Seriously I think it is a parental responsibility to know what your kids are watching on tv and reading in books. How you deal with it is up to you. up 'til 3 or 4th grade my mom read almost everything we read then she couldn't keep up - but she and my dad still had a fair idea of what we were reading. When we started reading bodic rippers mom said " just remember , that's not what sex is like " ( that was a long conversation about sex in our house) . I have friends who won't let their kids watch thing that are too violent or scary - cause their kids get nightmares. I have a friend who turn off the power rangers, 'casue her son was constantly imitating them, to the point where it was becomming a problem.

I don't really think forbidding works. but choseing does. Kids need guidence. I think TIVO is a great tool for families. I was sheltered because I grew up in a very homgenous area, but not because people ept thiggs from me. I had a few bumps,but not too many. Some kids aren't thsat curious. others need to know everything now. I think you gotta know the kid.

I think you gotta know the kid.

Total agreement. Problem is, I don't think the "this is NOT WHAT WE BELIEEEEEEVE!" mindset is generally too compatible with the "Hey, this child is a person who will grow up and not be small versions of us, so we'd better start respecting that fact now" mindset.

Yes, and those are not parents who expect their kids to be anything but younger versions of themselves.

Boy, are those parents setting themselves up for possible surprises in, say, 20 or so years.

Seriously I think it is a parental responsibility to know what your kids are watching on tv and reading in books.

Laugh laugh laugh splutter COUGH

This works until the children reach school age and begin borrowing books from friends and watching movies at school and at their friends' houses.

I was very shocked to have my 8-year-old retelling the plot of JAWS. He hadn't actually seen it, but a contemporary had and had told him all about it.

You can't control all the inputs in your kid's life. You can keep an eye on what happens under your own roof, but that's it.

Boy, are those parents setting themselves up for possible surprises in, say, 20 or so years.

"So, Mister and Mrs. Menendez, how do you feel Lyle and Erik are responding to your parenting techniques?"

edit:

You can't control all the inputs in your kid's life. You can keep an eye on what happens under your own roof, but that's it.

Yup. Once they walk out the door and into a school building, you get to balance and counter-balance, and that's all you get to do.

Yet another reason why "how dare you tell my child there's such a thing as homosexuality!" is as stupid and futile a sentence uttered under these American skies. Kids are people; they move in the world.

Yes. Kids talk about that stuff a lot too...they don't always know what they are talking about, but I think school is where I learned about "gay"

I think it's fair to teach your children your beliefs and that it isn't diametrically opposed to bringing up a child who is open-minded and tolerant of other people's beliefs. I also think that if your child's public school is going to have children books that feature homosexual relationships in its library, and this bothers you, than pull your child out and send him/her to a private/parochial school.

Yet another reason why "how dare you tell my child there's such a thing as homosexuality!" is as stupid and futile a sentence uttered under these American skies. Kids are people; they move in the world.

I think you do have the right to determine at what age you teach your kids about homosexuality. For some parents a children's book written for 6 year olds is not the age when they wanted to have that talk.

Ginger, yes, you do predate me a bit, but my folks live by 22nd and Lover's Lane; my cousins went to Eugene Field, and I used to walk out dog past it on fall evenings.

It's still very much there, and FWIW, won, I think, top elementary school in MO award of some kind last year.

For some parents a children's book written for 6 year olds is not the age when they wanted to have that talk.

But those same parents are going to be equally aggrieved by front-page stories on gay marriage (indeed, many of them are) and by men holding hands in public.

As a parent, your job is to say "Other people believe that X, but we don't." You say that quite a lot. I moved from the Bible Belt to California to reduce the number of times I would have to say that.