‘Hunger Games’ unhealthy for kids
There was a time a letter like this would not have been needed. That was then and this is now. As a mental health professional, I would like to issue a warning to parents regarding the movie “The Hunger Games.”
The numbers of teens and adults planning to see this movie is staggering. It is PG-13. Should be R. Shouldn’t even be out there at all. Children killing children is a regular occurrence in Chicago and the metro area. Now it is being turned from the tragedy it is to “entertainment” in a film made from part one of a trilogy of stories, this one about a reality game in which children hunt one another and fight to the death, to the last one standing.
OneNewsNow reports that Dr. Brenda Hunter, a psychologist and author, is warning parents not to let their children see this movie and I concur. Children killing other children while adults watch sounds like some kind of passive form of child sacrifice. Dr. Hunter warns that viewing this movie and others like it desensitizes those who watch them until the violence becomes meaningless. There are too many solid studies confirming this effect of viewing violence to ignore them.
Parents, please say “No” when your kids ask if they can see The Hunger Games. Tell them why. They may tell you they have already read the story. That’s bad enough, but seeing it in living color on the big screen is a whole other thing — one which will imprint images in their minds that don’t need to be there, that should not be there.
Yes, you will take some flack for it but that’s in our job description as parents. Take them to see “October Baby” or “Monumental” when they come to your area. Children killing children — it isn’t entertainment. It’s just plain sick.
P.J. Bertrand
Wood Dale