Parental Advisory

Most people keep an eye on what their children are absorbing in their tiny little minds these days. When I was a kid, my parents didn't really care what we watched, except for movies with nudity in them. That was a different time then. Back then nobody really cared about what their children watched on television, because it wasn't really a big concern in those days. Things have changed and times have changed. Now a days you really have to watch what your child is watching on television or in the movies that we let them take in, because if you don't it can have some serious consequences. The things that we watch now a days are not acceptable for a child to watch. The number one reason for screening what your child watches is because they do not understand that the things that are going on in the movie are not real and that they are fake. Children do not comprehend that it's all just a bunch of props and make-up. They think that what they are watching is real and nobody really takes the time to explain to them that it's not real. The reason for this blog that I am writing is to share a story about a parent that doesn't seem to think that he should be screening what his child watches. My husband has a friend, his name is Ryan, and he has two really adorable children. Ryan is kind of a loser. He lost his job last May and so I took pity on him and got him a job at Dairy Queen, where I work. Ryan and his wife are divorced. I believe I understand why she divorced him. His ex-wife, Samantha, is a very sweet person. I've met her and she is very tolerable, considering that Ryan is very irresponsible. A typical day for Ryan is that he is 32 and lives with his mom. His mom cooks, cleans, and pretty much wipes his ass for him. All he does is spend his paycheck, which isn't very much, on pot, movies, and video games. He gets his kids every other weekend. He has a four year old named Gaven and a 2 year old named Chloe. Half the time, he doesn't really acknoledge Chloe and he treats Gaven like he is his bet friend instead of his 4 year old son. With all this said, Ryan lets his son pretty much do as he pleases and since Ryan's typical day is to smoke pot, watch movies, and play video games, that is what Gaven does, except for the smoking pot. I've told Ryan repeatedly that he shouldn't let Gaven know that he smokes pot, because it's going to come back on him in a very bad way one of these days. He took my advice and doesn't do it around Gaven anymore, but he still lets Gaven watch and play the video games and movies that he watches. It doesn't sound that bad, but the movies that Ryan lets Gaven watch are "Nightmare on Elm Street" and " Friday the 13th" and "Halloween". Gaven's favorite characters are Freddy and Jason. Ryan does not see a problem with letting him watch this kind of stuff. Well, one day his wife called him to tell him that Gaven had gotten in big trouble and that Ryan was not allowed to let him watch those kinds of movies anymore because of what he did that day. Gaven had gotten in trouble and Samantha had told him that since he was in trouble then he wasn't going to get to watch "Pinoccio" that day. Gaven got angry because he couldn't watch the movie and ran into the kitchen and got a kitchen knife and stood over Samantha and said, "If you don't let me watch Pinoccio then I will stab you like Freddy and Jason does!" Samantha freaked out and took the knife from him and explained to him that if he stabbed her then she would bleed to death. She then explained to Gaven that those things in the movies are not real and that it is not okay to stab anybody. She also told Gaven that she was calling his dad and letting him know what he did and that she was going to inform him not to let Gaven watch those types of movies anymore. Smantha then sent Gaven to his room and called Ryan to tell him what had just happened. Although Ryan promised not to let him watch those types of movies again and had a talk with Gaven on the phone about what he had done, he did not keep this promise. He still lets Gaven watch scary movies and lets him play video games that involve murdering people. He just let Gaven watch Paranormal Activity 2 in the last couple of weeks. I think that he should be taking Samantha's warning seriously before the consequences get worse than that one incident. Tell me what you think. Maybe I'm just being a neurotic freak, but it just doesn't seem right. I wouldn't let Macy watch those things unless she is at an appropriate age to watch such things. They do have age warnings on every movie for a reason! Besides, you would think those kinds of movies would give a kid nightmares! I saw "Freddy" when I was young and I had nightmares for weeks about that guy!