[Swordfighting] With My Son

Interestingly enough, as opposed as my wife and I are to perpetuating violence and violent behaviour, Deacon and I consistently endeavor into the realm of reckless abandon. He has taken great interest in one of my favourite pastimes, professional wrestling (which we will cover at a later date) and he loves video games in which he can control a character that can throw a spin-kick or toss apples at the baddies.

Deke loves to emulate any physical actions that he finds exciting (go figure, he's 4) including trapezing over the furniture into pratfalls akin to what he sees on the "big balls" from WipeOut and shaking his butt like the baby in the Just Dance 2 commercial.

Thanks to the Wii Virtual Console we have been able to revisit old favourites and explore the worlds of games that we have only heard about. I introduced my son to some of my favourites and he has become a big fan of Super Smash Brothers and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. His favourite character in SSB is Link, the wood elf (I believe...) who is the main character of the Zelda series. Link, for those unfamiliar with him (check out the links*!) is a sword-wielding elven fairy boy (Nintendo's words, not mine) that finds himself tasked with saving the royal land of Hyrule. He fights giant green spiders, backflips over pits of lava, sneaks past castle guards and encounters zombie skeleton dog-things. One would surmise this to be a 4-year-old's dream.

As destiny would have it, Target's mostly $1 item bargain section recently stocked up on cheap foam swords. Deacon's head exploded. When it creepily regenerated he begged for the swords, citing that he wanted them "because I love you", a tactic that almost never works with us any more. We promised that if he was good, we'd consider buying them the next time we shopped at the aforementioned French boutique. He was good (ish) and we bought the swords, putting us out $3, which caused me to reconsider staying in college due to the ongoing accrual of debt.

People would probably pay to watch Deacon and marvel at his swashbuckling acumen (which would pull me from the debtors' hole), but more importantly he and I have spent hours going back and forth with our swords and pillow shields. He's Captain Jack Sparrow and I'm Davey Jones, he's Link and I'm a generic video game bad guy or we're both good guys and we have to get rid of the ghosts and zombies. I sometimes wonder if Dekey's predilection for serving martial justice is a sign of his understanding of good versus evil or a warning sign that this exposure to animated violence may have a negative effect on him in the future.

Violence in the media is a largely contested topic; do kids exposed to anything other than the Wonder Pets** become maladjusted introverts completely unaffected by any brutality viewed in the future? Marilyn Manson has been blamed for students murdering their classmates and World Wrestling Entertainment is a regular scapegoat targeted by misguided groups such as the Parents Television Council. It is beyond obvious that children will mimic entertaining actions and verbiage that they witness, be it from people they meet or any mass medium absorbed throughout their formative years. This soapbox beneath me*** allows me to state that it's the job of the parents to monitor what their children watch, but more so it is their job to raise their chitlins with a proper understanding of "right", "wrong", "appropriate" and "inappropriate", among other values.

Let's open this can of worms up for discussion. Is television to blame for the actions of the impressionable mind? Do the creators of TV shows have to consider that children may be watching? Should the networks censor content or remove shows from their lineups because a kid might get the wrong impression? Or is it the job of parents to know what their kids are watching and playing and either stop it from happening or explaining the concept? Is there too much violence on TV? Does it matter? Does your mom hate it?

- Nicholas A. Marsico

* Get it? Links?
** Though I do have plenty of issues with this show.
*** Plus, I'm a father now. Not just talking from my derriere any more.

Other sources:
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychology
Parents Television Council
Ridgewood High School, IL