My “Wild Thing”

As a father of three, it is safe to say that I do not make it too many movies. When you factor in the cost, the time involved, the age of my kids, and their ability (or lack there of) to sit still for an extended period of time, going to the movie theatre is not something we do often. It really takes a special occasion, such as a birthday party, or a special movie for us to face the stress of taking the kids to the movies. Ever since I was a young boy Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak has been one of my absolute favorites, so it will come as no surprise that the movie is a must see, especially because I have my own “Wild Thing”.

In an attempt to make it a special family night out, my wife and I didn’t tell the kids that we were going to see the movie (even though they asked a thousand times if we could see it) and headed up to the theater after dinner. Now, I am not here to write a movie review (I thought it was wonderful, by the way) and I promise not to “spoil” anything, but I would like to tell you why this was a powerful teaching tool for my children.

My middle son has some “self-control” issues, battles with his anger on a fairly regular basis, and often (more often then I would like to admit) completely loses control. My wife and I have talked with our son, we have taken him to a councilor, we have talked with the pediatrician, even tried some medication, but there was really no way any of us could adequately describe to our son what he was like when he was “out-of-control”.

Early in the movie Max, the main character of the book and movie, dresses in his wolf suit and makes mischief of one kind and another. Max suffers through some serious frustration and disappointment before he finally snaps and goes completely “out-of-control” before he finds the land of the Wild Things. As this sequence unfolded, my son tugged on the sleeve of my shirt and asked me why Max was so mad and if he was out of control. In a hushed whisper, I explained why Max was angry and that he was out-of-control. I then told him that this is what he looked like when he got out-of-control as well.

Now, this was one of those parenting moments when I was holding my breath because I didn’t know how he would respond. I expected to get the angry, “No, I don’t” response that seems to be his mantra lately, or even an angry outburst. Fortunately, my comment got the reaction I was hoping for. My son looked at me for maybe three seconds, then looked back at the screen for three. When he looked back at me, all he said was “Oh.” It is too early for me to say if he learned anything, or if this will affect his behavior at all, but it was important for him to see what it looks like to be “out-of-control”. He knows when he is out-of-control, but he doesn’t know what it looks like, or what it sounds like, he had never experienced it from someone else’s point-of-view. I hope that this will help my “Wild Thing” learn some of the same lessons that Max had to learn with his “Wild Things”.