Where's The Beav When You Need Him

What has happened to childhood? Why does it seem that everyone these days is okay with kids only getting 2, maybe 3 years of innocent childhood before they start being exposed to adult words and themes?

My older children have been showing signs of wanting to move up to the next rung of television shows. Meaning, the squeaky clean story lines of Wonder Pets, Dora, Jay Jay and all the rest on channels like Noggin and Sprout, might be starting to lose their luster. Shows like SpongeBob, Fairly OddParents, and all of the "tween" shows on Nick and Disney channel are starting to look more titillating to them. Well, that's because they ARE more titillating. Adult themes are everywhere you turn in these shows.

I know some of you are going to read this and think "oh, she's so archaic"..."she's so overly protective"...well, you're obviously part of the problem with the current culture, so if you think I'm going to listen to you...........!!!!!!!!!!!!

The media does not care about the pace at which your child learns about things, especially as it relates to sexual matters. There is no "easing" knowledge; making it age appropriate. That is YOUR job as a parent.

I fully understand that difficult information is going to get into my children's brains no matter what I do. I expect that. But I am not going to take a "que sera sera" approach. And I'm certainly not going to ADD TO what the world is already going to throw at my kids.

Knowledge of this sort is like a jagged little pill for young people's brains. It's got sharp points that cut holes in their insides. It's your job as a parent to ease the way for this knowledge. You are the Pepto-Bismol for your child; the KY Jelly; the Tums. You get my drift. You are supposed to prepare the way for these jagged little pills of knowledge to enter your child's brain, so that they do the least amount of damage, and are digested with the least amount of pain.

I've heard people say "oh, relax, it's no big deal. Learning about sex is natural and organic." That is absolutely true, in a perfect non-media driven world. I have no problem with my children learning about sexual matters in a natural way. But what is "natural"? Is there any chance for "natural" in today's world? What is NOT natural or organic is seeing sex in every single television show and magazine ad. It's NOT natural to be bombarded with images and sounds of a sexual nature. Kids today have no chance to naturally learn about sex, as it's coming at them from birth in every UNnatural form possible.

People have argued with me that the shows and movies for kids these days are benign, and I'm overreacting. Let's talk about the word "benign" for a moment. Benign is a very subjective term, when not being used to reference a cancerous tumor. When you think of something as benign, it's because you're comparing it to something else. In my opinion, those of you who believe that these tween shows are benign have been desensitized by the media.

Yes, these tween shows are benign in our culture because these days, by the time you're 20 years old, you've seen video clips of two naked girls shitting on each other in a bathtub on YouTube. And you've seen pictures of people having sex with animals on the internet. And you've been through public middle and high school recently, where girls giving guys blow jobs on the busses is an everyday occurrence. So of course when you're 8 and you're watching shows where girls are trying to get guys to think they're "hot", and guys are looking at girls as sex objects, you're going to be looking for something MORE than that by the time you're 18 or 20.

So yes, these tween shows are benign, comparatively speaking. 50 years ago Hannah Montana would have been worried about failing her math exam, and about telling a white lie to her parents. Right now Hannah Montana is stuffing her bra and worrying about whether or not she's sexy, and talking extremely disrespectfully to her father, and obsessing about and competing with other girls for boys. Hannah Montana in 25 years from now might be screwing a horse in the girls bathroom, and taking naked pictures of her crotch and posting them on MySpace. That doesn't sound so benign right now, but will it seem benign in 25 years?

Maybe it's the proverbial chicken and egg...Maybe it's not that kids are exposed to it so early because the world is desensitized. Maybe the desensitization is CAUSED by exposing kids to the beginnings of this crap earlier and earlier. Maybe if we stop exposing kids to this stuff so early, the desensitization will slow down. I mean, HELLO...how does that not make sense????

For the love...........

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