Do you Reject the Sleaze? The stuff on VH-1? Oxygen?

Or is one person's Sleaze another's Reality? Surfing Channels it seems that what one might view as Sleaze is just what we love to watch these days.

After all...If we didn't watch it and love it...they wouldn't put it on. But, "Bondage Babes" and "Babes in Car Trunks" and stuff like that is VERY INTERESTING...or Not So....

How much Reality are you willing to stomach watch or your kids watching that's out there on Cable?

And...WHAT is the definition of what I might view as Sleaze ..compared to YOURS? Isn't that what it's all about...the definite of sleaze and something that "tittilates without value?" What IS Value?

Do you use the "V-Chip" to block out stuff from your kids? Is that CENSORSHIP? What Would you CENSOR?

Should ANYTHING be Censored? What if some stuff OFFENDS FOLKS but they are FORCED TO VIEW it because their CABLE REQUIRES you to TAKE IT? If you don't have a FILTER...how do you handle this? Do your KIDS
Do you Reject the Sleaze? The stuff on VH-1? Oxygen?

Do your kids HATE you if your "filter" their viewing. Has anything YOU'VE VIEWED upset you as a Parent? Should you deny the viewing to your kid as Censorship? What IS CENSORSHIP? Do you worry more about Censorship...than your kids hating you if they don't like what they view? Or, do you worry more about You hating your kids for what THEY like to view?

:shrug:

So many Questions... But...I'm asking how Parents can Deal with Stuff...How do YOU DEAL...Is there ANYTHING too Bizarre OR Weird that even the most AVID defenders of the RIGHT TO WATCH ANYTHING would shudder and stop their kids watching?

I know there are a lot of questions here...but where do you fall as a Parent, Single or beyond that?

:shrug:

We do censor our children, though, as I do not think that EVERYTHING is appropriate for children. It's getting a bit easier now, as our youngest is 16, so there's less stuff that needs to be censored.

And I have to tell you... it's HARD. Because you are giving your child one message and they are getting a completely different message from their friends. And many parents DON'T censor their children's entertainment, so you have to be careful to talk to your children always about what's going on at other people's houses.

disappearing right before your very eyes.

but grownups who want to control what their kids watch need to keep custody of the remote.

I don't understand the need for iron fisted parental control. I watched a lot of stuff and read even more stuff my parents considered offensive. Either it went over my head or I learned from it, often learning what not to do as well as what I didn't like.

:shrug: Where is your responsibility as a parent to "guide and filter" until they get beyond the "training wheels?"

Given the Propaganda on our Cable/Network Media...what if a kid of yours only saw George Bush's "controlled Media Appearances 24/7" and said to you: "Hey, Dad, ...I think our President is really great because people cheer and applaud him...and he's kind of funny and kind."

How would you feel about that?

I loved Ned Sherrin's show because those people were witty and hilarious.

If a kid said that sentence to me, I'd use it for a teaching session about what Stupid is really all about and how to tell the difference between propaganda and the truth.

That's what my parents did.

that they forget that lots of Parents of ALL Political view, across the spectrum ....might have a problem with the Propaganda on TV that's not only Political...but designed to sell stuff to their kids...that might be "too old" and "too raunchy" for even their parents.

There's a time and a season for all things. Promoting "soft porn" to pre-teens...might cross the line.

Just like selling Propaganda Lies to sell stuff to their Parents...might cross some lines ...under the Bushies.

That old thing: "Do you Know Where Your Children Are?" ....from the Archives of the 70's/80's Media Caution might apply to today: "Do YOU KNOW...What Your Children are WATCHING?"

I think working parents might not know...:shrug:

their children see retain custody of the remote.

Problem solved.

The stuff I was reading before I was even out of grade school wasn't, on occasion, much different than some of what's on TV today. Hell, I was introduced to those terrible "Gor" books and loathed them from the outset...long before I truly understood what kind of crap they really were.

If it doesn't interest me, I don't watch it. And my kids watch what their mother watches... As I watched what my father watched for the most part. I was reading grown-up science fiction and fantasy novels by the time I was ten or eleven, being exposed to some things that seem tame even by today's standards.

What it comes down to, in my opinion, is involved parenting. That supercedes all the media in the world. Talk to your kids about what they see and hear and how they feel about it.

and you feel what you grew up with is the SAME as TODAY? Have you SURFED the TEEVEE MEDIA? :shrug:

They live all the way on the other side of the state. They watch stuff like CSI and Law and Order and stuff on sci-fi. :shrug: And cartoons...some of which just make me shake my head, but they DID introduce me to Avatar, which is a great cartoon.

I have no issue with what she watches with them. I know how she thinks and how they communicate with each other about these things.

I don't have the faintest idea what all this other stuff is. I don't watch it and I'm betting she doesn't either. And my kids will watch Naruto or Avatar or Billy and Mandy before they watch whatever you're talking about.

No, teevee isn't the same as when I was a kid. It SUCKED when I was a kid. Charlie's Angels, the Six Million Dollar Man, the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys mysteries, Space 1999. Pap with all the moral complexity of a anthill.

Again...I don't know WHAT shows you're talking about. Obviously on channels I'd never bother watching.

They both have since thanked me now that they're old enough to see the junk (college & HS), though they hated it at the time. I mainly censored tv shows that had gratuitous violence & sex, bad language, etc. It wasn't like they watched Sesame Street only, they watched junk cartoons like Power Rangers, etc. If it was a movie hubby and I wanted to see that had a little bad language or brief nudie scenes, we'd kid around and make them look the other way.

You practically have to be in the room with them or nearby when they're watching tv. Also, no tv's in their bedrooms, either.

I think they grew up with a healthier respect for the opposite sex and learned better how to get along with others without fighting all the time.

but she turned out GREAT...IMHO...and thanks me today... :shrug: I'm sure there are others who've done well letting their kids watch everything in the 80's and 90's. But that isn't the kind of stuff that's on TV Cable Today! The Envelope has been PUSHED...WAY FAR. I wonder if parents today even have time to watch what their kids watch to understand what I'm talking about.... Eveyone has to work two and three jobs today...there's not alot of time to do reflective thinking when one lives from day to day in BUSH II WORLD!

My kids don't hate me for it.

When she was about 12, I guess.

"Hilary and Jackie" was about the greatest cellist of the 20th Century, Jacqueline du Pre. And I had seen her play live back in '68 or '69, and I thought it was important for her to see what a great artist went through as she was tragically succumbing to a muscular wasting disease and had to stop playing. I thought the story was more important than the sex scene.

Emily watson did a fabulous job of recreating the real Jacqueline du Pre.

would be what I would have filtered for my daughter. In the context of her age group and her interest.

:shrug: Gratuitous over Context and vice versa. It's not an easy call with our kids. But, to think about it...is important and to discuss things with them the better? ;shrug:

I remember the Senate Hearings about getting a bill passed so all TV's would have the Parental Control, "V-Chip" installed. My daughter was in her early teens...and we supervised her watching...and didn't replace our TV's after it was passed to take advantage of it. We got cable and there still wasn't enough on to censure since MTV was in it's "Innocent Days" and we used to like it way back then.

BUT...do any parents USE the BLOCKING? Is "V-Chip" even available? After all that Senate Fru-Fra over getting Manufacturers to put it in...did anyone use it? And do you use the Cable Blocks that are available? :shrug:

I'm determined to have free tv as long as possible. Plus, I don't like to be influenced too much by the same thing everyone else is watching.

But I speak as a single person. If I have kids, I'll watch out for violent and sexist content.

definition of the word.

It's crap and it has no place in my life or hers as long as she is a minor and under my protection and responsibility.

Watching basic cable I wouldn't know.

How do they feed their babies?

No, I don't do that.