superdeluxe

seriously? So how do these discussions end with your 'why why why' kid?

toddly6666

You sound like you are going to be the "shut the fuck up, you brat, leave me alone, I'm trying to watch Scarface-on-DVD, go to momma" father.

"What do we stand for?" So that we don't have to sit all the time? Mean people don't like it when good people stand? I don't understand. Why?

superdeluxe

I am really curious on how these discussions end with your child, Some kids play the why game, and will keep on playing it for a long time, how long do you let it go?

RichC2

I always got the "Protect us from those that don't like us." followed by the surprisingly logical "They're jealous of the things we have (and that they don't)." as a kid. I don't see how it's really a complicated subject at that age.

toddly6666

Are you sure you aren't thinking of when you were maybe 5 or 6 when you understood that concept? I don't remember anything at 4.

It's not really a game - they are just trying to understand what the hell daddy is talking about. It finally ends when an adult can simply explain the topic in which the kid finally understands.

Hokeyboy

No. Discipline your child. The End.
Post #WhateverPostThisIs: "There are good people and there are bad people. Sometimes we need to make sure bad people are kept far away from the good people. That's what soldiers do. Now shut your hole and watch 'The Squeakquel' again."

superdeluxe

So you don't know how to explain the military/national guard in a way a child can understand? Maybe there is a website for 'tough' issues and how to discuss them with your children.

toddly6666

During Princess & the Frog, they did play the trailer to "The Squeakquel" which was actually more insulting than the military commercial, because my son said he wants to see that. That's where the disciplining comes in. There's no way i'm going to take him to see that even if it's the greatest movie in children's eyes.

maybe, but i'm just going to tell him about this stuff in 2 years or so. I have nothing against the idea about telling him about this stuff, but just not when they are still 4 years old. It's probably worse for a parent who actually has to leave the country to fight in a war. I wonder what those parents are telling those kids? "Daddy works in another country"

Boba Fett

In my experience, I've been in quite a few theaters where some people actually booed them.

I booed the one that used some lame 3 Doors Down song, but that was just because the song sucked and the commercial was lame.

toddly6666

Was that that rock song one where the little blond boy gets saved at the end and the one where the depressed-looking soldier is lying down against the wall waiting to be saved by a helicoptor? That's probably the most annoying one. And it's super long as well. "No one left behind" mumbo jumbo.

superdeluxe

I am going to assume, it is something similar to 'Daddy is going to protect us from evil men'. But my co-worker's husband is in Iraq right now, I'll ask her if she has ever gotten the 'why' questiona bout daddy being gone so much.

toddly6666

Find out the ages of the kid(s)!

covenant

As a parent who was in the military the concept of who the good and bad guys are is ingrained pretty early with
military kids.

neat book: Daddy, Your my Hero http://www.amazon.com/Daddy-Youre-He.../dp/0972926410

BJacks

I'd think your kid would spend more time asking why his daddy was crying during "Observe and Report."

rabbit77

The extent of my 3-year-old's knowledge of good guys and bad guys doesn't go beyond pro sports.

Dad, are the Bears playing in this football game?
No, this is a college bowl game.
So then they're both bad guys?

inri222

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Poink

At age four I was playing with GI Joe's and staging massive military actions.

At age 6 I was playing games like Commando and the subtle Rush 'N Attack on the NES and doing my part to stop the spread of Communism. I would also play Contra, killing aliens; Duck Hunt, shooting ducks.

I was also allowed to watch R rated movies like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Aliens, etc.

I never questioned any of this, because I was a fucking KID and it was FUN. I had a vague idea of what the concept of War was at the age of four, even if I didn't understand the intricacies of it. My GI Joe's would fight over who gained control of my stuffed animals or something. More importantly, I was a KID in the 80's and things blowing up were COOL.

Except for Space Shuttle Challenger, which happened... when I was four. I was far enough along in my life to know "real life" wasn't the same as TV and movies. It seemed fairly obvious from my front row seat in the stroller that space shuttles weren't supposed to blow up. I was also sad that my cartoons weren't on TV when I got home that day.

I had a normal childhood which in turn made me a "normal" adult. Playing with my action figures, watching action movies, and playing videogames didn't turn me into a violent person, or make me want to join the military. I couldn't be further from that type of person.

I'm extremely thankful that I learned about the real world at a young age; it helped me understand how the world "works" as I got older. I'm 28 now, and believe me, you'd be surprised at the amount of people my age out there that really have no clue.

You're better off telling your son about the things he asks about rather than look for an easy way out. Take advantage of his curiosity and use it as a tool to RAISE him and give him an idea of the bigger picture. You don't have to necessarily explain terrorism and religious uprising in order to educate him about opposing forces and the basic idea of why a country needs a military. Him NOT knowing is just going to make those commercials more effective; he'll think being in the Army is just about running around, jumping out of helicopters holding guns, and he'll probably be saying he wants to be a soldier a year from now.

Embrace the fact that you have a young child who is eager to learn, and stop avoiding the important issues. There's a happy medium somewhere between saying nothing and sitting him down in front of the TV with a copy of Saving Private Ryan on Blu Ray. Find what's comfortable for you, and I wish you the best of luck with your son.

*I don't have kids.

toddly6666

haha!...I have set down the facts of life that "Yankees = good, Mets = evil" (not true, I like both teams. I'm love Mets at heart but I am aware that they suck and are a great 3rd place team)


touche! And that's where the pussy part of me comes in to play. "Come here kid, can you spell metrosexual hipster liberal pussy?"

clckworang

I understand it's just a cartoon, but if your kid knows who Dr. Doom is, he already knows what bad guys are and that some people are good and some people are bad. But if you don't want to go into those details, why not just say something along the lines of the military are people who work for our country to help make life easier for everyone who lives there? You don't have to talk about al-Qaida and war. Is your child aware that there are natural disasters? That sometimes people need help? You could say the military is there to keep us safe or help us if we get hurt. From what? Anything.

superdeluxe

Well one is 6 years..but he was gone when she was 4..and now gone again.

clckworang

Wow. You couldn't be more wrong. Saving Private Ryan isn't even out on Blu-ray yet.

Giantrobo

We had someone bitching about these a while back.

I'm cool with them. It's simply a paid ad like anything else.

whoopdido

Exactly my feelings. I had the same type of upbringing you did and I truly think many parents today would think of us as abused and neglected children. I just really wonder what kids of today are going to be like 15-20 years from now when they've never been allowed to grow up and always had mommy and daddy watching over them to make sure nothing bad ever happened.

Poink

Ooooh... I... err... I was assuming this would be a year or two from now when the kid is 6 and is ready to learn *everything* all at once.

Seriously though, it's not *that* hard to teach someone about conflict; every story ever told has a conflict. Or use sports as an analogy. There's options.

"America has a military because sometimes other countries want to be mean and force other people to do things they don't want to do. Would you like it if I made you wear red EVERY day? No? Well, sometimes we have to stop bad people from forcing us or other people from having to wear red every day. Or sometimes the bad people want to move into the good people's homes, and we need the Army to stop them from doing this."

I know... it's not perfect, but you get the idea.

whoopdido

Or...what if a bad person wanted to take your toys? The military stops bad people from taking good people's toys.