many people know that my mother is bipolar, she was diagnosed a few years ago- and it explained alot of behavior of hers throughout my childhood. when i was 3 or 4 my mother, during what we would now probably consider a manic time in her life, she had her very first ’splurge into christianity’. my mom wiped everything out of the house, she got rid of disney books with witches and movies with ‘magic’. everything that was not based in the Word. she got me bible story cassette tapes, and christian obedience books. although i dont remember this, its a story that ive heard, so i remember what i was told. my moms ‘manic’ spree didnt last too long however. i know that there is some [alot of] reality in that though, and…..
this morning, me and tyy are watching mickey mouse clubhouse. it comes on at 8.30 and its a show that he used to watch before we would head out to daycare. i havent been letting him watch tv in the mornings as we have a new morning schedule- one that includes ‘lessons’ for being good! ha!- well this morning we have a slow, kind of sleep in morning, and we were chillin on the couch watching tv. i dvr’d mickey mouse club house bc i thought he would enjoy that, we could watch it… whenever. — i was watching it with him when it came on though, and the funniest thing. i guess ive never really been ’s too much into mickey. or his clubhouse. but he’s all like “misca musca” some crap. ‘magic words’ that make his clubhouse appear. and im like — this makes me feel uncomfortable. i dont think we are going to be watching this anymore, its being cleared from the dvr! hehe. but i have a question lol, for anyone who wants to comment- there is a ‘fourth dimension’ for my child that i need to be just aware of as i am for myself. maybe more. but my point is- you cant protect them from EVERYTHING. and im just not sure really where to draw the boundaries. for instance. dora, and diego. i LOVED these shows. they are interactive, they ask your child a question and WAIT for them to answer! they teach positive behavior, spanish, and to be environmentally friendly! haha, it really has some good concepts. and until someone else pointed it out, i never really thought about the fact that the map is magic, the backpack is magic— and of course their are other things in other cartoons that have talking objects. but these are called magic. tyy has been watching dora and diego for so long now, it would be mega obvious to him if i just ‘took it away’. im gonna go to lifeway this week and get some better things for him to watch, and maybe we can start phasing out of those shows.
the thing is- you know the song suicidal by sean kingston? or soljaboys? for some reason these are two that tyy picked up on. and its amazing how sensitive you are for something your child does, that you might not have thought of before. at least that was how it was with me. it was months and months ago when i heard tyy sing chime into the lyrics of suicidal and it made me cringe. i changed the channel and vowed never to listen to that song again. the influence in that song is powerful, and not anything that i want my son to be listening to. letalone singing! and again, a couple months later he did the same thing with soljaboys. he like the part where they sung ‘about superman’. at that point i started leaving my radio on more milder radio stations, and eventually just stopped listening to the radio at all. music has always been a powerful influence in my life, i had just never really been able to let it go— so i have ONE cd haha. that i listen to, if im not listening to pastor steve, its like… a wow cd? or something… and tyy sings along to IT now. and its amazing to hear. “i am a chiiiiild of yourssss” haha, he has no musical talent whatsoever(yet), but he sings with all he’s got, and its CYYYUTE!!! so, thats about it though- me and tyy have an appointment at his cardiologist today!




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January 24, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Theresa S.
Wow, I thought my mom was the only one who did that! Haha The curbing of what I could/could not watch lasted a little longer though bc she was really strict.
I wish I could offer an answer about the other things but that’s a question I have myself. At what point do you draw the line before you go crazy with scrutinizing every movie/show? Maybe when they’re young you really do take into account everything they’re taking in & as they get older, still be aware but also teach them basic concepts of what to & what not to watch? I can say that I knew by the age of 12, 13 what my mom did & did not want me to watch and had choices to make about being honest about it. I’m interested to see other answers!
January 26, 2008 at 4:00 am
sinclair
You’re so cool.. so two things – although I don’t have children, right before I went to Orlando the last time I had a little similar revelation about mickey. I wish i could remember what prompted it, anyway he just started rubbing me the wrong way with all that magic and it did give me pause. I don’t want to be a hypocrite, because I still am into Harry Potter (God forgive me). But I do feel what you are saying.
Second – I think it is so awesome that you are transparent about your mom’s mental illness. So often people are ashamed of it, and in my family and some of those of my friends, it is something that is never to be spoken of in public or even amongst the family. They seem to sweep it under the carpet or live in denial about its existence. I grew up that way and i was guilty of it, but I am thankful to be free of that today.
January 29, 2008 at 8:39 pm
st. kelsie j.
It’s pretty amazing what children pick up on. The world wants to bombard with “magical” things because they are trying to imitate what God has already done, but in a bad way. They produce a cheap imitation of interraction between a parent and child, and then ask later what is wrong with our youth.
I think that what youare doing to raise Tyy up is awesome. His testimony is going to save lives, and it’s because you’re raising him up in the way he should go.
What the world is doing is offering entertainment to kids until they are old enough to entertain themselves.
January 29, 2008 at 8:39 pm
st. kelsie j.
p.s. I don’t kow where I was going with that, so I hit send.
January 30, 2008 at 1:56 am
lnfritzky
thanks kelsie :) i love you! you are part of the reason why i ever even cared enough to raise tyy up ‘in the way he should go’!