Fun as a kid

Do you ever have the opportunity to watch a movie later in life that you really enjoyed as a kid? I’m not talking about a Sesame Street sing along, but a movie that you liked when you were nine or ten. I guess what I am getting at is a movie which is actually supposed to have a plot and be entertaining to some degree. I watched 3 Ninjas on Encore Movies yesterday and…wow. It’s not so much that I feel bad for watching the movie as a kid, but the fact that I probably forced my mom to watch it several times as well. I felt horrible about it. The acting is atrocious and the story is ridiculous. There really is no redeeming quality to the movie. I almost wanted to call my mom and apologize for forcing her to watch that when I was a kid.

But, I was just a kid. There are lots of things that you should enjoy as a kid because you can’t (or at least shouldn’t) enjoy them as an adult. However, there is one thing that has seemingly flipped as in which age group in society is supposed to enjoy it. It used to be an activity that was for small kids, but now kids are not allowed to play it, at least in many parts of the country. In addition, now there are many adults that play the game (I even think there is some pseudo-professional league on FX). I’m talking about dodge ball. In many places kids are no longer allowed to play dodge ball because too many parents think that it singles out the weaker students in the class. I really hate how much this country coddles kids today and shelters them from feeling any sort of rejection. I’m not going into any in depth debate on parenting. All I’m saying is that every kid should have the luxury to enjoy a gym class or recess with dodge ball. It’s a fun game that a lot of kids really enjoyed. And remember, while parents may be trying to shelter their kids now, they may also be preventing kids from playing dodge ball that may excel at it. Perhaps, excel at it more than anything else they will ever excel at in life. Then, parents will be forcing those kids to feel rejected by almost every adult in society when they are forced to join adult dodge ball leagues someday. And that’s not fair to those kids.