Judy Blume finally approved an “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret” movie

[Anonymous]

God forbid we let children be children and not expose them to things they don’t need to be exposed to yet.

[Anonymous]

This was supposed to be the reply to the post that said “God forbid they leave about kissing.”

My issue wasn’t kissing. It was the context of it (spin the bottle). Plus the Playboy reference. I’m not ready for my 9 year old to leave about that. And I certainly don’t need her chanting “I must. I must. I must increase my bust.”

[Anonymous]

Such a great movie! DD 11 and I loved it.

[Anonymous]

It was much sweeter than I expected, almost to the point of being boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God forbid we let children be children and not expose them to things they don’t need to be exposed to yet.

I have third grade students who are starting their period and needing early bras. I remember feeling so seen by this book; it was also much-needed, since my mother didn't help me prepare for puberty in any way. My daughter and I are excited to see the film!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God forbid we let children be children and not expose them to things they don’t need to be exposed to yet.

My mother's failure to "expose" me to the things everyone in my school was talking about DROVE me to Judy Blume. I wanted to understand.

Talk to your daughter, PP. Or she will turn to someone else.

[Anonymous]

I’m 46. Loved every Judy Blume book As a kid. Went and saw the movie by myself today. I loved it and thought the casting was excellent. Such a good feel good movie. Highly recommend!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God forbid we let children be children and not expose them to things they don’t need to be exposed to yet.

I have third grade students who are starting their period and needing early bras. I remember feeling so seen by this book; it was also much-needed, since my mother didn't help me prepare for puberty in any way. My daughter and I are excited to see the film!

This has nothing to do with my daughter or my reasoning. But thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God forbid we let children be children and not expose them to things they don’t need to be exposed to yet.

My mother's failure to "expose" me to the things everyone in my school was talking about DROVE me to Judy Blume. I wanted to understand.

Talk to your daughter, PP. Or she will turn to someone else.

Everyone is talking about Playboy, boys with binoculars looking into girl’s windows, spin the bottle, and chanting “I must increase my bust”? Sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God forbid we let children be children and not expose them to things they don’t need to be exposed to yet.

My mother's failure to "expose" me to the things everyone in my school was talking about DROVE me to Judy Blume. I wanted to understand.

Talk to your daughter, PP. Or she will turn to someone else.

Everyone is talking about Playboy, boys with binoculars looking into girl’s windows, spin the bottle, and chanting “I must increase my bust”? Sure.

No, these days 'everyone' is talking about sexting and oral sex. Spin the bottle seems pretty tame by comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God forbid we let children be children and not expose them to things they don’t need to be exposed to yet.

My mother's failure to "expose" me to the things everyone in my school was talking about DROVE me to Judy Blume. I wanted to understand.

Talk to your daughter, PP. Or she will turn to someone else.

Everyone is talking about Playboy, boys with binoculars looking into girl’s windows, spin the bottle, and chanting “I must increase my bust”? Sure.

No, these days 'everyone' is talking about sexting and oral sex. Spin the bottle seems pretty tame by comparison.

Not in 4th grade. My 7th grader just learned what oral sex was actually. My 4th grader has no clue. And neither of them know what sexting is. My kids don’t have phones or social media.

[Anonymous]

I thought it was cute. Nancy was way snarkier/more spoiled than I remember her being in the book. The dad was adorable. Loved Kathy Bates as the grandma. To me, it felt different than my memory of the book, but my daughters felt it was exactly the same!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God forbid we let children be children and not expose them to things they don’t need to be exposed to yet.

I have third grade students who are starting their period and needing early bras. I remember feeling so seen by this book; it was also much-needed, since my mother didn't help me prepare for puberty in any way. My daughter and I are excited to see the film!

This has nothing to do with my daughter or my reasoning. But thanks for sharing.

If you don't explain yourself, people don't know what you mean. What elements of the film do you think children need not be exposed to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was supposed to be the reply to the post that said “God forbid they leave about kissing.”

My issue wasn’t kissing. It was the context of it (spin the bottle). Plus the Playboy reference. I’m not ready for my 9 year old to leave about that. And I certainly don’t need her chanting “I must. I must. I must increase my bust.”

I’m so glad this movie gave me an opportunity to talk to my 9yo, who turns 10 next month, about:
-The pressure around kissing and parties and games like that, so she doesn’t feel like she has to participate if she doesn’t want to (though we also discussed that these days young kids aren’t left alone in basements at parties)
-What pornography is, and why I don’t personally choose to look at it, though I don’t judge people who do. We even talked about coercion and sex trafficking so she understands that not everyone who poses for those magazines or websites is doing so of their own true free will.
-The pressure to look a certain way, whether it is thin or to have a developed chest, etc., so she knows that beauty standards can be ridiculous and even harmful, and everything to do with appearance—makeup, shaving, clothing, etc.—can be her choice.
-Menstruation, which she already knew about, but this movie gave us a nice way of talking about it some more.

All of these things, I want to be the first to talk to her about. I don’t want her to be over at a friend’s house and come across a “girly magazine” and not know what the heck it is and what’s going on. I don’t want her to attend a party and that is her first introduction to the fact that Spin the Bottle and those kinds of pressure-y games can exist. I will take every opportunity to talk to my daughters about complex issues and be their first introduction to those topics. The world won’t wait for me every time, so I’m so glad the first person to talk to her about the pressure to “must increase her bust” is me, not some older kid or some mean girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was supposed to be the reply to the post that said “God forbid they leave about kissing.”

My issue wasn’t kissing. It was the context of it (spin the bottle). Plus the Playboy reference. I’m not ready for my 9 year old to leave about that. And I certainly don’t need her chanting “I must. I must. I must increase my bust.”

I’m so glad this movie gave me an opportunity to talk to my 9yo, who turns 10 next month, about:
-The pressure around kissing and parties and games like that, so she doesn’t feel like she has to participate if she doesn’t want to (though we also discussed that these days young kids aren’t left alone in basements at parties)
-What pornography is, and why I don’t personally choose to look at it, though I don’t judge people who do. We even talked about coercion and sex trafficking so she understands that not everyone who poses for those magazines or websites is doing so of their own true free will.
-The pressure to look a certain way, whether it is thin or to have a developed chest, etc., so she knows that beauty standards can be ridiculous and even harmful, and everything to do with appearance—makeup, shaving, clothing, etc.—can be her choice.
-Menstruation, which she already knew about, but this movie gave us a nice way of talking about it some more.

All of these things, I want to be the first to talk to her about. I don’t want her to be over at a friend’s house and come across a “girly magazine” and not know what the heck it is and what’s going on. I don’t want her to attend a party and that is her first introduction to the fact that Spin the Bottle and those kinds of pressure-y games can exist. I will take every opportunity to talk to my daughters about complex issues and be their first introduction to those topics. The world won’t wait for me every time, so I’m so glad the first person to talk to her about the pressure to “must increase her bust” is me, not some older kid or some mean girl.

I should mention the only “pornography” we talked about was “naked magazines”; we didn’t talk about movies or videos. That will be another day, but yeah, I’m going to do my best to be the first one to talk to her about that, too.