Random Encounter

So this past weekend I went to Austin to visit my sister.  We did a lot of shopping, eating, and lounging, so all in all, it was a great time.  One funny/disturbing incident that I have to share.

My sister and I go to Target on Friday evening, looking for various things that are on our list (and no, the movie New Moon was not on the list, why do you ask?).  As we're in the entertainment section (again, not desperately searching for New Moon and wondering why it isn't on the shelves yet), we witness a family's inner workings in the video games aisle. 

There's a mom, a boy (maybe 10 years old?) and two other siblings (I think).  The boy is holding up a video game and is on the cell phone at the same time.  The mom is looking on.  The boy says "Hi dad, can I have this video game?"  (Can't remember what the name of it was.)  "It's rated R for extreme violence, blood, nudity, sexual situations, adult situations..."   And I think he even listed a few other items after that, I just can't remember what they were.  His mom is just standing by her son through all of this, calmly awaiting a decision. 

I didn't stay to see what happened (kind of wish I had now).  As I walked off, my first instinct was to laugh at this.  How many more really bad things did this kid have to list off for the mom to just take the game away and say no?  Then the more I thought about it, my emotion was more sadness than amusement.  I don't at all think I'm going to be a perfect parent, but I pray I'll know enough to know that a 10 year old shouldn't be playing a game that involves extreme violence, blood, nudity, etc. 

To end on a lighter note, the New Moon movie was released on Saturday, not Friday, and was at Sam's on sale for $20.88 at 7 AM that morning, not that we were interested.