This poster hangs in our powder room. So, whenever Maddie the Toddler and I are in the den, and she belts out an “Oh go potty!” we see this poster. She’ll sit on the john while I hold her little shoulders to keep her from falling in, and she’ll point to Darth Vader and say, “Scary, Daddy! Scaaaaaary!”
And I’ll say, “What does Darth Vader say?”
And she’ll say, “Looooook, I yer fodder.”
I thought it finally time to explain to her the lore of Star Wars, hoping to alleviate her fears a bit–you know, see if it’s true that we fear what we don’t understand. Have a father-daughter moment. Relive 1977.
So, once she’d flushed, we stood up and stared at the poster ahead.
Me: “Maddie, that’s Darth Vader, as you know. And that’s Luke, his son.”
Maddie: “Darff Bader son Luke.”
Me: “And that, that’s Princess Leia, Luke’s sister.”
Maddie: “Princess?!!! Like Snow White costume?”
Me: “Yes, like Snow White, but less susceptible to guile. And, as we learned at Jabba’s hideout, better looking.”
Maddie: “Princess Leia more pretty than Snow White?”
Me: “Yes.”
Maddie: (frown)
Me: “Look here, this is the Wookie.”
Maddie: “Poppy’s dog Wookie!”
Me: “Yes, your grandfather’s dog is named ‘Wookie,’ but this is Chewbacca the Wookie.”
Maddie: “Okay Daddy.”
Me: “Okay, so which one is Luke’s sister?”
Maddie: (points to Chewbacca)
Me: “No, baby, that’s their friend the Wookie.”
Maddie: “Luke’s dog…is Wookie.”
Me: “Something like that.”
Maddie: “Darff Bader is Scaaary.”
Me: “Yes. Yes, he is. I think we’ll conclude our lesson here, where we started.”
At this point, we adjourned to the den, where I searched for Darth Vader videos on YouTube and found this:
It worked. Darth is not quite as scary as he was. If trying to show him as a family man failed, at least portraying him as a conductor made of legos succeeded.
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This post’s “shout out” goes to SciFi Dad, who, I’m certain, has had numerous conversations with his little ones about this subject matter. And, as always, support Father Muskrat and his friends at this website full of funny blogs!
MM, aka Muskrat–
This cracks me up. My husband, Tom, has indoctrinated my niece, Carson. I took her to see Lion King the Broadway Musical at the Orpheum in Memphis, and when Scar (aka bad guy) came on, she said “He’s like Darth Vader!”. Too cute.
That is so funny that you have a Star Wars poster in your bathroom too! My kids put up ours…in the master bathroom, not their bathroom, strange I know.
Your child is adorable. Way too adorable. Cute conversation.
My boys are so into Star Wars right now.
My four year old nephew was exposed to Star Wars recently by my brother, and has been running around the house with a Darth Vader mask ever since. (Often it’s just underwear and the mask.) Is it a sign of problems in the future that he wants to be the bad guy? Or does the ensemble suggest a future with Chippendales to anyone else?
Heh. Thanks for the laugh, and the shout out.
I’ve already documented my daughter’s interest in Star Wars, but I’ll summarize some of the funnier ones here:
1. She is obsessed with “rinty dinty doo” (R2D2) and is trying to convince her mother to get her the Artoo action figure for Christmas.
2. She can identify some of the characters, but since I’m into the Jango Fett clones (Boba, troopers) she’s mostly limited to them.
3. She made me put away the coin collector album because the image of the Emperor freaked her out.
Carrie, I think most of us would agree that Darth Vader is the greatest villian of all time. Especially if you grew up in the 80s.
Rhea, Thanks! I enjoyed reading about your bathroom poster, too.
Theresa, I don’t know that I’m qualified to answer your questions, but I will laugh at them!
SciFi Dad, That’s hilarious. I’ll have to dig around your archives over Thanksgiving break to get the rest of the story.
“Looooook, I yer fodder.” awwww how cute!
While I won’t pass on the force to any children of my own, I do teach my niece about The Princess Bride.
I can’t wait to start forcing my cultural references on my boy!
misguided muskrat makes movie monster mean much more.
lol… we have a Mushroom Men poster in our water closet.. as well as a bunny one.. can’t remember what it’s called, killer bunnies?
eh..
my boys finally ‘got’ Star Wars after seeing ‘Store Wars: The Organic Rebellion’ on youboob. Aidan can do an uncanny impersonation of Chewbroccoli…
ChurchPunkMom’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday
HAHAHAHAHAHA.
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