When it rains it pours

[taxguykarl]

Fudging on the PG rating stuff, even PG-13, ok, that's one thing, but grade schoolers watching R movies pisses me off.

Agreed there. Too many parents seem to view a movie screen as an electronic baby sitter

Speaking of Deadpool, the freaking star of the show did a PSA about parents not letting their underage kids watch the movie.

Having only seen the trailer (needless to say, Mrs. TGK & I don't get out much during tax season...ending Monday), I'm sure that would be a good one. Can anyone link it?

[manybellsdown]

Oh dear gods. Please tell me she's not still giving him candy.

OH, of course she is, but now it's sugar free!

[Aria]

OH, of course she is, but now it's sugar free!

Well, I guess it's better than dying of sugar shock. His gut microbiome is toast, though, if it wasn't already. Although it probably was.

[Monterey Jack]

When I saw Deadpool, right before the trailers started, a middle-aged couple came in with a pair of under-eights in tow. On one hand, I didn't hear a peep from them (nothing infuriates me more than hearing whimpers of "I'm scared!" or seeing some bored kid tearing ass up and down the stairs for two hours when I'm seeing a movie clearly intended for adults), but on the other, I kept getting distracted during the movie, wondering what these kids were making of the non-stop barrage of nudity, violence and foul language. I mean, I remember when my Dad took me to see movies like Beverly Hills Cop and Witness when i was ten, and I remember being alternately bored out of my skull and/or disturbed at any and all acts of violence in those movies. Even a PG-13 superhero movie like Batman V Superman was totally inappropriate for the under-ten set, with its gloomy photography, non-stop carnage and overall bleak, joyless tone. Where's Christopher Reeve when you need him?

[Sliceanddice]

When I saw Deadpool, right before the trailers started, a middle-aged couple came in with a pair of under-eights in tow. On one hand, I didn't hear a peep from them (nothing infuriates me more than hearing whimpers of "I'm scared!" or seeing some bored kid tearing ass up and down the stairs for two hours when I'm seeing a movie clearly intended for adults), but on the other, I kept getting distracted during the movie, wondering what these kids were making of the non-stop barrage of nudity, violence and foul language. I mean, I remember when my Dad took me to see movies like Beverly Hills Cop and Witness when i was ten, and I remember being alternately bored out of my skull and/or disturbed at any and all acts of violence in those movies. Even a PG-13 superhero movie like Batman V Superman was totally inappropriate for the under-ten set, with its gloomy photography, non-stop carnage and overall bleak, joyless tone. Where's Christopher Reeve when you need him?

*cough* my dad may or may not have shown me about every violent 80s movies *cough* and i may or may not have never had a problem with that.

[Kanalah]

I have gotten to the point where I can't watch much of anything on TV or any R movies. They just give me nightmares for months.

Of course I come from an abusive background, so violence seems worse to me I guess?

[notalwaysright]

I have gotten to the point where I can't watch much of anything on TV or any R movies. They just give me nightmares for months.

Of course I come from an abusive background, so violence seems worse to me I guess?

I don't have any background which I can blame my weirdness about movies and tv shows. Violence in general doesn't bother me, it's other stuff. Currently I don't watch the majority of popular shows because they're so depressing, or scary. Can't watch Walking Dead because it's depressing and gives me super vivid zombie nightmares. Can't watch Game of Thrones because depressing, and they kill animals. I've always been sensitive to that, as a kid I would fast forward through the part on the Lion King where Mufasa dies. House of Cards? Dog is hit by car in first scene, you don't even see it, but I turned it off and didn't look back.

Most of the time when I watch tv I just want to relax, and I don't care if the shows that are relaxing are shallow and stupid. I think a lot of times people mistake "deep and meaningful" with "soul crushingly depressing." That being said, I like shows which toe the line, like Monk. I probably would be careful if I had a kid. Not crazy overprotective, but it seems fairly obvious that a kid in grade school doesn't need to watch Walking Dead. It's because these parents want to watch it, and they don't even care their kid is in the room. Because it would take effort to plan to watch it while the kid is asleep, and these do not seem like parents who want to me any effort at all to parent.

[Nunavut Pants]

Of course I come from an abusive background, so violence seems worse to me I guess?

My wife also comes from an abusive background, and she has a very hard time with any of the more "personal" violence that gets inflicted on characters on the screen. For instance, she could not watch the Firefly episode where Mal and Wash get tortured, even though it is pretty mild IMHO.

[Trixie]

When I was a kid I remember watching All in the Family. It was only as an adult that I realized what was really going on. Also kind of explained how I knew about so much stuff.

Now I don't have any kids so I'm no expert but it's not like there's no shortage of shows that are appropriate for children. But that would require some parenting and ain't nobody got time for dat!

[Shalom]

I don't have a TV in the house. The examples on these last few pages are reinforcing my decision.

(Yes, my kids watch stuff on Youtube, but only under supervision, and their account on my computer has the parental guidance bit set on Youtube.)

[MoonCat]

Ugh, the descriptions of these kids and their parents are making me alternately depressed and angry. And I'm not even physically there!

The best advice I can give is let the kids eat what they want/what they brought and don't stress about it. Take an emotional step back - they aren't your kids and you're not responsible for their eating habits. Now, if the school is going to try to hold you responsible because you are the adult in the situation, that's different - then there needs to be a serious talk with your boss about the food issues. But if your main function is to supervise - make sure they aren't using their lunch time to have a food fight, bully other kids, or whatever - then all I can say is let them eat or not eat, and let it go. It's just not worth the stress.

[Kanalah]

I am supposed to "encourage healthy eating". It's in the job description. But I'm not really allowed to enforce it.

I am trying a different tactic this week. All the kids know that I love junk food, and I always have a can of soda (or pop) with me at work. I told them all last week that Miss Kanalah was going to bring healthy lunches all next week and if I can eat healthy, so can they. We'll see if it makes a difference.

[Kanalah]

It's been a fun week so far.

Yesterday we had one of the kindergartners *demand* milk. Milk is $0.50/carton. He insisted his mom had purchased him milk for the entire month. She hadn't, but had purchased him hot lunch. He brought his lunch and again demanded his milk. The lunch order forms are pretty straightforward, so it's strange to have a parent purchase lunch instead of milk. We gave him milk and made a note for the principal.

Found out later that he'd been crying to his mom that he *begged* us for milk and we refused to give it to him.

We also got word that diabesity kid's mom is coming to the lunchroom to yell at us. Even though we told her that we had nothing to do with her kid's punishments during class time, she wanted to come "put us in her place" and "keep us from bullying her precious angel". Apparently she's tired of talking to the teacher about her issues with the teacher and has now decided to bully us. So we were on pins and needles all day waiting for her. She didn't show.

She did come in today - with a take-out meal for diabesity kid to eat, on top of the fact that she paid for a hot lunch as well, so she paid $4 for her kid to eat a brownie, and then eat the deep fried junk she brought. And she told him to be polite to me, so there's that. Otherwise she had nothing to say to me.

[MoonCat]

Ugh, what a bunch of horrible people. Wonder how that kid's mom would react if a nutritionist told her that she's feeding her kid all the wrong things.

Re: "encouraging", you can do that but as you said, you can't force them. So you make suggestions and then step back if they shrug them off.

[iradney]

As a kid I wasn't "forced" to eat food - because my Dad was forced to eat beetroot soup and as a result he absolutely loathes LOATHES beets. I had my first taste of beets after the age of twenty.

But, I wasn't expected to clean my plate. I was asked to try and finish my veggies, but if a bite or two was left behind, no big deal.

As a result, I now eat all the veggies on my plate before I eat anything else.

Diabesity kid is being set up for failure by his mom, and he'll probably never realise it (and neither will she). Poor kid.

*HUGS* to Kanalah. PS Kanalah, I have to send you pics of this quilt my Mom made for me.