Something that I've argued with people in the past is the idea of children and to what extent you're to allow them to act like kid, and when you're to expect them to act like adults - be mature, take responsibility, etc. We all know kids are going to mess up and don't have the wisdom that adults should have so you are more lax with them when they do mess up but does that mean you aren't to expect some maturity from your child? I've talked in the past about the mom I saw telling her 16/17 y/o boy that his shoes didn't fit and he needed a different size, I've heard so many parents also say that their kid is not an adult until they turn 18. The more I see and hear, the more I come to believe that by the time your child hits puberty (12-14) they are no longer a child. They aren't a full adult of course, but by then I think you need to start treating them more like an adult. Let them make decisions while they still live at home and can fall back on you when they mess up. Let them voice their opinion and work through things in their head.

Anyway, all this came up because I was watching a movie last night called Downfall. Its about the last 10 days of Hitlers life, and you're seeing the fall of the Nazi power. By this point the Germans are so desperate to not lose they're making everyone a soldier that they can. In the movie you meet a boy who's maybe 12 and a girl who's maybe 14 and they're running missile thing against the Russian tanks that are coming in. By the end, once they realize they have lost the 12 y/o boy runs off to go be with his father, and the 14 y/o girl commits suicide with another guy she was working with. There are so many stories like this where children, who we wouldn't even allow to choose their own clothes, are fighting a war, and choosing to die for what they believe in. Now I know there are a lot of problems with the story, and I know those children came away with psychological issues, but so did the adults, my point is only that they were capable of so much. When you read about the old west you read of the same type of courage - the parents die from some disease, and the 12 y/o boy and 14 y/o girl have to care for the younger siblings and find a way to make money. History is full of stories of courageous kids who did what so many adults today are unable to do. Not only is that convicting to me as an adult, but if I get the change to have children, it makes me wonder how much they could be capable of if I allow them to develop their mind and body and I don't live in fear and allow them to grow up. I know its much easier to say now but I hope I am able to practice this same thing if I have my own children.

Also, I thought I'd post here what I said about the movie on facebook.

I thought this was an amazing movie. I love this type anyway, and they always make you think. To see people who are so committed to a cause they're not only willing to die for it, but

*spoiler*
the one woman is willing to kill her own children so they don't have to live in a world that goes again their cause...??
*end spoiler*

I don't agree that its right but it does baffle my mind. And to see the war from the POV of the Germans... That was interesting, and a view I haven't really seen before.

Then at the end the movie explains that Traudl Junge was classified by the Western Allies as a "young follower" and because of that was not put to death. After that an older woman who's being interviewed (the same woman? I'm not sure who she is) explains how she did not know about the Jews and others who were killed and it shocked her, but "was satisfied that I wasn't personally to blame and that I hadn't know about those things". She then explains how she walked by a memorial and saw how there was a girl who was born the same year she was, but was executed the same year she started working for Hitler. She realized then that being young was no excuse, and it would have been possible for her to find out things. If the Jewish girl was old enough to die, the German girl was old enough to be responsible for working for Hitler....