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I have three children: two boys and a girl, all single digits. We do not have any television, network or cable, running into the house. We have Netflix streaming on the TV and available on computers and other devices. They are all locked for kid use only. All computers are tightened up as well.
This evening my youngest put a movie on and we were all sitting in the room. I heard a character say, "Just watching sex and violence, ya know," and I got up and paused it. "Whoa. Whoa. What are we watching here." So it turns out it is 'Paranorman' -- a dark animated film. I checked its review on Christian Spotlight (please use this everyone) and it was listed as 'Offensive' with an obvious rationale. So I pulled it much to the dismay of the lil whiners. Now...it is animated and there may have been a few other iffy lines I there, but I pulled it. It was my oldest I'm most worried about, especially with all the innuendo in movies these days. But I don't know how far is too far.
...the following shows have been disallowed by me or their mother: Jessie, Kick'n It, Ant farm, Wizards of whatever, and a bunch of others. I actually hate Disney and Nickelodeon and I am deathly afraid we're going to start seeing openly gay characters on kids' shows. I've just opened a whole nother can of crazy sleeplessness with that sentence, so forget that for now.
The question I'm asking is: How do we navigate this divide? There are so many shows to research, test, and even know about. How do we cover all that? How do we tell our kids that they can't watch stuff when the pastor's kids can? Or other friends at school or in church? Don't get me wrong, I'm not budging on core things, but I'm afraid of being too harsh and fueling some type of disdain for our faith and my convictions. I mean...all I had was 'Saved by the Bell' growing up. There are like a million different TV shows like that in the 21st century and they're all innuendo and borderline sexy.
Lord help us.
This evening my youngest put a movie on and we were all sitting in the room. I heard a character say, "Just watching sex and violence, ya know," and I got up and paused it. "Whoa. Whoa. What are we watching here." So it turns out it is 'Paranorman' -- a dark animated film. I checked its review on Christian Spotlight (please use this everyone) and it was listed as 'Offensive' with an obvious rationale. So I pulled it much to the dismay of the lil whiners. Now...it is animated and there may have been a few other iffy lines I there, but I pulled it. It was my oldest I'm most worried about, especially with all the innuendo in movies these days. But I don't know how far is too far.
...the following shows have been disallowed by me or their mother: Jessie, Kick'n It, Ant farm, Wizards of whatever, and a bunch of others. I actually hate Disney and Nickelodeon and I am deathly afraid we're going to start seeing openly gay characters on kids' shows. I've just opened a whole nother can of crazy sleeplessness with that sentence, so forget that for now.
The question I'm asking is: How do we navigate this divide? There are so many shows to research, test, and even know about. How do we cover all that? How do we tell our kids that they can't watch stuff when the pastor's kids can? Or other friends at school or in church? Don't get me wrong, I'm not budging on core things, but I'm afraid of being too harsh and fueling some type of disdain for our faith and my convictions. I mean...all I had was 'Saved by the Bell' growing up. There are like a million different TV shows like that in the 21st century and they're all innuendo and borderline sexy.
Lord help us.