G.I.G.O.

"The school will teach children how to read, but the environment of the home must teach them what to read. The school can teach them how to think, but the home must teach them what to believe."

When I was a kid I had a cassette tape with a song called G.I.G.O. This was right about the time when computers where becoming available to the public, so it was an important song. It stands for Garbage In, Garbage Out. Putting garbage into our minds/computers produces nasty, dirty, junk thoughts/processes. But the rest of the song says "Clean thoughts in, clean thoughts out...will keep you safe from G.I.G.O"

When my husband and I were in Master's Commission, one of the rules they had was no movies rated above PG. It sounds pretty harsh, but in reality it was a great thing. How can you be in a super-devoted-to-God state of mind while putting garbage into your mind? How can you learn how to serve and be kind to others while watching films with language, innuendos, immoral scenes, etc?
Since then, DH and I have held to this standard, for the most part. Even then, there are lower rated movies that have come into our home and disturbed us and our kids. One of these is the new Scooby-Doo videos. Kids love that show, right?! So did we, until our kids started waking up with nightmares, not wanting to go in a room because they thought one of the monsters from the show would be there. You know it's pretty disturbing to a kid when they come up and say "We need to get rid of all the Scooby-Doo's 'cause it makes my mind scared and I have bad dreams."

So, live action, drama, animated, anything. If it's not beneficial, why watch it and allow it to influence your thoughts? You don't believe me, that these things affect your kids? Try something. Follow a super strict movie guideline, and explain why. That we don't want to allow bad thoughts or ideas into our minds, that God wants our minds to be pure and clean and devoted to happy peaceful thoughts. Do this for at least a couple months. Then show a "bad" movie. One with intense music, monsters, you know the type. And observe your kids. Watch their eyes grow wide, their grip on your hand tighten. Or maybe they pull away and become so engrossed in it that they forget all about their favorite food they were eating. Seriously, it will affect them. And then watch for attitudes, nightmares, acting out, etc.
Now, I'm not perfect by any means. But it angers me that we'll be visiting family or friends and a movie that is not appropriate for little children is being watched, or absently left on the t.v., and when I ask for something else to be put in I get appalled looks, and comments like "Oh really. He gets nightmares from this?!" Of course movies with intense action sequences, people discovering dead bodies, people yelling and shouting and shooting at each other, etc. will bother them! And it should bother us adults too.
There's a stirring in our stomach when we see a grotesque scene on t.v. Maybe your face twitches with disgust, but you just can't pull yourself from it. Or your heart rate picks up and you find yourself unable to switch the channel. When you feel that, remember G.I.G.O. Garbage in, Garbage out. Clean thoughts in, Clean thoughts out.

And, I'm sorry, but I can't resist the urge to throw this in. I know that not everyone agrees with me, and that's fine. But for our family from the episodes I have seen and the attitudes I have observed, we do not allow Spongebob in our household. And there's enough other people out there like that, I don't think it should come as a big surprise to anyone when I say that. Not like I go throwing that out there wherever I go. On the contrary, I try to be quiet with my own opinions, unless it directly affects my kids. Like when I tell the attendants at Playland to not put in Spongebob while my kids are in there. So my boys know how I feel about it, and I have explained why and they understand.
One day DS1 and I were getting a video from Redbox. A little girl and her dad were right behind us and the girl was looking at the pictures of the movies and commented that she wanted to get the Spongebob movie. DS1 pipes up, embarrassing his mother, "We don't like Spongebob. It makes bad thoughts and dreams in our minds."
The man retorts, "Oh, it's not a bad show. We like it. It's funny and pretty good." Grrrr. Look guy, I know you may like it, but it wasn't Me who said something, it was my kid. If my kid says we don't watch it because it makes bad thoughts and dreams, don't try to tell him it's OK. Seriously. I'm not telling you to put your fat little girl on a diet, you don't try to influence my kid. Thank-you.

But really, all opinions and personal preferences aside, think about this in the big picture. Please re-evaluate what our kids are watching, and so internalizing. Really think about it. Pray about it. Ask them about it, how they feel when they watch it. And if they are having bad dreams, consider if this could be contributing to them.

It is something I am passionate about. I wish I could let my kids visit someone and not worry about them being allowed to watch inappropriate movies. And not just movies, but adult language, music, pictures. We need to protect our kids because no one else is going to. Speak up for them. Protect them. Lets introduce a new measure of innocence into our lives.
Thanks for listening and not judging me too harshly for my outspoken opinion.