When my teenager was little and I was a single mom, we did everything together. We would eat out, visit the bookstore, go shopping and have movie date nights often.
Once I remarried and had more children, we would often have family game nights or movie nights. But as my girl got older and I gave her the title The Teen, her interests and the interests of my other kiddos changed. She no longer wanted to see kiddie movies, she didn’t want to hang out with us. The norm became her in the room, the kiddos in the living room playing, and my hubby and I in our room.
Somehow our movie nights have become sparse.
Lately though, my Teen has been asking to hang out and watch movies with me. I don’t know why? Usually she’s holed up in her room watching Netflix and putting on makeup. However, after she asked several times, I felt like this would be a good opportunity to connect with her.
Insert Amazon, Netflix and Starz surfing! Somehow one evening we ended up watching Ms. Congeniality. She seemed to enjoy hanging out on the couch eating popcorn with me. I enjoyed it too!
A few days later she asked, “What movie are we going to see next?” I must confess, I hadn’t really thought about it, and my mind went blank.
What should we watch next?
First, let me start off by saying that my Teen and I have many things in common. Well, the 15-year-old version of me has many things in common with her. Which can sometimes make “hanging out” tricky for us. As many mothers of teens might attest to, they are kind of bratty and well, annoying sometimes. But after spending that first movie date night with her, I was more encouraged.
So, as all good moms do… I decided to pose a question on Facebook of what Must See movies I should watch with my Teen.
There were many suggestions, some I hadn’t even heard about. Suddenly I realized how exciting this was becoming for both of us.
After discussing the movie suggestions with my Teen, we create our very own Must-See Movie list.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
16 Candles
The Breakfast Club
Pretty in Pink
Stand by Me
The Goonies
Back to the Future
Clueless
10 Things I Hate About You
Romeo and Juliet
Mean Girls
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – I have never seen this movie but the Teen wanted it on the list. So it will be new to both of us.
So far we’ve got some good mom and daughter movie date nights planned ahead.
This whole process has made me reflect back to those days when she would make us watch the same movie and over and over again. When Nemo was all she would ever watch. When we used to have “movie” nights. In the spirit of those days, and because I actually want bonding time with her too, I will try to continue our movie nights during the year. Therefore this list isn’t long enough to cover the whole year. We need more must-see movies. So please leave us suggestions below.
Oh! And if you’ve got teens at home, I encourage you to plan some movie nights with them. You might be surprised at how much you enjoy it too.
“The perks of being a wallflower” is my eldests favorite at the moment. It tackles being a freshmen in high school and not fitting in, to making friends with a group of relatable seniors. I think it’s appropriate for their ages.
I loved that movie. Yes! We have to watch it.
This is a great list!! Classics!!
I need more suggestions on classics. I kind of want to add other movies like Schindler’s list. But that’s a heavy movie even for an adult. And also Apollo 13!
So this one isn’t a “teen” movie, but my teen and I watched it last night and he loved it: Little Miss Sunshine.
Other teen classics/chick flicks: Empire Records, She’s All That, Can’t Hardly Wait, How to lose a guy in 10 days, Fools Rush In, My best friends wedding, The wedding singer, Steel Magnolias.
Steel Magnolias! Totally forgot about that movie. Yes! A classic, thanks for the reminder
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