Odd thing to post I know, but you must agree that my choices are limited. The reason I chose Zoltar is because it brings up a very prominent family memory.
In 1988 the very popular movie, Big, starring Tom Hanks came out. Our boys were young, Jake was 5 and Joel was only 3. After a while it was released on VHS, and by that time Joel was probably 4 years old. We did not have cable TV at that time, so for entertainment, we would rent or borrow movies from the library. Because of our TV situation we often found ourselves watching the same movies over and over again. A parent can only watch The NeverEnding Story or Harry and the Hendersons so many times.
I asked our sister-in-law if she felt the movie, Big would be appropriate for the boys. I was desperate for something new.
Now, I must tell you that also during this period of our lives, I was a stay-at-home mom and had many opportunities to discuss our values and beliefs with both of our sons. I called them teachable moments, and they popped up everywhere. One day, on our way to the grocery, the subject of hell, or at least the word hell came up. I was not sure how or why it came up, but I reminded my 4 year old, (Joel) that we do not say that word unless we are talking about the place. He seemed to get it, and I felt I had done a good job explaining the difference between the noun "hell" and the cuss-word "hell". He seemed to accept that it is only okay to say it if we are talking about the place. I repeated that to him a few times and was at ease.
Back to Zoltar...and the movie.
After clearing the movie with my much respected sister-in-law, we rented it, popped our popcorn and settled in for a nice family evening. For much of the movie, I was not concerned at all. There were a few hints of things that the boys did not pick up on, and things were going well. The one part our sister-in-law failed to mention was a time when Billy's friend goes into the office of Billy's boss and one of them utters the phrase "a**hole". This is NOT something that Steve or I ever say, so we were quite worried about having the boys hear that in a movie. As I was preparing a little speech in my head as to what to say to the boys, Joel immediately makes a connection between our conversation at the grocery and the line in the movie. ( how he connected them, I will never know)
But...as soon as the phrase was uttered, Joel turned to us and said, "It's okay to say that if you are talking about one..."
Now, thinking about the "wisdom" (flawed as it might be), in that statement from a four year old is mind blowing. I guess it is true what they say about "out of the mouth of babes"
