The problems with TV

Let me stand on my soap box for a minute.
OK, I know you may roll your eyes and call me a little hippicritaical on this one, but hear me out.
I grew up on TV. There, I said it. My parents owned their own business and worked 24/7 growing up. Heck, from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep at 4 am I was sitting in my room watching tv- ok maybe it wasnt that drastic. Oh how it ruined me! I wasnt ever any good at school, had poor grades, and didnt know how to socialise with other human beings. I had a slightly dillusional life where I had diffuculty decerning the difference bestween imaginary and real life. I even for some reason thought my childhood sucked because it wasnt the constant "happy ending" like on TV.

Now, I was lucky. Yes, lucky. Unlike todays shows, I had shows with story line, music and good values. Tv since the 1990's has drastically changed. Now it is all about stimulation. constant flashing bright colors, explosions, swearing to make things more intese. anger, viloence, saddness, fear. As I once herd it, things werent necisarily more candid "back then" but people had the decency to not do things like swear in front of children.
Wow, doesnt that sound nice? Thinking and being conciderate about the well being of children!!
 
I grew up with a loving family and we did all sorts of things toghether that childhood me took for granted .We had daily prayer, scriptures, and spent all day playing. Oh thats right, I did always have the TV on.. but I was doing other things while it was on. Multitasking? No, I just got so bored because it was a rerun of Scooby Doo, Saved by the Bell, and Bugs Bunny cartoons. Wow, phew! Thats a releif to know that my childhood wasnt the crappy way childhood my thought it was. Every weekend my parents took us to the park to play and have picnics. My youger brother and I were  alwys playing pretend. We were always playing with neighborrhood kids and jumping on our trampoline. Whenever it was warm enough we went waterskking and tubing. I had an amazing childhood and was given every opertunity by my parents to grow. They funded constant instumental and music lessons, book clubs, etc.

Now isnt the truth more pleasent that what childhood me thought it was? This is how your children can easily see themselves up until adulthood- or longer. There is a way of thinking that each parent, in my opinion, has to learn:

How does your child view this situation?

This sounds so simple, yet is it? This is one of the most difficult things you will have to train yourself to do.

For example: We all know the movie Little Mermaid. Pretty mermaid, Princess Ariel, falls in love with human, Prince Eric. Eursula the evil sea witch after the power of the trident to rule the seas, tricks Ariel by telling her that she will turn Ariel into a human to find true love- but Ariel only has 3 days to gain Eric's kiss of true love. Eursula purposely foils this plan in order to have Ariel under her control. Eursula returns Ariel to a mermaid and now owns Ariel. Ariel is saved from being turned into a weed and a life of bondage by her Father, King Triton, whom exchanges his life for hers, and then again by Prince Eric. Ariel is turned into a human marrys Eric, happy ending.
Simple right? Smiles all around!
Wrong.
Let me tell you what M took away from this movie:
Daddy's are mean.
Wait, what? Daddy's are mean? how did she get that? Remember the scene where Triton tells Ariel she shouldnt go to the sruface? there are two of them. Yes, we see it as a father's concern for his daughter, M sees Ariel (mentally, herself) being told "no" this, then to prove his point, destroying everything she loves with a giant trident in a fit of desperate anger.
Woah, really? Yes. My tot started showing dislike for her father for no reason. it took me watching Little Mermaid several times to finally get it. Up until that point, I was only fast forwarding the scenes with Eursula because she was "scary". Not long after I started fast forwarding the scenes with King Triton telling Ariel no, and pointing out how Ariel loves her daddy (the scene when she gives him a hug and says "I love you daddy") only then did M start loving her dad again.

'Ok, you say, thats not that bad.'

Finding Nemo: Super cute movie of how a father searches for his son.
What M took away from it:
"I hate you"
Yes, the hate word.
Where do thy say "hate" in Finding Nemo??
There is a few second blip in the beginning where, after Nemo's father tells him out of loving concern not to touch the boat, Nemo says "I hate you!". Yes, it only takes one time to burn it into a kids skull. This was a movie I didnt think I would have to black list, but it is.
"Ok, well, "hate" isnt that bad of a word is it? Yeah, it is.