A family I know has a 15 yr old who is fairly sheltered.....but despite this, buys him tons of reproduction military assault rifles and gear, is parked in front of call of duty all day, and is obsessed with movies like act of valor and killing shit. Basically just talks about guns and head shots all day.

On the other hand, they completely flip at mentions of sex or the possibility the computer could be used to look up inappropriate things. For example, no personal computers in the kids room until college.

Is this weird? Gratuitous violence is a lot worse than some boobs on the Internet IMO

Tldr how would you raise your kids tdub?

3/31/2012 11:49:26 AM

Are they republicans?

3/31/2012 11:51:10 AM

I am the exact opposite.

I would rather ban TVs in the bedroom than computers, and they are not spending more than an hour or two a day playing video games.

3/31/2012 11:51:17 AM

^^ wanna make bets?

3/31/2012 11:54:36 AM

not particularly

3/31/2012 11:56:05 AM

Quote :

"reproduction military assault rifles"

do you mean replicas?

if so, thats nuts. buy them the real thing. keep them locked up of course when not in use though

3/31/2012 11:57:37 AM

I'd at least get him involved in an extracurricular activity like sports or learning an instrument.

And it's virtually impossible to hide pr0n from him. All it takes is one kid with a smartphone and he can see more porn than they did in the days of VHS and dirty magazines.

I agree with not having a computer in his bedroom though. He could waste a ton of time there (like I do ) without ever looking at porn. Probably should limit video game time too.

3/31/2012 12:00:05 PM

They are fairly moderate, but definitely more right leaning. I'd classify them as a reasonably conservative catholic family.

3/31/2012 12:00:13 PM

Because we all know that playing violent games and watching porn are the same thing....

3/31/2012 12:01:35 PM

sex and violence are two patently different things.


this is a ridiculous argument.

3/31/2012 12:02:54 PM

I had a college roommate who was as hardcore a southern baptist as I've ever met.

One day I was trying to print something with his computer and discovered a gigabyte (which was a huge amount back in 2001) of violent hardcore porn. I mean stuff like a girl getting railed in the ass while the dude held her head in a toilet. One weekend I was gone and he reconfigured our dorm room so he had a cave in his corner so he could beat it without worrying about anyone walking in on him.

3/31/2012 12:07:24 PM

There's no right or wrong answer. I think I'd just try to be moderate in all respects. I just happen to think surrounding your kid with violence is unacceptable if you can't admit they are at the age they want to look at porn.

I'm not passing judgement, I just think its weird....or maybe I'm weird

3/31/2012 12:14:49 PM

My sister had a good friend in high school and they were roommates while they were in college together. Her parents were very strict and religous and sometimes even a little mentally abusive. She moved in with my sister and then she met a guy who uses a lot of drugs. Now she uses drugs and is pretty messed up.

I think parents need to discipline their children, but at the same time they need to let them have fun with their friends and go to slumber parties and just hang out when no one is around. If they happen to see some R rated, or XXX rated moves at a young age then it is no harm done, if the parents don't find out. Parents also need to tell their high school aged children to not drink and definitely don't drink and drive. If they drink one beer at a party and don't get caught then no harm done.

3/31/2012 12:24:05 PM

Horrible, gratuitous violence is fine as long as there are no swear words said or titties shown.

At least that's the guidelines the FCC seems to have.

3/31/2012 12:25:18 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKhrQhdxjI8

3/31/2012 12:46:22 PM

Priorities. Some people just don't have them.

Same could be said for parenting skills.

3/31/2012 12:59:26 PM

The US culture is all cool about violence, but gets all uptight about sexuality.

The easiest way to see this is through movie ratings and comparing it to foreign films. Most other countries are far more worried about violence than someone seeing a pair of boobs on film.

3/31/2012 1:01:30 PM

^ Yep, a couple of Germans and I were talking about that just the other day.


Also, I have noticed in the military that, among the really fangs-out killer types, there's a mix of secular, hard-partying types, with a handful of holy-rolling crusaders.

3/31/2012 1:09:12 PM

Quote :

"sex and violence are two patently different things. this is a ridiculous argument."

One destroys people, the other makes people?


That's all I got.

3/31/2012 1:11:45 PM

Sex is usually depicted as a positive, desirable action that should be persued at all costs. Violence on the other hand is, in most games/movies, something that is considered very bad when done lightly or against innocent bystanders.

Games and movies that glorify random violence against innocent people are likely much more damaging than violent war games like Call of Duty.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with these conclusions, but it's more complicated than "Durr violence is worse than sex so people are stupid"

3/31/2012 1:48:38 PM

If I had a 15 yr old son I would rather him beat it in his room than knock up some girl at 15.

3/31/2012 1:57:27 PM

I'd rather him kill a thousand imaginary soldiers than shoot the kids at school

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igtHi47B6JU

3/31/2012 2:09:20 PM

Quote :

"is obsessed with movies like act of valor and killing shit."

I searched IMDB for a movie titled "Killing Shit", but it turned up 0 results. Please let me know where I can find this movie, because i am certain i would enjoy it

3/31/2012 3:10:42 PM

hahahaha

3/31/2012 3:11:15 PM

Quote :

"sex and violence are two patently different things. this is a ridiculous argument. "

indeed they are. one aims to create life while the other aims to destroy it.

That's why it's ridiculous that the same group of people (conservative evangelicals) would vilify sex while glorifying violence.

3/31/2012 3:12:07 PM

here it is

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1337057/

3/31/2012 3:14:11 PM

I'd probably be a little worried if my son hadn't gotten a handjob by the time he's 15. If he hasn't lost his virginity by 16 then, uh, .

My daughter is getting birth control at 13.

3/31/2012 3:55:29 PM