We Censor Our Kids’ Books {And my trick for making it easy.}

We censor our kids’ reading and viewing materials. There, I said it.

Yesterday I wrote about giving Matt a book to read in High School that contains some foul language. We don’t typically read books with foul language in them because we become what we think about and our hearts become callous over time when exposed to junk. In short, “We don’t trust the flesh,” as Peter would say.

We filter bad language from movies using a TV Guardian or VidAngel. We don’t allow movies that have vulgar scenes or sexual content. We’re not voyeurs over here and we believe in keeping your clothes on. We have also been known to rip out unwholesome ads from magazines. If it comes into our home, we want it safe for our kids spiritual growth. Feel bad for my kids? Think they’re overly sheltered? Believe me, we see and hear enough just being out and about in the world. Enough to know sin’s effects, and enough to know that I don’t want it in my house any more than I’d want to bring snakes inside to expose the kids to them. I just want to be able to relax and grow in our home in healthy ways.

Anywho–after yesterdays post, someone asked HOW on earth do you keep up with teens who are reading so many books? And how do you monitor bad language, etc.

It’s a good question. Bad language is one aspect. Bad morals, faulty world views, and stories that don’t resolve with a Christian worldview can be tricky.

Ask yourself: Does the story put the child into a situation where there is really no right and no wrong answer. In other words, is the tale so sordid that the right thing to do is still wrong?

Sigh. In a time of moral relativism and a post-modern culture that believes that there is no truth, it’s a hard maze to navigate.

Bad language is the easy part, folks. Want to know a little trick?

Use Amazon’s book search feature. Find the book you want, and search inside. You can type the verboten word you’re looking for into the search bar and it will show you all the places it shows up in the book, including page number. Then, unleash the black permanent marker. 🙂

There you go. 🙂

Is foul language a deal breaker for you when it comes to reading and movies? How do you deal with it?