My kids think I'm old fashioned but I have my reasons

I'm pretty moderate in my views.  While I don't screen every video game my kids might play, I will not purchase the violent games to have in my home.  We have a wii.  That's it.  Over the years Peter and I have considered getting a different game system but we usually come up with one reason not to spend that money.  I am not opposed to video games.  We have friends and family who are way into gaming and even into game development.  What I am opposed to is providing a medium in which my kids get sucked into hour after hour.  Our biggest issue is Ipod games.  Which I admit can also be violent but it seems that I am able to maintain better control over the amount of time spend on these devices.  I do believe that for the right person, daily practice in violence even in a game, can blur the lines of reality and right vs wrong.  Its about desensitizing the mind.  I'm guilty of it in other ways.  I know that its real threat to our ability to be sensitive to the spirit.  I admit I am a bit old fashioned.  I will not allow a TV in my kids room.  We have parent control passwords on our computer and TV.  I push my kids into trying new things like skiing, being in the school play, instruments, and outdoors.  My kids complain that they are the only children left on the planet that don't own an x-box or PlayStation.  I tell them too bad.  They roll their eyes.

I feel the same about guns.  I will never own a gun.  I do believe that it is our right to protect ourselves and that right should be maintained.  I don not believe that anyone outside the military should own an assault rifle.  Someone once proposed a scenario of war or terrorism where an assault rifle would be handy. Even in that situation I probably would still feel the same but you never know.  So far in my life I have been blessed to live in a country where that situation is not my everyday.

It makes me nervous every time my kids play in homes that contain guns.  When I ask my kids about guns at friends houses they can name them, where they are, and if they are locked up.  They probably could tell me where the key to the case is.  I know most parents think that they are smarter than their kids and hide the key.  I'm a realist and know that most kids know right where it all is, and how to get access to it.  I live in a place where many people own guns.  I accept this.  I however will never provide an opportunity for a child to have access to one in my home.  Can you tell I feel strongly about this? 

My sister is a reporter for a local news channel.  She covers the early morning news which on most days is quite depressing.  She covers the things that happen in the dark while we sleep.  Shootings, robbery, car accidents, and acts of violence that takes lives.  She sits with the families as they grieve the loss of their children who played with the gun that they got access to and shot themselves or their sibling while they tried to load the gun.  She hears the story of the kid that was just aiming and practicing like he does in the video game and didn't realize it was loaded.  She covers stories of home owners who got out their gun to protect themselves and were overtaken by their intruder and shot by their own gun, she covers school shootings of someone who was given a gun by their parent for their birthday.  Will not having a gun stop these events from happening?  No.  But I will not contribute to it.  Hearing these stories first hand from my little sister is enough to convince me that they do more harm than good.

Mental Health...Is this an issue? Yes.  Does it kill other people?  Not usually,unless there is access to a weapon.  And yes, I have quite a bit of experience with mental health.  Why am I thinking about this today.  Because this article made me think about it from a new perspective.  Read it... Its interesting.

http://peterbrownhoffmeister.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/on-school-shooters-the-huffington-post-doesnt-want-you-to-read-this/