Mom's viewing dilemna: May the Force be with her

Timesonline.com--Beaver County and Allegheny Times ^ | November 1, 2005 | Charlotte Latvala

[Tamar1973]

Our 2-year-old has a new bedtime routine.

"Noda," she says pleadingly. "Wanna go downstairs and watch Noda."

"Noda," I'm almost embarrassed to admit, is Yoda. As in "Star Wars." As in funny little green Jedi master.

"We can't watch Noda now," I tell her in my soothing, all-knowing mom voice. "Noda's sleeping. You need to sleep, too."

During the day, we frequently talk about Yoda. As in, about once every 15 minutes. She imitates Yoda, using a squeaky high-pitched voice. When she sits down at her art table to color, she immediately hands me a crayon and orders me to "draw Noda." When we're trying to decide on a Friday night movie, her choice is inevitably "Noda" - shorthand for "The Empire Strikes Back," in which Luke Skywalker first lands in Yoda's swamp.

"You're letting your 2-year-old watch 'Star Wars?' " said a friend the other day when I was relating one of these stories. "You, the anti-TV mom? What about the violence?"

Um, well, yes. I really don't have an easy explanation. Or, at least, the easy explanation ("It makes her happy and keeps her quiet") is too appalling. The next easiest explanation ("She's the third child, and my standards have become hopelessly lax") isn't much better.

My other children are moderately enthusiastic "Star Wars" fans. But they saw the movies as school-age kids, not toddlers.

Granted, the baby has only seen the first (last?) three movies, the older, less scary, more comic-book ones. Not only is she taken with Yoda, but she has a small C3PO toy that she calls "Wobot" and carries around the house. She's also a fan of Chewbacca ("Monkey!") and the Ewoks ("Teddy bears!") She's even - I swear - developing a crush on Luke ("Wuke") Skywalker (of course, at 2 she doesn't have the savvy to recognize that Han Solo is the guy everyone eventually falls in love with).

My older daughter, now 10, did not lay eyes on a television until she was about 3. My mother gave her some "Madeline" videos for Christmas, and that was the end of our golden no-TV phase. But still, I carefully monitored what she watched: "The Sound of Music" was acceptable; "Rugrats" was not. (I couldn't stand her absorbing anything with smart-aleck dialogue - oh, those innocent days.)

I've relaxed quite a bit since then. However, kids zoning out in front of the tube all day is still a pet peeve of mine - along with children watching totally inappropriate movies and TV shows. The other day my second-grader reported that several of his classmates are "South Park" fans - truly baffling.

But - am I far behind? Letting my baby girl watch space battles and robots being ripped limb from limb? A bad guy in a shiny black mask? Bizarre, hideous creatures of every shape and size?

I cast my mind back to my own childhood, and remember that I spent an inordinate amount of time - as a very young girl - watching monster movies from the 1930s and '40s with my older brothers. A few years later, Vincent Price was one of my heroes; I have very clear memories of going to the movies with my friends to see "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" - not once, but several times.

I was the youngest child, too.

Part of the problem is trying to amuse kids of different ages. I can't really expect the older ones to sit willingly through "The Tigger Movie" and "Blues Clues," any more than my siblings wanted to watch "Romper Room."

So "Star Wars" is a compromise of sorts - something everyone can enjoy, to a certain degree. And as role models go, you can't beat a venerable Jedi master with hairy ears. Plus, he's easy to draw.

[Tamar1973]

I guess there are worse things to expose a 2-year-old to than Star Wars, but for heaven sakes, I hope she waits until the kid is at least 5 years old before allowing her to watch Revenge of the Sith.

[Cedar]

When did modern parents begin to lose all common sense?

[Tamar1973]

When did modern parents begin to lose all common sense?

Around the time they were sitting around at Woodstock getting high as a kite on LSD.