7.29.2012

How Much is TOO Much!

Hello! I realize this post might not be my most popular- but sometimes I just have something on my mind and I just need to say it and be done with it- this is one of those times! First, I realize I do not have little boys, I am not a child psychologist and I realize that every child is different and every parent is different- and NO ONE aside from God Himself is perfect. I am horribly flawed as a human and mother and aside from God's grace I am a MESS! I just have some thoughts ... I don't know the right answer but I think it is a conversation worth having! Feel free to let me know what you think! 

When my girls watch movies or TV shows, they have a way of acting out the show or the character for days or weeks to come. When we watch the Fresh Beat Band Ellie is usually found Beatboxing for weeks or sometimes she chooses to be Kiki and uses anything in sight to play a guitar. Same goes for Doc McStuffins, my girls are suddenly doctors to every toy in the home! It is because of this that I have a general rule, if I do not want my children to act like "them" we do not watch "them". My girls love to dress up like the Disney Princesses (see photo- that is a typical day) but have never actually seen most of the movies- only Cinderella and a bit on Snow White- they are just not ready for a lot of the scary parts in the movies- they have many years to watch those. I realize that Sponge Bob Square Pants is relatively harmless, same as My Little Pony, Phineas and Ferb and that naughty Caillou. That being said, we do not watch those shows, simply because I do not want my girls acting like those characters or talking like them. My girls are very whiny when they watch Caillou- much like the character they watch. You get the idea! So it has just BLOWN my mind hearing about parents who allow their children to go see the new Batman movie. First of all, I am sickened and heartbroken for what happened in Colorado. Innocent lives were taken by a sick person who was clearly influenced by the actual Dark Knight, Satan himself. (This is a great article about that) I just have to wonder, how young was James Eagan Holmes when he saw his first violent movie? The movies these days are SO real, especially to young children who do not have the brain "maturity" to handle the content. I think we are desensitizing our children to death- the lines of reality and movies or TV are becoming so blurred with technology and "reality" TV. I wonder if our children will even know true "reality"? The fact that Holmes even thought he was a character in the movie- makes me know that we are going to have a real problem on our hands if we do not start guarding our children's minds and making sure they are watching appropriate material. If it is PG-13, why was a 7-year-old in a 12am showing in the first place? I am not just talking Colorado, I know many MUCH younger children who have gone to that movie and others equally as violent. (Don't get me started on the "sexual" content) Mark 12:30 says to Love the Lord with our minds- It is our job as parents to guard our children's minds and to teach them to be responsible for their minds and what they fill them with. Romans 12:12 says " Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will." Why are we allowing our children to watch these things and not protecting them from this violence? I wonder if we should be teaching them self-control and to set their minds on things above instead of "conforming to the pattern of this world"? It is too bad that Hollywood isn't making super hero movies that are fun and exciting and innocent- so our children can enjoy, dress up and desire to be heroes in a way that does not compromise their innocence. My girls are just as happy watching Praise Baby or Meet the Phonics as they are watching anything else. If they do not have the option of something more "mature" they will still enjoy watching movies..and I can still sneak a shower in while they are watching! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest! Isn't it fun to have the Olympics on, a fun channel change for the next few weeks! 



Romans 12 (Message) 1-2 "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."


  

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