Mother's Against Everything - Ugg!

I am not one of these mom's. I am a bit overprotective, but not smothering. My aunt was very controlling and overbearing with her two kids and the result of that was they both went WILD when they left for college. Drunk all the time, "forgetting" to call home when she told them to, ect. Now she's loosened up (they are 25 and 27 now!) and they are all alot closer, but it was stressful to be in their house when they were high school age. She wouldn't want them to watch things, or listen to music ect. Now it's better but I think the result of being overbearing is your kids are ready to break free!

I think children get the wrong idea of life when they are so sheltered. What are these mothers going to when thier child relizes that thier friends are all doing things that they can't do? I'm not saying let your child do what they want but you have to know you have done everything you could to teach them right from wrong and give them a little trust.

It's not just mothers believe me. Reading your discussion all I could think of is my one brother with his little girl. He would not let her watch those shows nor was she allowed to watch anything by Disney except Winnie the Pooh and I think Aristocats or maybe it was Lady in the Tramp (sorry I forget which animal one it was) all the others had too much adult induendo for her. This did not change until she was in school and only because she saw them at school. However while she couldn't watch those things she could watch with him (because he liked them) Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain. Makes a lot of sense huh? He also watches everything she eats, everything she does. Last year (when she was 8) there was a list on the door when you first came in the house that she had to do every day. On the list was even "Kiss mommy and daddy good morning". Now that just seems a bit much to me. That's going a bit over board in telling your kid what to do. I admit I help raise my ohter neice and she's not perfect, nor are we, but I could not picture regulating every minute of her day that way.

My daughter watched just about anything that I watched. I figured as long as I was in the room that I could answer any questions that may come up. I did not hide too much from her. I wanted her to be able to make good choices so I watched them with her. My daughter did like some of the Barney show but never liked any of the others. My whole family is Harry Potter fans. I think that if you stay with your child and see what they are doing or watching you can guide them onto the right path.

I monitor what my son watches, I look out for violence and if it's age appropriate, but Barney? My son likes to dance to it, but I don't see how that's harmful. I wasn't paying attention to the television and it came on, I think some people say that Barney is a homosexual, but even if he is, so what? Your child won't become gay from watching television, they are born that way. I don't put on spongebob, my niece watches that and talks like Patrick, it's annoying! Teletubbies kind of freaks me out, I have no clue about Pokemon or Harry potter, but basically I'll watch it to see if it's okay for him. I grew up with a family that didn't even let their children watch the smurfs, apparantly they thought the smurfs were the devil. They were very sheltered and as soon as they got out of the house-it was party time! The oldest boy knocked up a girl within a few months!

wow.. your mother is being over protective over you... i think that's not the proper way to protect children.. do you agree with me? i think the best way to protect children is to expose them more and to tell them what's right and what's wrong.. the more you try to restrict them from doing it.. the more they will do it.. this is proven true by many researchers.. and it's up to you whether you want to believe it or not... i'm glad my mom didn't control me that much.. nor did she put a curfew on me.. so i really get enough freedom for myself.. and i didn't misuse it =)

preventing growing children from watching Barney may not protect them from anything but watching too much of telly does have an impact on growing minds. a case in point is my own son. when he was around 2/3yrs, we urged him to watch the telly so as to ease our own burden of keeping him occupied constantly and also to make him eat quickly without much fuss. the scheme has now backfired on us. my son has grown up on Spongebob, Pogokids, Pokemon, Oswald etc and has now graduated to Pokemon, SPD, Dynothunder and other such violent cartoon serials as befits a 7yr old. he seems to be living in a seperate world of his own. his concentration level at school and at home has dropped drastically and now i am at my wit's end as to how to wean him away from the telly. i believe the battle is already lost on my side!

What you have just described here is a mother with major control issues, and probably some insecurity problems too. For a parent to dictate that much, there has to be a problem. Kids are people, not tiny robots that we activate with a remote control. Kids need their own space too.

I didn't know any mothers were against Barney. In fact, when the Barney craze started, I think it was the mothers that kept it going. I didn't know they made shows that corny until I saw HR Pufenstuf on "I love the 70's".

Hi Swtrose. I understand and applaud the idea these mothers have, because I know where the idea comes from. Mothers who make a concious effort to follow what they believe in and shield their children from things they believe could harm them should be applauded. It's not a popular decision and understanding their belief and faith and why they choose to do it only shows the depth of their belief. They believe they are doing what is best for their children. While the majority might not beleive in what they do and even think they go a little overboard, I think they are doing well, trying to take the responsibility of keeping their children from any harm. People who do not understand the reasons behind their 'over protective behavior' will certainly see no harm in Spongebob, The Little Mermaid and other shows that are considered 'cute'. I have seen both sides of the issue. I believed, for instance, that The Little Mermaid, "was only a movie" for little kids, but, when a very dear friend of mine showed me the reasoning behind why she, as a mother who wouldn't let her daughter watch the movie, made the decision she did, I completely understood the psychology behind her decision. It's certainly a very controversial issue among various sects and groups of individuals. There are positive aspects as well as negative ones from both sides. I for one, if I had it all to do over again, (my daughter is 34), would have censored things much heavier than I did because now, I understand the responsibilities more clearly. I also understand the message that many of these 'cute' shows send the children of today. There is so much more that could be said about this issue, but as I stated earlier, the majority already thing these mothers have gone overboard. I for one don't think they've gone far enough.

I would hope that my children do not think that I am one of these mothers. There may be days that it may seem so, but I really am not. There are just some tv shows/cartoons like family guy and others that are more geared towards teens and to be honest adults than children, that they want to watch, and I just really don't feel that they need to watch them at their ages. They are 7,5, and 4 right now. Now as for other shows say spongebob, scooby-doo, pokeman, and countless others. I may not actually like the show itself, but I really find no harm in them watching the show itself, but if I see something that I do not want my children doing, such as hitting, punching, bullying,etc...I talk to my children about it instead of just shutting off the tv. They will never learn what is right and wrong if they are only shown the right. They really can't, because they have no precidence to put it up against and will run up against a brick wall when confronted with this in real life, and then I have virtually failed them, in my opinion. I am here as a mother to guide my children onto the path of being a good, kind, responsible, moral adult. I will not shelter them from the world and all of it's bad things as they will learn about them soon enough and I would rather their information come from me, not someone else. I at least will be honest with them and tell them what I feel they should be doing and what they shouldn't, but I also respect my children enough to know that I can only do so much for them, and then after that, they are on their own. :)

My sister is like that. She doesn't allow her kids to do much of anything like that. She even home schools them. They do stuff with some kind of home school group and things with their church, but they probably haven't been exposed to half the things my kids have. I feel bad for her kids sometimes but they don't mind because they don't know any better, except for the oldest, i think she is beginning to see how things are and has acted up a few times. Of course i think it's great! My sister deserves it! she was a wild child growing up.

It's my opinion that trying to control someone totally makes them unable to deal with things on their own later. It's ok to keep track of what they do, to keep them from doing some harmful things, but mostly you need to teach them how to do it for themselves. Let them learn to make decisions, and to realize what is right and wrong. Give them posetive feedback not negative or harmful feedback. Censoring only makes them more curious of what and why they can't do it.

In this world, there is mother who censored almost everything and dictate what the children must to do. I think, its just the mothers love. They to much worry about their children. And also because of they dont know to much about child psychology. I agree with you, it is important to monitor what our child watch on TV, if the program is bad, than we can turn off the TV or change the channel, or we can explain to our children.

I think people have gone out of hand..omg! cartoons have always been this way,,hell do u remeber Wiley Coyote and all that fun? and scooby doo and the monsters,smurfs..you have to have some kind of bad with good.,.and every cartoon has a moral story at the end..kids learn from it..and as far as all the ones u mentioned..give me a break man..i think people just get off on trying to take over and haveing some kind of power or control over everyones lives.Its not cartoons that is making our kids the way they are..most pf the time its the parents..as in spending no time with them,or ignoring them..or they may just have a violent parents and they act what they see..who knows..and some..i realy believe are just born to be eventually bad..if a parent doesnt want there chidl to watch something fine..thats there perogative,,lets not ruin it for other kids..its just BS~!

I'm not a parent yet myself, but there's a lot of things that i don't agree with, and though i won't allow my child to watch them, i will explain why, and then show them when they can understand. Things like family guy, the Simpson's, king of the hill, and that other one the line is something like 'you killed kenny' whatever... Anyway, their way too family degrading, and my child will not be watching any one of those shows, i don't even let the adults in my home have that show on, they want to watch it, do it elsewhere. But i know i will also be the parent telling my child that they have to do what feels right for them. If they want to be a ballerina, they can, if they want to dance, sing, play an instrument, be on some kind of sports team, whatever in the world they want, they can do it, I'll encourage them, but won't push it. Though i'll be the parent teaching them that if they start something, they follow through with it, because there's all too many kids out there today that start something, and leave it for someone else to tend to. I don't like how people seem to force their kids into things, over rate everything, and are way too strict on the totally unimportant things. I think that if your going to censor things, do it properly, censor the things that make it look like the things that we frown on in life are good, and make sure they see the way things really are. And make sure they understand why so many things are wrong, rather than just saying, no way! Something I'm going to do when i have kids of my own is put on some of these shows when they get older, and then get them to tell me everything that was wrong about it, and explain it to me, that way i know what wavelength they are on, and how to teach them better. I would make like a movie club or something, for me and the kids, and maybe even the hubby. I did that with my baby brothers and sisters, and I'm so proud of what they've become it brings tears to my eyes.

I believe cencorship protects children but in extremes i think it can hurt them too. If they are shelter from too much than how are they going to cope with the real world as adults. Explaining things like you said would be my approach because some things they should be exposed to in order to grow into adulthood. As far as forcing children to do things they dont want to do that just causes recentments between you and your child and that is no good either. If my child enjoys a certain thing than i do everything to get them in it and keep them in it but if they dont i would never force them it just causes problems.

for me, there will be no need for censorship, as long as your parents are there to explain things and to guide, to answer questions and to be honest with their children, bringing up openmindedness. being strict without the explaination would only get rebellion and more curiousity to the child, the question " why am i not allowed to watch this? whats with this things that are so makes my parents freaked out?" then curiosity swells up, and in the end the child still ends up watching this things secretly...am i hitting some bells here... if you ask me, there were no such censorship in our home, everything was explained and every question was answered with truthfulness. even the sensitive topics were talked about and shared opinion to. and every decision for our actions are given to us by our parents freely, with only one warning, you should be responsible for your actions, there is only you who decides, and you could never blame others for the outcome.

Mother suld be the best friend of his child........as it gives a lot of support to the child..........

Censorship is the dumbest and most hypocritical thing America has ever done. In America we claim we have free speech, free expresion, freedom of the press, etc. but kids can't wear what they want to school becasue it's "inapropriate". Slowly our government is taking all of our freedoms away and it irritates me. These mothers that are against rap....shut up! If you don't like it then don't let your kids listen to, but don't ruin it for the rest of the world. It's ridiculous. And all kids will find a way around censorship, anyone who has had a controlling parent knows what I'm talking about.