wednes | Goodness me!

Cool thread.

dude. that's fucked up. i come across threads in the horror movie communities all the time... "Should I let my 3 year old watch Dawn Of The Dead?" and things like that. I think it's fucked up when people encourage their children to watch these things. I mean, I LOVELOVELOVE horror movies, but I'm not about to let Liam watch any of them. He wouldn't want to anyway... he's very particular. Although a few years ago he was kinda obsessed with The Powerpuff Girls, so I taped a 6 hour long marathon off Cartoon Network for him over a copy of the original Dawn Of The Dead. I didn't realize until we watched it that the end of PPG cuts off into a particularly grisly zombie munch-a-thon, so i taped over that part with some random TV crap. He accidentally watched it a couple of times, but it didn't seem to bother him any. I hope. :)

Yeah, the ignorance of some people while raising kids is staggering.

I grew up watching horror movies....never had any problems distinguishing the fantasy from reality.

As did I, and I'm certainly not saying that no kid should ever watch horror.

The originaly poster asserted that her kid wasn't absorbing any information because she was "only 18 months". But if they are quoting things from the show, they are obviously absorbing them. The mom then asserted that they are picking up some things but not the violence, which is just wishful thinking...

Joe is 12. He likes some scary stuff. Other stuff, I won't let him see yet. If it could be real, I shy away from it. If it's totally fake, then it's not so bad.

But...hasn't he seen all the Lecter movies? Half of those characters are based on real people. I'm not nessesarily saying that's bad, but I don't understand the distinction you are making.

Aw, it's so cute that her little daughter watches extremely explicit, violent shows with strong sexual understones. How sweet!

I know, and I'm such a horrible person for taking issue with that...and only when asked!

Nice LJ jabs, Wednes. I agree with your reasoning.
The Father to Be in me is already thinking ahead to such issues.
I see us as being selective when it comes to what her or she watches.

I would think any reaosnable person would. I simply can't see the logic in saying "Oh, they're little and can't talk, so I'm sure they're not absorbing any of that information".

Right, exactly. Children are like sponges, and being around my sisters kids has showed me this. The fact about the psyche being developed by the 24th month... That's interesting. I don't dispute it, but where did you find such information? I'd like to learn more.

Peter Vronsky's new book about Serial Killers.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0425196402/qid=1109879533/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4173566-6313469?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Danke.

Because I know how she expresses emotions. Laughing, clapping, smiling, and "OOOHING" over the show are not something she "sees."

Clapping is the one emotion I cannot help but wear on my sleeve. Oh wait, that is not an emotion, that is an action.

I liked how you came across nice and level headed.

Tee hee, sometimes it's more fun not to flame; especially when the person in question is already totally defensive.

The best part is that the person who started that is on a friends friend list. What a small incestious world the internets are.

Yeah...that's why all this Frienditto business kind of freaks me out.

Good christ.

First, she's proud that her daughter loves the show, then she's denying it and saying she just loves Stabler. And that she's only been in the room three times...what the hell ever. The woman clearly knows that it's not particularly wise or motherly to let a toddler watch SVU.

And we wonder how we raise psychopaths and people who lack empathy.

I adore Buffy and Angel and I think Resident Evil: Apocalypse was great entertainment, but I'm not letting my kid watch it, thanks. And to think I was upset that my friend wanted his toddler to see Princess Mononoke...

*sigh* Some people.

Mononoke should wait until the kid is like 9 or 10.

Yeah...so now I guess she's horribly offended and defensive about it. But I never would have said anything had she not asked. I do know people who do things around thier kid that i find questionable, but I try to stay out of it because it's none of my business.

Oh well...

Wow...I can't believe her jumping down your throat for saying, "Uh, hey, kids totally pick stuff up and probably shouldn't be watching stuff like that on tv."

The twins LOVE Elmo and if you say ELMO they want to watch it...they've done that since about 14 months, they are also able to mimic quite a bit off the show. Now...here's the point...kids learn by MIMICKING WHAT THEY SEE.

For example, you want to teach a kid to wave you show them the back of your hand and your fingers waggling towards yourself. They then hold up their hand and put the back of their hand to their face and waggle their fingers.
This took all of five minutes. Kids UNDERSTAND and ABSORB what they focus on.

GAH!
I don't understand why parents aren't putting off their "grownup" things like L&O and Vice City until AFTER the kid has gone to bed. You had a kid, accept responsibility...kid enters and your life becomes Elmo, Sesame Street, Barney and Barbie. Brandi (the twins' mom) can sing all kinds of songs now. It's a little scary. You were completely right in your assessment of the situation...and kudos to you for not responding to her husband. Although, I'm sure he's all, "Yeah, that's right...I SHOWED HER!!"
effers.
hate people :) :) :)

It's just scary that so many people think that way. And to respond with: " I know someone who saw tons of violence and they are fine now..."

Well gee, I know a guy who drank drano and lived, so let's all do that now too.

Actually, I have since rsponded to the husband, but not point by point, as most of his points were personal in nautre and ridiculous.

It's great that she doesn't want to throw her kid in her bedroom after being in daycare all day - cool points for the mom and dad.

It's great that the kid isn't in front of the TV all day - cool points for Mom and Dad.

However

It wouldn't kill Mom and Dad to tape the shows and watch them after the kid goes to sleep. I agree with you that the kids pick up on that stuff. I was never allowed to watch the horror-movie stuff ever and I missed out on what you guys watched - part ofthat was because when I was old enough, my sister wasn't and instead of kicking her out of her own living room they just said I didn't need to watch it (desensitizing). Yeah, many other things are desensitizing too but still... my little Anthony Ray hears his share of fights and cuss-words right outside our windows. We live next door to a crack house and the SWAT team is always busting somewhere within sight distance (at least once every other month). Anyway, you weren't knocking the woman personally or the show... you were pointing out that the kid is picking up on that stuff.

Maybe I'm not doing any better than she is, I let Anthony watch live surgeries on TV but a) I explain it and b) it's not gross gorey, it's part of the body. He doesn't seem scared, he says, "Mommy - da doctor put no-ouchie stuff in him arm and then him open him brain and him take out the bad stuff... good job doctor!" Actually, Anthony's more disturbed by SpongeBob really but I'd never have him watch crime shows... not until he's old enough to understand and not be freaked out about it (and that depends on the age/maturity level of the child).

I thought you were very respectful.

I was, but I'm getting annoyed now.

I applaud you for what you said! you dont even have a kid and yet you know what is inappropriate for a small child..yet this woman has bred..and cant be bothered to care!!! I just hope they have good insurance cause that kid is prolly gonna need a lot of therapy...and not just from watching violent shows!

I don't even think it's that they don't care. I'm sure a lot of people just don't know any better. The only reason i know is because I've been researching how serial killers and mass murderers are made for over 15 years now. It's fascinating.

And I'm not saying any kid exposed to violent TV will murder, but it's absurd to think kids aren't taking in information just because they can't verbalize it yet.

I wasn't really trying to be shitty with them, it just ended up that way I guess. I wasn't making it personal...so I am pissed that they would bring my spirituality into it.

oh yeah, kids take in stuff even in the womb!! It's quite amazing really.

I could tell by the way you were writing you weren't being rude..but some people cant handle critizim and then they gotta get all nasty about religion they know nothing about!

Go figure...ignorant people acting ignorant.

;-)

Wow. It was waaaay below the belt when they completely attacked you. Like, the both of them. It's kind of scary, that those kind of people are parents. What is this world coming to?

A VERY entertaining read, though, I must say. Go, wednes!

Yeah, it's boring to me now. It was just so funny how defensive they became, like they care so much what a stranger thinks. And the Bambi comments were hilarious.

I gave them a lecture. Check it out.

I don't think it's a bad thing for children to watch L&O. But it needs to be monitored. Like I said I was watching Casino, and it was mostly just Denero explaining how everything went down at the end. It's not very violent until they get Pesci in a corn field. I didn't think about it until they started hitting Pesci with the bat, at that point the following thought went through my head... "Oh my God!! I can't let S see them beat these two guys to death." It's a horrible scene and to be honest I was glad for the excuse to turn it off. There are many episodes of SVU that I can't watch due to subject matter. I just don't like violence, it upsets me. And I've had 28 years to get used to it. And when they don't show you something it can often be far more horrific than if they showed it. I could go on forever on this topic, remind me to discuss it next time we see each other in person.

These people are idiots. That said, you got on the offensive pretty quick when you said, "Here's a thought, how about turning the TV off on occasion?"

It's the dad who's the real asshole, though... using childish techniques like pretending sarcasm was lost on you and daring you to reply to him so he can prove you're immature by "insisting on the last word".

I love the whole "our child is brilliant in that she knows and recognizes the characters from this show -- but too dumb to recognize any violence!" argument.

I do agree that I was somewhat exasperated in my initial reply. But yeah, their whole argument was pretty specious. Wait...I wonder if I spelled tha right.

One of my favorite parts was the whole...
"As a matter of fact, and this has been brought up by _actual_ authority figures(ie - doctors, daycare workers who see a bazillion kids a day), our daughter is extremely intelligent for her age."
They tell nearly everyone that. It makes people feel better. It's simply not statistically possible for everyone I know to have children who are above average.

If only I'd known getting a job in a day-care center made me an authority figure.

Goodness me!

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