
In the 10 years since Zombieland came out in theaters on October 2, 2009, one thing remains true: Zombieland is filled with parenting advice. Sure, it's a movie about recently deceased people that eat other people, and the decline of America as we know it, but it also totally sums up what it's like to be a mother or a father.
For one, Jesse Eisenberg's character, Columbus, has a ton of rules about how to survive zombies that are also directly applicable to raising children. We're not saying that kids are the same as zombies, but they do both share a voracious appetite, a lack of listening skills, and amazing energy an inopportune times, so ...
(By the way, there are movie spoilers in the slideshow ahead, so proceed with caution.)
It helps that Woody Harrelson's character, Tallahassee, is a father, because he's got some wisdom of his own to impart on any parents watching the film. But mostly, the zombies make for great metaphors about our own children. Sorry not sorry, but kids can be just as loud and messy as actual zombies.
Fortunately, at the end of the day, they're much sweeter and nicer than flesh-eating demons. (Usually. The terrible twos are a thing, OK?)
Zombieland's cast recently reunited for an upcoming movie sequel called Zombieland: Double Tap that comes out on October 18, so it's highly probable that the parenting lessons and on-point zombie-child metaphors will continue in that film. Until then, though, please enjoy the 20 times the original Zombieland totally got us as parents through all of the hardest moments parenthood can (and does) throw our way.