I am baffled

It is almost midnight on Friday night and I just can't sleep as I am so baffled by something that happened tonight?

Tonight Chris and I went out on our weekly date. I look forward to it every week and we really didn't have any plans tonight so we just headed to the mall to see if there were any good movies. Incidentally lately we have seen several documentaries that have been fabulous so we chose "Proud American". We left after 20 min...It was like a 70's B movie with the worst acting I have ever seen on a big screen. Anyhow, as we were heading out of the theater we ran into one of Olivia's classmates and her family. It was a picture of cuteness as the whole family was together for a fun family movie night. They have 3 kids all under the age of 11. I think the youngest is 6. I saw them and thought of the cute girls we had left at home all snuggled up in their beds. We visited for a minute and then as they went to leave I said "Oh what movie are you going to see?" In my mind I was thinking "Is Wall-E still in the theaters?" Their reply floored me. "We are going to see House Bunny". OK let me say I know nothing about this movie except the premise of it is enough to tell me Not REALLY A FAMILY FILM. Since when do we gather up our children and head out in anticipation of cute little story about Playboy Bunnies. I don't want to be judgemental of these people as I hardly know them. I am just seeing a trend among parents that, in my mind, is not good.

It bothered me so much and I will be honest as they walked away I just stood there and stared at those sweet little girls walking off holding their parents hands and I felt sick to my stomach. When did parents stop being the gatekeepers to the doorway of their small children's minds and hearts. How do adults not understand that everything that goes into those sweet innocent minds shapes who they are and how they see the world and their role in it.

As I came home I thought ok, maybe I have no idea what this movie is about and I am way wrong on this. So I got on a website that I frequent often that screens every movie based on kids and whether it is appropriate (link). I was going to post part of the synopsis but much of it was too vulgar to post as my kids sometimes read my blog and I didn't want them to read it. I am pretty sure that even the producers of this film were not aiming for the 6-11 year old demographic. For all I know this family ended up walking out of the movie......that would be my hope.

Sadly this was not the first time I have see this trend among families. There have been several times we have gone to movies that we will find offensive enough that we will walk out and yet there in the theater will remain children under 10 with their parents. Our girls will come home from school and tell us the TV shows that some of their friends are talking about or the movies they see and I can't believe it......all too often they are R rated. Heck My mom banned "Threes Company" in my house.......actually, none of the kids I knew were allowed to watch it. That would be laughable now.

I know that times change. I know that my mom was appalled by what was passing as entertainment when I was young and I thought she was out of touch. Maybe I am out of touch but I will fight tooth and nail to make sure my daughters see the world as a place where women are strong, smart and to be treated with dignity and respect. I am not naive I know that there will come a day when they will know that women can be treated as objects, that violence in extreme exists and that some people live and relish deprived lives but by that time I hope the roots already run deep and they will not be easily moved from the foundation their lives were built on.

PS: If you have seen this movie, loved it and took your small children to it and I got this WAY wrong. You can set me straight.