8yr old 'Grand Theft Auto IV' Player Shoots 90yr old Woman in the Head

I have 2 sons who are 21, well one is not my real son, but he's been living with us since the boys were 14 and his mom kicked him out into the streets. I'm friends with both of them as well.

 

I have 2 daughters as well. one eight years old, one only a few months old

 

Girls are insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol

I have a 2-year old daughter, and she is sooooo different than my son was...

She's awesome, but it is an entirely different scenario as far as she goes...

Man, does she have a temper!

lol

 

Pretty much...lol

 

Of course it's all about parenting...... where did I say differently? I had also said that parents cannot protect their kids from all forms of violence - that's not realistic. It is there in the media, on the news, in the newspapers. That's to be expected, but the parents make their own decision to expand their kids exposure to violence by buying violent video games and it's their own decision as to whether they will allow junior to play the the blood and gore games.....

Where does the good parenting start by allowing junior to play these violent video games and/or watch violent movies? Is it b/c after it's over, mom and/or dad sits junior down and says 'now son/daughter, I want you to understand that game is just all pretend stuff. It's called 'entertainment' and I tho't you'd be entertained by finding out how many people you could kill off......." Is that how it works?

Would you let your young son pour over porn magazines or get on a porn website? If not, why not? It's human bodies - they're not stabbing each other, or chopping off body parts, etc....

Young undeveloped, impressionable minds do not need these images of bloody violence or kinky sex. It doesn't have any positive benefits to the child's emotional/psychological growth. For many kids, they start to accept violence as 'normal' behavior - particularly those who live in domestic violent homes b/c it's all they've ever known. And more often than not, it's these kids from this violent homelife who end up being bullies....

You can't judge kids as 'all the same' b/c they're not, anymore than all parents are the same. One of the posters brought up a good point - kids who are born w/a mental disorder, like autism..... pour violent images into that very differently wired unstable young brain does what good for it?

Look, RP, you're a nice dude and I have a lot of respect for you, but in this case, you and I are on opposite sides of the fence, so we'll have to agree to disagree........

 

I think you've read RP wrong here. He isn't saying let them play the games then try to explain it to them, he's saying DO NOT let children play these games.

 

IMHO, a parent cannot wear both hats........

When the kid becomes an adult, then you can be good friends besides parent/child b/c you're no longer in charge of them.....

 

And I'm also lucky in that regard. My 3 are adults and we have a great and close relationship..... my son lives in another state and he calls me about every 2-3 days to see how I'm doing.....

I know some people who are estranged from one of their kids..... one woman, who has 3 kids - a daughter & 2 sons - has been estranged from both sons for well over 10 yrs....

I never asked her what happened, figuring she'd tell me if she wanted to, but never did.... but she'd call me a lot to complain and whine about their absence from her life.

One call, I told her this is what I'd do if I were her. I would NOT call them on the phone, I would NOT go to their homes. When you do that, to many chances that there would be interruptions, tempers flare - not likely that anything would be resolved, but would write both a 'love note'...telling them I love them, miss them and ASK what happened,"what did I do to cause the estrangement"..... do NOT accuse. All you do is put the person on the defensive when you start accusing....

Her answer was "No, I'm not doing that b/c I didn't do anything wrong"... and the last I heard, they were still estranged..... not surprising w/her attitude......

 

my son's mom and I divorced when he was 2, she just walked away. Haven't heard from her once since then. My other "sons" mom kicked him out of the house when he was 14 and she moved in with a bf when the father got sent to prison for drugs.

I guess we're a weird family, we still spend holidays together as an extended family and gather together when someone needs help etc etc.

No one in my family has ever committed an act of unprovoked violence on anyone.

 

Better to just whine about it.

Debating it would mean you'd have to have actual substance to support your claims.

I don't blame ya

 

Kudos to you for keeping it all together and certainly for taking in an unwanted kid and giving him a good home. There's a very good possibility that you saved him from a life of crime and prison as his future......

 

I know! My nephew played Surgeon Simulator 2013 and an hour later he was trying to perform an operation on his grandmother!

 

Funny.........

 

But, we're not disagreeing...

You seem to think we are, but in the end, you are also saying that it;'s the parents...

FYI, the respect is mutual...

That's why, despite what seems to be a misunderstanding of viewpoints, I've been able to keep our dialogue civil...

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Well, you can...

Just make sure that your balance is on point when walking that fine line...