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This is my first post but I looked at this forum and it looked like a good place to get help for this.
My son is 14 and a freshman in high school and I'm really starting to get worried about the things that he's getting involved in. I've tried as hard as I can to raise him as a good Christian boy, and even paid for him to go to a private school his first few years to make sure he gets a good moral education, but I could only afford to pay for it the first couple of years because of financial problems.
Recently he started watching these cartoons on the computer that I gave him to do school work on. I think they're in Chinese or something but I was ok with it at first because there's really nothing bad about cartoons. But I talked to one of my friends at church about it and she said that a lot of kids have gotten in trouble because of these kinds of cartoons because they have a ton of sex and violence in them. I talked to my son about it and he said that they don't, but my friend said that they can be really bad.
I want to take the computer away from him but he needs it to do homework too, but I'm worried about the things he could get in to, but I don't want to lose his trust or make him angry with me or anything either. I've talked to him but he insists there's nothing wrong with them.
If you don't know if there is anything wrong with what he's watching, find out! Watch it yourself. Don't let him have the computer in his room. Put it in a family area so you can see what he's doing.
Not all of those cartoons are bad. There are some that are made for adults and there are some made for a teen audience. One for teens that I can think of off the top of my head is Fruits Basket. My kids have watched it on Netflix, my daughter has read the books, and there's nothing bad in it at all. There are several other Japanese cartoons that she loves. I let her watch things on netflix as long as they're not rated R or TV-MA or TV-14. She wants to draw cartoons like that and the shows have helped her develop her artistic skills in a new direction.
You should watch a couple of the shows that he's watching and see what's really in there. If there's anything you object to, then you can decide whether or not to install a nanny software. Don't rely on the opinions of other parents until you've seen for yourself what he's watching.
I remember when I was first married, my husband loaned a music CD to his friend who still lived at home. (This was back when music cd's were like $20 and it was a huge deal for us to buy one back then, as broke as we were). His friend's mom came home from church, took all of his CD's and broke them in half because the pastor said that rock music was Satan's tool. My husband asked his friend's mom to give him the $20 for his CD that she broke, and she refused because she was sure she was saving his soul.
Not all of those cartoons are bad. There are some that are made for adults and there are some made for a teen audience. One for teens that I can think of off the top of my head is Fruits Basket. My kids have watched it on Netflix, my daughter has read the books, and there's nothing bad in it at all. There are several other Japanese cartoons that she loves. I let her watch things on netflix as long as they're not rated R or TV-MA or TV-14. She wants to draw cartoons like that and the shows have helped her develop her artistic skills in a new direction.
You should watch a couple of the shows that he's watching and see what's really in there. If there's anything you object to, then you can decide whether or not to install a nanny software. Don't rely on the opinions of other parents until you've seen for yourself what he's watching.
I remember when I was first married, my husband loaned a music CD to his friend who still lived at home. (This was back when music cd's were like $20 and it was a huge deal for us to buy one back then, as broke as we were). His friend's mom came home from church, took all of his CD's and broke them in half because the pastor said that rock music was Satan's tool. My husband asked his friend's mom to give him the $20 for his CD that she broke, and she refused because she was sure she was saving his soul.
I would have had the police make her give me my money back. You don't just go breaking another adults possessions and get away with it because you shoved A child out of your va jay jay and did something in the name of god, being a parent or religious doesnt give you the right to run around all willy nilly doing as you please.
Anime can range from very much G-rated things like Pokemon to more plot driven shows like Evangelion. There are comparatively few that are really adult in terms of graphic sex/overt violence. They exist, sure, but most anime shows are just...shows. People who think that all Japanese animated shows are terribly violent and involve tentacles and so forth are being rather ignorant. You wouldn't say that all American movies are horrifically violent because the Saw movie franchise exists, right?
Find out what shows your son is actually watching and investigate those specific shows. Anime isn't even a genre, it just means a show created in Japan that is animated.
Anime can range from very much G-rated things like Pokemon to more plot driven shows like Evangelion. There are comparatively few that are really adult in terms of graphic sex/overt violence. They exist, sure, but most anime shows are just...shows. People who think that all Japanese animated shows are terribly violent and involve tentacles and so forth are being rather ignorant. You wouldn't say that all American movies are horrifically violent because the Saw movie franchise exists, right?
Find out what shows your son is actually watching and investigate those specific shows. Anime isn't even a genre, it just means a show created in Japan that is animated.
Did you mean testicles?
No not hercules cousin from down south...
I think you should trust your son's judgment over your friend's unbased hysteria.
If you're that uncomfortable, then ask your son to show you what he's watching. Keeping the lines of communications open and watching out for your son is what going to keep him safe from going down that route that you fear.
Your friend is fearmongering and making you doubt your son and your ability to do right by your son. Keep that drama out.
Did you mean testicles?
No not hercules cousin from down south...
*grins* Nope, meant what I said. Tentacle porn is a thing in Japan due to restrictive pornography laws. It shows up in hentia, which is the NC-17 category of anime.
Very likely though this kid is watching something like Hetalia or Fullmetal Alchemist. There's a lot of really good plot-driven anime out there.
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