Life Lessons from Moana

     As a mother one thing I do is watch movies (and the music videos from said movies) over and over again. And then a few more times. I could throw down in a lyric contest for both Trolls and Moana in my sleep. I am Moana now. My husband could also throw down in a "You're Welcome" song off, for some reason he really relates to being a demigod who feels he should be adored by all (thank you the Rock). One thing I have done to cope is come up with life lessons to be gleaned from the movies that make up my every waking hour. Moana is a cornucopia of life lessons, many of which are not that hard to glean from this stellar movie but here are a few that particularly resonate with me.

   The Grandma goes around undermining the parents and saying "if you like it that's who you truly are and what should dictate your life and everyone else is wrong to even suggest there is more to life", which is not something I think we need to reinforce because children already think that and are getting the message plenty of other places. However, Moana does not just leave it to the grandmother. When Moana's mother (yay for a disney movie with two living parents!) talks to her Moana throws out the tag ling of all tragic teenagers "her just doesn't understand me" (which btw is an actual universal biological teenage brain thing, ironically) her mom sets her straight. Parents aren't stopping you from fun things because they don't understand you but because they actually have a full understanding of the situation that the teenager doesn't. That's a lesson all parents can get behind.
   The Sea as a lose metaphor for God is actually pretty awesome. Maui (the Rock's character) does come classic lines: you have to do everything for yourself/you can't count on the ocean, why doesn't the ocean just do things for me? Those are classic struggles may of us feel from time to time when life gets tough. The ocean required effort from Moana and Maui. When Moana starts swimming to catch up with the boat is when the ocean helps her. The ocean facilitates growth from both Maui and Moana. The ocean does what helps them the most in the long run; it isn't a fairy godmother to grant their every wish. Additionally, it knows their circumstances better than they do because it has the full picture and so it's responses and actions are not what Maui and Moana want/understand (similarly to the parents that know better). When Moana wants help to get to Maui she gets thrown into a storm. That is life. Sometimes we need hard things to get us to where we need to be.