Heren
I am in an interesting postion here. One of my offspring is a current, active poster who started out with one account and now has another. This poster's name shall go unspoken, since he/she wisely wishes to maintain an independent identity. (I even asked 'permission' to respond to this thread.
) I am unsure if there are other Downs families where more than one generation is posting.
I actually encouraged my offspring to try out this site after seeing the movies and starting the books. My reasons for doing so included many of those points you and others have cited above. Both as a mom and a former librarian and history prof, I have been incredibly impressed with the way many have "blossomed" in terms of their writing and analytic skills. Some have stayed on the site; others have gone on to other things, some of which were connected with writing and creative expression. I firmly believe that posting here can be a positive thing: both as a way to relax and to learn some things that have relevence at school and work.
As a parent, the kind of things I would be concerned about would be these: having schoolwork suffer; spending too much time in front of the computer so things like friendships, family life, or physical activity are shortchanged; and making sure kids follow the general rules about safety on the net. Other than that, I don't see a downside. Yeah, I know.....I sound like a mom! There is a lot of Sam Gamgee in me.
Is the issue really the Downs, or is it "time management"? Sometimes parents will respond positively if you offer to put limits on yourself, e.g., only after homework, or only a one-hour slot or thirty minute slot "X" times per week. Or do your parents simply not understand that this is a family friendly site, unlike a lot of other Tolkien ones I've seen? Or is it just their unfamiliarity with Tolkien? It's one thing seeing your child spend hours doing something that you understand and appreciate--watching baseball, for example. It's another to have them involved with something unfamiliar to you. Maybe the first thing to do is to find out their objection before deciding how to respond.