Hey, we all damage our kids in our own wonderful ways. Here is Anna at the tender age of three perusing my highly inappropriate US Magazine. She was looking at dresses, and not yet reading the words, but still – not my proudest moment as a mom.
Yesterday, Ella, my 7 year old said “I’m gonna run like a bat into a hill.” My husband and I just looked at each other, both realizing she got that saying from The Voice last night – although it was more like “… a bat out-a hell.”
We have been a TV-free family since the kids were born. Yes, we’ll watch an occasional Phinneas and Ferb on Saturday morning or Eagle game on Sunday, but in general, we didn’t see a need for TV. Until recently.
Anna, my 9 year old, is starting to care about music, movies, TV shows, and in general, the “cool things” in the world around her. So, in thinking we would help her be able to talk current events, celebrities and shows with her friends, we selected a TV show we thought the whole family could watch.
Now, I have nothing wrong with The Voice, other than the language. I love the back-stories of struggle. I love the message of working hard for your dream. But we hear way too many inappropriate-for-kids words such as “Ass”, “Damn”, “Hell”, and “Pissed”. The first time or two one of the contestants or judges used these words, Steve and I looked over the kids heads with wordless looks like, “Do you think they heard that? Do you think they know it is a “bad word”? It even got to the point when I would quietly whisper to Anna, “You know that is a word that we don’t use, right?”
So, here we are now, with Ella running “like a bat into a hill” wondering about the pros and cons of trying to introduce the kids to a little bit more current entertainment, singers, and events. Should we turn off The Voice? Should we use this as a teaching moment for “adult-only language”?
The bottom line is, perhaps we just picked the wrong show and something like American Idol or The X Factor would be more G/PG rated. Any advice for this momma who is just waiting for the call from the Kindergarten teacher telling her that Mia, our 5 year old, has just repeated one of Blake Shelton’s recent phrases, “You bet your ass!”
