Parenting with Star Wars: The Power of The Dark Side

In one of our bed time conversations about Star Wars James asked me,
"Mom, why did Anakin choose The Dark Side? Why would anyone choose The Dark Side?"
I was so pumped that he asked that question. I love an opportunity to talk to my kids about truth and our world.

I think it's a question that we all need to think about. To understand the question though you have to understand The Dark Side of The Force.

In Star Wars, The Force is an energy field that is made by living beings and surrounds all beings. Some beings are specifically sensitive to The Force and it's power. These beings are selected right after birth and taken to be trained as Jedi Knights. The light side of The Force is a good energy that is used to protect and teach virtues like patience, self control, wisdom, respect, quietness, etc. It takes years for a Jedi Knight to learn to use it to administer peace and justice in the galaxy.

There is another side to The Force called The Dark Side. It uses anger, hatred, violence and jealousy to give it's followers very powerful skills in a short period of time. The beings that have force sensitivity that turn to the dark powers of The Dark Side are called Sith Lords. The Sith are the Jedi's greatest enemies. The Sith crave power and control and will do anything to get what they want. Many other beings worship The Dark Side of The Force and don't have force sensitivity. They are just bad guys.

So why would anyone choose The Dark Side?

This is my answer to James,

"We have so many choices every day. Sometimes we know what is a good choice. Some times we make mistakes. Many people choose The Dark Side because they are angry or hurting. Some people choose The Dark Side because they want money or to be in charge. Some people choose The Dark Side because they believe that it will help them or because it sounds like fun. It is very sad when someone chooses The Dark Side. Does The Dark Side ever help anyone James?"

"No, it hurts people," James will reply.

Then I can say, "James, Anakin made a bad choice to join The Dark Side but isn't it awesome that he changes at the end of Star Wars? Even if we make bad choices we can still change and learn to make good choices."

Now because I am a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ and His teachings I usually also add that God loves us no matter what side of The Force we choose and that He keeps loving us and never gives up. I want James to always know that there is always redemption and hope.

This may seem over the top to some of you. I am so happy to be over the top though. I want to reach my kids with lessons about truth in any way I can. I am just speaking the language of James!

Mary

Parenting With Star Wars

Several people have asked me to blog about our journey with Star Wars. This is dedicated to them!

When James turned four he suddenly wanted to play bad guy/ good guy. I'm not really sure how it started. Being a pacifist I wasn't really sure how to steer him along. It was hard for me to watch him play guns and fight. I had to come to terms with his boyness. Almost all boys want to play guns and fight. They don't know what killing or death is they just know they want to run around and be as wild as possible. I knew I had to find a way to channel that.

I started out exposing him to a Christian super hero called Bibleman. It was really hard to watch but I figured it could teach him some spiritual truths. It totally back fired on me. I quickly realized that I was exposing him to behaviors he hadn't even discovered yet. The mix of fantasy and reality also really bothered me. I am all for teaching my kids to abstain from certain behaviors but I don't want to teach them just from a sin perspective. I want to teach them about making choices from both a spiritual angle and a practical angle. It was mostly just too old for him.

I can't do super heroes. I think they are a bit cheesy. I also am bothered by their portrayal of women. What kid needs to see boobs hanging all over a comic book page?

I finally decided to watch Star Wars with him. There are a few reasons why it worked out perfectly for our family.

1. It is classic American cinema.
2. It is story rich. Story is so important.
3. It is science fiction.
4. Princess Leia Organa is an awesome portrayal of a strong and compassionate woman.
5. I enjoy watching it anytime.
6. It doesn't focus on death but life.
7. It clearly represents the battle between evil and good and all the complexities in between.
8. It teaches respect for elders.
9. It teaches forgiveness and redemption.
10. It teaches radical racial acceptance.
11. It opens the door for many spiritual conversations.

I am sure there are a few more that I can't think of in this moment. (Justin is watching a Weezer interview and it is distracting me.)

We watch a Star Wars movie at least 4 times a week. We have costumes, books, bedding, toys, puzzles, stickers.....................................................

Next in my Parenting with Star Wars series I will focus on my wonderful conversations with James about "The Dark Side" (You don't know the power. There is no escape!)

Mary

I have been thinking about cosmetics. A lot. I need a break from blogging about my art classes so I am going to talk about cosmetics.

I work in a salon part time. I use a ton of chemicals when I do. Many days after I work I have a heaviness in my chest or I develop cold symptoms. I am unusually sensitive to chemicals in cosmetics and beauty products. It's one of the reasons I can't stay a blonde for very long even though I love it.

Recently I was approached by a direct sales company to sell their cosmetics. I had been to one of their "spa nights" and must have been targeted as someone who is good at sales. I am usually pretty vocal at those kind of events. And it is true that if I like something I let the world know. The sales consultant gave me a bunch of products to sample for a few weeks to see what I thought. Even though I am very skeptical about direct sales products I agreed to try her samples.

I feel like she kind of opened Pandora's box for me. The whole scenario caused me to really think about how I feel about the beauty industry as a whole and my part in it.

I will say that I hate direct sales cosmetic companies. Most of them rant and rave about empowering and helping women.I don't dispute that they do give many women a chance to run their own business from the home and that this is valuable but I would like to make a few thought provoking comments concerning their business practices.

I wonder if it is helping women or hurting women to teach them how to ruthlessly sell cosmetics to their friends and family in the name of self esteem. Is it about really helping a woman with her self esteem? Is it helping or hurting women to spend so much money on needless cosmetics? Is selling them a twenty dollar hand scrub helping their self esteem? What about the harmful chemicals in the products? Is that helping or hurting women. I wonder if anyone else thinks these thoughts.

The company that approached me is called Beauti Control. The first thing I did was look at their website to find their parent company. I discovered that it was Tupperware Brands. Tupperware Brands also has six other skin care lines that they sell around the world. I am not thrilled about using a cosmetic line that is backed by a plastics manufacturer, especially one that is being shady about taking the BPA out of their plastics. The next thing I did was look them up on Cosmeticdatabase.com. The cosmetic database is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group. Basically the group signs contracts with different cosmetic companies to test and research their products and gives them a rating based on their toxicity. I was disappointed to see that Beauti Control won't even sign a contract with the company. I guess they have something to hide.

So I decided to pass on Beauti Control. I wonder what company I should look in to next on my quest for good cosmetics? While I ponder that I will also be thinking about what make-up line to buy for the salon.

Mary