Banning Scooby Doo, am I losing it?

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Debbie, you provided a thoughtful response, and contrary to what you may think, you’re not a half-bad writer in my opinion!

On certain points I agree with you. It is unwise to allow everything to enter your home and let your kids “experience everything”.

My main point though was not that you should have no parental jurisdiction. Rather, I thought it best to ease on certain things and make concessions here and there to try to curb the inevitable “rebellious” phase that many adolescents experience.

In addition, I fear that many of you are not thinking of your children as children. What you say has even more influence on them then even you probably realize. If they grow up thinking that the world is against them, and anything that is not directly religious or Catholic is inherently wrong, they grow up constantly fearing why that is.

I’m not advocating a position in which you allow them to experience everything. All I’m trying to convey is that going overboard on certain things like children’s programming might be a tad silly in the grand scheme of things.

I understand parents’ longing for a child who rarely if ever misbehaves or acts up or is bratty. But I would rather see my child truly experience life, even if that means the occasional brat.
 
I think the idea that banning certain potentially unhealthy activities only encourages kids to investigate such activities further is a little lazy and shortsighted.

My parents are extremely Catholic and always gave reasons for why they banned something but as a youngster and older it just seemed silly and of course i thought nothing could ever happen to me…and consquently since they DIDN"t let me do it i did it anyway just behind they’re back

I am going off of my own experience as well as quite a few people who i grew up with. I take offense that I am the one being called lazy and shortsighted. You are acting like I am conding giving children the chance to try drugs instead of just merely stating what I believe and I have seen from working with tons of high school/jr high kids. h…

The thing is to give the right explanation and then back it up with proper catechesis and the way your family lives life in general. In this way you stand a better chance of avoiding both exposing your children to potentially harmful things as children AND setting the stage for them to experiment with those things when they’re older.

I agree that you should always live a moral lifestyle and explain why certain things are good and bad. So they have a great foundation for their faith.

Out of curiousity I am wondering if any of you let your children read or watch The Hobbitt Cartoon or any of the lord of the rings trilogy as well Narnia?
 
ecp007 said:
Do the creatures look like they were made by God? - Keep watching. Most of the banned shows have unnatural creatures - ie sponge bob, monsters or children with crossed eyes, or disproportionate heads - not allowed on my TV.

There is simply no reason to provide an ugly roll model for my kids.
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:eek: This is a picture of me reading this line! You do understand that there are many beautiful people in this world who are born with “crossed eyes, or disproportionate heads”. Simply because people have physical differences does not make them ugly!

Not to hijack the thread, I’ll relate that when I was a child, we were not allowed to watch “Bewitched” or see the movie “Escape from Witch Mountain”. We were also limited to 1 hour of TV per day for quite a few of those growing up years…

As an adult and mom, I still enjoy watching old “Bewitched” re-runs…
 
maria29 said:
I take offense that I am the one being called lazy and shortsighted.
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I’m terribly sorry… despite the way it came out, I in no way intended to point the finger at you or anyone in particular. My words were poorly chosen.

Every child is different, and some are naturally more inquisitive than others. I understand that “going behind parents’ backs” is something that is almost unavoidable. I did it, just not with things involving the occult. :o But I stand by my belief that it is possible to take the mystery out of things without exposing children to them. (speaking generally, here… work with me 😛 )
maria29 said:
I agree that you should always live a moral lifestyle and explain why certain things are good and bad. So they have a great foundation for their faith.
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:yup:
maria29 said:
Out of curiousity I am wondering if any of you let your children read or watch The Hobbitt Cartoon or any of the lord of the rings trilogy as well Narnia?
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When they reach the right age, if they are interested, yes… in my opinion, those things are in the realm of “fairy tale” (as opposed to “occult”), for myriad reasons I won’t get into here.
 
It’s a very blurry line between “the occult” and “a fairy tale,” and parents need to explain to kids the reason they will permit some things and not others - that the witch in Hansel and Grethel is “fictional” but other witches (apparently) are not.
 
estesbob said:
I guess there is not going to much entusiasm in CAF for my new book:

smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_2_15.gifScooby Doo VSsmileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_1_149v.gif Harry Potter

An action packed adventure which ends when Scoby Doo rallies all the Ghosts he has ever fought to do combat with an army of House Elves conjured up by Harry. Scooby wins when Hermoine give new socks to all the elves… smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/1/1_4_24.gif

%between%
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Sounds like a best seller huh;)
 
Consecrated said:
I grew up in the eighties and nineties, and my parents were very very careful with what they let us watch. For example, they banned the Smurfs… b/c of more than just fairy-tale types of occultish themes. When they explained to us WHY they weren’t allowing it anymore, they took the mystery right out of the occult and showed it to us for what it is… of the devil, and NOT of God. We were very satisfied with this explanation, and never had an urge to investigate for ourselves…after all, who wants to mess with the devil when you have a proper understanding of who and what he is?? It was the same with their explanations of why no ouija board.

I think the idea that banning certain potentially unhealthy activities only encourages kids to investigate such activities further is a little lazy and shortsighted. The thing is to give the right explanation and then back it up with proper catechesis and the way your family lives life in general. In this way you stand a better chance of avoiding both exposing your children to potentially harmful things as children AND setting the stage for them to experiment with those things when they’re older.
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You are not serious. You were banned from watching the Smurfs? Oh my. :hmmm:
 
mikew262 said:
You are not serious. You were banned from watching the Smurfs? Oh my. :hmmm:
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Yeah, that’s pretty much the universal reaction. 😃 But I have to say that I have really felt no loss in the quality of my life because of it. 😉
 
Consecrated said:
Yeah, that’s pretty much the universal reaction. 😃 But I have to say that I have really felt no loss in the quality of my life because of it. 😉
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I personally think the show that needs banning the most is Barney!!!
 
Moderator can we close the topic? It’s turned into something I don’t want. People are being mocked and insulted, thanks.
 
Back on the rails…

This happened just the other day and kind of justifies the OP’s concerns (not that any parent needs to have their concerns about what is best for their children justified…)

My 12-year-old son and my 9-year-old nephew approached me the other day. My son tells his cousin, “go ahead and ask, she’ll tell you the truth.” So my nephew asks, “Auntie, what’s ‘wicca’?”

Well, at first I was floored, because I didn’t know where he had heard the word, but I answered that wicca is witchcraft, the religion of witches. His eyes got huge and he said, “you mean, witches are REAL? My dad always said they’re just make believe!”

Well, not wanting to blow this out of proportion, I asked him where he’d heard the word… then I flipped out! Apparently one of his friends in the martial arts school they attend asked my nephew why he made the sign of the cross before he ate his snack. So my nephew (remember, he’s nine, this other kid is about eight) tells him it’s to thank God for his food. Then, knowing that other kids are not always Catholic, he asked his little friend, “What church do you go to?” And his friend replied that they don’t go to church. The sun is a god and so is the moon and the stars and the earth and the water and his mother who is now his father practices wicca and that’s how she knew she had to become his dad.:eek:

Now I’d heard through the grapevine about his mother and his “other mother” (his birth mother reached the rank of black belt in the school) and the fact that his mother had decided to have a sex-change operation caused a scandal in the school (we lost several students whose parents pulled them out when the “transformation” began to take place and “Miss Susie” started demanding that the kids call her “Mr. Bob”.) But the wicca news I’d never heard before.

These people have left the school for whatever reasons (someone said it was because they were upset that they weren’t allowed to wear their pentagrams and crystals in class, but then NO ONE is allowed to wear jewelry during class, whether it’s a cross, a Miraculous medal, or the Hope diamond!), but it made me think: how many people don’t take witchcraft seriously? How many think it’s just a “story”, that witches are make-believe? Well, I did tell my brother-in-law what was going on and we all talked to my nephew and assured him that as long as he prayed to Jesus and the Blessed Mother and St. Michael to keep him safe, he would be all right. We told him to be nice to his little friend and pray for him, but to stay away from any talk of witches and gods and goddesses (moot point, since they left anyway).

The point is, when you’re dealing with young children, there’s really no such thing as overreacting. Some dangers are closer than you think.

BlueRose
 
Thank you to all who participated; this thread is now closed.

Mane Nobiscum Domine,
Ferdinand Mary
 
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