Where to Draw The Line on Media Our Kids Consume?

Last week in Moms Talk asked: “How do you deal with fussy eaters?” Here’s what two of our moms had to say:

I have run into the opposite issue as Kim. My 1 year old son just recently began gravitating more towards fruit than any other food! I am glad he likes fruit and all, however, too much fruit has led to some lovely diaper surprises! I have worked to introduce the less desired veggies and proteins first and then move on to offering a little something sweet :)

O.K., I have a dessert answer, sorry. Luckily my kids love fruit. They also love fruit pies. I make my pies super healthy with very little sugar. I know Tanner has celiac so here is a gluten-free recipe: http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/dessertsandsweets/r/gftartdough.htm
I hope this helps.

This week, I’m wondering about where to draw the line on media my kids consume?

My kids have been singing Katy Perry’s song “Hot 'n' Cold” for a year. We always skip over an offensive word in the intro of the song. It’s become sort of a game with us: the song comes on, I wait until she says, “You PMS like a” and I turn the sound down in perfect timing until “I should know” comes on. When the song comes on, the kids get quiet, waiting to see if I’ll notice and turn it down in time. (I'm not talking about the Sesame Street version with Elmo, although even that raised a lot of controversy.)

But I draw the line at Katy’s “E.T.”

“Kiss me, ki-ki-kiss me,

Infect me with your love and

Fill me with your poison …

Take me, ta-ta-take me

Want to be a victim … ”

WHAT? Are you kidding? Song over. Permanently, when I’m in control of the sound system.

What about TV? It shows all those attractive and popular kids who break rules and disrespect everyone, which sends all kinds of crummy messages. I’m always impressed by people whose children don’t watch any television, save perhaps one PBS show every other Saturday. That’s not our family. But I do have my limits. Pretending to like someone and bartering kisses to get something you want? Sorry, “iCarly." Goodbye. Thanks for playing.

Some parents are completely unruffled by what their kids watch—I know 13-year-olds whose parents allow them to watch R-rated movies about drug dealers and mob killings. I still believe that most of the time, if it’s PG-13, my 10-year-old needs to wait three more years before she can watch it. (I’m not completely unreasonable; I did let her watch the Harry Potter movies. Since she had read all the books half a dozen times I figured she’d already taken in all those messages.)

Speaking of books, I know a parent who refused to let her children read Junie B. Jones because Junie B. was so disrespectful. But I got a kick out of Junie B’s horrified reaction to nose air and fascination with vomit remover. I figured I could use some of her over-the-top behavior as good “teachable moments.”

Which brings up another point … another mom I know previews every show, movie and book before her son gets a crack at them. While I’d like to say I do that, too, that would be a lie. I’m sure my daughter has about 20 more wildly inappropriate songs on her playlist, and I should probably nix at least half of her chosen TV shows, but I simply don’t know them well enough to do that. She wants to watch “Glee” now, but I’m not sure about that. I've never watched it. What do you think?

Where do you draw the line on media our kids consume?