How much should we shelter our children?

After reading a friends blog about monitering our childrens television to avoid violent content, I got to thinking about how much we should expose our children to. Should we only allow them to watch television about giant yellow birds that talk and purple dinosaurs that sing about love? Is that the world we live in today? Should we shelter them from the violence we find in most Disney movies? Are these movies not more realistic than giant purple dinosaurs? Where, and at what age do we set limits?

I am of the belief that a certain amount of exposure to sex and violence is healthy for children growing up in our world today. I'm talking about The Incredibles, The Little Mermaid and Toy Story, not adult movies. I don't particularly like it, but it is reality. Our society is violent and puts entirely too much emphasis on sex. That said, I believe it is a parents job (not TV shows) to teach their children that this is the way the world works, but not the way we as individuals should act. We should teach our children to be loving, kind people who can overcome adversity. There are much better mediums for teaching these life lessons than television.

Exposing our children to these forms of entertainment ease our children into the realities of the world they will live in as adults. If we teach our children that sweet purple dinosaurs are the way of the world, they will grow up to be adults that expect people to be loving and kind all the time. Turn on the news any night of the week and you will find this is not the way our world works. I want to teach my child to watch out for people like the gunman from Virginia Tech. Dont let your guard down and expect people to be good and kind to you all the time. Of course, the kids in those classes at Virginia Tech had no idea someone would come into their class shooting. We can't live our entire life expecting the worst from people, just be prepared for it.

Even if we shelter our children from violence on television, they will still have violent tendencies. I believe violent behavior is natural for human beings. There was a time when we could not go to the grocery store and purchase our food. We had to kill it. Most of us don't do that anymore, but those natural behaviors are still in us. Children, especially boys, need a way to expend that energy. Our job is not to teach them that they are wrong, but to teach them constructive ways to expend their violent energy. Shooting at people and pretending to kill one another is obvious not heathly behavior. But Peter Pan sword fights, they are just little boys having fun and using their imaginations.

Before I had a boy, my beliefs were quite different. I vowed my boy would never have a gun or be allowed to play fight. Well, when you have a boy you understand their innocent need to play this way. I still will not allow my son to have a realistic gun, but a squirt gun or one that shoots nerf balls, are they really that harmful? I encourage sports, bikes and scooters as a constructive way to burn off his endless energy. He loves movies like the Incredibles, Toy Story, Tarzan, Monsters Inc., and Peter Pan, all of which have a "bad guy" and quite a bit of violence. I really feel like he understands that these are movies and not real life. He may have a Peter Pan sword fight, but he doesnt really think he can be Peter Pan, or want to hurt people. I teach him to love and respect others. I teach him this through my conversations with him and my actions toward other people.

This past Easter I struggled with how to explain the true meaning of Easter to my son. I did not want to tell him that Jesus was hung on a cross and left to die. This story is much more violent and hard to comprehend than any Disney movie... And this is real life! When will he be ready for this story? There are many history lessons he will learn as he grows up that will be hard to comprehend. The Holocaust was real! September 11th was real! These are the stories I worry about explaining to my kids, not why Captain Hook and Peter Pan love a good sword fight. Real life is scary. Why not ease our children into real life with some fun, entertaining Disney movies?!?!