Are We Warping Kids or Am I Too Uptight?

Meet XXXXX.
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...2&d=1361834425
He looks and acts likes he's 6 or 7. Not much of a reader.
But boy does he love zombies!
He's seen both Silent Hill movies, plays the games, and he is here today because both of his Left 4 Dead discs broke and he needs replacements.
He wants another zombie game as well, so he's checking out Dead Island.
Moms is with him, and she thinks it's adorable how much he is into this stuff. She was beaming as she related all of the above to me.

This situation bugs the shit out of me. I'm a big believer in the relative innocence of kids and I fought hard to keep my children young until it was time to be grown. There were daily arguments with my daughter about makeup and clothes. I had to argue with my son about why he can't play certain games when all his friends can. With the amount of adults who cry that they never had a childhood, I feel justified in my position. Kids want so much to do all the things adults do. My kids grew tired of my "You'll be an adult for 75% of your life, enjoy childhood while you can" rant. (For what it's worth, my outlook was as soon as they hit 14, the shackles came off. Read/Watch/Listen/Play with what you want. I will give my opinions, but it's up to you to decide. It's worked thus far, and my daughter actually thanked me the other day for not letting her grow up too soon.)

On a professional level, I can't stand kids playing these games because they've become the latest scapegoat for the ills of the world (just like movies, comics, and rock and roll before them). Dick politicians want to ban violent games because dick parents don't parent. Rated M games aren't meant for children, but "it's nothing little Johnny hasn't seen or heard before hurr hurr hurr."

What do you think?

Yea that is gross. A 6-year old kid has no business playing Dead Island.

Back when I was that age, a violent game was Ninja Gaiden. My aunt bought it for me, but the enemies popped like balloons when you killed them. I had to fight my mom a little on Mortal Kombat II, I was 13, no big deal in the end. So it's harder for parents today, and they're not fit for the challenge.

I think you are a good parent who is doing their job, which is not to be their kids' bff and give them whatever they want.

People are bad at everything, especially parenting. I really think the bulk of societal problems stem from just really shitty parents.

If your kids hate you when they're young but come back and thank you when they're 30 you did good.

On the other hand, I don't think games can make a kid start torturing animals or dumb shit like that. What's the real difference between a kid making a gun out of his hand and running around and pew pew pewing at people or playing call of duty? Pretend is pretend. I do think desensitization to violence, gore, and sex is a problem though.

As long as the parents involves themselves into the child's life and keep themselves informed on what the child is watching/playing/reading I'm okay with that. Most of the scapegoats that parents and politicians attack appear to be primarily because the parents are too fucking useless to bother teaching themselves about the subject matter the child is learning so they want companies to do their parenting for them. But you've got things like the culture I was just reading about a couple weeks ago for anthropology, where they let their kids play with a knife the size of a kids arm by the time they're 10. It's a tool they use all the time and is potentially life-threatening, but their primary concern is making sure the child is comfortable with things they'll be using to help the village so they supervise and teach their kids to use what could be a deadly weapon.

I feel another big issue regarding the parent is making sure the child completely understands the difference between reality and fantasy. It's easier for us with videogames because we grew up with them, so we saw them evolve from giant pixels into more realistic imagery. But if a parent doesn't want to specifically gate their child's development with games by going through the generations then you've basically got a kid who's going right into controllable and realistic-looking combat. Of course, a counter-argument could also be the Faces of Death videos that were hugely popular among my friends in middle school. Either way, as long as the fantasy/reality line is firmly drawn and taught I'm pretty flexible on this issue.

TLDR: I feel involved parenting is the best parenting, specifics be damned.

Is this that same kid you and Marwan used to trade used video games for sexual favors?

That kid was thiefsilver.

SSJN I think about this every day and it drives me nuts! I am 100% with you on the innocence thing. Morality is in decline as it is, if adults can't even do the right thing then the kids don't stand a chance. I feel that good parents have to compete with all the garbage other kids bring to school and the internet, TV, cell phones, etc.

I was super modest as a kid. Didn't wear makeup or kiss a guy till I was...in college. I remember my own mom telling me things like "if you got it, flaunt it" but I just can't get my brain to think that way. I didn't even go to church in high school or anything, I just read Victorian novels and thought it was much better back then.

I couldn't understand the kids I grew up with, much less the crazy stuff I see happening in today's youth. If I had to raise a kid, I would do it in the Alaska frontier, and I am not kidding.


Crap I reminded myself of this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN1TolrbwLk

I hate the way people shelter kids from life's truths; Santa isn't real, babies come from sex, and your hamster is dead just like we will all be someday. Hiding it is only setting them up for disappointment later on.

Keeping age-inappropriate entertainment away from kids doesn't seem like such a bad idea, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afam2nIae4o