New Moon and Melodramatic Daughters: The Twilight Saga from a Parent's Point of View

By Justine C. Tajonera

I joined giddy tweeners and teenagers last Friday, lining up to watch the movie, New Moon. Like a lot of them, I also read the books. In fact, I have my own team: Team Edward. I've heard others have switched to Team Jacob because of Taylor Lautner's hot bod which deserves its own credit. I enjoyed the whole saccharine bit of the movie, not caring what the critics say.

Actually, I had a weird sensation of seeing myself enjoy the movie both as the young girl that I was and as the parent that I now am. You see, I was a melodramatic daughter. I loved drama. When I fell in love, I fell in love really hard. I actually remember being Bella: all earnest heartache, all reckless emotion. I was the kind of daughter who rebelled over love (or what my parents must have called "puppy love"). It sounds funny now. But it wasn't funny then. Nope. It meant the world to me.

So, I actually invite parents who are skeptical over the books and the movie to consider entering their daughter's world. You have no idea what might be going on. Any kind of emotion that your child is going through is serious business for her. Consider that she puts her whole heart into something. But what does she know, right? She doesn't know what the world's like. She has no idea that what she's feeling is just infatuation or the pale shadow of what we know is real love. But she doesn't know that.

The books and the movie are popular. That can't be denied. Is it good for your kids? You might disagree. But what you can do is enter your daughter's world. You might have the best of intentions. You might be protecting her for her own good. But you need to see it from her side, too.

I also saw myself as either Edward's or Jacob's mom. Actually, as early as now, I worry over what kind of gentleman my son turns out to be. Even at almost three years old, he is as Bella called Jacob, beautiful. When he grows up, he will break a few hearts just by walking down the street. Because I've been Bella, I worry over the girls who will love him. It's a happy problem, really, because my son is the sweetest thing. I want to raise a boy who will know how to love and respect women. I want to raise a boy who will love with all his heart and treat girls graciously: the pretty ones, the plain ones, the ones who are audacious and the ones who are shy, the reserved ones and the melodramatic ones.

So, while you might think New Moon is all hype and Dear Diary trash, please be curious and take the time to watch it. If only only to enter the world of your children and see what's going on: their earnest yearnings, their repressions, their ideas about love, their heartbreaking choices, their funny questions, their weird logic.


(Nov. 21, 2009)

Badger and Charlie Bird: Engaging Your Child On All Levels

by Justine C. Tajonera

Lately, we've gotten sick of listening to Badger's CD, "Charlie Bird Counts to the Beat." He got it as a gift from his Tita Ines. It was part of a set: a lovely and colorful board book and an accompanying music CD. It's under this book series called "Baby Loves Jazz." We got it a long time ago but we never really appreciated it until now since Badger can already talk.

He loves it to death. He counts to it and he kind of sings to it (in his cute off key way). I couldn't believe that he actually loves the jazz beat. After countless road trips listening to Barney, it was refreshing to hear something different (and something that an adult could appreciate as well). The thing with our toddler is he loves repetition. He can't get enough of Charlie Bird.

I would recommend the whole set up to other parents: interact with your kids on different levels. What's nice about Charlie Bird is that there's a book that he can refer to so he sees different colors and animals and then there's the jazz beat that he can hear and relate to each picture in the book. That way, he's fully engaged. It's also great that the numbers are also spelled out so now he's interested in the way the numbers are spelled and it's going to lead him to his first reading forays one of these days.

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