A few days ago, Eric asked if he could go with a group of friends to the theater and watch Yes Man. I said I would look at the review on Common Sense Media and get back to him. The review was not good. Language, sexual humor and partial nudity. I suspected as much when I saw that Jim Carey was the star of the film. So I looked at the theater website and saw that The Day the Earth Stood Still was playing about the same time (a little violence, no language, no sensuality) and told him to ask if his friends would go see that instead.
His good group of friends agreed that they would change the feature so that Eric could go. So the plan was to walk home with his friend after school and this friend would take them all to the theater. I told Eric that the trick as youth was to tell their mom that they are going to see one movie, but then get to the theater and go see the one they weren't supposed to. But the problem was that the mom always finds out and then the kid can't be trusted anymore and won't be able to do things like this again. That morning as he left for school, I said to call me if there were any problems or anything and I would come and get him.
That afternoon (it was an early-release day at school) he called and asked me to pick him up at the theater. He said that the theater marquee didn't show the time that Earth Stood Still was playing like it did on the Internet, so all the kids just decided to see Yes Man instead. They told him to come with them, but he said that he couldn't see that movie and called me. When I drove to the theater, he was standing alone against the wall and it just struck me that even though his group of friends were generally good kids, he still his the only LDS kid in the group so sometimes he will have to stand alone. He was fine, not mad or visibly upset or anything, but I knew it bothered him.
I told him how proud of him that I was and that not only did he make me proud, but his Heavenly Father as well. I said I would take him to Sonic for a giant Dr. Pepper because I knew this sucked! When we got to Sonic, he asked if he could get tots too because he didn't get much lunch. I told him I would buy him anything he wanted, I was so proud of his decision! (He got a bacon cheeseburger with Sonic sized cheese tots and a Route 44 dr pepper! - way to take advantage of the situation, son...). I could barely drive, my eyes were wet with tears. I tried to tell him all the wisdom about how his decisions now, regardless of how difficult they might be, are setting the foundation for his life and setting an example for his friends and siblings, etc, etc... I could barely get it out. I just let him eat.
The best part of all is that the next day, he found out that all his friends were kicked out of the movie because someone complained about a rowdy group of kids. It was actually the group behind them, but the manager didn't know the difference and kicked them out just the same.
So, not only would he have disobeyed, filled his head with things he shouldn't be seeing, and then lost his money to top it off.
That there is a great young man, if I do say so myself!
P.S. On the way home from the theater, I asked if he called me because he a) didn't want to do something he shouldn't be doing, or b) he was afraid of his mom.
He answered B.
Hey, whatever works!
