Just caught my 7 yr old watching 'Calebs Aeroplane' think I overreacted (page 2)

wallsofjericho

i always turn off JW.org and put on nursery ryhme vidoes. A playlist on youtube helps. Just cue it up and it will go on for as long as she needs, and you will have screened and added each video ahead of time with no surprises

carla

Outlaw, where ever did you find that pic of me?

You are the parent, YOU set the rules even if grandma & grandpa don't like it. Let them know in no uncertain terms that their access to the grandchild will be severely limited if they don't keep the jw crap away from your child. Or, tell them you will be teaching the child in due time all about the jw's including the pedophile problem, unbiblical doctrines, deaths, suicides, murders, unloving nature, conditional love, etc..etc... Protect your child, it's your job.

3rdgen

The thing I would like to add is that when you have "the talk"(explaining what you will not tolerate) with the grandparents you do it without your child/children present. Kids have a way of blaming themselves for family discord so don't burden them with your anger. Just TCB. My best to you.

TD

Wow, Outlaw. I think that's the first time I ever wanted to bust out laughing and punch a hole in the wall at the same time....

OUTLAW

Wow, Outlaw. I think that's the first time I ever wanted to bust out laughing and

punch a hole in the wall at the same time....TD

Hey TD!..

That post comes from experience..

You can`t trust JW Grandparents to respect your wishes,concerning your children..

It`s just not going to happen..

.................................................... ...OUTLAW

jwfacts

There are plenty of great cartoons that your child can watch with the grandparents. It is fair enough for you to ask your parents to respect your wishes to watch something neutral.

sd-7

My kids watch that stuff all the time. I've noticed my 5-year-old talks a lot about death now for some reason. Maybe it's a phase, or maybe it's connected to 'My Book of Bible Stories' and the JW comic books with Lot's wife dying and 'Noah/David' videos and so on. Huh. Guess this is some sort of bizarre psychological experiment I'm observing. There's actually quite a lot of death and violence in these stories, I've found as I watch them. Caleb by comparison is actually a relief from planetary genocide and coloring in a dying woman's face and all that.

But heck, I read the same stuff, and I turned out okay. Well, there was that unfortunate incident with the broom stick awhile back, but no one was hurt, I assure you.

Anyway, kids are naturally going to ask questions about stuff like that, as they grow. They're good at seeing contradictions, better than adults because they have no previous assumptions when approaching stuff the first time. Your kid will be fine. Just so long as you teach them to think, they can handle the rest on their own, in time.

--sd-7

adamah

SDS-7 said-

Anyway, kids are naturally going to ask questions about stuff like that, as they grow. They're good at seeing contradictions, better than adults because they have no previous assumptions when approaching stuff the first time. Your kid will be fine. Just so long as you teach them to think, they can handle the rest on their own, in time.

Yup...

Just remember that the appeal JWs use are primarily EMOTIONAL ones, and you cannot fight their emotional sales pitch with an emotional response, since it's modeling behaviors that teach kids to play THEIR game, i.e. to play on their "turf".

The key to breaking the cycle is to explain WHY the JWs beiefs are nonsense, in a calm and logical manner. i.e. one that doesn't involve firing up the child's amygdala (near the brain stem), but encourages them to use the upper-cortical higher brain (the part that uses logic).

In fact, exposing kids to their message NEEDS to happen, since they're going to be exposed to their messages at SOME POINT in their lives, and they'll need to be 'innoculated' against its persuasive power. So using logic and educating your children (in an age-appropriate manner) is the "vaccine" that robs the JWs message of its 'punch'.

Of course, someone who feels the need to pick a user name like "not bitter" is going to have to cut themselves some slack, LOL, and will likely struggle with maintaining their emotional responses, but remember that Rome wasn't built in a day, and likewise, people don't join a cult overnight: in fact, there's many risk factors (eg being a dogmatic personality with an inflated sense of one's self-importance, believing in magical thinking, believing in God, believing in Xianity, not having a fear of voicing one's opinion (needed to preach to others), a need to convince one's self that they are correct, willing to violate personal boundaries, etc, etc). All of these are factors that must align in order to become 'at-risk' for joining the JWs.

But you're right to be concerned, since JWs ARE the types who feel no restraints in inculcating these traits in their kids and grandkids, and they even feel they're doing them a favor by doing so: they think their very lives are at stake!

Easily addressed, and the best part is you don't raise children to be drama-queens and narcissistics since the World doesn't need more of THOSE, LOL!

Adam

AudeSapere

My mother pulled crap like this with my niece and nephew all the time. She would breezily laugh it off. Or, when my sister-in-law was babysitting my younger siblings, mom made sure that part of the daily 'to-do' list was meeting preparation or reading from the Bible Story book. She knew exactly what she was doing. She told me so. Making sister-in-law read the Bible Story stuff with the kids, my mom saw this as 'captive witnessing'. She was so proud of herself.

Sister-in-law, on the other hand was not amused.

And the boys hated the forced bible stuff when they had a fun, non-jw adult they could play with!

.

Separately, when I was 7, my parents were non-religious and had not yet begun studying with the JWs. Somehow (probably from kids at school) I decided that I really wanted to go to Sunday School. My parents found a church nearby and every Sunday morning would drop me and my little brother off at Sunday School. They did not attend with us. Just dropped us 2 little kids off. LOL. I was 7, my brother was 3. [Sounds crazy now. But I guess I was pretty mature for my age and overly responsible with my brother.]

I think we did the Sunday School thing for about a year before I tired of it. But the thing is, I think your 7-year-old may very well have shown an interest. (Could have been coerced. But not necessarily. I wasn't.)

However, the main difference is that JW publications first and foremost induce guilt and fear. Sunday School had us coloring Noah's Ark, Moses receiving the 10 commandments, the nativity. We learned a song to sing all the books of the bible in order. We sang "Jesus Loves the Little Children". And we played with other kids our own age. All the kids were together for about 20 minutes, then separated by age group for another 15 or 20 minutes. What we learned was age-appropriate and, to my recollection, never made us feel guilty or fearful.

It's the guilt and fear and sensationalization of godly-destruction that is so prevalent in JW publications that I would highlight to your parents. Maybe find and watch the video yourself. Or look at the other one on the jw website. Be familiar with them when you talk to your mom and let her know that you are working hard to raise a competent, curious, self-confident, intelligent young woman and carefully choose material that helps foster good values, and good morals, without triggering fear and guilt.

If your daughter really is curious about religion, without prodding from grandparents, you can find lots of stuff on your own online or at a bookstore. You can attend a non-demoninational church - this will give some friendship, too, along with the opportunity for community involvement/service. You can just read specific parts for the bible yourselves. Or you can tell her there is plenty of time later in life for religion and philosophy and that right now, her biggest job is to be a kid.

Good Luck with the JW grandparents.

-Aude.

vanyell

Counter it with lots of Cartoon Network, SuperBook, and Toonami and Disney

Just caught my 7 yr old watching 'Calebs Aeroplane' think I overreacted

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