Ice Age, lol. One of my favs to complain about! I wouldn't let my younger kids watch it, not because of evolution (which we teach about from very little on up) but because the bathroom humor. (which highly offends me even if the word f*rt doesn't!) We didn't go see it in theaters either, but not because it was played in one, but because we've (husband and I) always viewed beforehand any movie we took our kids too.
It's been a long time since I've seen the Ten Commandments, but I don't remember any vulgarity. Clue me in so I can watch for it, cause I'm sure it'll run again here in a few days.
Smoking and drikning are two other issues that we worry about (IMO) way to much as Christians. I don't know about how it was where you grew up, but it was certainly a shock when I moved to Alabama as a 10 yo and found that the church deacons had a smoke break between Sunday School and church! (and boy did my parents have some explaining to do about why they had taught me that smoking was one of
those sins that kept one from heaven!
)
Smoking is dealt with much easier by teaching the kids what the Bible really says about the subject(it doesn't call it a sin) and showing the effects (in our family real life effects since my father in law smoked until I had the first grandchild and we told him he could't smoke in our house any longer). None of my children have that desire. It's not forbidden, but its certainly discouraged.
Same goes with alcohol and drugs (my family's vice of choice). One look at my mother is enough to discourage them from putting even perscription drugs into their bodies, much less anything they find on the streets. If my mother being an addict wasn't enough, her oldest brother's story will chill you to the bones. (don't let anyone tell you that a 6 pack a day won't hurt you) Both stories are only slightly mitigated by the fact of a genetic trait toward mental illness (out of 14 kids only a couple haven't suffered from some form of mental illness or another).
You can't guard your children from family. (unless you are downright unChristian and refuse to associate, which was my father's solution all the while he ignored what was happening with my mother)
This is hard stuff, but Hollywood hasn't made these problems any harder to deal with. If anything, its helped keep the issues out in the open for discussion. My natural inclination from years of training, is to keep the addiction and mental illness secret. To do otherwise is to leave the family open for gossip and harm to its reputation. Boy was that pounded into me as a kid. I don't want to do that to my kids. That sort of thing left me powerless when my mother threatened my life one night when I was 14 (and not because we'd been arguing or anything of that nature).
I don't want my kids to experience that sort of thing. But for the grace of God go I and they. They need to understand the life that God allowed me to escape from and they also need to understand how not to get drawn into such a life.
