Brain Games
Hello everyone!
A topic that has been weighing on my mind recently (haha, no pun intended) is the squishy-ness and impressionable of young minds.
Furthermore, I have been thinking about all of the publications, articles, studies, and opinions that are posted nearly daily about those same impressionable minds.
Now that I am back living in my hometown with my incredible parents, I feel as if I have become wiser by the day. That being said, I think there is much to be said about how my parents decided what "stuff" went into my sister's and my brain growing up. And the age of "stuff" being appropriate varied between the two of us.
My dad is really into sci-fi movies. And Star Wars was a staple in our household. I was allowed to watch it for the first time at age 5 while my sister didn't view it for the first time until she was 8 years old. Was it because one of us was more brave? More mature? More intelligent? Not really. It had to do with our levels of sensitivity. My sister was a very sweet and tender child. That doesn't mean I was a monster, it just meant that she was much more mild tempered and sensitive. My parents knew the same movie that I loved and quoted all the time while jousting with pretend light sabers would be the source of tears and torment and years of nightmares for my sister.
My point: Neither the government nor the school systems can raise children like parents can. You are on the frontlines and you know your child. Age limit laws are unlikely to become any stricter in regards to movies, tv shows, and video games. Children have more access to anything and everything inappropriate than they ever had in the history of the world. And additional laws and regulations wont' stop that.
But what will help is knowing your child. Know when its appropriate to hand them that shooter video game. Know when its appropriate to let them watch movies with sexual references. Know when its important to introduce real-life horror into their minds. Censorship is a touchy subject in the public realm. But in the private realm, its your right and privilege as a parent to choose when to censor your children. And as this world becomes a bit scarier each and every day, we should be exercising our rights, especially as Christians, to be censoring our children from what may hinder their delicate minds. However, I will caution to not over-censor and to not do it for too long. The strongest Christian children are cultivated in a household where they know of the world and are aware of its temporary fulfillments but choose Christ above it all.
Keep them safe but keep them aware. Every child is different, and even every child in your own household is different. Observe them and then raise them accordingly. Individualized parenting tends to be more successful than forcing them all to be receptive to the same parenting style; because they won't all be receptive to the same parenting style.
I hope this left you with some food for thought. Please comment on some of your experiences in child rearing and knowing when it was time to let the world in.
A topic that has been weighing on my mind recently (haha, no pun intended) is the squishy-ness and impressionable of young minds.
Furthermore, I have been thinking about all of the publications, articles, studies, and opinions that are posted nearly daily about those same impressionable minds.
Now that I am back living in my hometown with my incredible parents, I feel as if I have become wiser by the day. That being said, I think there is much to be said about how my parents decided what "stuff" went into my sister's and my brain growing up. And the age of "stuff" being appropriate varied between the two of us.
My dad is really into sci-fi movies. And Star Wars was a staple in our household. I was allowed to watch it for the first time at age 5 while my sister didn't view it for the first time until she was 8 years old. Was it because one of us was more brave? More mature? More intelligent? Not really. It had to do with our levels of sensitivity. My sister was a very sweet and tender child. That doesn't mean I was a monster, it just meant that she was much more mild tempered and sensitive. My parents knew the same movie that I loved and quoted all the time while jousting with pretend light sabers would be the source of tears and torment and years of nightmares for my sister.
My point: Neither the government nor the school systems can raise children like parents can. You are on the frontlines and you know your child. Age limit laws are unlikely to become any stricter in regards to movies, tv shows, and video games. Children have more access to anything and everything inappropriate than they ever had in the history of the world. And additional laws and regulations wont' stop that.
But what will help is knowing your child. Know when its appropriate to hand them that shooter video game. Know when its appropriate to let them watch movies with sexual references. Know when its important to introduce real-life horror into their minds. Censorship is a touchy subject in the public realm. But in the private realm, its your right and privilege as a parent to choose when to censor your children. And as this world becomes a bit scarier each and every day, we should be exercising our rights, especially as Christians, to be censoring our children from what may hinder their delicate minds. However, I will caution to not over-censor and to not do it for too long. The strongest Christian children are cultivated in a household where they know of the world and are aware of its temporary fulfillments but choose Christ above it all.
Keep them safe but keep them aware. Every child is different, and even every child in your own household is different. Observe them and then raise them accordingly. Individualized parenting tends to be more successful than forcing them all to be receptive to the same parenting style; because they won't all be receptive to the same parenting style.
I hope this left you with some food for thought. Please comment on some of your experiences in child rearing and knowing when it was time to let the world in.
Comments
Post a Comment