Star Wars parenting questions

After picking up on several hints, I received day tickets to next year's Star Wars Celebration in Chicago for Father's Day.   One ticket is for me, and one is for my 8 year old daughter, who claims to be a Star Wars fan like her dear old Dad. Thing is, she's only ever seen one SW film - 'Solo' - which my wife took her to see recently without informing me when they both had a day off. (Yes, I didn't even get to be with her when she saw her first SW film. But that's another story...)

Anyway, I want to expand her Star Wars knowledge in the coming year and so, yes, this is the age-old question - which viewing order to choose? Through general pop-culture osmosis, she's already absorbed a lot of knowledge - she knows that Vader is Luke's Dad; she knows who Yoda is; she knows who Anakin becomes. (The only major plot point that she may not be aware of is the Luke-Leia connection.) Plus I want her to experience as much SW lore as possible, to appreciate everything she may see at Celebration. Therefore, I'm leaning towards the obvious:

• Episode I
• Episode II
• Clone Wars movie
• Episode III
• Solo
• Rebels: Spark of Rebellion
• Rogue One
• Episode IV
• Episode V
• Episode VI
• Episode VII
• Episode VIII

Films that I may consider adding:

• Caravan of Courage
• Battle for Endor

No way I'm subjecting my child to:

• Holiday Special (not even the fan edit. Sorry).

If you have strong opinions against the in-universe chronological viewing order, feel free to respond.

My second question is regarding Star Wars Celebration itself. Has anyone been with kids before? (It'll be our first time.) Any tips to ensure both parent & child have a fun day?

Lastly, we read together every night, so if anyone has any recommendations for Star Wars books (graphic novels included) that can be read by an 8 year old in short doses to get her excited for the big day next year, please post them below.

Thanks in advance.

When my daughter's old enough, I'll probably let her watch the original 77 movie first. Not saying that's what others should do, but I think that's my plan (my wife is thoroughly disinterested in Star Wars in general and probably hasn't seen more than one film in the series in full, and will likely have no opinion on the matter). 

My reason is just that everything else references the first film. It's necessary for context, imo. 

• ESB is the sequel, obviously
• ROTJ has a second Death Star, and really makes little sense without the others (not that anyone's arguing in favor of watching this film first)
• The prequels, including Solo and Rogue One, are built around the first original film more so than around the entire original trilogy
• The 3d animated series both try really hard to nail the feeling of the original film in different prequel settings (whether they are successful is a matter of opinion)
• TFA uses the original's template to contrast what's new
• TLJ is a subversive response to the template
• Really the Ewok movies are the only ones that don't come back to good old regular vanilla Star Wars.

I don't really care about the actual order after the first one, except keeping the actual trilogies in order (for example: 1,2,3 yes. 1,3,2 no.). I figure if my kid's old enough to understand the first movie (and ask questions to get the subtleties of the story that may go over her head) she'll be fine after the first movie to move on to the prequels, sequels, cartoons, and spinoffs in pretty much whatever order interests her. I suspect she'll be most curious about the movies with Rey but who knows, maybe she'll be like my wife and not care for any of them. Or maybe she'll get really into the prequels... 



Sorry my daughter's too young for me to offer any wise advice, but I hope hearing more opinions helps you make up your mind.

Actually, that makes a lot of sense. The argument I often hear against the Episode I thru VI (plus new trilogy) order is that it ruins the reveals, but that is a moot point in the case of my daughter. I'd never thought of it in the most obvious sense - that everything after 'A New Hope' builds off it, whether it's a prequel or sequel. Although I'm usually a stickler for chronology (see my 'Hitch' thread as an example), I can see the wisdom of letting her enjoy Star Wars the way I did - with the 1977 edition (although my first introduction was actually in 1980, at an 'Episode IV & V' double bill at the cinema with my Mum) and beyond. Cheers.

We made our daughters watch the originals first.  If we started with the prequels, they wouldn't have become Star Wars fans.

I am vehemently against chronological order. The OT should be watched before anything else, regardless of whether or not they know the spoilers.  Aside from being superior films, the OT gives context to everything that was created after.

I would show kids the films in the following order (almost following release order):

Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
Caravan of Courage
Battle for Endor
The Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
The Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
Rogue One

I think film limitations and story context are both important aspects to enjoyment of each entry, and that far outweighs how things fall on the galactic timeline.

If they are still interested at that point, I would leave it to them to explore the following at their leisure:

Droids (1985+ animated tv series)
Ewoks (1985+ animated tv series)
Clone Wars (2005+ Tartakovsky animated tv series)
Solo (2018 Film)
The Clone Wars (2008 Film)
Rebels (2014+ animated tv series)

And once they were at least teenagers, I would love to watch The Holiday Special with them.

JEDIT: Forgot Solo. Actually wish I could forget Solo...

I'm pro release date order, for a lot of reasons.

Gotta say, I’m towards a less linear order myself now. 

Anyone been to Celebration with kids?

My kids are almost six and I created a lightly edited (most intense bits exised) version of SW’77 for them to watch when they were four. I didn’t intend to but one just fell in love with Vader from a Star Wars ABC book my wife's college roommate gave them. Truth is it wasn’t until they were about 5 and a half before they started to actually care about the movie. The one that was obsessed with Vader would just scrobble through the movie on an iPad to find the Vader scenes. They’ve now watched TFA and TLJ too. Mostly I showed them those because their friends had seen them. Im holding off on Empire until I think they can really appreciate its depth. I’m hoping I never have to show them the prequels. 

R1 and Solo can be shown at any time after Ep4 in my opinion. R1 I think is too intense for them yet and I’m in no hurry for them to see Solo, though I thought it was fine myself.

You mean like... "If my son talks back to me, should I cut off his hand with my lasersword?"

Oh wait I misunderstood the thread title.

Close, but no death stick.

Here's another vote for release order.  Pretty much what others have said because I'm not a fan of chronological order when it comes to Star Wars.

Thanks for the input, everyone. Seeing that general opinion ran to release order, we watched... 'The Phantom Menace' yesterday. Basically, my wife wanted to see them chronologically. As she allows me to share a bed with her and none of you do, she won out. 

Ultimately, my wife went off within a few minutes to do something else, and my daughter was underwhelmed, constantly asking when Anakin goes bad. That's the one she wants to see. ("Doesn't he get burned to death in lava?" I'm beginning to worry about that kid.)

If anyone has Celebration tips, or SW young reader book recommendations, I'd still appreciate it. Cheers.

Star Wars Adventures is a child friendly comic series your daughter might enjoy.  Specifically Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny which collects several stories focusing on the strong female characters of the Star Wars universe.

Garp said:

As she allows me to share a bed with her and none of you do, she won out.

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I think I speak for everyone when I say we weren't aware that offer was on the table.

If you ask me, since you went "Phantom Menace" first, now you should go Machete Order: 

1. Star Wars
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Attack of the Clones (fanedit strongly recommended)
4. Revenge of the Sith (fanedit could be better)
5. Return of the Jedi
6. The Force Awakens
7. The Last Jedi
8. Rogue One

IMHO, theatrical for all except Clones and maybe Sith too.

EDIT: I should add that according to the age and how the dark/deep scenes are handled, you could hold off on all of these except for Star Wars and maybe The Force Awakens as well.

People will disagree but in my opinion putting the Prequels (just the latter two in this case) between Empire and RotJ really makes RotJ much more powerful.

Masirimso17 said:

People will disagree but in my opinion putting the Prequels (just the latter two in this case) between Empire and RotJ really makes RotJ much more powerful.

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Putting anything after the prequels makes that thing more powerful 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/star-wars-disney-book-group/1123544218?ean=9780594690313#/


If you want a great storybook for your child I can't recommend this one enough. Beautiful art, retells the original trilogy with a fairytale feel to the narrative. There's one for the prequels too, I haven't bought it yet though. 




Considering you started with Menace, Masirimso17 is probably right the best viewing order for her would probably be machete order. She's waiting to see him go dark. Hold that off or she won't care about the other movies. Show her 4/5 and she'll appreciate 2 a lot more then 3 will be a big pay off with 6 being a nice finale. From there if she is really into it, introduce her to the Clone Wars and Rebels, great shows for young and old. 7 and 8 are nice extras when she wants more l, Rogue One maybe a little dark but I don't think it's anything extreme.

The_Doctor said:

If you want a great storybook for your child I can't recommend this one enough. Beautiful art, retells the original trilogy with a fairytale feel to the narrative. There's one for the prequels too, I haven't bought it yet though. 

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A great storybook for a child you say?  I'm a grown man and I want this story book 

slekyr said:

A great storybook for a child you say?  I'm a grown man and I want this story book 

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Great for children but certainly not limited to just them. That's the Star Wars way. 

I too am a grown man and I love this book. Just waiting for the day I can read it to my own children.