Once I learned that the hottest film of the year is not about a guy, much like me, who irons his jeans and t-shirts before going to the corner store, I?figured it may be worth a look, eventually.?I never think about going to a summer-ish blockbuster until a few weeks after it’s released because I have no tolerance for long lines, bad seats, people kicking my chair, and all of the other annoyances that come with watching a movie with a bunch of strangers. At $11-$12 a ticket I?firmly believe that I should enjoy?a movie without someone’s foot on the top of the chair next to me, or someone shouting “yeah, I’m at the movies… Iron Man… No that hasn’t happened yet… Naw, she’s right here, you want to holler at her?” Anyway, none of this?rant was related to my point.

The issue at hand here is that my son wants to see the movie and so does the wife and I. Of course the film is PG-13, which means that Dev is about eight years away from actually being?the age that?the ratings board deems old enough to see the movie. Usually I hold firm to believing that such a film is inappropriate for?my son.?However, recently?I have?discovered that Dev has seen, and not in my house mind you, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, the most recent King Kong, and?The Lord of the Rings, and others, all of which are PG-13. How this has happened escapes me, at least?to some degree. I do understand how some of those movies can seem like family fare, although King Kong and LOTR have some creepy scenes that can give even adults the heebie jeebies.

With this in mind I almost can’t see a problem with taking the kid. But I do. If the wife and I don’t keep to our rules then who will??I’m not?saying that Dev will be 13 when I take him to his “first” PG-13 film, because I’m sure he will not be, he just won’t be five. Or does it not matter at this point? Is there any going back after the kid has seen Johnny Depp play a drunk, effeminate (yet somehow manly) pirate? I’m not sure. For now I suppose?we will probably stick to our guns.

From this I am learning how fast kids grow up, and that I have to stay on my toes even now. With age Dev is getting smarter?and is learning that Mommy and Daddy’s rules can be broken when hanging out with others so long as he?doesn’t throw it?in?their?faces.?In reality the only way I found out that he had seen the aforementioned movies in the first place was because as he scanned our DVD library he mentioned all of the movies he had already seen. (Kids slip like that a lot, though I suspect he’ll be better at keeping secrets sooner then I’d like.) When asked to clarify he said “I didn’t see those movies.” I asked him again, he?let out?a guilty giggle which told me he had given up, and he reaffirmed everything. I hope he’s always as easily broken when being interrogated by his dad.?