Can I read this? Can I play that? Can I watch this?

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MarkA16

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You know, sorry this is coming from an ignorant 17 year old (lol), but anyway, I’m getting pretty tired of people saying “can a Christian watch this, play that, read this, etc.” I mean, it’s not real. Yeah it can influence kids, but with good parenting it won’t influence them. Afterall, the Bible has stories about killings, sex, etc, things that might make you an atheist (lol), but if you have a good study guide then it won’t turn out that way.

I know this from experience (sorry if I’m sounding cocky), my parents let me play Sonic the Hedgehog (GameGear!), I watch Terminator movies, I watch Harry Potter, etc. My parents gave me the time to grow and learn, which led me closer to my Catholic faith, and to God. They did not leave me, nor did they put me on a leash.

Show love, show that you trust them, and you will be loved and trusted. 🙂

Sorry if this was off-topic. It’s just that I read a few threads about “can I read this, play that, etc.”.

God Bless! 🙂

Feel free to agree or disagree with me. I’m probably the only teen here and the rest are old enough to be my parents. 🙂
 
MarkA16 said:
You know, sorry this is coming from an ignorant 17 year old (lol), but anyway, I’m getting pretty tired of people saying “can a Christian watch this, play that, read this, etc.” I mean, it’s not real. Yeah it can influence kids, but with good parenting it won’t influence them. Afterall, the Bible has stories about killings, sex, etc, things that might make you an atheist (lol), but if you have a good study guide then it won’t turn out that way.

I know this from experience (sorry if I’m sounding cocky), my parents let me play Sonic the Hedgehog (GameGear!), I watch Terminator movies, I watch Harry Potter, etc. My parents gave me the time to grow and learn, which led me closer to my Catholic faith, and to God. They did not leave me, nor did they put me on a leash.

Show love, show that you trust them, and you will be loved and trusted. 🙂

Sorry if this was off-topic. It’s just that I read a few threads about “can I read this, play that, etc.”.

God Bless! 🙂

Feel free to agree or disagree with me. I’m probably the only teen here and the rest are old enough to be my parents. 🙂
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lol–you sound like my son…who is 14. I agree to a point with you…I ask my son this…and I will ask you…when you grow to be a parent some day…will you want to somewhat check out what your kids watch, play, see on tv? Will you want the best…or just throw caution to the wind?

My sons hates this ‘game’ I play with him…but he typically sees the adult perspective after playing it.😃

I agree about let’s say Harry Potter…it’s relatively innocent…and if you teach your children right from wrong…the series will be taken with a grain of salt. Now…allowing kids to watch movies that are adult in nature…I think there needs to be boundaries. Young minds wander…Old minds wander…Middle aged minds wander…

But, young people need shaping…need guidance. Again…what type of parent will you be someday? 🙂
 
whatevergirl said:
But, young people need shaping…need guidance. Again…what type of parent will you be someday? 🙂
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A Catholic, athletic, constantly smiling, Filipino dad. Lol. 🙂

I see what you mean though. I know there are things that are just “out there”. Of course I wouldn’t let them view sex related material and stuff. But if they ask about it, I will explain it to them in a clean, Biblical (lol) manner. I don’t want to expose things I feel they aren’t ready yet. Love takes time, is patient, and it grows in your life.

As for the whole sun god in Sonic the Hedgehog in another thread, staying active in our parish and learning about it will overturn it.

I’m gonna read them Christian children’s books at bedtime. I’m not going to force religion on them. I’m going to simply share the love I learned from my own parents.

I remember I wanted to have my own children when I was like 12 years old. Lol. I loved children so much. They are the future. I love to share the love that was shared to me at that age and continuing to this day.

But hey, I don’t know what my future is. I just felt confident because of my experience with children. I love babysitting my little cousin. She’s awesome. She listens to me, I listen to her. I wish I could babysit all day lol.
 
My mom raised me almost that way. I was 14 when I watched an R rated movie for the first time (Air Force One, still remember). She had my brother and I on a loose chain. She didn’t shelter us from the world, but was careful at how much of it she exposed us to.
I’ve seen too many cases where kids have been sheltered completely, and it’s sad. They were so naieve. You just know the moment they step out on their own they’ll be lost or get in with the wrong people.
 
MarkA16 said:
You know, sorry this is coming from an ignorant 17 year old (lol), but anyway, I’m getting pretty tired of people saying “can a Christian watch this, play that, read this, etc.” I mean, it’s not real. Yeah it can influence kids, but with good parenting it won’t influence them. Afterall, the Bible has stories about killings, sex, etc, things that might make you an atheist (lol), but if you have a good study guide then it won’t turn out that way.

I know this from experience (sorry if I’m sounding cocky), my parents let me play Sonic the Hedgehog (GameGear!), I watch Terminator movies, I watch Harry Potter, etc. My parents gave me the time to grow and learn, which led me closer to my Catholic faith, and to God. They did not leave me, nor did they put me on a leash.

Show love, show that you trust them, and you will be loved and trusted. 🙂

Sorry if this was off-topic. It’s just that I read a few threads about “can I read this, play that, etc.”.

God Bless! 🙂

Feel free to agree or disagree with me. I’m probably the only teen here and the rest are old enough to be my parents. 🙂
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IMO it would have been child abuse if your parents had denied you the joy of harry Potter movies and books. I was preety darn smart whhen I was 17-wish i was still that smart!
 
estesbob said:
IMO it would have been child abuse if your parents had denied you the joy of harry Potter movies and books. I was preety darn smart whhen I was 17-wish i was still that smart!
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Aw, Bob, you’re still pretty darned smart!😉
 
hi usually hide elsewhere on these boards but im wandering

I remember my hubbys youth pastor gave them a great piece of advice and actually I still use it today.

Which is whatever you do, whereever you go, think, imagine Jesus is sitting, standing, running beside you, doing what your doing just like one of the gang.

If there is somewhere youd rather Him wait outside, while you go in, then you know.
 
Kitty_Chan said:
hi usually hide elsewhere on these boards but im wandering

I remember my hubbys youth pastor gave them a great piece of advice and actually I still use it today.

Which is whatever you do, whereever you go, think, imagine Jesus is sitting, standing, running beside you, doing what your doing just like one of the gang.

If there is somewhere youd rather Him wait outside, while you go in, then you know.
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I’d prefer to be alone while using toilet.
 
MarkA16 said:
As for the whole sun god in Sonic the Hedgehog in another thread, staying active in our parish and learning about it will overturn it.
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Nevermind the sun god - what about that talking hedge hog!! Talk about unnatural!! :eek:

(Just kidding … 😛 )
I’m gonna read them Christian children’s books at bedtime. I’m not going to force religion on them. I’m going to simply share the love I learned from my own parents.
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That’s a good approach to take - start them young, and instill it into their very bones. For example, when your little two year old daughter is imagining her wedding, encourage her to imagine marrying a good Catholic boy, in a beautiful Catholic Church, with a priest presiding. Then, when she is old enough to start planning the real thing, you won’t have to get into a long detailed argument with her about not having it on the beach with a JP - she’ll just “know in her bones” that a proper Church wedding is the way to go. 🙂
 
The OP makes so many excellent points.

I think we need to teach kids HOW to think, not WHAT to think.

And I think it’s all about age-appropriateness. We need to recognize that children are not just “miniature adults” just like us. They are still growing in body and mind, and we need to respect that and give them experiences that will help them grow up well, not experiences that will mark, sexualize, or terrorize them.

We allowed our kids to participate in “non-Christian” activities, view “non-Christian” media, and have “non-Christian” friends.

But we were very careful about age-appropriateness.

E.g., when our children were under 5, we allowed them to watch cartoons and children’s Disney movies. Most of these have no God-centered universe, although some of the very old Disney movies (e.g., The Three Lives of Thomasina) show religion in a positive way.

But these “non-Christian” media have a lot of positive things for children.

We would NOT have allowed our children to watch movies like Gone With The Wind and Terminator when they were tiny. When they were older, yes. (although neither of our daughters care for Terminator!)

*The Simpsons *is another show that we NEVER watched while the kids were growing up, but once they were in high school and could understand all the good lessons in the show, we watched it. Good discussions, e.g., the episode where Lisa digs up the angel.

Our children listened to a lot of music when they were children (mainly because I play piano), but they didn’t listen to rock music until they were in 1st grade. I feel that it is very detrimental to the child’s musical development, but once they are older and their ears and brains are more developed, no problem with rock music. (Back in 1987, my daughter’s kindergarten teacher was amazed that she had never heard of Michael Jackson! She said our family was like the Waltons and she meant it as a compliment.)

If you allow kids freedom, they develop discernment.

When my older daughter was about 10, she went to a slumber party. I got a call at about 10:30 pm. The mother was concerned because my daughter refused to watch the “horror” movie; instead, she asked if she could just sit in another room and read while everyone else watched the movie. My daughter told her that “movies like that upset her and she would rather not watch it, but she didn’t want to stop everyone else from watching it.”

I told the mom not to worry about it, and my daughter had a great time reading and didn’t offend anyone and didn’t get upset by a gross movie.

We did make some mistakes and so did others. My younger daughter had to watch a movie about war when she was in grade school. She ran out of the classroom crying, and this incident set off a series of nightmares and sleepless nights. Eventually we took her to a psychologist so she could learn to go to sleep without fear.

So to this day, she won’t watch war movies. She won’t watch The Unit.

I don’t think “war” movies, even documentaries, are appropriate for young children. It’s too bad that the school felt differently that time.

Age appropriateness–what’s OK for a 17 year-old is not necessarily OK for a 5 year-old.
 
Oh kids need to be taught what to think. Either God is real or He isn’t. Too many kids and some adults are running around without a solid Christian moral compass to guide them.

I don’t believe in a relativistic world. As one slogan goes: If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything. While I don’t think people will fall for literally everything, there are a lot of ideas and things out there that kids and adults should stay away from. My parents taught me things as I got older. When I asked my mom certain things when I was a kid, on occasion she would say, “Ask me in a few years, you’re not ready now.” Kids don’t have a built-in knowledge of what good and bad and right and wrong are, that needs to be instilled by the parents.

God bless,
Ed
 
Hey im 17 just like you! ive been brought up relatively the same way as you- i went to church ever since i was born- until about age 12 when my parents got divorced and stopped taking me- now i go every once in a while when i can, but its hard because my parents arent the best catholics out there. However, i still believe in God, and im still a catholic, though i know that i need to start getting to mass more often. Ive grown up watching harry potter and sabrina the teenage witch and all kinds of stuff like that, but ive always gone backc to my catholic roots!
  • Caroline/
 
Cool another teen! I’m probably like the only 17 year old in my school that can’t drive yet. If I did, I would want to go to Mass every week.

I appreciate the comments on my thoughts :).
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Cat:
Our children listened to a lot of music when they were children (mainly because I play piano), but they didn’t listen to rock music until they were in 1st grade…
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Oh you bring me memories! I remember when I was like 5 years old my parents would listen to Soft Rock (96.5 for you San Diegans :)). The same station for almost 10 years. Every time a song started I was like, “oh, this again…”. Thinking about it now I never realized how much impact it did in my life. The songs were a message of Love, Love songs. That’s the seed that was being planted in me.

What I learned from this, is that it’s best to start to show Love at the age where your children are only beginning to mimic what you do because they know nothing and look up to you. Plant the seed early so that it will grow into something big, fast. From five (the earliest I can remember) to 11 years old my base was still growing, from 12 to 14 I produced leaves starting from my base, from 15 to now I produced fruit because of my base. Let’s be part of God’s forest!. haha. See you there! 🙂 LOL
 
estesbob said:
IMO it would have been child abuse if your parents had denied you the joy of harry Potter movies and books. I was preety darn smart whhen I was 17-wish i was still that smart!
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ok that’s a stretch ha!😛
 
antimon said:
I’d prefer to be alone while using toilet.
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well the pastor said like one of the guys, so if your friends dont go in a gang, then I suppose thats ok.

:rolleyes:

Its just a good mental exercise, He knows what your doing regardless, santa’s got nothing on Him.😃
 
I’d say it depends on how you feel about your own faith…how “mature” you feel, spiritually. If you decide not to read, watch, or play something, well, that’s just fine! 🙂 You recognize a real risk, and would rather be safe.

But if you do choose to read, watch, or play something that may be slighty questionable, definitely be cautious, but enjoy it all the same. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, while it’s all about magic, witchcraft, and such, it is also a true good vs evil story, where the good and evil aren’t quite so clear cut (like in the real world). People can switch sides and justify bad things or even commit small sins (again, just like the real world). Yet, there are also the heros, those who aren’t quite so perfect, but still believe they must do the right thing always. (I can go on…I once wrote a 30 pg paper on Harry Potter… I found lots of evidince supporting HP)

“The time has come, Harry, to choose between what is right, and what is easy.” A lot of truth in that! 😃

And sometimes, you have to know thine enemies in order to defeat them. (Perhaps Snape is good after all?!) I mean, I avoid all tarot, wicca stuff, because I don’t want to get sucked in. But I realize that some people have to in order to explain why those things are wrong in a knowledgeable manner, such as some of the people in the Church itself.

So, in conclusion, you may read, you may play, you may watch, but whether you do or not just depends. 🙂
 
A Legionary Priest told me once that impurity in a movie/media can not be viewed, esp. by young people. He says it takes years for an impure image to be purged from the brain, if at all.

Otherwise, the best approach is to watch and analyze with lots of discussion.

I’m more careful with some of my kids because I’ve noticed certain ones really playact the movies they love. For this reason, we avoided Harry Potter when they were younger. I didn’t want them to role play conjuring spirits.

But, every kid is different.
 
leonie said:
Otherwise, the best approach is to watch and analyze with lots of discussion.

But, every kid is different.
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A close friend criticized me once for not allowing rap music in our home. She said I wasn’t allowing my daughter to “find her own music”. My kid likes Beatles, Sinatra, Beethoven, Toby Keith, and Sci Fi music, just to name a very few. Her son dug rap, gangsta, and hip-hop. Both, by the way, are classical musicians.
Guess whose mom was ecstatic that her child gave up his music for Lent? (Hint: not I)[SIGN]snicker[/SIGN]
 
ya all know its ugly, to be a parent and put out limits, but it is the job description.

I think its Gods way of giving us a glimpse of what things are like from His side. Can anyone imagine a planet full of whiny, ungrateful, thick skulled children? ack what a headache.
 
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