Just because YOU think it's OK doesn't mean that we do!

As parents, we all are charged to raise our children to become decent, law-abiding citizens.  In our case, we also want them to be faithful Catholic adults.  Because of our responsibilties, there are things that we will not allow our children to do, say, or have.  Yes, we may be strict and boring and conservative, but if that's what it takes to raise our kids to become the adults we want them to become, so be it!

We have tried to keep our children from hearing foul language.  Yes, we know that it's inevitable that they'll hear it somewhere at some point, but they're young and we'd rather have them hear decent words as they're learning to talk and building their vocabularies.  We've already had issues with the word "stupid" so we know that it's very possible to have issues with other words that are a bit stronger and more offensive than that one.  People who are close to us know this, so I must ask:  Must everything be "that damn this" and "that damn that?"  Why do you continue to call people and things stupid when you know we don't allow our kids to use that word? 

I have two boys, so burping and farting are common in my house, despite my best efforts to teach my sons good manners.  However, I continually encourage them to use good manners and demonstrate appropriate behavior.  So when I ask my son to not talk about pooping at the dinner table, I would appreciate people not saying "I don't mind if he talks about that."  I don't care what you mind -- I asked him to not talk about bathroom topics at the table and I expect him to obey his mother.  Feel free to talk about pooping during meals when we're not around.

We also don't approve of certain questionable influences, which several people don't find questionable.  But we do and we're raising our own kids, so we'd appreciate it if you'd respect our boundaries.  Here are some examples of things that are not allowed in our home:

Wizards/Witchcraft/Vampires/etc:  These all have occult influences and we do not want our children to be exposed to them.

Pirates:  Pirates rape, pillage, and steal.  We don't really want our children emulating this sort of behavior.  Would you?

Cheerleaders:  Look at their outfits.  We have sons.  We want to raise them to be gentleman who respect women, so ogling them is not something we encourage.

Crass children's shows:  Sorry, but Spongebob Squarepants is rude and inappropriate.  So are half the other children's shows on the air.