I can’t be the only parent out there completely disgusted with the media and toy companies and their portrayal of violence directed towards very young children, can I?

I feel like it is so hard to be a parent today when our children’s innocence is taken all too early by things like guns, explosions, media crazes, video games, etc. I know I am not an overly protective parent just because I don’t want my four year old watching a show where people shoot at each other without consequences.

And that is where the problem lies. There are no consequences. Because in real life when you shoot someone, there are consequences, injuries, death. But in a video game? No. When a cartoon turtle is doing it? No. When a tiny man made of Legos is doing it? Somehow it is supposed to be okay.

Everyone says, “He is just a boy, he is supposed to play with weapons and pretend to shoot things.” This I do agree with, I feel that there is some sort of primal urge to use weapons.

The difference is, however, that in past generations kids knew the consequences. They knew that killing someone was wrong and that a gun should not be a toy but instead used for hunting and protection. Their eyeballs were not flooded with violence day in and day out, not only on the television, but in the toy aisles, billboards and other advertisements.

They might pretend to be a cowboy with a rifle, but their imaginations were directing the play, not the imaginations of fully grown adults trying to get them hooked onto the latest television show, video game or toy product.

I can’t be the only parent that has a problem with this. I am ending my rant now. I will not give in to these strangers in the media trying to pull my son into their web because they want to make a buck. I will, however, try my best to balance out his need to be a boy, a kid, and use his imagination with his need to know how to be a compassionate member of society.

It is the same struggle that I know most parents out there are facing. Girls have a different struggle but it is equally as important. The only way to create change is at the consumer level.

What are your thoughts?

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