2c

or not

2c

Recently we ran into one of those difficult parenting moments. OK, truly these happen every day, but here's one worth sharing... It all came about as our children had an opportunity to go to the movie theatre with friends, all of whom we love dearly.

Tim and I take great care in choosing what is appropriate viewing (and listening) material for our children. This often puts us at odds in certain group situations where others' ideas are different. (Not bad, just different.) It is not by chance that our kids don't watch television (save the occasional sporting event or special programming) or have access to the Internet without close supervision. This cautious approach reflects a cornerstone of our parenting plan: monitor what goes in.
In the same way that we carefully purchase and prepare healthy meals, and avoid fast/processed food, we also carefully choose and monitor programming. You could say we hope to "program" our kids while they're young, so that they can grow in purity and build up strong resistance to inappropriate content. High hopes, we know!


Tim and I decided that a particular P3-13 movie would be fine for Zachary (who happened to want to see it), but that it would not OK for Peter and Joseph (who really didn't care about it anyway).


A few responses to our decision to keep Joseph and Peter out of the theater:
"They would love it!"
"It's FINE!"
"Anyone who has seen Star Wars can see this movie."
"It's an amazing movie!"

Still No. We stuck to our decision.

Having read the movie review by the USCCB (which gave this PG-13 movie a rating of A-III -- adults) we knew there was really no good reason to go against our better judgement.

I said, "We just don't think this movie is a good choice for Peter and Joseph, especially since we haven't seen it."
Reply: "Well I think you're wrong."
Me: "That's not the first time..."
Reply: "No, and it probably won't be the last."

Enough said.
We basically just agreed to disagree, which in many cases of conflict like this, is the best possible outcome.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zachary greatly enjoyed the movie, and shared the basic story line with us on the ride home.
I asked him if he thought it would have been an OK movie for Joseph and Peter to watch...
He simply replied, "No. I don't think so."

Enough said.