OK, First, I obviously do not know if he was being honest about all the things he describes. However, I will say the following...
As a parent, and a Christian, I have seen families who do take some of these things too far, IMHO. That are too strict with their children, and hence, run the risk of them completely disregarding those teachings when they have a chance to make their own choices — precisely because they have not been exposed to it, and haven’t been afforded the opportunity to discuss the reasons WHY these things are bad influences, etc...
As a parent I rarely say an absolute “NO, NEVER” to my children — in fact, the Golden Compass movie/book is the first where I have said — absolutely NO, NEVER, EVER, but I also spent time explaining exactly WHY, and hopefully in doing so with this and other things I’ve given them the ability to make decisions for themselves in the future when I am not there to guide them...
AMEN. More power to you.
Sounds sensible to me.
I tried. I started out that way, but progressed to “no”. As my sons became teens I added “because I said so, and finally “ what part of no, do you not understand?”
ME TOO!
"...run the risk of them completely disregarding those teachings when they have a chance to make their own choices ..."
That's the truth IMHO. I've not heard about 'the golden compass' ...but will need to check into it.