Good Fathers, Expensive Pets, and Bad Videos

Three items from the always useful Zenit.org you may find of interest. First, The Role of Father as Family Protector, a longish interview with the writer James Stenson, author of Father, the Family Protector (Scepter). Among his observations:

No self-respecting man would stand by and let anyone treat his wife with disrespect. He would take swift action to defend her.

Related to this physical protection is another aspect of a man's protectiveness, one that fathers today often fail to understand. A man permits no one to threaten or upset his wife -- and this includes their own children.

A hugely important part of a father's job is to defend his wife against their children's rudeness, insolent disobedience and impulsive aggression. This protection counts most to his wife when the children are small -- under 7 years of age -- and later when they enter adolescence. A man will permit no one to disrespect his wife, including -- and even especially -- at home.

And also:

A father strengthens his children's competence. He forms lifelong healthy attitudes to work, along with serious habits of work. Without a father's leadership in this arena, his kids can have trouble grasping the connection between effort and results, between standards and achievement.

If he fails here, his children may never outgrow the dominant attitude of childhood -- that life is play -- and remain stuck in a permanent adolescence.

He teaches respect for rightful authority. He insists that his children respect and obey him and their mother. His wife sets most of the moral tone for the household -- what's right and wrong in family life -- and he enforces it.

Second is Pampered Pets, Hungry Kids. Among its revealing news is that Petco and Petsmart are both going to add 80 or 90 new stores this year, and

According to the New York Times, the pet supply industry is now worth $37 billion. U.S. retail sales of pet supplies, not including food and services, were $8.5 billion in 2004, compared with $6.2 billion spent on baby-care supplies.

Pet supply sales are growing 7% annually, while sales of baby supplies are decreasing. And the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, a trade group in Connecticut, now has nearly 900 members, compared with just over 500 three years ago.

And among the dishearteningly revealing stories it tells is:

Darrell and Nina Hallett of Washington state, for instance, spent $45,000 on a stem cell transplant for their golden retriever, the Associated Press reported April 7. The treatment was for cancer. The couple dedicated months to tracking down blood relatives of the dog, to find donors.

Something tells me the Halletts don't have children.

Third, Video Violence: Kids See, Kids Do. This story tells us that video games are now a $10 billion industry with the games becoming more violent — some include cannibalism — and, not surprisingly, increasingly available to children.

The story reports on the recomendation of the American Psychological Association's Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media that the violence of games marketed to children and youth be reduced.

The APA committee's study showed that the perpetrators of violence in the games go unpunished 73% of the time. "Showing violent acts without consequences teach youth that violence is an effective means of resolving conflict, whereas seeing pain and suffering as a consequence can inhibit aggressive behavior," said psychologist Elizabeth Carll, co-chair of the committee.

Violence in video games is more of a problem than in other forms of media, due to its interactive nature. "Playing video games involves practice, repetition and being rewarded for numerous acts of violence, which may intensify the learning," explained Carll.

. . . The APA's concerns were reinforced by a new study carried out by Michigan State University. Researchers monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they played violent games, according to an Oct. 16 report in the British newspaper Telegraph.

One of those involved in the study, René Weber, explained that there was a link between playing a first-person shooting game and brain activity that was considered characteristic of aggressive cognitions.

"Violent video games frequently have been criticized for enhancing aggressive reactions such as aggressive cognitions, aggressive affects or aggressive behavior," Weber noted. "On a neurobiological level we have shown the link exists."