Plot Summary: A young man, taking care of his
aging father, does his best to cope with his father’s idiosyncrasies and the
demands that his father places on their relationship. Eventually the son comes
to his own resolve and accepts the relationship for what it can be.
Lessons and healing themes in
this story:
- Having to take care of a parent
- Realizing a parent is getting too old to take care of him or herself
- Relationships between fathers and sons
- Trying to have a family bond that you have never had before
- The importance of opening up and not keeping our feelings inside – for both kids and their parents. This is the best way to get connectedness in a parent-child relationship, something children sometimes long for
The role of fathers in parenting is now considered to be more critical – and special – than it once was. Both boys and girls struggle in their childhood with how their dads deal with them, sometimes leaving them with painful feelings over not being close to their dads.
In “Sometimes I Don’t Like My Child” I mentioned how
this can negatively affect the future of girls, getting them addicted to the
pain of an abusive relationship [see the write-up for the movie, Sophie’s Choice] . In their later years, these feelings are difficult and painful to deal
with for both young men and young women.
This movie is rated Parental Guidance, so it might be a good
idea to watch it first alone before you show it to your kid. But it’s a good
movie for fathers and mothers both.
I mentioned in Sometimes I Don’t like My Child that
when they’re still young girls tend to enjoy a close relationship with their
dads, which then disappears around adolescence. This story will be great
education to fathers how to be emotionally available to both boys and girls, and
to give time to these relationships – because this can greatly improve the future
prospects of the whole family.
Forget the fact that the father in this case is aging and
about to die, the lessons in this movie will come in handy whether the father
is in his sixties or his thirties!
If you suspect that your child or children feel that you’re
never there for them, or you don’t have time for them, this movie will likely
help rectify that shortcoming.