The Valsaints "Meet the Robinsons" And Love Every Minute of It!

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep
moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps
leading us down new paths.”
- Walt Disney

Parents seem to have a hard time gettng and keeping dates with other gown ups - husbands, boyfriends, girls night out - on their schedules. Well, my almost eight year old has this down to a science. We moms and dads can all take a few pointers on how to make it happen and get something out of it. So take notes and pass it on or feel free to print this and give a copy to any mom in your life that needs some help.

I know what you're thinking, only a mom can multitask and give "how to schedule a date" advice in a movie review. Well, you're right. But, I assure the two are related. Keep reading.

How to Set a Date

I walk into after school to pick her up after a long day of 'account management' and magazine business in between. I am met with "Hi Mommi. Can I go home with Mara? Mommi can we go to the movies with Cassidy this weekend."

All eyes are on me as all of the children, awaiting their parents, look at my face in anticipation of the answer, including the two girls which are previously referred to.

But, I am still quick on my feet. I pull the old "I'll have to talk to their moms. So you need to get their phone numbers." She's quick on the draw. She gets two pieces of scrap paper and has each girl write her number down. In the meantime I am mentally scanning her/my/our busy schedule to see if this is even possible. Is there a party this weekend? What time is the soccer game? I don't know Mara's family that well. Should I let her go without me?

I follow her quick draw with my quick draw, in spite of all these unanswered questions in my head. I call the first number, which she tells me is Mara's number; but, the voice on the machine sounds like Cassidy's mother. I leave a message anyway, telling her that we've been chosen for a movie date to see 'Meet the Robinsons' so we should talk to coordinate the details.

Then, I call Mara's mom to try to work out the Friday details.

Both work out.

Making it to the Date

So there we were on Saturday evening walking into the theater 15 minutes into it. This is after the Friday night play date, which allowed me time to go to Target with just one child and spend $360 on spring clothes ant toiletries. God I need to check the bank balance and justify that spensiture to myself and my husband! (But I digress,) Gabbi, Jonathan, Cassidy, Taylor (I added another child to the mix after a quick arrangement by my girlfriend and I to swap babysitting for two of her children today for a few hours in return for one of mine tomorrow for the Girl Scout meeting I can't make because I am scheduled to be at a Tupperware party. I digress again. But the story of scheduling activities is definitely another story for another day .) and the two moms.

Settling in - after the popcorn, drinks and Sour Patch worms run - to the tune of $19 -and finally catching up to the plot, I find a 'message in the movie' fit for parents and children. We will be buying this one for the movie collection.

Movie Synopsis from - http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/meet_the_robinsons/about.php
Based on William Joyce's beautifully illustrated children's book A DAY WITH WILBUR ROBINSON, this lively computer-animated Disney film follows the adventures of Lewis, a young orphaned inventor who is determined to find his birth mother by using a "memory scanner," a device of his own creation. When Lewis meets a boy from the year 2037 named Wilbur Robinson, they begin a charmingly strange time-traveling journey that involves Wilbur’s eccentric family, bowler hats bent on world domination, song-and-dance frogs, and a frustrated Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Lessons To Parents' Lives

1. Stop spending so much time trying worrying about what you think you should have accomplished by now time in your life. Or where you are supposed to be. You are where you were intended to be at this very moment in your life, according to the purpose of your life - not Oprah, not Jill Scott , not your girlfriend, your neighbor or any other person you compare yourself to.
2. It confirms that you can't do anything from negative motivation and expect a positive outcome. So learn to forgive yourself an others in your life and move toward goodness, out of goodness.
3. Make peace with the fact that you don't have answers to all of the"why's" of your past. " Just keep moving," motivated by good and pure intentions and things will work beautifully for you, your children and many others that you didn't expect to impact.
4. That zany family of yours is the foundation of your and your children's understanding of love, self-confidence success, failure and many other characteristics. So no matter the make-up and personalities, we as Black parents shape the understanding of family and their role in the lives of our little ones, now, and in the future. Shape that understanding carefully and purposefully. Remember you are shaping your children's ideas of thier past, their present and their future.

Lessons To Children's Lives - According To The Children

1. Never say never or I can't. Those are words that show that you don't believe in yourself.
2. Keep trying, even if you are afraid you might not succeed.

So, see I did it. Tied it all together and sent a message all in one fell swoop. I'm a bad mama!

If you've seen it tell me what you think. If you haven't tell me what you think about my take-away.