I was scrolling through my Facebook and a Mom posted this letter with this caption above it:
” Personally, I think it’s kind of a sad state of affairs that my daughter’s 3rd grade teacher needs to send this letter home, but I for one agree wholeheartedly with this letter and am glad he had the guts to call it like he sees it!”
I couldn’t agree more with this letter, and I’m thrilled it’s going viral.
I don’t know if these parents who let their kids play these games and watch Deadpool and Avengers and everything else just don’t understand or if they are just clueless.
I like to believe they genuinely don’t make the connection between aggressive behaviour and screen time. They must think their children aren’t intelligent enough to process it so how could it harm them. “It’s just a video game! Family Guy is a cartoon, so it must be OK for kids to watch!”
IT’S NOT! SO STOP IT! Your kids are way smarter than you think and they are learning hurtful stuff.
Take guidelines seriously. It’s rated Mature for a reason. Instagram and most social media apps are not legal for anyone under 13 for a reason. Because they are not ready.
What’s the rush? Why are we catapulting our kids into adult problem solving?
Take notice of what your kids watch and play. It truly does matter.
While I’m on a rant, stop training your kids to self soothe with electronics. We don’t need DVDs in our vehicles while we drive for less than 2hrs. Every child does not need an iPad, phone or iPod. It’s way harder to monitor what they watch and play when they have access to it constantly.
This rant has been brought to you by a parent who also needs to monitor her kids more.
MF
Well said, Michelle! I am also a teacher and I am floors by what my kinder and grade 1 kids are exposed to daily. It is very damaging to them, they can’t yet process real and make believe, but internalize all that violence and language and sexism and it becomes normal to them. No shock value whatsoever. Kids get to be kids for such a very short time. It’s sad that this gets taken from them and replaced with adult material they cannot handle.
Thanks Bridget!Teachers have it tough, they have to deal with us, parents. We don’t want to know the bad stuff but we have to listen to it to help them and us!
I would like to hug the writer of this letter! My kids(!) are 31, 30, 25, and soon to be 19-year-old twins. I freely admit that the younger 2 probably had more access to things that were “a bit” ahead of what the 3 older kids did, but not too much. The older brothers waited until the little ones were in bed if they wanted to play a “big kid video game ” in the living room and so on. I used to work at a big box toy store and had some pretty irate parents when it came to explaining the LEGAL age designation for certain games and why they existed. There would be so much oppostition because “their kids knew right from wrong” or” they would never act out” anything from the games or movies. It was nice to have the legal part on our side but someone could always come in and buy for themselves and give to the younger kids. I have a friend whose son is now in grade 8. She and her husband are intelligent people. However, they let their son play COD and such games when he was 7 or 8….behaviours emerged and they had to do a big rethink of where they were going as a family. She admits that it involved a big re-think of their parenting (and btw, he is an awesome kid, doing better in school and engaged in sport and other activities, not so much screen time). If I had to say something to parents on this topic (and I do when asked 🙂 ) it is to let your kids be kids, stop glorifying the adultification of childhood and let them participate in age-appropriate activities which do not involve adult or older teen movies and games. It’s hard, yep, but I don’t remember anyone saying parenting would be easy!
Great advice Monica! Thanks so much for your comments! You clearly have some expertise in the parenting department: 5 kids!! WOW!!