Question
I have a 13 year old son who is well rounded and a very good student. He is respectful and relatively obedient as far as an average 13 year old goes. However a situation has arisen and I would appreciate your professional point of view.
I also have an 18 year old son who is a freshmen at a university and is a very focused student and gets very good grades as well. He has a few friends and on occasion goes out with them.
Here is my concern. My 18 year old has begun spending a lot of time with his younger brother when he comes from school. He has introduced him to TV shows that I don't particularly approve of for my 13 year old. They are for ages 14 and up and I would allow my younger son to watch on occasion. However the 18 year old binge watches and has drawn his little brother into the same habit. I put a stop to it allowing only 3 episodes at a time. My 13 year old is following my rules but here is where the problem is. Whenever his older brother is with him in the tv area (which is quite frequently) my 13 year old becomes very snarky, and cocky towards me. He is a totally different child if his brother is at work on the weekends. My question is this: do you feel it is appropriate for an 18 year old to spend 2-3 hours a day with his much younger brother? I do not think so. It is apparent that my 13 year old picks up an attitude from him, but my husband doesn't seem to think its a big deal. Also, the 18 year old is a bit immature for his age and instead of being a good influence will disagree with me on parenting my younger boy, such as "there is nothing wrong with binge watching all the kids do it". What is your opinion on this and should I limit the time they spend together? Look forward to hearing from you. Thank you
