I have an understanding with my kids. They can rent DVDs from the library as long as they always take out the same amount of books as their age. For Stink, this means 4. For Pip, this is 2. I don't care if they're books on ants, dinosaurs, warts or the same Dr. Seuss book my daughter always gets for the mere fact that the cover is hot pink. As long as every night we climb into my bed and and talk about what we see on the page.
As it happens, tonight Stink looked at a T-Rex, pointed a finger at me and shouted "Bam! That dinosaur is dead!"
I reminded him that the dinosaur was, indeed, extinct. Stink: "He stinks? Why?" Me: "Extinct. No longer here." I then asked him why he was shooting his finger like a weapon.
He reminded me about the alien fight scene from Lilo & Stitch - the DVD he rented yesterday from our local branch. I thought back to how irritated I was this morning when I saw that scene.
For lack of sounding like a Bible belting Tipper Gore freak, I'm beyond irritated. Our kids have only so much time before they're grown up. Yes, I want them well rounded and educated. Yes, they're going to see this stuff at school. Or on playdates. But I don't think playing cops and shooting for fun is going to help shape their moral backbone either. It's not okay to slander other ethnicities, sexualites or genders. Why is it okay to trivialize blasting the crap out of other people?
I'm not stuck on many things, but playing with guns for the fun of it? No way, man. And when I next walk into that library, I'm going to give the librarian my opinion.
Right after I swallow my bran flakes and clean my reading glasses.
7 comments:
I agree but think your reaction (and mine) has more to do with the graphic violence we see at every turn today. When I was a kid we played cowboys, the good guys and bad guys would shoot it out, and it never carried the same threat that it does today. Our minds were not saturated with horrible images.
Don't get me wrong, I don't condone violence, but it is inescapable and what rankles now is the amount and the presentation. We seem to be bombarded at every turn with graphic depictions, the more blood and gore, the better.
You are right to protect your children, because once they've seen it, it's theirs forever and the later that happens, the better.
That has never made much sense out of that either. The only thing I can think of is that it's social engineering. And I know that sounds paranoid but it is how it appears.
Peace,
~Chani
Oh honey, you are sooooo speaking my language today!
Try being frustrated about that same issue with a husband who "doesn't get it." Grrrrrrowl!
Punkinhead did the finger shoot at ME one time and boy howdy did that put his little butt to bed.
I mourned each little loss of innocence for my daughter.
Please ask the librarian if they know about the 4 year old who shot and killed his father last week in Vallejo. It makes my heart ache. So many questions, like how did he know how to point the gun and what would happen if he did? :-/
Keep those beautiful kids safe.
xoxo KD in SAC
I know...I know...and I agree. I risked a friendship b/c I made my child return some heavy artillery he rec'd for his 8th b'day. Thankfully, this woman is a peach, and she loves me even if I do sound like a Tipper-freak.
Now that you're an old fogey, too, will you be posting about the state of your bowels? :)
Thanks for all the love recently. I think I just needed to cry in my cheerios and pick myself up and start all over again. Have a great weekend.
God. How I hate Lilo and Stitch. And allow me to sound old when I ask, "Don't you remember when cartoons were cute instead of filled with ugly, multiple eyed creatures?" What will I do when Charlie & Lola and The Little Einsteins stop being cool?
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