Any parents here?

[VisionGirl]

I know I'm not the only one, but maybe one of the oldest. 😉

So, do you let your little ones watch Buffy? I have 3 boys, and I usually watch when they're asleep, so as not to be interrupted LOL. They also usually comandeer the TV set that has the BluRay when they're awake, so I don't often get to watch with them. But yes, I do let them watch, although I tell the middle one to close his eyes at times, because I know some things will bother him (like when Pete changes in Beauty and the Beasts). And honestly, I do skip some of the sex scenes when they're watching. I definitely would not let them watch certain season 6 episodes at all at this age (they're 3, 6, and 9). I just started watching Firefly and I'm not sure they're ready for that yet, darker themes there & more violence, too (although none of it terrible or anything). Lately, I've been playing the Buffy Soundtrack in the car, and while they sometimes beg me to put on the radio instead, LOL, they will ask me to skip to their favorites. The 3 yr old's fav is the theme song, the 6 yr old likes I Quit.

Did you name any of your kids after any Whedonverse characters? Unfortunately for me, no. I just didn't think about it at the time.

Have you ever dressed them in Whedon characters for Halloween? I'm considering it this year, I think I have the youngest convinced to be a vampire, and the middle one wants to be a werewolf. If I can talk the oldest one into something, I can dress as a Slayer and we'll be set. 🙂 DH as a fuddy-duddy watcher would be awesome, but I don't know if I can convince him.

Have you introduced any other sci-fi/fantasy stuff to your kids? I grew up with a Trekkie and SciFi fiction fan as a father, so it just seems natural that my kids are already reading comic books, love superheros, have seen some Star Trek stuff, have seen all Star Wars movies. We just finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe & are going to watch the DVD. The oldest in particular loves Legos, and lately there have been such cool Lego Batman & Star Wars t-shirts out, they all have them.

It's funny, I kind of mourned not having a girl (as I am a girly girl!), but I've come to love having boys because I get to more easily resurrect my geeky side!

 

[white avenger]

I know I'm not the only one, but maybe one of the oldest. 😉

So, do you let your little ones watch Buffy?

Did you name any of your kids after any Whedonverse characters?

Have you ever dressed them in Whedon characters for Halloween?

Have you introduced any other sci-fi/fantasy stuff to your kids? I grew up with a Trekkie and SciFi fiction fan as a father, so it just seems natural that my kids are already reading comic books, love superheros, have seen some Star Trek stuff, have seen all Star Wars movies. We just finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe & are going to watch the DVD. The oldest in particular loves Legos, and lately there have been such cool Lego Batman & Star Wars t-shirts out, they all have them.

It's funny, I kind of mourned not having a girl (as I am a girly girl!), but I've come to love having boys because I get to more easily resurrect my geeky side!

comments in order:

1) I just turner 63 yesterday, so I think that I've got you beaten in the age department.

2) My "little one" was already an adult by the time that we started watching Buffy, but my granddaughter is 6 and my grandson is just over 1 month old, so they probably won't be watching Buffy or Angel anytime soon.

3) I intend to call my grandson "Spike," but I'll hold off on the peroxide hair until he's at least 5.

4) No, I never dressed my son (too old) or my grandchildren (too young) as Buffy characters. My son was always a ninja, and my granddaughter is still in the "princess" phase.

5) I did tell my son stories about John Carter of Mars when he was little, and he loved "Star Trek," "Star Wars," and science fiction in general. The only comics he seemed to be really interested in were the "G I Joe" ones.

Like your father, I am an old Trekkie, and my son was exposed quite early to "Star Trek" and "Star Wars," as well as lots of action movies with stars like Chuck Norris. I've never cared for the unkillable slasher movies that have seemingly replaced real horror movies, so he never saw any of them, though he did really enjoy the classics with actors like Lugosi, Chaney, and Karloff.

After you finish "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe," you might consider "The Once And Future King," at least the "Sword In The Stone" part of it. Edgar Rice Burroughs' "A Princess Of Mars" is great, to, for all of the swashbuckling adventures, but you might want to read ahead and edit some of it (if you do read it, you will know which parts I mean)

 

[VisionGirl]

comments in order:

1) I just turner 63 yesterday, so I think that I've got you beaten in the age department.

And thank god for you WA LOL! I feel darn right crotchety around here with all the young'ns.

3) I intend to call my grandson "Spike," but I'll hold off on the peroxide hair until he's at least 5.

Awesome LOL!

3) I've never cared for the unkillable slasher movies that have seemingly replaced real horror movies, so he never saw any of them, though he did really enjoy the classics with actors like Lugosi, Chaney, and Karloff.

Me too.

3)After you finish "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe," you might consider "The Once And Future King," at least the "Sword In The Stone" part of it. Edgar Rice Burroughs' "A Princess Of Mars" is great, to, for all of the swashbuckling adventures, but you might want to read ahead and edit some of it (if you do read it, you will know which parts I mean)

Thanks for the recs! I think we'll be reading The Lightning Thief next (Percy Jackson & the Olympians) simply because we have it here & then we can watch the movie.

 

[randiann]

I'm a momma! Although I'm nowhere near as old and crotchety as WA yet; I attribute my youth to shipping Bangel constantly, lol.

My little ones (4 year old son and 5 year old step son) have seen certain episodes, but don't get to watch too much of it, cause they get scared. Although with all this twilight stuff going around, the 5 year old is convinced he's a vampire. It's kinda funny. Vampires turn you into vampires by giving you their vampire cooties, by the way......

My 10 year old step son loves Buffy and Angel. He gets the edited version of alot of it, but he's also really mature for his age in some ways. Heck, when I was his age I was reading Stephen King, so I don't think letting him watch Buffy is too bad. He handles it pretty well, although there have been a few times where we will have to have discussions about what happened, and why. I feel it is better to not sugar coat everything, and help explain the complicated bits of life rather than gloss right over them all the time.

EDIT

Oh, and I did consider naming my son Riley instead of Dylan, but Dylan won out. I also suggested Rupert, but my mother threatened me with violence if I actually did that to her grandson. So I settled with naming our puppies after Whedonverse characters. We just had a litter of puppies; out of 12, 5 were named after Buffyverse characters. They are: Buffy and Willow (two all white girls), Jasmine, Rupert, and Oz (he died though, poor Oz). We also have a puppy dog named Echo.

I did dress my son up as a Vampire for halloween the year before last. He was the cutest little thing ever! Batman won out last year though, and from the sound of it he's gonna be Batman again. He LOVES Batman.

 

[BuffyElevated]

So, do you let your little ones watch Buffy? Oh yes! My girls are 7 and 2 and LOVE Buffy. My oldest has watched since she was a baby; when she was really little, we told her Buffy faught the monsters so they couldn't get in her room at night. She believed it and it helped her to stop being afraid of the dark. 😉 My 2-year-old loves the vampires; she literally laughs out loud at the sight of them. Also, whenever she sees anyone from the show she will point and yell "BUPPY!" It's pretty funny! 😀

Did you name any of your kids after any Whedonverse characters? No. When I was pregnant with my oldest, if she had been a boy she was going to be Alexander Riley. 😀 the second time around, we were going with Connor Alexander... But alas, I never could talk my hubby into any of the girls' names from the show!

Have you ever dressed them in Whedon characters for Halloween? Nope, but I am thinking of getting a vampire kit and going as a vampire for Halloween this year. 😉 My oldest is gonna be Daphne from Scooby Doo, though, so that's close enough to Whedon for me since SMG played her! 😉

Have you introduced any other sci-fi/fantasy stuff to your kids? Yep! Of course they've seen all the Whedon shows, except for "Dollhouse" 'cause I hate that show. LOL But they're also big fans of "The Labyrinth" and the Narnia movies.

 

[VisionGirl]

I did dress my son up as a Vampire for halloween the year before last. He was the cutest little thing ever! Batman won out last year though, and from the sound of it he's gonna be Batman again. He LOVES Batman.

We might end up doing superheroes, too. I'd love to talk them into the XMen, but I'm afraid they'll all 3 want to be Wolverine LOL. And OMG Randiann- I'm from Oklahoma too!! I'll send you a PM. 🙂

My 2-year-old loves the vampires; she literally laughs out loud at the sight of them. Also, whenever she sees anyone from the show she will point and yell "BUPPY!" It's pretty funny! 😀

My 3 yr old sees me on this site or other Whedon-related sites & says "Is that Buppy mama?"

 

[NY State of Mind]

Any Parents Here?

not sure I could be...I've had some questionables lol..but I would def let my kids watch especially if I had a daughter but not sure about the names..their cool but odd at the same time lol

 

[Professor Walsh]

Yep, two kids aged 3 and 5. No Buffy as of yet - I don't know if I would have introduced it mildly to the eldest if he could speak English, but to be honest I'm not in a hurry. I'd rather wait until he can read the subtitles and really understand what's going on.

As for other things in the sci-fi or fantasy genres, we're currently reading "The Brothers Lionheart" by Astrid Lindgren and listening to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" on audiobook. They may not fall completely those genres, still they sure do open the mind to the fantastic. (Also, "Lionheart" is a lovely book to read as a part of a discourse on death. As one of my son's friend lost her dad in Afghanistan when she was a baby, this is a recurring topic in our home.)

 

[Mazikeen]

Re:

I have an eight year old daughter and I absolutely let her watch Buffy. There are parts here and there that I "edit"...but for the most part I'm cool with it. It actually makes for decent family time because the husband likes the series too. I think that has mostly to do with the fact that he has the hots for Eliza...BUT still. My daughters favorite character is Spike, and Buffy herself. I'm more comfortable letting her watch Buffy and Angel than half of the things they are showing these days. I watch True Blood now on Sunday nights and I have to ban her from the room for that hour because it's so darn graphic.

 

[Taake]

I'm a 'momma', technically. I've almost single-handedly raised my brother for the past 11 years 🙂

I'm pretty restrictive with him though, what he's allowed to watch and so. He's seen some Buffy and Angel but none of the later seasons.
But lately he's gotten to watch some more scary movies than before because just like me - he loves it. Also I'd rather have him see them with me than with his friends (it's happened and he's gotten way scared)

Beyond that he's always gotten to see the things I love - Star Wars ,Batman, Spiderwick, Harry Potter and all that jazz. So he's really my little reflection, except when it comes to music, he's got dreadful taste in music 😉

I've never dressed him out as a Whedonverse character though for Halloween or anything, he's always otten to make his own choices there. 🙂

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

Nope, I don't have children (I guess with my 21 years I'm part of the young bunch 😉), but here's the children's version of this debate:

I started watching Buffy when I was 13, and the first time my parents actually saw parts of the show I was 14. And they actually banned me from watching the show from then on. I was well pissed off at the time, because the very last episodes of season 7 were premiering in Germany around then. I could openly watch it again when I was around 17, because by then my parents just commented on all the 'garbage' I watched, but didn't actively interfere anymore.

On the other hand, I come from a pretty sci-fi family, so I've been watching Star Trek since kindergarden. I was basically raised on Star Trek. By the time I was 10 I had seen most of TNG, DS9, Voyager (well, as far as it had been released...that was before the series had ended) and TOS. Around the same time, I watched Stargate every week with my family. And of course there's MacGyver, my Dad's favourite show. That one he's watched as far back as I can remember, and we were always allowed to watch with him.
Interestingly, I was allowed to watch Charmed (which has enough similarities to Buffy) when I was 13, and my Mom even strongly encouraged it because she was watching it herself.

Bottom line, I assume parents judge what children are ready to watch by what they themselves like, with maybe some editing.
It's really interesting how subjective that is.


I'm not sure what I'd let my hypothetical children watch. Maybe Star Trek, because I do believe there's a lot of value there. Maybe that's just my subjective perception because it left such a deep impact on my childhood. Up to this date my brother still claims Star Trek really awakened his interest in physics.

 

[Angels baby101]

OK let me see in order here lol

I am 22 years old and have a little boy myself he just turned 2 in June which is hard to believe lol.

When I watch Buffy yes he is around to see it, I'm a stay at home mom and he doesn't go to preschool. Now most of the time he hogs the t.v when we're inside to watch Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse, Wonder Pets or the like so honestly I hardly ever get to watch anything. So my Buffy viewing has really pretty much gone out the window for the most part but when I do feel the urge to watch and that urge wont go away I'll steal the t.v back (mostly at nap time) but if nap time ends early, I just sit him next to me to watch the rest of the show before giving the t.v back. Most parents find it wrong, but honestly when I was little my mom didn't shelter me from horror movies or anything like that and I'm fine. When I did have an issue, it was to Freddy on Nightmare on Elm Street and my mom popped in a movie that showed him going from normal guy to what scared the crap out of me and I was fine again, so I don't see the problem with doing the same for my son, when he is older if he feels different then i'll stop. I do skip over the sex scenes though.

As for naming my son after any whedonverse characters no I didn't, Honestly I didn't have a choice in the name really lol. Jonathan is named after his dad, and his dad's dad. So he's a 3rd and I couldn't wrangle Big Jon in on naming him something else, and really i didn't even try. The next baby i get to name so we'll see. There are alot of names I have on lists that are linked to Buffy or Angel. Maybe not a character name but a name taken from an actor or actress. I've always loved Anya Marie, or Charisma Faith, (I got loads others too)

I've never dressed Jonathan up as any whedonverse character no, his first Halloween at 4 months he was a devil, last halloween he was both a pumpkin(trick or treat at the mall) and Mickey Mouse and this year I think he'll be a teenage mutant ninja turtle (though they dont make them that small so i have to play create a mutant lol). I try to keep his costumes as something he would like, maybe when he's older and if he gets into the shows I will but right now nah.

I' don't really hide Jonathan from any other sci-fi stuff but he's only two so its not like he's really paying attention a lot lol.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

Honestly, what surprises me a little, more than the content, is how much TV some of you seem to let your children watch. We did also watch our share of television of children, but I'd say before I was at least in the third grade it was never more than an hour a day.

My nephew (though he still is a bit young, 9 months) doesn't get to watch any TV. Whenever my brother and his wife do watch TV, it's always after bedtime.

 

[Washburne]

Honestly, what surprises me a little, more than the content, is how much TV some of you seem to let your children watch. We did also watch our share of television of children, but I'd say before I was at least in the third grade it was never more than an hour a day.

He he. For me to be honest, when I was that young I doubt that I could find one hour/day that I wanted to watch. We had two channels (and with no remote it was still a big hassle to get someone to change channel😉). Times change. But on the other hand there's no way that I'd been watching Buffy when I was that young.

Lets be honest (I'm sure parents will love me for this) tv and/or computers are an easy/comfortable way to keep your kids distracted/busy. I'm not fond of the idea but times change and believe me, if I was a parent I'd most likely let them watch a lot of tv too. Now please don't take this as "kids watching tv = having bad parents". There's a loads and loads of other things that comes in play. Tv and computers have their fair share of good things about them too. It all depends on how you use them.

 

[VisionGirl]

Honestly, what surprises me a little, more than the content, is how much TV some of you seem to let your children watch. We did also watch our share of television of children, but I'd say before I was at least in the third grade it was never more than an hour a day.

My nephew (though he still is a bit young, 9 months) doesn't get to watch any TV. Whenever my brother and his wife do watch TV, it's always after bedtime.

My oldest son did not watch as much TV as much youngest at his age. But because they have the TV on, he watches stuff that my oldest probably wouldn't have. <Shrug> I dunno, we are TV watchers in my household. But the kids are also doing lots of other stuff too. They're not glued to the TV 24-7. They're busy playing outside or in their rooms, or in school, doing their homework and all their after school activities.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I'm a 'momma', technically. I've almost single-handedly raised my brother for the past 11 years 🙂

I'm pretty restrictive with him though, what he's allowed to watch and so. He's seen some Buffy and Angel but none of the later seasons.
But lately he's gotten to watch some more scary movies than before because just like me - he loves it. Also I'd rather have him see them with me than with his friends (it's happened and he's gotten way scared)

My 7-year-old has gotten into scary movies, too... She begged me to let her watch the "Scream" movies. I finally gave in and she laughed all the way through them. I don't know if I should be happy she's not a scaredy cat or scared that she's a psycho.

 

[Taake]

My 7-year-old has gotten into scary movies, too... She begged me to let her watch the "Scream" movies. I finally gave in and she laughed all the way through them. I don't know if I should be happy she's not a scaredy cat or scared that she's a psycho.

Lol, yeah I've felt a bit the same.
But y'know, after my bro got scared from seeing 'Black Christmas' at his friends house, I banned watching scary movies without my supervision. Then I showed him the original 'Halloween' movie and he became obsessed with that series so I gave him full access to them for a while. and he seemed very entertained and flippant about it.
Then one day he came to me and said: "I think I'm going to stop watching horror movies for a while. I don't think it's that good anymore."

So cute. Now his interest in them is moderate and he's neither scaredy cat nor psycho 🙂

 

[MRNewman]

Parents Unite...After that Diaper Change

With a number of members over the age of 22, I have to ask - are there any parents here? I know there are some (as I've seen while welcoming) - including me. If you're a parent, let us know...tell us about your kids, their ages, etc.

I'm the father of one son, with another baby on the way. My wife's due at the end of June. My son is 19 months old and here's a picture of him learning to play Sonic the Hedgehog on the DS from my sister. 🙂

 

[Goldilocks]

I am not a parent, since I'm way too young, but I have 2 cousins (6 and 9 years old), and I spend a lot of time with them, so they usually watch Buffy with me.
The only episode I don't allow them to watch is "Killed by Death" because it is so scary, and I still get scared when I see Der Kindertot. And I don't want them to be scared of hospitals.

The 9-year-old one understands a lot of English, and it was so awkward when she watched "Doublemeat Palace" with me and Buffy and Spike were having sex, because she noticed the sign saying "teamwork" and she was like "why does it say "teamwork?"".
I don't remember my explanation, but it was probably lame.

But generally, I let them watch Buffy with me, and they think it's interesting.

 

[SailorSarah]

I'm 28, and I have a 2 year old son. He catches glimpses of Buffy when I watch it, but he doesn't seem to care too much about TV yet. He is named Conor, but, as you can probably tell from the spelling, it isn't from Angel. I had always liked the name from before I watched Angel. I haven't yet dressed him as a Whedon character, but I would like to dress him as Spike next Halloween. He is very blond. He was Captain Kirk this year. I do plan to introduce him to all of the sci-fi/fantasy stuff I love. I hope he'll read and watch all the good stuff we love. It'll be pretty unavoidable I imagine. I know I love sci-fi and fantasy because my dad introduced me to it.