Man, I been thinkin about this since I read it. Not sure how I feel about it but obviously, each kid is different and each parenting style is different. I remember what you said about showing him Boyz in the Hood for the first time too. It's definitely relative to the area you're in as well. I grew up in Watsonville til I was 11, and in some ways, seeing that and American Me were good for me, in some ways they were terrible, but I didn't have an adult to sit me down and explain the movies to me. I was going off of my 11 year old understanding of it and connected that to what I was seeing on the streets. For my kids, they're with their mom for another 2 months til they come back here with me, but it's like night and day from where I grew up. We live in a predominately white and fairly affluent area near Oklahoma City, nothing like Pennsylvania and Main in Watsonville.
Understandable, Bro. You make many valid points in this post.
To bring you up to speed on things. I also sat & watched "Menace II Society" with my son. That honestly was a little iffy in my judgement, but I decided to roll with it. A few months ago my son got into fight and said the other kid was picking on him. My son grew tired and as soon as the other kid tried to put hands on him my son swung. My son was victorious, but when he told me I took him aside in the house (away from from the family) and said, "Remember in Menace II Society when that guy hit's up Kane about his cousin? He didn't wait. He just started fighting. Never wait if you see it's going to go down."
Now, I'm a smart ass and got comebacks for days. I'm pretty fast at it in person & my wife says I have an answer for everything...
My son looked at me & said, "Yeah, dad. That's real smart. That's why they come back & kill him at the end." :dead:
He actually stumped me LOL! I was speechless, but very proud.
This past week we watched the Big Lurch documentary & my son soaked it up like a sponge. I tease him & say shit like, "You want to get high with me? That stuff on T.V. is all fake. It's just weed though. None of that hard stuff."
My son looks & kind of smiles & nods his head like, "Your an idiot."
I over heard him talking to my wife. To not make this any longer...
My plan is working.