10 Things You Can Learn From the Movie “Baby’s Day Out”

Baby’s Day Out is a fun movie. A great one to watch with the little ones. I always wondered why they never created a sequel — the setup for a follow up was right there.

Anyway, here are some things you can learn from the movie:

1. Babies are a bundle of joy: if you need cheering up and have the opportunity to spend some time with a baby, try it. They are great for cheering you up. A fantastic happiness hack, and mood booster.
2. Don’t leave your child alone with strangers: This one is common sense, but one to still keep in mind. If it’s a registered childminder, fair enough, but even then make sure the person is who they say they are. With your child, you can never be too careful.
3. Babies are resilient: They get knocked down and get right back up. It’s incredible how resilient they are. We adults can stand to remind ourselves of the importance of resilience.
4. Babies don’t understand fear: Which is fucking incredible! Remember that scene in the movie where the baby was just looking over the ledge of an under-construction skyscraper, and just grinned? Yeah, nuts! But as adults, we go a bit too much to the other end of the spectrum. A middle ground is better.
5. Do your homework: The kidnappers clearly didn’t know a thing about looking after a baby, or anything about babies for that matter. This was great for the parents and the baby as it turned out, as the baby was able to get away from them. But if something is important, it is important that you do your homework.
6. Some people are just opportunists: Like that guy in the movie who called the parents with a potential lead on the baby and held out information for money. It was fairly evident that he knew the woman who he led the police to and knew quite well that his information was not accurate. If someone’s sole motivation is money, and the information they’re promising is doubtful, might make sense to not pay any heed to them.
7. Money is a great resource: The parents of the baby had impressive cooperation from the police, mainly because of their wealth. Money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it does enable you to do things that make you happy, and it gives you better access. Money is a very very useful resource.
8. It’s ok to have help with your children: A lot of people are stuck on this archaic notion that parents who get professional help with their child (namely getting nannies) are somehow less of a parent. Not a good way to think, neither is it very realistic. Get with the times, and don’t judge. It is totally ok to have help with your children.
9. Real-life kidnapping isn’t comical: The movie was funny because of the comical stunts of the kidnappers, but in real-life kidnappers aren’t this fun, or simple-minded. Ok, some of them might be simple-minded but most are not what you’d call sweet-natured. That’s my belief anyway.
10. Crime doesn’t pay: Crime eventually catches up, and the downsides just don’t justify the upsides. Or rather, the short term upsides don’t justify the long term downsides. You are better off considering other alternatives.

Thoughts?