I don't know if I'm in the minority, but I truly believe that kids are affected by what they watch. My daughter, at twenty one, watched the Exorcist when she was very young, and I was out, and she still has nightmares, along with many other movies she watched. There are some movies that older kids and adults may find funny, but when they are rated R, I can't see any reason why anyone in their right mind would feed that knowledge to a child, or children.
I used to watch Disney Movies with them, and by the time they were eight, eleven and thirteen, those were way too square for them. The movies they were becoming accustomed to while being babysat for, were those of blood, guts, gore, vampires, transvestites, and way too many more to mention or remember. It's always good to throw a Private Ryans images into 8,11, and 13 year old minds.
How anyone could do this to young, innocent childrens' minds, is beyond me. It is like a sick fantasy, of which I would never imagine thinking of. Of course, the babysitter was admonished and never babysat again, but the damage had already been done. I thought she was a respectful intelligent young woman, but i was wrong. Sometimes you don't know how people act behind your back.
All the sickness and the dark side, and vampires, and witches, and killing and fighting that my kids witnessed will be forever embedded in their heads. Here I was trying to fill their heads with movies that told a story of compassion and helping others. Movies that taught lessons; Helen Keller, To Kill A Mockingbird, Remember the Titans, To Sir With Love, Lilies Of The Field.
To know my kids minds were infested with the garbage they were, was very upsetting to me, and still is to this day.
When a movie is rated R, it's rated that way for a reason, and thats certainly not to rent it to watch with 8,11, and 13 year olds. When some girls head is spinning as she spewing waste and saying foul words, it's not something anyone I know would ever imagine exposing young kids to.
Our job as parents is to monitor what our kids watch and what they put into their brain. If not, we wouldnt need parents. However, if others watch our children, we have no control at the time.
Here are some of the pictures from one of my kids favorites:
Now tell me, should these kids even know about transvestities at 8,11, and 13?
or this?
Or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
or this
or the best of all....
"For profanity, sex talk and some of the most graphic, bloody battle scenes ever re-created on film" That was the preview to this movie.
These were young children being exposed to this and much more before I found out. There were a few worse ones, but I think you get the picture. When I learned this had been going on, I was furious. When I left that house, those pictures were not in my kids heads, but they were forever embedded by the time I got back. Once you put a picture in an innocent child's mind, chances are they will remember it forever, and if they block it out, it doesn't work, therapy's about the only thing that will help them get past what they've been exposed to.
That, and stopping that content of movies, and watching good ones with them, that might help replace some of the bad thoughts left in their heads.
Of course, my twenty one year old got so used to seeing the Rocky Horror Picture Show, that she 's gone to more than a few transvestite clubs, something i would never envision for her.
But she liked what she saw in the movie. I think it's important to monitor what your kids watch, before they, too, have recurring nightmares and horrible visions in their heads.
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