When is the age where you, as a parent, should start to give in and let the
child make her own media choices, TV in particular, whether or not you agree
with them (within reason)? I'm not suggesting letting The Kid watch "Debbie
Does Dallas," but we got into a major row this weekend over "Pokemon: The Movie
2000." I still dislike and disapprove of Pokemon, but I have gotta question
whether *that* was worth the energy, at her age (9).

Getting into the merits (or lack thereof) of Pokemon isn't what I'm after. It's
enough to say that I and her dad haven't been letting her watch it (and
similar, related programs) because of violence, on my part, and crass
commercialism and merchandizing, on both our parts. And there are other things
we haven't let her watch as well for other reasons, of course. So let's move
past the discussion of Pokemon specifically, if we can, and talk about at what
age you hand over the TV reins. (The same issue applies to books read, movies
attended, and bunches of other stuff.) When does the issue go from your first
priority, as a parent, being supervising your kid's media input and move over
to "choosing your battles" and keeping them to a minimum? And how far do you
budge? How do you know where to put the new lines in the sand -- and how do you
go about justifying those?

It doesn't help that there was a kid in her class at school rattling off a list
of movies and programs my kid has never seen. I don't want my kid to be a media
pariah, but on the other hand "everybody else gets to watch it" isn't a very
strong argument in my book.

Frankly, I'm feeling quite lost at being a mom of a growing tween.

Thanks.

beeswing