And it was A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E! I highly recommend it. It was funny, touching, and insightful. It gave very simplified and entertaining explanations about what is going "in there" and how that translates to behavior. Giving credible reasons for the sulky, volatile actions of an 11-year-old in a way that makes you laugh and yet still want to be more understanding is an impressive feat in my book.
Most of all, I hope it makes us all stop and think about a couple of things:
1. There are legitimate reasons and developmental tasks for the alternating baffling/infuriating things our children do sometimes. Learn about those developmental tasks so you can clearly see them coming. You could even help them go more smoothly if you are an over achiever. (Wink Wink) Understanding our children makes the relationship stronger, and I am here to tell you, stronger relationships are MORE FUN. Seriously, when you understand someone it is easier to have fun with them. And I love fun.
2. The attempt to understand the inner workings of the brain has reached all the way into animated movies! The efforts have affected marketing, education (still hoping that one will go a lot deeper), automobile design, medicine, and just about every field on the planet. While I believe this is a good thing, I also have seen this information completely misused and abused for the sake of making a buck.
There are drinks full of sugar, artificial colors and other junk that are marketed as helping certain brain functions go better. It's a pile of crap, plain and simple. But I've seen them on the shelves for several years so someone is buying them. Maybe if we had a basic understanding of neuroscience, we wouldn't fall victim to some of the lies. And that would be awesome!
On the flipside, we could also adjust our actions---sometimes in the smallest of ways. (Like turn the math flashcards over to SHOW the answer. You want them to know the answer, right? So teach the answer!) Those changes could make someone's life better, and THAT should be the point of all the new things we are learning.
So if you get the chance to see "Inside Out" do it, you'll enjoy it and you might learn something---I did!
P.S. I was not in any way compensated by anyone associated with the movie "Inside Out"---in fact, I paid $23 for the tickets and we won't mention how much at the concession stand. Still worth it.
Learn about the developmental milestones of your children in an easy-to-understand format by taking our online course--Brain Developmental 101 .
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