My hamper floweth over
The Keith Family News
Monday, July 24, 2006
Rethinking it all
I have always tried to protect my children from, well, everything. I want them to have these happy, storybook lives. It doesn't always work. This month:
Lillian broke her arm (not on my watch, though :) She was playing on the school playground equipment during t-ball practice, and just fell on it the wrong way. At first, I wanted to cry every time I looked at her, now, I think that it just adds to her cuteness in a weird way. She will say, "Can somebody help me take my plate to the kitchen? I have a broken arm, you know." Or I will say, "Lillian, can you take your dirty clothes to the hamper?" And she will say "No, I have a broken arm, remember?" I will never forget. She will probably be able to use it as an excuse when she is 20.
Max was outside playing today while I was talking on the phone. I had to go to the bathroom, so I brought him inside, closed the door, and when I came out, I sat on the couch to talk to the girls for a minute, when MAX WALKS IN THE FRONT DOOR! I'm not sure how long he was out there, and he had a scratch on his face. The kids were right there in the living room, and no one remembered him going out. We have decided to always leave the door locked. It still sends a shiver down my spine.
On another note about protecting, we didn't have cable until a year ago. My children watched either PBS or videos. Now, we still try to limit T.V. but they really enjoy Disney Channel shows. I do not. I find them very shallow. The message seems to be more, "You can be my friend even though I am better than you and you are different" more than "we are all equal". They never touch on any real issues, and I realized neither do we. We don't watch the news while the kids are awake, and have always thought we were protecting them by not talking to them about the ugliness (wars, famine, hatred) of the world. I think I was very wrong in that.
Whether I like it or not, they will be bombarded with shallow "worldly" concerns. Even when we are watching Animal Planet or the Discovery channel, "you need to be thinner, prettier, drive better cars, wear better clothes" commercials sneak in. I think the less real world humanity concerns that people have, the more they obsess about superficial ones, and the more they think about other people, the less they think about what brand of jeans they are wearing.
So I stopped the remote on CNN the other day, and they were, of course, talking about Lebanon. There was footage of bombs exploding, and I explained that this was happening right now.
They watched in relative silence and then Pierce said "okay, change the channel" and Jordan said "no, I want to watch this" and Pierce said " but Jordan, I don't like this, this is REAL"
That had a huge impact on me. I want to find the line between having them be informed, caring, individuals who want to have an impact on the world and scaring them to death. Any ideas?
Lillian broke her arm (not on my watch, though :) She was playing on the school playground equipment during t-ball practice, and just fell on it the wrong way. At first, I wanted to cry every time I looked at her, now, I think that it just adds to her cuteness in a weird way. She will say, "Can somebody help me take my plate to the kitchen? I have a broken arm, you know." Or I will say, "Lillian, can you take your dirty clothes to the hamper?" And she will say "No, I have a broken arm, remember?" I will never forget. She will probably be able to use it as an excuse when she is 20.
Max was outside playing today while I was talking on the phone. I had to go to the bathroom, so I brought him inside, closed the door, and when I came out, I sat on the couch to talk to the girls for a minute, when MAX WALKS IN THE FRONT DOOR! I'm not sure how long he was out there, and he had a scratch on his face. The kids were right there in the living room, and no one remembered him going out. We have decided to always leave the door locked. It still sends a shiver down my spine.
On another note about protecting, we didn't have cable until a year ago. My children watched either PBS or videos. Now, we still try to limit T.V. but they really enjoy Disney Channel shows. I do not. I find them very shallow. The message seems to be more, "You can be my friend even though I am better than you and you are different" more than "we are all equal". They never touch on any real issues, and I realized neither do we. We don't watch the news while the kids are awake, and have always thought we were protecting them by not talking to them about the ugliness (wars, famine, hatred) of the world. I think I was very wrong in that.
Whether I like it or not, they will be bombarded with shallow "worldly" concerns. Even when we are watching Animal Planet or the Discovery channel, "you need to be thinner, prettier, drive better cars, wear better clothes" commercials sneak in. I think the less real world humanity concerns that people have, the more they obsess about superficial ones, and the more they think about other people, the less they think about what brand of jeans they are wearing.
So I stopped the remote on CNN the other day, and they were, of course, talking about Lebanon. There was footage of bombs exploding, and I explained that this was happening right now.
They watched in relative silence and then Pierce said "okay, change the channel" and Jordan said "no, I want to watch this" and Pierce said " but Jordan, I don't like this, this is REAL"
That had a huge impact on me. I want to find the line between having them be informed, caring, individuals who want to have an impact on the world and scaring them to death. Any ideas?
Keithclan, 10:35 PM
4 Comments:
Amen! There is also a message theme in Disney shows that fat kids are always funny in a goofy, ignorant way. It seems that no one in these shows has empathy, either - they act without thinking and usually have to have the consequences explained to them (they can't even recognize any implications after the fact) by way-too-absent adults. Sometimes I wish our TV would dissappear (but I would sooooooooo miss John Stewart!). Kids are so much nicer without it. We have, however, managed to teach Isaac to be critical of advertising (reading the small print, logical thinking, analogies...) which makes commercials slightly less irritating. Gotta love it when an eight-year-old can call B.S. (bogus stuff - of course) on advertising. He watched the news with us the other night and was quite entertained with all the political ads, "What's a toddler got to do with Lt. Governor?!?" TiVo also lets us skip ads on our favorite shows (yes!!!).
Ok- much of this about the Disney shows is something I've yet to witness, but will very soon, as Charlie keeps telling me that she doesn't want to watch "baby shows" anymore. But your point about how sheltering them from political, racial, religious issues only makes them think that material issues is all there is to life is RIGHT ON TARGET. It hadn't occured to me. Maybe you could- on Saturdays or Sundays- pick up an issue of USA Today and have Ashton and Jordan each choose an article of interest to read to the family, (with assistance for Ashton), and then discuss together. Also, as all of our kids get older, there's a LOT of local mission work that I bet your church could turn you on to. Even just a half day at something like that would certainly make a child see outside their own little world.
I worry myself about all the same things, thanks for the post- now off to boarding school with Max & Alys!
I worry myself about all the same things, thanks for the post- now off to boarding school with Max & Alys!
It's such a balancing act. I swing back and forth between overprotecting and underprotecting. Right now we only have basic cable and the kids only really watch PBS. It's kind of refreshing.
ok, who are all these new people commenting on your blog...how exciting. Maybe I'm just stupid but I have NEVER noticed any of the things about the Disney Channel. However, we are not watching any other show besides the freakin' doodlebops! I have no ideas for you (sorry) but I can imagine how difficult that would be with the olders kids, with the younger ones I would definately sheild them from the going-ons of the world mainly because I am not fully informed and feel that I wouldn't do the explanations justice. I am of the mind that little kids shouldn't be bothered with "reality" quite yet.
