My good friend Ariah linked to your site, so I dropped by b/c of the interesting title, and also because I have a friend who works at Big Idea. And because of that, I’ll just add a little bit of inside information. I don’t know all the specifics, but there are quite a few things that are controlled by the owners (or producing company, like Universal in the most recent Pirates movie…where they made Pa Grape wear spectacles full time because otherwise they thought he looked too scary. ??) and Big Idea has no choice in the matter.

Again, I don’t know for sure, but I have a feeling that’s why there’s a fork and spoon in place of crossbones. Keen eye, though, I hadn’t noticed it either.

But this question comes up a lot with homeschooling, right? Like, do people protect our kids too much when they home school? I don’t remember who it was above, but someone talked about a scary movie and mentioned how she’d talked about it with her kids. I think that’s key…that we’re having conversation with our kids. Whether it’s sex, violence, or death…certainly parents must have some sort of influence on what’s viewed, but we mustn’t refrain from conversation on those difficult subjects. And if entertainment is the only way kids have exposure to it (which it’s not) then bring back the skull and crossbones!

(I’m not a parent yet. So of course nothing I say really matters when I talk about kids. heheh But I will say that my wife and I do plan on severely limiting our kids’ TV time. Not because of this issue, to keep them away from violence, but because I think TV’s horrible for other reasons…for all of us. But that’s another topic.)

Karl – thanks for the quote, I like the spirit of it.

John – let me tell you, I could very well do with never having to hear the “pirates who don’t do anything” song ever again… but I fear I have years to go before that day arrives.

Drew – there are a number of movies that scare Emma and she asks us to turn off. Sometimes she wants to talk about them, other times no. She is very timid at times and a lot of things scare her. She just turned three and I think it would be foolish to push her in some of these areas. But sheltering her forever is not my goal either. I was like that as a child and I still vividly recall where my parents pushed me too early. Since I was(am) tall I reached the minimum height to ride the Six Flags Roller Coaster at a really young age and my parents made me do it. I cried the whole time and to this day HATE roller coasters. Similarly my dad started reading the Narnia books to me when I was three. I did okay until we reached The Horse and His Boy, but the scene in the desert of them being chased by a lion gave me nightmares. He put the series aside for another year or so at that point…

Cody – I agree, a lot of this has to do with economic status. As bad as helicopter parenting is, I think it’s worse that some parents don’t have the means to protect their children. When a person’s income determines if they have to live where their children see violence everyday, or if the kid has to work in a sweatshop, or if they get sold into sex slavery to pay of the parent’s medical debt there are serious things wrong in the world. Its messed up that we freak out about kids seeing skulls and crossbones or knowing where the food on our table comes from and there are kids around the world who are forced to witness their mothers raped and slaughtered.

Christian parents can sometimes shield their kids too much – having kids that think the world is perfect does not well-rounded grown-up make. I don’t enjoy that my kids have to know evil is in the world but I do find it a privilege and opportunity to have those discussions with them, as they process what is going on.

As a mom, I have often said that if I could get away with it my kids would live in a bubble where nothing could hurt them. I tend to be protective, but those tough subjects such as death, or whatever have given my husband and I great opportunity to have disscusions with our kids about hard subjects. When my daughter was in the 5th grade a class mate died in a car accident. I can’t imagine how she would have dealt with that if we weren’t open and ready to face it with her. I want to protect my kids and shield them from hurtful or painful things, but I also want them to be emotionally ready to face the evils of the real world.

Like living in Chicago during the Bulls great championship run… which, I guess, is about the same time.

My first exposure to Veggie Tales was in Wheaton. Well, it was at Wheaton, in a class. For whatever reason that I didn’t bother to ask, one fine morning the professor came out onto the stage in the big lecture room in Armerding. He told us he had a change of pace for us. And for the rest of the geology 101 class we watched Veggie Tales.

Cream of the crop in action.