Earlier this week, I did an interview on my reasons for not letting my tween daughter see New Moon this weekend. As it turns out, the article was for CNN. I had no idea. I also had no idea people would view my decision as something bad. In the comments, I have been called a cruel, controlling cougar. Okay, one comment, but it has several Likes so there are obviously people who agree with Krista.
I am, quite honestly, shocked that anyone would disagree with me. The movie is rated PG-13 and based on a “young adult” novel. My daughter is only 11. It seems only logical that I would have to make a parental decision on the matter and assert some authority as her mother. In fact, I have trouble understanding the parents who let their children read the books or watch the movies without any personal knowledge of the content.
I have read the entire series—10 times. I, obviously, love it but that doesn’t make it automatically appropriate for a child. I love Cosmos too but you don’t see me passing them out at family dinner. Twilight is quite tame, as is New Moon, really. The Volturi are creepy & scary, sure, but she has enjoyed Aliens and Poltergeist so that is not an issue. She’s also read the entire Harry Potter series and seen the movies (in fact, she’s watching one now on a sick day) so the fantasy thing is clearly not an issue.
Where I take issue is with Eclipse, as the content turns more adult. Bella faces decisions about premarital sex and teen marriage. In Breaking Dawn, her struggles expand to include the topic of abortion. Yes, I’ve discussed all of these with her but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to see them played out in her imagination or on screen. I did finally relent and let her read Twilight & New Moon, but I put my foot down on finishing the series. At least for a few years.
However, I was not willing to let her see this movie yet. Mostly, because there is always the chance with a book-based movie for content from later books to insert itself into earlier movies. I wasn’t sure how much of the above subjects would be a part of New Moon. As it turns out, the movie is actually quite accurate to the book. I was pleasantly surprised. We’ll probably let her see it when it comes out on DVD.
That’s called parenting. I see nothing cruel about letting children know some things were not meant for them. When did it become okay to let children make their own decisions. I either stand idly by while my daughter does whatever she wants or risk being called a mean mom and a helicopter parent. I tend to be fairly liberal about a lot of things. I think their dad and I do a pretty good job of finding middle ground—giving our children freedom as appropriate and reining them in when they need guidance.
Why is everything black or white with Mommy Wars? You either breastfeed or you don’t. You can work or stay at home. We draw so many lines about what is and isn’t a good mom. There doesn’t seem to be any recognition that every parent has different children and, therefore, will need to tailor their own decisions. I can’t even use the same parenting twice because I have 3 very unique girls! Is it really so hard to understand each child, situation and parent may need to make decisions unique to their circumstances?
I wouldn’t choose. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, really, because it tends to make me hate 
. Since I could never really hate anything that features Will Smith, I have learned to view them as separate entities. That helps a lot, as does lowering your expectations. If you go in expecting to see a 
come to life, you are bound to be 
. However, if you go in expecting to find a director has ruined your 
you may just be 
.
before the free 
, but over a month to finish 
in time 
with the girls. I may insist on a family reading of 
before the kids 
again, but I have read it more than once. I guess I better get busy, even as I hope to talk them into 
that don’t 
.
, 
and 
. We watched all the usual 80s favorites too—
, 
, 
—but there is nothing like the B movie classics.
, 
and 
. I’m excited to add them to our ever-growing DVD collection, though finding someone to watch them with me is quite a challenge. We recently counted no less than 30 DVDs on our shelves that we haven’t actually watched since their purchase.
and today we are starting 
. That makes 5 movies down, but we still have a long way to go in watching all the movies we own. I’d say we need a buying hiatus for a bit, but we’ve bought 10 new DVDs in the last week so I don’t see that happening any time soon. You gotta love the $5 bin not to mention