Busy Parents Secrets: How to watch movies

We've gotten very good at this - but many people still have a shocked look on their faces when I tell them how we do it. Stop thinking dirty for one moment and I'll tell you what I'm talking about. No need to yell, no need to shout.

How do we watch a movie? Typically, it takes us anything from 3-8 nights to complete one. Each night, we would cover anything from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the movie, what time we started and how tired we were (averaged between the 2 of us, the sleepiness index) when we started. Which is why sitcoms are perfect as they typically last about 23 minutes, and are generally entertaining.

In a long drawn movie (think Lord of the Rings, In The Wild), the inevitable happens: What happened on Tuesday? Who's that guy? Why is he chasing the other guy? Why is the other guy limping? Who took the money? What's the title of this show?

But after doing this for many years now, we've perfected the art and improved our memory enough that this has become the norm for us. So now, watching a whole movie in the cinema is quite challenging and the natural tendency is to want to walk out halfway and return the next day where we left off.

Because seriously, how does one squeeze in 2 hours into an already packed night? There's kids to be read to - talked to - prayed with - put to bed, there's ice-cream to be eaten, work to be done, Wii to be played, walks to be taken, normal TV to be watched amongst other things. Two whole hours just cannot be found. So if you want to watch movies regularly, just break them up and swallow them down.

Just keep track of who's the good and bad guys are and you'll do good.