September 30, 2008

V-chips and popcorn



There's a new show on T.V. called Chuck. He's a young man who works at a store simular to Best Buy and he's somehow managed to become a secret agent. Last year our family would gather together in our living room laughing hysterically at his newly found predicaments. Popcorn was usually involved. Later my wife divulged that our oldest might have a secret crush on him...(and so it starts).
The year before it was a different show: Kyle XY. (I think the youngest was actually crushing on that character).Now both of these shows, while they are somewhat family oriented, deal a lot with adolescent behavior. The Kyle show was a bit too much for me, and on occasion I almost had to change the channel. In fact, I think I did once or twice. Chuck, on the other hand, is more in my comfort zone. But lately I'm starting to feel uncomfortable even in my own comfort zone. I find I'm changing the channels more often these days when the girls walk into the room (Oops...Can't watch that!) because it's just too crazy. And what the heck is going on with the Family channel? I'm just going to have to V-chip that network, along with Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC. And never mind the rest of them. Have you ever watched what they put on the cartoon network after primetime? Look closer to midnight when the kids are still up slumber partying. Now there's some scary stuff. I'm thinking we're going back to PBS and the History channel and in a whole heck of a lot of moderation.
But wait...What about the school grounds? Where's my censorship there? Who's going to dispel the rumors on the playground about grown up things. Teacher can't be everywhere and I certainly don't want just anybody (sorry, teacher!) curtailing those lenghtly versions about the birds and the bees. That requires a parental degree. And there are only two teachers qualified for that position: the mother and the father. I almost wept when I realized what kind of world we would be sending our girls out into. I mean actual tear drops left my tear ducts. I wasn't really bawling but, I had water on my face. I even called Lois at work explaining why I didn't want our girls going to public school - ever. But that's a different story.
Since then, alot has happened. And the cat is out of the bag. Those mother and daughter conversations have taken place to some degree and I am soooooo thankful that I didn't hear about any of it. (I would add more o's to the word soooooo, but there is not enough room on my laptop). Once again I owe my wife the biggest "Wife of the Year Award" for just everything. Thank You Honey. These days I really look forward to those popcorn nights, and the V-chip running it's scan and coming up empty.

3 comments:

Lo said...

You are, without question, my favorite blogger. I'm getting to know you.... I already love you.

Krëg said...

[ACTIVATE SARCASM UNIT]
Man, I wish I was still at home right now, never having learned anything on my own...seeing the world filtered and sanitized through my parents' eyes...unable to relate to my peers. That would be fantastic.
[SWITCH OFF SARCASM UNIT]

Having no kids of my own, I cannot reasonably imagine how it must tear tiny pieces of your heart out to watch helplessly as the world shapes parts of your children's character.

Hey, chin up! T.V. might only have garbage on, but at least there's plenty of it!

Something Happened Somewhere Turning said...

Kreg,
(How the hell do you do that dot dot thing over the e?)
I know I sound like I'm being overly protective when it comes to my kids, but it's not nearly as sanitizing as you make it out to be. You should hear what they have to say when they activate the sarcasm unit. I'm not so much worried about their characters as I am my own heart.

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