Family-Friendly

As I was driving to work yesterday morning, that phrase just struck me silly. Why are soooo many Christian radio stations, movies, etc. dubbed as "family-friendly?"

Well, there's certainly the obvious answer--they don't scare people away by saying "Jesus" (although "Jesus-friendly" should really be their aim, shouldn't it?).

But it seems to me there's also a more pragmatic explanation. And I, being a pragmatic kind of guy, will attempt to explore that...

Some Divinely-appointed friends recently asked about what standards we apply for movies we allow our kids to watch. Have you ever had to answer that question to like-minded friends whose children are playmates of yours? Talk about a touchy, carefully-worded discussion!

We didn't even have to explain some of the obvious violence, language, and sexual content metrics (all fairly clear to distinguish, even if you don't see eye-to-eye about what is "too" ______ for my kids). However, phrases like "potty talk" and "crude jokes" and "disrespectful" were required to further distinguish why some movies targeted at today's younger audience might not be suitable for ours. Now, defining what exactly qualifies as "potty talk" is no easy task. Heck, even deciding which jokes are "crude" is a tough one--there are some jokes that definitely are, and some that definitely aren't, but there's a huge gray area in the middle...

Nonetheless, I bear a God-given responsibility to make that determination for my children, and to model those standards for them.

Wait a minute! Did I just write that...yeah, that second part there?

After all, one of the most widely-accepted axioms of parenting is that not everything that might be acceptable for my mental and emotional consumption is acceptable for consumption by my children. So many of us parents live that out...it must be true!

But if a particular commerical aired during an NFL game makes me cringe because my 10-year-old son is sitting on the couch next to me, taking it all in, is it really okay for me to watch it too?

Here's another generalized example. I've noticed what I'll now dub as a "classic" phenomenon which occurs to many parents of young children: they start going to church. Think with me...how many young married couples have you known that were completely disinterested in church or anything spiritual...until they had children? Now, suddenly they're thinking about what kind of upbringing those impressionable youngsters will have. Surely, they don't want to be to blame if those kids grow up to be heathens! And even before they get to that point, they're purging their music and movie libraries (or, at least, boxing them up) and their language. And maybe they're even reevaluating their friends.

Okay, I know I don't have to keep emphasizing the double-standards that so many of us parents have--we probably all feel guilty about it already.

But let me ask another question on the positive side: do ours kids actually serve as a significant component of our consciences?

I could make a very long list of instances in which one of my children pointed out my less-than-savory behavior. Sometimes even unintentionally. Or of the times when my own words sounded not-so-wholesome coming from a much younger mouth.

Rather than living in fear of my children turning out like me, I'd better start living a more "family-friendly" life.