Terminator...Three and other blockbusters

     My grandson and I were at my favorite thrift store today.  He was very good and compared to the rug rats running around the place at the speed of sugar, he was an angel.  He asked if he could look through the movie section when we were standing in line. Of course, I reward good behavior with a yes answer.  

     He looked carefully through the DVDs and brought me a copy of Terminator Three.  I know we have Terminator One and Terminator Salvation, so, sure, before he could ask, I told him we could buy a $1.91 movie since he had been so good.  That smile was priceless.  I don't always wait until he asks.  It is more of a reward if I jump ahead of him and say that could be a reward for good behavior.

     So, after an afternoon visiting his cousins and doing everything he was told, he got to pick the evening meal (Tacos, like I didn't expect to hear that!)  and put in the movie.  The movie was one I had seen before but I forgot how profound the message could be.

     The future is not written in stone, you can change it, but, some things are inevitable and when you face the fact that you cannot fix the inevitable, you survive.  

     We know kids pick up lessons for life from movies, television and other media as well as from their friends and family.  It was good to have a movie he picked plant such good lessons for life wrapped up in an action film.  The movie got his attention, the words stick to his mind.  I asked him a few hours after the film if he remembered what the movie was about.  He thought and answered briefly, Know who's on your side and if you live you can answer when other people call you for help. Then he told me about the dad who died and told the young people to get to a safe place without saying it.  Then he told me about the underground fortress they ended up in and he would like to have one of those.  Who wouldn't?  It was a nuclear fallout shelter fit for a president, I'd like to have one of those and just call in the summer home!!

     I can't censor everything he watches or all the movies he sees or the things his peers say to him, but I like having Hollywood help me set in his mind the lessons I need him to learn.  

What, you may ask does this have to do with Prepping for hard times?  It's about the way we prepare our children.    

     My grandson knows there are prep goods and the grown ups have talks that he is not part of but he is not sheltered from.  He doesn't have to have all the details and all the worst case scenarios preached at him.  He knows he is part of a family that fishes and hunts and camps and tears trails in the woods on the four wheelers.  His family has chickens and farming skills and homemaking skills are prized.  

     I believe you can not raise children in fear or you will raise frightened children.  You cannot raise children in darkness or your children will be blind.  You cannot put your children through rigorous basic military training and expect they will do anything but rebel against it in their teen years when they see the fun the 'other ' kids have.  Sometimes, a movie or a television program can make an impression or start a conversation.     

Red Dawn
and RED DAWN

     My grandson likes action movies.  I like action films, too.  I do not let him watch gratuitous sexual scenes and gore.  There must be some redeeming quality in all the actions.  Among the explosions and special effects that got his attention, there must be some moral lesson, some sense that the right choices no matter how hard, are the right choices.  

     When you have survived the worst scenario you can prep for and the world must be rebuilt the children will do it.  They will build it upon the foundations you set for them.  They will remember back to good times and shared memories.  Be there on the couch with them cheering on the good guys.  Make sure they know who the good guys are.  Teach them the way by making it part of their life and rewarding their goodness with the films and activities they enjoy.  Choose the films and activities that reinforce their family values and skills as well as personal mottoes.