Chasing Childhood movie review by Movie Review Mom

MOVIE TITLE: CHASING CHILDHOOD

World Premiere in the American Perspectives section at the 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival

RATING: NR (documentary) I’d consider the content a PG-rating due to some talk about suicide

LENGTH: 80 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: A-

IN A NUTSHELL:

When I was a child, my sisters and I would wander all over the neighborhood to visit friends and hang out until dinner time. Despite my parents’ divorce, my childhood was fairly carefree and fun. Things have definitely changed…

Overprotected and over directed, American children are wilting under the weight of well-meaning parents. In the pursuit of keeping them safe and creating an impressive resumé of extracurricular activities to wow admissions boards, over-parenting smothers children across socioeconomic classes. This thoughtful documentary follows education professionals and reformed helicopter parents who seek and offer solutions for developing more confident, independent young people while restoring some joy and freedom to childhood.

The film takes a close look at the parenting styles of families living in Wilton, Connecticut, analyzing the effects their style had on their children. Both parents and kids are interviewed as they all consider what worked and what didn’t. The movie was directed by Margaret Munzer-Loeb and Eden Wurmfeld. They sent me this statement about their work:

We are former roommates now raising kids in New York City, where we both grew up in the 70s and 80s. Our New York was gritty with surging crime rates, but the norms of childhood allowed us freedom, autonomy and a concrete playground that informed how we learned to navigate the world as adults. At six years old, we both had a key around our necks, crossing the streets on our own to go to the local store, coming home after school, letting ourselves in and climbing onto the counter to get a snack, maybe even scraping a knee on the way down. By the age of eight, we started taking public transportation alone, and the bus was filled with other school-aged kids without their parents.

Had it all been benign neglect back then? Or is it possible that we learned crucial life skills that our kids can no longer glean in their over-scheduled, supervised lives? Although New York is now so much cleaner and safer than it was when we grew up, today’s parenting norms have taken a drastic turn towards security, supervision, and micromanagement. Even just from our personal experience as parents, we know that our kids and their peer group are so delayed in their independence, their lives so filled with after school activities that they no longer have that blissful feeling of, “Three p.m., school’s out!” How did we get here?

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Discussion of suicide attempts
Kids might be bored watching a documentary, although they’ll definitely be interested in the topic because it’s all about their ability to make choices and have more freedom. Use this opportunity to talk to your kids about what you believe they can or can’t do and why you have certain rules in your home. Invite them to honestly share their feelings about the pressures they feel to get good grades and some of the other subjects addressed in this film.
No profanity.
Images of newspapers and signs revealing that children have been kidnapped.

THEMES:

Childhood
Parenting
Free agency
Choices
Life balance
“All parents want their kids to excel but too much pressure hurts more than it helps.” – the narrator

THINGS I LIKED:

It was interesting to watch Lenore Skenazy ask a group of kids, “How many of you come home from school and can just grab a snack and run outside and play?” None of the children raised their hands. They then took turns reciting their busy weekly schedules filled with various classes and lessons they attended.
It was interesting to learn about “Free Range” legislation that is being enacted around the country, which basically assures parents they won’t be arrested if they determine their kids are mature enough to do certain things like taking a bus alone.
To learn more about this film and the legislation, go to https://www.chasingchildhooddoc.com
Another issue mentioned in the film was the immense debt parents often get into just to pay for all of those lessons in soccer, piano, acting, gymnastics, etc.
This would be an effective film for schools to share with their parents at the beginning of a school year to remind them to really cherish their children’s childhood and to allow them to be kids.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

I would be embarrassed and heartbroken if one of my children made a film like this that told the world I wasn’t a good mother. I definitely wasn’t perfect. It’s a very delicate matter to judge another person’s parenting styles. What works for one child may not work for another. The bottom line is that most parents really do want to be good parents and are trying as best as they know how.
It’s a pretty straightforward documentary without much fluffy artistry in the telling.
One of the kids being interviewed complained that his parents were pushing him to be his best….as if that were a bad thing. Of course, the issue is that there has to be balance in life.

INTERESTING LINES:

“Most parents say, ‘I just want my kids to be happy.’ It’s just understanding what that means to us…” – the narrator”
“We are living at a time that could be considered in some sense to be a social experiment. For the first time in the history of human beings, children are deprived of freedom.” – Peter Gray
“I think, in some ways, we have mortgaged our kids’ childhood in exchange for the chance that they will have the grand future that we have in mind for them.” – Julie Lythcott-Haims
“All the worry in the world doesn’t prevent death. It prevents life.” – Lenore Skenazy
“We’re in a national crisis of mental health.” – Peter Gray

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