Mommy's Toolbox--Be careful little eyes what you see...

I found some wonderful guidelines written before common sense was extinct for parents concerning what their children were reading. It occured to me these would also apply today to what children are viewing. I would like to attempt to adapt them to both:

Read your children's books yourself, or better yet have them read them to you. Sit and watch the movies they watch, or at least preview them beforehand. Ask yourself some questions while reading and/or viewing,

"Does this book/movie lay stress on villainy, deception, or treachery?"

"Are all the incidents wholesome, probable, and true to life?"

"Are the events portrayed from a fatalistic, dark viewpoint?"

"Does it show young people contemptuous toward their elders and successfully opposing them?"

"Do the young characters in this movie/book show respect for teachers and others in authority?"

"Are these characters the kind of people you wish your children to associate with and emulate?"

"Does this book/movie speak of or show pranks, practical jokes and pieces of thoughtless and cruel mischief as though they were funny and worthy of imitation?"

"Does this book/movie portray fathers as being either blithering idiots, cruel ogres, or disinterested phantoms? Does it give the impression mothers are better able to rule in the home? Does it give confusing signals about the equal but different roles of the sexes?"

"Is the English good and is the story/script written in good style?"

"Does the book/movie challenge young minds, or is it dumbed-down?"

The tendency of these past decades has been to use books and media as baby-minders, and we assume that just because something looks "cute" and kidsy, it will also be beneficial. It all depends on what our goals are, of course; what types of fruit do we wish to see in our children? We must be careful of what powerful seeds we allow to be planted through written, visual or audial media in their lives.

Remember Philippians 4:8!