Blood and Guts aren’t Just for Halloween Anymore

We are a football-watching family. Young and old, we all enjoy Saturday and Sunday afternoon ballgames. Blood and guts on the field are part of the game. But this year, the blood and guts in the commercials for the new fall line-up, sent two of our grandsons running for cover, even more terrified when bedtime rolled around.

It’s not just the ads on TV that are rattling the boys’ bones. On the way to school, they’re seeing billboards of dead men coming alive before their eyes, begging their parents to come to the Haunted House around the corner.

It used to be that scary, creepy happened leading up to Halloween and then went away till the next year. But today, it’s with us year round and it’s more gruesome than ever. Think of the first releases of Harry Potter, Spiderman and Batman. Now, compare those with their latest releases. Quite different.

Hollywood used to portray the best in us. Today they portray the worst. We have become obsessed with the dark side.

So what can we do as parents and educators? Encourage children to look beyond the gore of zombies for their costumes to put the fun back in Halloween, while you work on doing something about the images the rest of the year.

Encourage your children to dress up as heroes, not villains. My sons’ favorite Halloween costume was the year they dressed as Ghostbusters in jumpsuits with proton backpacks and a floating “Slimer”. We painted Slimer’s face on a green helium-filled balloon and added green construction paper hands. Fishing line tied to one of the boys’ belts, held him in place.

What can you do about the gruesome images the rest of the year? Call the FCC. Call your local TV stations that carry the out-of-bounds horror shows in primetime. Let your voice be heard, for the sake of the children.

Isn’t it worth a little of your time to keep children from being terrified?

From our hearts to yours,

Fear or Courage?

As a child, I was scared of the dark, scared of water and scared of heights. To calm my fears, Mother checked my closet and under the bed for the boogie man before she turned off the light at night. She forced me to take swimming lessons to overcome my trouble with water. I finally beat my fear of heights on a high ropes course as an adult.

Today’s children have much more to fear than I did. The evening news incites absolute terror in their hearts; stories of Ebola, ISSIS and violence on the streets. It takes more than checking for the boogie man to give our children a sense of security when threats like these fill their minds with fear. We need to replace the stories that create fear with stories that inspire courage. We need to share stories of those who used fear to energize them rather than paralyze them.

Children need to hear stories of those in our country’s history who overcame terrible situations that should have defeated them but instead made them stronger.

Stories of those who protect America day in and day out from the terrors they hear about. They need to know that heroes are born in the face of danger. The story of Todd Beamer who gave us the battle cry, “Let’s Roll,” when he and other passengers overcame terrorists on United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11.

I highly recommend William Bennett’s classic, The Children’s Book of Heroes, as a great place to start.