D is for Dreams

Dreamsssszzzzzz.

And nightmares.

Some days, I allow the boys to watch some videos on youtube.  They were getting somewhat obsessed, especially with Thomas the Tank Engine "remakes" that people were posting.  I sometimes found the dialog a bit...  sassy, maybe, with jokes that weren't really inappropriate, so much as a bit rude.  It turns out that the videos weren't exactly remakes of favorite Thomas episodes, just grown men making their own very silly videos with Thomas toys.

I paid less and less attention to the videos the boys were watching, because let's face it, they aren't intended to appeal to adults.  Or were they?  At one point, there were a few inappropriate words smattered throughout the videos, so the boys watched them with the sound muted.  Sodor trains crashing are still funny as silent films.  Supposedly.

There's more to this story, but to keep it short, we found out the boys were sneaking the videos when no one knew they had them.  Devices were put away in the living room and boys were waiting until everyone else was in bed to sneak them to their rooms.  We found out, of course, and that's when we found out the shockingly inappropriate things that the boys had found in videos supposedly portraying Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends!

Every night, one of the boys has been praying that God would protect him from bad dreams.  And every day, he wants to watch the videos he has been banned from seeing.  (Obviously, he does not get to see them!)  These videos were actually inducing him to have nightmares.  I was reminded of the children's song Be Careful, Little Eyes.

Be careful little eyes what you see.
Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.
For God is up above
And He's looking down with love,
So, be careful little eyes what you see.

There are more song verses about what we hear, do, say, and where we go.  God does care what we consume on this earth.  He doesn't wish to lose any of His children.  I think this is a perfect example of why we should protect ourselves from harmful media.  Until our children are able to protect themselves, we need to do that for them.  Even if that means they don't get to watch things they enjoy.

D is also for Diligent.