Age Appropriate

To my son Tommy,

     Last night we watched Mars Needs Moms or as you say "mays moms".   We have it recorded on the DVR as you are in the stage of learning through repetition, so you can watch the same movies over and over and over and over again, sometimes back to back.  You have quite the diverse list of movies; Santa Clause 2, Horton Hears A Who, The Muppets (Muppets Treasure Island, The Great Muppet Caper, Muppets Take Manhattan, just about every one of them), Elmo's World Happy Holidays (Christmas is not just for December with you), Cars 2, The Smurfs, along with about dozen tv shows that you will come in or out of favor on any given day.

     But this movie Mars Needs Moms is easily the most mature subject theme.  It deals with some deep emotions and concepts such as loss and love and loneliness.  I am amazed at your ability to "get it", to actually understand and grasp the concepts shown.  You constantly amaze both your mom and I with your intellect, emotion, and understanding.  Of course the moment I start bragging about how smart you are, one of those teachable moments come along where you slam your finger in a book and keep holding the book closed on your finger even though you are crying.  To be fair though that event happened when you were one year old or there abouts.

     So your lesson for the day, do not assume someone will not understand simply because of their age.  Never use something so simple as how many days spent on this spinning globe to determine someones intellect or ability to comprehend.  If you are anything like your father, many people will not give you credit for your advanced intelligence because of your age.  It something you will have to learn to deal with.  Hopefully you will deal with it better than your father did.  

    Conversely, do not assume something is too young for a person. Even though you can handle advanced concepts at such a young age, some of your favorite toys and movies and such were created for a younger audience.  To this day some of MY favorite toys and movies were created for a much much younger audience.  Which of course is extremely cool right now because we can play with all types of toys together and then unwind to a nice Disney classic.

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo