An Excuse For My Hypocrisy

When I was in the second grade, I started a letter writing campaign to demand that the movie "Grease" be given a 'G' rating, not a 'PG' one. I was kind of obsessed with "Grease" and it was painful to me that some of my classmates couldn't watch it because it was rated 'PG'. Or at least that's the excuse they gave. Now that I think about it, not very many of my second grade classmates grew up to be theater nerds with me in high school. Maybe they just couldn't appreciate a good musical.

 I didn't think a few swear words and a teen pregnancy storyline were bad for kids. I don't remember registering the liquor or smoking as a big deal either. As far as I was concerned, the singing and dancing were what really mattered. Though the clothes also intrigued me. I really wanted a Pink Lady jacket. And skintight black pants.* At 7, my crush on Olivia Newton-John was far bigger than my crush on John Travolta.

But this is not a post about Grease. ** It's about how I would rather my 7 year old not watch Grease.

And how I'm afraid that this makes me a total hypocrite/helicopter parent/idiot.

I mean, I don't even like her to watch iCarly. We used to use Led Zeppelin to soothe her and now. . . I'm sheltering her from a movie I watched when I was 7? I still let her listen to Led Zeppelin - or any other music she wants. I don't think hearing lyrics she won't understand is going to mess her up.

But seeing a story, well, this is a kid who has always acted out her favorite TV shows and movies. It's not that I think she's going to turn into Rizzo or that girl from St. Bernadette's. But I don't want her acting out scenes from this movie on the playground. Or even thinking so much about all the romantic drama that goes on in that movie, nevermind the other stuff that happens.

If you had asked me at 8 or 11 or 14 what I thought was supposed to happen in romantic relationships, I would have described Sandy's plot line from Grease. This was not a good set up for teenage dating. The lesson I wish I had learned was that if he suddenly starts acting like a jerk, he's a jerk. He's not going to change his ways because he loves you so much, like Danny did for Sandy.***

At this point, my daughter views boys as potential playmates, not boyfriends. If she likes a boy, it's because he helped her build a fort. I feel like repeated viewings of Grease and other romance heavy shows are going to change that. I know that someday, of course, she will look at boys like boyfriends. Or girls like girlfriends, whatever. But why push her?

It's not like I'll never let her watch Grease or iCarly or Degrassi. Down the road I plan on forcing all the kids to watch Degrassi and 16 & Pregnant with me. And Grease. And Sixteen Candles. And Fame. I'm hoping these will be fun family occasions, but I suspect these viewings will actually occur when they are grounded.

So I'm not a total hypocrite. When I feel they are old enough (which is definitely not while they still work so hard to believe in Santa Claus) I will let them watch all kinds of PG and R rated material.

What about you? Is there a movie or a TV show that you watched that you won't let your kids watch? What's your philosophy on PG and R ratings?





*I finally understand some of the unfortunate fashion choices I made while clubbing in college.

**Although it could be. I still love that movie.

***Undoubtedly not all my teenage dating issues had to do with Grease, Sixteen Candles also shoulders some of the blame. And all the hours I watched All My Children with my babysitter probably didn't help.