Shield Your Treasures from the Trash

In Raising Respectful Children in a Disrespectful World, Jill Rigby devotes two very convicting chapters to shielding our children from the trash in magazines, books, movies, movies, TV, video games, and the internet.

I'll admit. I felt I was failing the checklist...especially this summer. We do have rules, but Superman has had increasing concerns about some of the shows that the kids watch during the day when I'm at work. Many of them are shows that they've been watching since they were much younger, but as the characters have grown up, so has the content. It has snuck into our home, and I've let it slide.

I remember how when Eeny was young, I would pretty much let him watch anything on PBS. But I started noticing how disrespectful Arthur seemed to be to his mom and to his little sister...and to his teachers. I banned the show from the house. It just wasn't appropriate for a show that caters to preschoolers to talk to and about adults the way they did or to show that it is normal to treat siblings with such mean attitudes.

If a preschool show on PBS can teach disrespect, how much more can the shows on stations that are entertainment focused, rather than educationally focused. We're going to be making some changes around here, and I would challenge you to take a good, hard listen next time your kids are watching something or playing a game, to the content that is displayed. Besides moral compromises, are your kids laughing at disrespect? Is the humor all about making fun of others, especially parents? Can we really expect our kids to consistently take that in and not model that behavior in turn?

What are your thoughts?