School is out for the girls. Lindsey just finished her Jr. year. She took the ACT for the first time and made a 23. I have to say I'm proud of her. I didn't do that well... on either attempt. I expect she'll do much better on her second attempt. Lacey finished K5. She's reading and writing (We're not going to be able to spell words in front of her anymore) and loving every minute of it. Watching her sisters do (home) school is a great motivation for her. She loves her teacher ("Mrs. Wright") and "Mrs. Wright" says she's the best student in the class! She especially loves it when her principal ("Mr. Wright") is at school (working from home). Lauren finished her freshman year. I guess it was uneventful. She didn't have a brain meltdown. She did very well on her SAT this year.
Tonight, since they can all stay up a bit later, my girls are currently in the living room watching a Buster Keaton movie... and loving every minute of it! No innuendo. No foul language. No graphic violence. No horrible dialog. No fancy dialog. In fact, no dialog at all! Who would have thought kids in 2011 would be in love with silent films? I was in the back and could hear them laughing. It was mostly Lindsey but I could hear Lacey's cackle as well, and, once in awhile, Lauren.
Actually, I could have told you that. Since they were tiny we've watched old movies. Movies with Gene Kelley, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Ginger Rogers, Leslie Caron, Mitzi Gaynor (They aren't a big fan of Marilyn Monroe), Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello and so many more. And now that our oldest are teens they would rather watch these classics than just about any new movie (well, they are big Narnia fans).
So the question I have to ask is why? Why would they rather watch these movies than the new ones? And why do other kids their age have no patience for such wonderful movies while my kids will sit there glued to the screen even though that glass of KoolAid the drank is begging to be returned to the wild? What is it that makes these movies so fun to watch... more fun than High School Musical or even Wipeout??
I think the answer is this... it's not the movies but it's the girls. Dad always repeated something his uncle was known for saying... "It's all in what you're used to". It's a very simple statement... almost stating the obvious. But I think parents often forget this simple truth.
Now, I want to make myself clear. I am not going to spend time here condoning or condemning any one movie or television show. I want to make different point entirely. We have always been very careful to monitor what our girls watch. Foul language, sex, violence. We've tried to keep those things at a minimum. But our efforts have gone further than that. We have also tried to eliminate seemingly benign programming in which the child repeatedly shows disrespect for others (but specifically elders) or repeatedly engages in wrongdoing with little or no consequences, knowing that allowing them to watch such things gives them the impression we believe the behavior exhibited is acceptable. We introduced them to these classic movies since they give (for the most part) great examples of showing respect for elders, friends and members of the opposite sex. They also display (for the most part) good moral values, something left behind years ago in Hollywood. And they do it in a lighthearted, entertaining manner, something else left behind years ago in Hollywood.
You may be thinking that we're shielding our children from reality. Based on the experiences we have with our children as we live out our daily lives in this world, I'm certain they know what reality is. Plus, I hope you don't believe television is reality. We certainly don't. Our goal is to help them to understand how they are to conduct themselves no mater what the "real" situation is. So if they were, for example, confronted with a situation in which they were disciplined or chastised by a superior (boss, instructor) they wouldn't behave like a teenage sitcom star and have an emotional breakdown, call all their friends and badmouth their superior or set out for revenge. Instead they will be able to examine the situation and respond in the best way possible... a way that improves their situation and shows respect for those in authority.
The upside to this is they will be able to live a life that helps them to be the best witness for Christ they can be. If they are consistently able to respond to situations in a Christ-like manner their lives become their witness. If they behave like Drama Queens anytime things don't go their way then they essentially have no witness.
What have we learned over the past seventeen years? It can be summed up in four letters. GIGO! That is, "garbage in, garbage out". What goes in comes out... good or bad. Yes, our girls watched Hanna Montana. And one of them (she knows who she is) has a tendency to be a drama queen... although without Hanna's Tennessee accent. She also knows how Buster Keaton responds when things don't go his way. More importantly, she knows how Joseph responded when he was sold into slavery and when he was falsely accused and thrown into prison.
"It's all in what you're used to". Let me ask you, what are your children "used to"? I'm not asking you to boycott Disney... but just to consider whether the things going into your children via the television or the internet are the things you would like to see coming out of them. Think about it.
I truly believe that when our girls set out on their own they're not going to be so desensitized to the world around them that they don't notice a thing. They're going to take in the world around them and they're going to respond. They're going to respond in a way that glorifies Christ and that benefits (blesses) those around them. That is definitely my prayer.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.