to think hard about what to write about in this week's Cine Kids edition because some problems occurred in our apartment which we discovered in the last few days and needed immediate attention. It was quite a bit of work and I'm running behind with the other things on my to-do list. These days are usually not too great in terms of inspiration so it took me a bit. Thankfully, I'm still in time to publish this week's edition on Friday and even before the evening falls so I think in the end I managed to get my tasks out of the way quite well.
This week I want to focus on children's content that can be seen as entertaining as well as informative or even educational at the same time. You may remember that I discussed some tv shows that could assist children in learning a foreign language quicker or easier, at the very least more fun. Well, I think there are much more reasons to watch certain movies than to learn a foreign language. Today's topic is movies that inspire empathy.
I think many parents will recognize that their children's education has paused/been slower in the past years when we were going through a pandemic. Especially if you have older children and can compare their progress at the same age, you will see things are harder on the current generation that had to learn how to learn from home and be much more responsible with their school work without the teacher and classmates around to motivate them.
What we have seen with our daughter (she was just in kindergarten back then) is that she lacked some real social skills and interaction with children. We can still see that her learning path is much slower than others who may have had siblings or more family around during the pandemic. Thankfully, children are resilient and she's learning quite fast now.
I thought it might be fun to highlight a few movies that I found that inspire empathy. Let's see if you have seen them and agree with my picks for today.
The BFG (2016)
I have fond memories of the Big Friendly Giant but in book form. I read this book so often as a child and it was one of my favorites, I remember. When you connect Roald Dahl, Walt Disney, and Steven Spielberg you are almost certain that the movie is going to be worth watching.
I remember being in awe about the BFG and it instantly made me very empathic about this kind of giant. I don't remember the details I read when being a child, so it was a trip down memory lane for me to see this movie. I'm thinking about watching the movie again soon and also (over time) letting my daughter read the original book of this story to see if she enjoys it as much as I did in the past. The movie is rated at 7+ so I guess both the movie and books could be fun for her.
Have you seen the movie? Did you feel this could help kids feel empathy?
The Neverending Story (1984)
I bet picking this movie will make some people use this moment to mock me once again because there is still no unicorn to be found in the Neverending Story, which I really thought looking back at these older movies last year. I have mistaken this movie with another one that I shall not name in case I dig an ever deeper hole because I seem to get it wrong sometimes, lol.
Anyway, talking about The Neverending Story is like going back to my childhood as well, the movie came out the year that I was born and I remember seeing it so often during different parts of my childhood. I can remember seeing it on TV (or maybe it was a VCR, who knows) and being so curious about the secret enchanted book. But what I mostly remember is the magical worlds and the "flying dog" as I used to call it when I was a child. The look on his face is so adorable! I still feel the same btw haha.
When I read the comment section of the trailer below, I read someone mentioning the death of Artrax was probably the most traumatic experience of the first 10 years of his childhood. Funnily I don't even recall the scary or very sad moments only the good feeling I had with this movie. I guess it didn't leave a scar on my soul, or maybe it was so traumatic that my brain made Artrax a unicorn so it was a happy memory instead of traumatic? What do you think 
Look at that face, so adorable isn't it? What are your memories of The Neverending Story?
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Aha, another movie pick where Steven Spielberg was involved, I guess in our time he was such a great director that many of the good ones were directed by him. He sure was one to stand out, I can recall that even from being a child.
Who doesn't remember E.T.? I thought he looked adorable and I also recall feeling very sad about E.T. not having his family around and that I even shed some tears while watching this story unfold during the movie. I just discovered while watching the trailer that the movie has had a re-appearance in the theatres some years ago. I had no clue but would have probably made an effort to see this golden oldie again.
I never saw this movie with my daughter, I will try to watch it with her soon, even if it was to have a personal trip down memory lane, haha. I guess the kids of this newer generation can't always appreciate what we loved in our childhood, so it will be fun to find out if this is one that grabs her attention or not.
Did you see E.T. as a child? What are your personal memories?
Curious about your thoughts
If you feel the same about them being great picks to inspire empathy or not, or that you have some cool childhood memories to share. All your comments or posts are welcome and make sure to leave the link below if you wrote a post about any of these movies or today's topic to inspire empathy.
See you next week!
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