Question
My daughter is 9 years old and is homeschooled. She used to go to a private Christian school where she met her best friend. Her friend has always been a model student and every year she has been awarded the "Christian Character Award" at school. She is pretty respectful of adults and uses her manners very well. We have known her family for several years. There are some things that really concern me, however. The parents allow her and her younger brother to watch movies that I think are for adults only, like Spider Man(not the cartoons), Iron Man, Nacho Libre and many more. In my opinion these are not appropriate for children of any age. They also allow my daughters friend unsupervised access to a computer, iPad, etc. where she can surf the Internet. She is allowed to use electronics like this all the time and they also let her stay up on weekends until 1am. I don't allow my daughter to do any of the above. This family goes to church, teaches their children good values, ensures they behave well around adults but allow them to engage in all this technology and media that I think is very inappropriate. I noticed when we had her over yesterday for a sleepover, she wrestled with my daughter and left lots of bruises on her. I didn't know this happened until the next day. My daughter has a problem standing up for herself because she doesn't want to make her friend upset. I also worry about how they are pretend playing, what they are talking about, etc. due to the overexposure of bad media this seemingly good girl is exposed to. I can't be with them every second or hear their conversations but I'm worried. Is this girl a bad influence on my daughter? Is this technology getting into her brain and affecting her even though she is well behaved and well mannered around adults? She is 10 years old. My daughter questions why she can watch everything her parents watch but my daughter can't. I am concerned that this girl knows how to play adults well and shows her true colors to my daughter, and her little eyes and brain has been overexposed to situations and scenarios through media that she shouldn't have seen yet at her age. I don't want my daughter to have a best friend that is a bad influence or will be in years to come. I have talked to her parents about not allowing my daughter to watch certain things and they state that they wish they were more like me but it's too late for them to take it away from their kids. Am I completely over reacting here? Help!
