The kids and I just returned from seeing "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs." Our local parks and recreation department teamed up with a local movie theater to show family movies in a special needs friendly environment. We've been to this activity twice this year.
Getting Jonathan to go to a movie was impossible prior to this. He didn't like the volume, dark lighting or the structure of a movie theater. My husband doesn't like paying $10 a person for a movie. Today's activity cost $5 a person and addressed all Jonathan's sensory needs. The movie theater management left the lights on, turned the volume down and encouraged kids to move around and make noise.
It was great!
I chuckled to myself as pre-teen in the back proclaimed, five minutes after arrival, he was ready to go home. I related to the two women who negotiated a mutual compromise with him. He could sit by the door with his flip phone opened. He was content the rest of the movie.
A couple of other younger boys behind me made involuntary, unrecognizable and loud noises throughout the movie. It didn't seem to bother anyone in the theater. A toddler crawled up and down the aisle while other patrons either ignored him or walked around him. Faith stood most of the movie, because she's not heavy enough to keep the seat from folding up on her. If she wasn't standing, she was sitting on the top of the folded seat, so she could see. No one fussed at her to sit down. Advertised to begin at 9:15 a.m., Jonathan began reporting the time at 9:13. At 9:15 he declared every couple of minutes the movie was late. The last time he chimed was 9:33 a.m.
I sat in my seat and chuckled at the quirkiness of the environment around us. One boy wanting to leave, one boy broadcasting the time every few minutes while another one crawled on the floor. The best part of the morning was looking at all the smiling and relaxed parents letting their kids be themselves and not worrying about who it might bother.
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Comments (2)
That's great! A friend of mine shared the link to the sensory friendly movie playing close to us, but sadly it wasn't close enough (nearly 2 hours away). I wish more theaters would do this, however. It would speak volumes that our kids are just as acceptable in public as anyone else's.
You are lucky to live in such a caring and responsive community.