What are we filling our brains with?

The other day i walked upstairs for breakfast and the kids were watching the movie version of the book Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  So I started watching it with them.  This Alexander kid was complaining and whining the entire movie.  He really needed to read my happy ending post.  Then I thought, kids around the US are watching this little boy whine and complain and have a bad attitude about everything.  Why in the world would we let our kids who we are teaching to not whine and complain watch this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad movie?  Parents work SO hard to instill good virtues in their kids' brains, but the things kids watch these days completely negate it.  Kids imitate what they see, and if all they see is these shows on TV, that's how they'll act.  In thinking about all the TV shows there are for kids out there, I began to think about all the shows there are for adults out there.  Originally my questions was "What are we filling our kids' brains with?"  But then in thinking about that, the question turned into: What are we filling our brains with?

Our (adults) shows tell us that we can be super successful and have fun all day all at the same time.  Others tell us that being a doctor is easy and that raising kids is easy.  One of my favorite shows, Friends, tells us that sex outside of marriage is COMPLETELY normal and that every single person does it.  That always bothered me but the funny always made it ok somehow.  They make sexual jokes all the time, but with what some people believe, is it ok to laugh?  I'm not saying you should stop watching funny shows that make premarital sex ok, but just think about what you're watching and make sure you don't start to believe the things that go on in that show.

Not only do kids imitate what they see on TV, but adults often do the same.  If a character says something funny on the show, there's a good chance you'll repeat it to your friends who don't watch the show and then they'll all laugh and think you're hilarious, when really you stole that joke.  People feel like they identify with characters in these shows.  If not that, then they find their favorite one and try to act like them.  I used to do that with almost every show I watched.  I wonder how stupid I looked randomly changing personalities for a few months.  I even became a mean person because someone on a TV show that I liked was mean.  It's weird and wrong.

Before I started watching Friends I never cussed.  After I started watching it I started saying cuss words in my head.  Then after a few months of that I started saying them quietly to myself.  After that out loud.  I'm not saying no one should ever cuss, but why do we do it?  That's for another day, but the point is we're imitating what we're watching.  After realizing the variety of shows I watch, I realized I have to make sure I stay myself and don't let the stuff I fill my brain with affect the way I live and act.  You should too.