by Rachel Hancock

As many of you know, last Sunday was the Oscar awards. I want to talk about this because it can be a good bonding experience between everyone. The awards can seem almost the same as a TV show, with all of the frustration if someone or something you like doesn’t win, and all the excitement if they do.

Watching the awards does take time, and if your children cannot or will not stay up until at least midnight, then you may just wait until tomorrow to talk about it. But if everyone is able to stay awake, then you have plenty to talk about.

The main reason I watched the awards was not only to see if some of my favorite movies won, but also to see my favorite actors. I saw a few of them, and every time I did I smiled and pointed them out to my mom. She would do the same for her favorite actors, even telling me some of their back-stories. This is the same sort of thing that you can do with your child. If your child really, really likes an actor/actress, then let them exclaim to you how much. It’s a good thing to just let your child “freak out” concerning someone or something that they love. Another side note is not to tell them to quiet down until they are done, because I know firsthand how annoying it is to be told to lower my voice in the middle of me telling something I’m super excited about.

Another thing you can talk to you child about is the fashion. I know that some of you may have boys, but there is nothing wrong to see what they think. My mom liked a lot of the dresses, and I did not. We talked about what both of us like or dislike about the dresses we saw. Ask your children even what they would do differently when wearing one of the pieces of clothing, or what they would do differently even about designs the dress itself.

One of the last things that you could talk about is guessing who is going to win. Although this Oscars “Gravity” and “12 Years A Slave” won most the awards, we still thought it was fun trying to figure out who would win. Another plus to guessing and paying attention to some of the nominees is finding new movies to watch after you are done. I know that I was exposed to at least three or four movies that I really wanted to watch down the road.

Although the Oscars do not have much in the education area, it does have a lot in the news area. I know how good it feels to ahead of everyone else who didn’t say up to watch the awards, and how you can be the first person to know what happened. But not only do you only know what happened, but the child that you watched and enjoyed with it does as well. They will forever remember the time that the both of you had, and you should as well.

Rachel Hancock is a student at Southampton High School and she can be contacted at rachelhancock97@yahoo.com.