My husband and I wanted to take our grandchildren to a presentable movie this summer, one suitable for their age group, and after searching online we were very disappointed in the words that were written beside each of the children's movies. Below is what was written:
PG - PARENTAL GUIDANCE
Mature Theme
Violence
Not Recommended for Young Children
Scary scenes
Cartoon Animation Action
Language may offend
Tobacco use
As I thought about the words "Parental Guidance", the question came to mind: "Are we as parents/grandparents really guiding our kids/grand kids?" Are we not the adults? Our children/grand kids depend on us to to lead and protect them. The easiest thing for all of us to do in this situation is to focus on the few parts that are funny and actually acceptable to watch, (the parts that we view on the trailer), and we overlook and ignore the negative, vulgar, scary, violent, and sexual parts that can greatly affect their little minds. A picture paints a thousand words! I understand that there is tremendous pressure from the media, TV, and online advertising that tempt all of us to feel like our kids are going to miss out if they don't see the most popular and upcoming movie, after all when you get together with other families it is the talk of the day. Not wanting our kids to miss out on the action and fun, we expose them to movies that have content that we know as parents is unacceptable. We've got way too many parents observing and saying, "Well, they'll learn for themselves. You've got to let them try it. You can't keep them from whats happening in the world around them. They'll figure it out." Our instruction manual for life, the Bible, says it is our responsibility to keep our children from the land minds of life by leading and training them and showing them the way they should go.
What way and which way do you want your children to go? What goes into their little minds,
will come out their mouth, the good and bad!
We have so many more positive options available to us to choose from today. Let's be hands-on parents and grandparents by being more aware of the content in the movies we are allowing our kids/grand kids to watch.
It is a challenging task to lead a family, but with the power of God supporting us,
it is a tremendous privilege!
