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As you heard on my last podcast with OhAmanda (Amanda White), she and I love movies. We also LOVE to use movies to help talk to our children about God.

On today’s podcast, she and I chat about the newly released, “How to Train a Dragon 2”. We answer the question, “Is it okay for my kids to see?” We let you know what we did not like in this flick.

We also share what we loved. For those of you who’ve already seen it, we discuss our favorite overriding themes and conversations you can have with your kids. A few examples:

• Stoick, Hiccup’s dad–his role as a protector and his unfailing, redeeming love for Hiccup’s mom.
• Drago’s tragedy turned angry aggression–how bad things happen, but if we go to God for healing and restoration, it can be used for good. But in Drago’s case, “Hurt people hurt people”.
• Dragon training as an analogy of parenting styles–harsh/domineering vs. gentle/caring. And the loyalty which results from one over the other.
• Toothless’ challenge to tune out the alpha dragon and trust Hiccup–when temptations come we need to often close our eyes, cover our ears and trust God to deliver us, overcoming evil.

At the end of the week Amanda will be posting her discussion guide and possibly a link-up where you can add your own family movie guide. Choose a film you’ve enjoyed watching as a family and type up some ideas for discussion topics/questions stemming from the movie.

• OhAmanda.com
• IMDb Film summary
• The one line in the film that caused controversy–plugged in

Join the Family Movie Mom discussion.