There is a magical middle ground - an event that happens rarely but more than once. So you really take it in. I realised this week that the three Paw Patrol movies I’ve seen in the cinema mark incredibly specific times in mine and my kids’ lives.

January 2020. Paw Patrol: Ready Race Rescue (the baby years)

It’s my 2-year-old Oscar’s first proper trip to the cinema. We get the bus there. He doesn’t understand where we’re going but he’s thrilled. We live in Surrey. My sister, Elisabeth is with us too. I’m 9 months pregnant and could go into labour any minute so she’s there to help if I do. Because my husband Dave and I have a movie podcast we record audio snippets of Oscar, who sounds so old to us but when I listened back this week I can barely understand him then- a baby with an adorable English accent.

It’s less of a movie and more an extended episode where the pups literally… race. I have a bad back from pregnancy and spend half of the movie standing. Oscar is thrilled by the cinema seats, but he sits on our laps sometimes too. We have so much fun. This episode turns out to be one of our most downloaded ever - messages from listeners with young kids tell us they never make it to the cinema, but boy do they watch Paw Patrol. A few days after this trip, Elliot is born.

Two months later, we’re in lockdown. I think back on that wonderful morning, and wish we could get the bus and watch a terrible movie in the cinema.

October 2023: Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie (the pre-school years)

We’re living in Ireland now. We have a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old. This is a feature length proper movie. Better than the last. No real peril. Kids are really excited. Bouncing in their seats. I am sleep deprived and fell asleep for a while. Dave does too.

Once again we record some snippets of the kids for the podcast. I listened back this week to this episode. Can’t remember the kids sounding so small and adorable. Our little one Elliot loves the film. I hold his sticky hand when we come out. Already Oscar is running ahead of us. Claims he thought it was boring. The English accent is faded, transforming into a Cork one. It’s a proper family day out, event cinema for pre-schoolers. It’s a really happy family day and because of our podcast, and this franchise, I remember it vividly.

August 2026: Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie (the ‘we’re too old for this’ years)

My kids are too old for Paw Patrol. We won’t go to this one. We’re on holidays in London at the end of July and the posters are everywhere across tube stations… I want to see the Dino movie Elliot announces. Oscar scoffs.

My 4-year-old nephew Charles is Paw Patrol obsessed. When we get home to Cork, I book tickets for him and Elliot. I ask Oscar if he wants to come. FOMO kicks in and he does, begrudgingly.

This movie is also feature length but something has changed. The peril is more real and the action much more exciting. Smallies around us are crying and distressed. Charles and Elliot love it. Even Oscar isn’t bored. I wonder what the hell is going on with Paw Patrol- surely an 8-year-old should be bored and little ones shouldn’t be stricken with fear. My sister Jacqui and I podcast the movie later without the kids. It’s so much fun to overanalyse these dumb movies.

But I’m sad too. Because there are no more Paw Patrol movies in my future. The kids are too old. We got this one in by the skin of our teeth. They went to the bathroom on their own when the film ended.

They don’t need me to hold their sticky hands anymore.