Monday, March 17, 2008

To watch or not to watch

Jacob has never sat in front of the TV and watched a show before. I thought it was cute! Speaking about watching TV we were just talking about things we let our kids watch. We had gone to a Youth Fireside a few years ago and the group Voice Male was speaking. I don't remember which member is was but they mentioned that they don't let there kids watch any PG13movies and they themselves don't watch them. We thought that was a good idea. One day I was watching House (this use to be one of my fav. shows) Danika came down and said "Mom what's wrong with that girl?" I turned to find a girl having a seizure and blood coming out of her eyes. I quickly turned it off knowing this would scare her. Since then as I watched shows I noticed things that I wouldn't want my kids to see. I stopped watching some of my favorite shows because "If my kids shouldn't be watching it....why should I?" A little child shall lead them! This has gone on to PG13 movies. We have set that rule in our house and had to toss those DVD's away. Sure it was hard but we felt like we needed to draw the line. We can't say...well it's okay to watch this one because there's just a little violence in it, but not this one because it has sex and bad language in it. Do you see our point? Sure we have seen PG13 movies before but just because someone has smoked before doesn't mean he shouldn't try to quit? I know that sounds extreme but thats how I see it. We are not perfect in anyway, we just want to do the best thing for our family. As they get older they have their agency and can choose for themselves but while they are young we are responsible for them. Thanks for letting me get on another soap box. I hope your all having a HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

5 comments:

Mother of the Wild Boys said...

It's awesome that you and Kev are able to agree on rules like that. I tend to agree with you, but my hubby is an entertainment junkie. I watch PG13's and shows like LOST so that my hubby and I have some common ground.

Tina said...

I agree with Shauntae that it is cool that the two of you can agree on these sorts of guidelines/rules. Growing up, my parents did very similar things. It was rare to watch anything PG-13 at our home - and shows were quickly turned off if anything questionable was seen on screen. I also became really sensitive to the use of the Lord's name in vain. As we got older, we had a little more rein over or choices of movies/entertainment - but things were still heavily moderated. Rather than getting mad at decisions we made my parents would get disappointed (which was so much worse that mad) - and they would often quote counsel from apostles and prophets when defending their decisions. Honestly it was rare, even as teens, that any of us would choose to watch movies/shows that were questionable - whether it was because we didn't want to disappoint our parents or whether it was a ingrained disinterest in such things I am not sure.

As a High School student, I wasn't very interested in popular music (I still don't fair too well at "name that artist" games) and I didn't really know what was showing in theaters at any given time. My car was stocked with Janice Kapp Perry cassette tapes, and the various seminary CD's. I was probably a little bit extreme, but that's how I was raised. I was happy, I loved life - and I really didn't get into any trouble as a teenager.

After graduating and moving off to college I was quickly exposed to all manner of worldly things I never even knew about. I was a very naive teenager - thrown into a college scene with roommates that did everything from smoke/drink, to sleep at boyfriends apartments, listened to music I never knew existed with lyrics my hears had never before heard. I spent many nights scared, some crying. I couldn't believe that life outside my bubble was really like this. One of my good friends from High School came to college with me as my roommate - if I didn't have her their I don't know what I would have done.

Since graduating I've made some decisions that I wish I hadn't - that my parents would have been disappointed in. In some cases I wish I hadn't been as sheltered from the world, so that I might have been more prepared to face the things that came my way. But at other times (even still) I wish I could feel the way I did when I listed to nothing but church music (and Broadway show tunes) in my old high school car.

Dave's experience was vastly different. There was really no rules against shows with 'R' ratings. And his parents fell away from the church when he was a teen.

Both of us managed to make it to this point in our lives - and survive. He is stronger than me in some ways, and I in others. There are definitely things from our childhood's that influence decisions we make now - but I honestly don't that either extreme is what I would want now.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't know which decision is best (for me). There are arguments for both, I suppose. I think its great that you guys found what works for your family. And I think its interesting to read what other people are doing in their homes - what parenting tips work for them. So thank you for sharing.

Sorry I ranted on like this in your comments - I think I am honestly torn in this regard on how protective to be in regard to entertainment in my own home. I imagine those sorts of decisions will change and evolve as the years go on.

Tina said...

Sorry. That was really long. I didn't realize. :|

Daughter of God said...

Sandra, I have 2 words for you..Clear Play. It is the best thing ever!! Ben and I have had one for 5 years now. It is a DVD player that edits your videos. And the best thing is it's not aganist the law like clean flicks. You do the editing in your own home. You put a rented or whatever dvd in, set the parent controls, turn on the 'filter' and you have a clean movie! They cost just the same as normal dvd players. And you get the 'filters' on the internet. You put them on a usb card and put that card in the dvd player. Ben and I use it on every movie. It skips parts takes out language, it really is the best ever. My brother even has watched a rated R movie, matrics, on it (not that I would) and had some friends watch it with him that saw the R version. They couldn't believe how much of the violence it had taken out and my brother didn't even notice.
I'll get off my soap box now, But I really think that every house should have one, you can get them at target or wallmart.
good luck!

Sandra said...

Amy,
Thanks for your comment, I know that my sister has something like that and she really likes it.