“Dad! Dad!”
On Wednesday, my mom and dad took Charlie to see The Lion King. Charlie sat through all 2 1/2 ours of the show and liked it best when most of the cast came onstage and everyone sang and danced together. In the scene after Simba the lion king’s father is dying and Simba is calling out “Dad! Dad!” to his father, my parents recounted how Charlie sat on the edge of his seat, his hands in theirs, his eyes huge and riveted on the scene onstage.
Charlie, my parents told me, was genuinely worried about seeing a dad lying motionless on the ground (on stage), for all of his child’s calls to him. Charlie was imagining himself in Simba’s—in someone else’s—-situation and responding at the thought of dad-in-trouble: Charlie understood fully the emotional content of the show, and was displaying what I think would have to be called empathy as he took on the perspective of Simba, of someone else—and of a child in distress on seeing something wrong with a parent.
“Dad! Dad!”
Said the once and future lion king.
7 opinions for “Dad! Dad!”
Niksmom
Sep 1, 2007 at 1:39 pm
That is simply beautiful. I can picture it. What do the “experts” know anyway, right!? Love that boy of yours.
Leila
Sep 1, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Wow, this is great.
I can’t wait to see my son paying attention to a movie or play, and feeling involved in the story.
joycemocha
Sep 1, 2007 at 8:19 pm
The power of drama is amazing, isn’t it?
I think that live productions like this have the amazing potential to draw out empathy and raise feelings in our kids that they might not experience otherwise. When you consider that they are multi-sensory experiences in ways that viewing a television show or a movie might not be–live voices, live music, live action–the implications are very valuable and worth considering.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Sep 1, 2007 at 10:13 pm
The music does a lot for Charlie especially!
Linda Sullivan
Sep 1, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Does he have/listen to the soundtrack on his Ipod?
M'sDad
Sep 1, 2007 at 11:09 pm
This is a fantastic story. Great!!!!
Kristina Chew, PhD
Sep 1, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Linda, he doesn’t have the soundtrack…….not yet but soon probably…….
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