Help! My concerns

Wow. Just wow. I was hoping parents in the UK were far better than the kind you'd hear in the US say this. I am disappointed.

For telling you to "grow up" this does really seem to be in the case of

I'm not sure entirely how my parents think about it, I'm just pretty sure they more worry about how much time I spend with it, rather than what it is.

Like everyone else here, I'm here for you man.

Hi Welshbrony,


It's such a shame when people don't understand the show, or our fascination with it, especially when they are one's own parents. I have seen these kinds of comments many times from attendees, and even some of our younger guests of honour; I was asked by several attendees to explain the fandom, the show, and the convention to their parents in order to allay their concerns. Fortunately, this is one of the nicest, most compassionate, and altogether lovely fandoms I've personally ever been part of, so it's generally pretty easy to allow parents to see the truth about bronies. The best thing I think you can do is sit them down and get them to watch a few episodes. Show them the things you love: the show, the art, the music, even the people you've become friends with as a result of being in this fandom.

I'd like to relate my own experiences in this matter. Though I'm 25, I moved back in with my parents while I've been studying for a degree, because of financial difficulties. This has led to some interesting situations. My mother is Indian, and there is definitely a bit of a culture clash between her and myself. In terms of ponies, this manifests itself quite dramatically: she has a very strong sense of what is socially acceptable, what people should be doing, and the shame she perceives it would bring to the family for one of its members to be behaving out of the norm. Now, any of you who know me, or have heard any of my numerous and eccentric stories should be laughing your sides off right now, as you'll know how much I tend to conform to any sort of socially stereotypical expectations. Needless to say, it still does hurt to hear my mother call my endeavours at the convention "childish", and telling me to "grow up", two sentiments that she uses frequently. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that when I did try to introduce her to the show, she just simply didn't understand what it's about; she has a bit of a problem relating to a lot of Western media, and is very literal-minded; she could not see past the fact that it was a show about pastel-coloured ponies, with an initial target demographic of 8-year-old girls. Actually, a bit of a humorous aside: I was once watching Samurai Champloo, an anime that involves a fair amount of violence and blood -- not a lot, but certainly enough that you wouldn't want young kids watching it. When she saw that I was watching something animated, her first comment was "why are you watching a children's programme?", followed by "how can a children's cartoon be so violent?". I think it clicked in her head sometime later.

Anyhow, I digress; what I really want to put forward with this long and rambly written rant is that you are by no means alone, and there are ways to f allow one's parents to see what this fandom is really about -- the simplest of which is by plainly showing them. Show them the songs, show them the humour, show them the community. Oh, and definitely show them the charities. The trouble with explaining the out-of-the-ordinary to people is that fear and imagination are inextricably linked: fear comes from an unknown and imagination begets extrapolation, which, without the anchor of fact, can be like a loose sail flapping in the wind. Set them on a course of discovery about the fandom, and you may be able to calm those troubled waters.

Those are my two pennies. I hope they help.

Brohoof,
Saturn

Wow thank you Saturn /)

BTW fantastic work, the convention was the best weekend of my life and I mean it. I cant wait for next year

Applejack Daniels motherbucker wat up!

They came close to meeting YesTesco last night on Skype but my dad didn't have a shirt on so I decided not to scar Ross for life. True story.

thats the spirit atleast your planning on being a brony for another year atleast

I'll never stop being a brony my parents want me to stop but I'll never stop because the pony don't stop (that wasn't my attempt at rap)

*evil finger pyramid, gooood goooood

I can kinda relate to this on a different front. I'm on the fabulous side of bi-sexual, but I used to be engaged to an admittedly closed-minded lady. She was insecure about her own worth, and was afraid that she couldn't provide me with what I needed, or that she was the wrong gender for me half the time. She wanted me to stop identifying as bi-sexual because I was in a stable relationship with her, and though I did try to explain to her that this was not how it worked, she hated any mention or inference of it around her.

I'm not trying to say that being a brony is like being gay, but there are certainly a few parallels in terms of situation. One does not simply stop being or liking something because another person wills it.

Gosh that's terrible of them to do. That's a huge invasion of privacy that they would look through your website history. Now they are overreacting and trying to take away something you love? Honestly if I were you I'd stand my ground. It isn't their choice and you should stand up for what's right. Don't let them push you around. I understand they only care for you but you need to show them that they are wrong. Just because we like a kids show does not make us a "pedo".

If is absolutely true that there are a lot of very very not nice people in the world but if you are going to live your life worrying about meeting one of them and not knowing about it, then your life is going to be a very gloomy place. There may very well be some nasty people using the fandom of MLP for their own horrible devices, but then there are people out there using football for the same thing. It all comes down to being safe and sensible which is why I think it's brilliant that everyone on here knows each other by their usernames. no real names unless you are comfortable with doing that. A convention is a very safe place to meet a lot of like minded people, it's a big (very well) organised event with an actual list of peoples names on the attendee list! It's not like people could just walk in off the street and pay in cash. I think the youngest kid I saw there was about 12 (?) and all the littlest ponies at the con had a responsible Mare or Gentlecolt with them. ^_^

I think the documentary will really help with this. Your parents are just scared and all of this has been caused by sensationalist reporting of problems in the news. If you listen to what the news says and take it all literally then you would never leave the house. Only the really really super good stuff gets reported while every single little piece of bad news gets instant publication. People love to read about bad things... simple as.

While I'm not going to tell you to ignore your parents advice, you are big enough to make up your own mind and take responsibility for your own life. I'm 27 and a proud Brony. My parents think I'm bonkers but it's been a long time since I needed protecting form the evils in this world. At the same time you cant just do what people on here tell you to either. It's your decision how you want to run your life and what shows you want to watch while running it.

Quite frankly I think My Little Pony is a very wholesome children's show to be into... considering that other shows being made at the moment include things called "Fleabag Monkeyface". Yuck!

You're on the fabulous side of everything, dahling.

It so is. A socially unacceptable set of behaviours that make those not so secure in thier sexuality (or indeed gender role entirely) suddenly get flustered and angry?

Waaaaaay back in the day (when this was aaaalllllll fields!) the word "Gay" meant 'Happy'. So if liking MLP is being Happy well then....I say PFFFFFFFFT!

I just loved everything and everyone. Not sure what that makes me

Reminds me of when I 'came out' as a furry all those years ago to my parents (bloody stupid decision as that was, but I was young and passionate and quite naive). Not so much into that fandom as much anymore but at the time it was as much a part of my identity as Pony is now.

My parents did practically the same thing as yourself only without the internet monitoring. Though having 'words' about in the pub of all places wasn't the best way of going about it I feel. It's all part of building your identity outside of the life they'd 'prefer' for you and it's as much a troubling thing for you as it is for them. Sounds like they haven't quite adjusted to you being an adult rather than their child. But, at least they care, which means they can be convinced because I take it they do want what best for you and what makes you happy.

My advice would be simply to educate: show them the awesome things the fandom has done and, to a degree, take it with a degree of humour and don't treat the whole thing so seriously. You can be a brony and proud without neccesarily wearing it on your sleeve if it causes a fuss. At the end of the day it's just a tv show, appreciating it does no harm.

Just my two pennies. Take from it what you will and, as others have pointed out, if there are any pervs or pedos in this fandom they're in it as much as they are in all walks of life. And just like in real life, common sense and playing safe is always the best way to go.

Hope you stay in the fandom...we have cupcakes.

@WelshBrony91

After reading your original post along with the responses you got from the contributors to this thread I don't know if I could give you any new advice from what you given and I don't know if I got anything that I could help you with. But I will tell you this; carry on watching MLP:FiM, carry on being a contributor to the forums, and carry on being a member of the Brony community. You're 21 now and as an adult like your parents pointed out you're free to lead your own life with the decisions and choices you made by yourself. Do what makes you happy, do what it's best for you, and make yourself into the person you want to be. Even if that means meeting condemnation from other people, including your parents and no offence but you shouldn't take their opinion seriously as they know little about the Brony community, at the end of the day it's whether you're satisfied of not with your life. As far as we know, we only live once.

Also what would your parents do if you carry on being a Brony? I would like to know.

Firstly thanks for the kind words, they really help. Well I don't know myself, its seem to have died down now the word "Pony" hasn't been mentioned in this house for over 48 hours. I think my mum has apologized in the only why see knows how. FOOD

Yesterday I was given a cake for no apparent reason and today I got a baked potato and MLP pasta shapes. So I don't know and I don't want to find.

Well like I said, carry on doing the stuff you want to do.

Oh defiantly