Children in the real world

Some one made the comment today that they thought I was "sheltering my children from the real-world" in response to a comment of mine where I said the only TV I let my children watch is cartoons on Fridays.

The comment got me thinking about what the "real world" was, and then I realised that in the commenter's mind, TV was the "real-world". How strange. Since when did mostly scripted shows for entertainment become the real world?

On Saturday when we visited Craters of the Moon and Orakei Karaki to observe natural geothermal activity I thought we were right in the real world. Likewise on Sunday when we visited the Army Museum in Waiouru and moved through the exhibits showing the history of the wars NZ soldiers were involved in.

Here are my kids at the museum all dressed up in army gear with wooden guns:

I don't let my children watch much TV, but I do also expose them to poems such as the following, which my 10 year old son is currently memorising. We've also talked about the history of the poem.

The Charge of the Light Brigade
by Alfred Tennyson.

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!" he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

My children are being given the important parts of the real world to grow up in and think about. I'm not going to dump them in the world without guidance - if I did so I wouldn't be much of a parent. I prefer to protect them until they can fend for themselves, and part of that protection is limiting their exposure to harmful influences, such as TV.