Penn here. I’m not embarrassed to tell you that I cried last week. In a movie theater, no less.
Kim and I went to see Inside Out 2 in anticipation of a podcast we were going to record with Dr. Lisa Damour, who served as a consultant on the film. (More on that in a second.) Because Lola had a break in her insanely full schedule, we jumped at the chance to spend some time with her, grabbing her to go see it with us. So there we sat, flanking our teenage daughter, watching a movie about the emotions of the movie’s protagonist Riley…a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, straight-A-earning, high-level sports-playing teenage girl who’s often under a lot of stress. Needless to say…many, many things were hitting close to home. I was curious as to what Lola’s reaction would be to this movie as it peeled back the layers of teenage emotions… and kept glancing over to see if I could peer into that brain of hers (like we were with Riley).
Let’s Talk Emotions
For those who haven’t seen the films…the Inside Out movies follow the inner workings of the mind of the aforementioned little girl named Riley. The first movie introduces us to five personified emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust. In Inside Out 2, Riley goes through puberty and a new cast of emotions join the fold: Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and (my personal favorite) Ennui.
The brilliance of these movies is that they can help parents and their children clearly identify emotions by giving them a face, creating common ground, and sparking important conversations. Understanding and normalizing the complexity of how our children’s brains develop during adolescence and the “big” emotions that come with it is something that we discussed on this week’s podcast with Dr. Lisa Damour, a leading expert on the subject who was intimately involved in the development of Inside Out 2.
Imperfectly Perfect
It was a fascinating conversation that included insight in regards to teenage emotions: how to mix the good with the bad, how they can be protective mechanisms, how anxiety can actually help you, and ways to effectively communicate with our teens as they go through all of these developmental changes. Between the movie and the subsequent discussion with Dr. Damour, I feel like the curtain has been pulled back just a bit and I have a better understanding as to what Lola could be going through while navigating these teenage years, and that is a gift.
Oh, yes…back to the crying in a movie theater…
At the end of the film, there is a moment where Riley’s parents are describing their admiration and love for her…saying she’s at times confident, at times unsure and anxious, but also brave. She’s ALL of those things. As I blinked back tears, I kept thinking to myself, “That’s MY daughter.” And I love her. Her imperfect self is absolutely perfect to me.
