Posted on 12/04/2005 11:20:04 AM PST by wagglebee
The Sim City series of games is a fun game that is clean. I might recommend Homeworld and Homeworld 2. It is a strategy game where you command a colony ship and the space navy charged with protecting it. In the first you lead the remnants of your race out of exile and back to your homeworld. In the second game, you defend your homeworld against the sc-fi equvilant of barbarians while discovering the truth of WHY your people were exiled.
I remember the first time I saw preschool underwear for girls that were bikini it made me just plain sick. And I am talking about little girls and toddlers.
Most parents don't even care what their kids eat -- as evidenced by the alarming rate of obesity. I've seen toddlers drinking Coke.
Given the evidence, do you really believe parents care what toys their kids play with?
Now that my daughter is older I am being told of things she seen and did at a friends house. Like checking out porno. It is infortunate that the actions of others, that being adults can hurt other children by their carelessness. I also remember a time when my son was at an all boys birthday party and they all were checking out playboy or some kind of naked book of women and he knew it was wrong and wouldn't look at it even though they teased him about it. I tried to explain to him women are not meant to just be something men just ogle at naked and women are to be treat more respectful
I just reread that and it did not come out exactly the way I meant it to. lol I have a problem concentrating and have to type things over and over. But sometimes it is funny the dumb things I do. Today I watered my plants with diet seven up. I hope it doesn't hurt the plants! lol
You don't even come close to me:). I gave a college speech once (in front of a LOT of people) with my shirt inside out. Speaking of pop, I put some "New" coke on some ants one time. You've never seen drunker insects. I teach first grade and you would not believe the dumb things that I do. But I'm glad that I have good parents and students to deal with such a bumbling dummy such as myself:).
Some do, some don't. I'd wager there is a good number of both. I'd also wager those who don't care form a larger group, but that those who do care form a noisier and more adamant group.
If those that do are interested in organizing a boycott, and if they can make a big enough stink to be effective (somewhat doubtful), then they're welcome to do that.
If not, they can at least watch out for their own.
For me, I don't think what toys kids play with is so very important, but I think the issue is interesting as a symptom of various other things - inept parenting, change in standards for women, etc.
The only significant trend I see in marketing for kids is the "urban" trend. Apparently there's not much to do in the 'burbs and the city looks like fun to a lot of kids.
He must be at the Neverland Ranch.
I didn't meant that it is interesting for revealing trends in marketing necessarily, but for revealing aspects of the current state of our culture.
The "urban" trend.. that's been big since I was in junior high school. So it's a trend over 10 years old. The stability suggests more to it than just a marketing trick. Probably is that the 'burbs are boring, or that the grass is always greener.
The culture would seem to be just fine -- at least from what I can tell. Most people look out and say, "How horrible, I'm not like that," not realizing they are part of the larger cultural picture as well.
PG and PG-13 movies are good examples. Many of them contain one sexual innuendo (or worse) after another, contain nudity, explicit violence and horrendous bad language. For little kids and 13-year-olds? What's wrong with these people? If that isn't peddling crap to children I don't know what is.
Those clothing stores that are geared toward teenage girls are full of provocative clothing and some very racy lingerie. *See below.
Or what about teenage magazines? Condom advice and how to "Dress Like Your Favorite Celebrity". *See above. Oh boy.
Video games that are rated Mature or for adults are bunched right in with the Sponge Bob games at the local video rental store or game store. A lot of them are in cartoon format, too. Kids get ahold of these. What kid can resist the temptation after seeing the "cool" commercials for the game on TV? It's a lucrative business.
And no matter how much you safeguard your computer at home, you can rest assured that the average kid can find a way to get on the internet, uncensored, at their friends' houses and at school or a library.
Yes, it is the responsiblity of parents to control what games their kids play and movies they see. But the parents who don't parent are really screwing up us parents who do. What do we do about these clueless parents?
Educate them maybe? I don't know.
But the rest of us have to take up the slack for these clueless parents by not making inappropriate stuff for kids so easy to access. And "the rest of us" includes the media, Hollywood and the music industry. No banning, no censorship, but better and smarter product placement when it comes to questionable subject matter. Yeah, it's a burden, but makes for a better quality of life and keeps us civil.
I think the fad has been and gone - late 80's, maybe?
I still wish appropriate dresses didn't cost so much!
Thank you...we try our best. We are not perfect by any means, but we try.
We came home from the Lodge feeling really good..........I was shocked by the amount of compliments we were paide about our daughter. Even one guy who does not speak to me (long story) commented to my husband about what a well behaved child we have.
Yup, the very same Toughskins we wore as kids.
For a long time, Sears didn't carry them. I remember back a few years ago, I was trying to find a pair of jeans for my big boy (now 10) that didn't look like he'd had his belt taken away from him by the prison guards (which is how we got that oh-so-chic "baggy" look in the first place).
After trying on approximately 14,000 different pairs, I demanded to see the department manager. Pointing at my son, I said, "I refuse to dress my child in this manner. You can tell whatever buyer you want to, to start contracting for decently sized jeans, or I swear to you I will go to my mother's house on an archaological expedition and find MY thirty-year-old Toughskins. I guaratee she has them. Until then, I won't be buying ANY jeans from Sears."
(BTW...Mommy DOES have those jeans; in fact, I feel fairly certain that my mother has kept every single scrap of anything we did or made, up to and including the first belly button lint she removed from my umbilicus.)
Meanwhile, I hit the internet. Seems there are lots of places that sell slim-fitting or relaxed fitting jeans for boys...mostly they were western-style places that carried Wranglers Rodeo Cuts.
When Sears finally came to their senses, I was able to shop more locally, though once a year I place an order with that cowboy store as a "thank you" for keeping my kid in dungarees for five years.
Regards,
My hope is that people will slowly shift into to the latter set.
Good points. I too share your hope.
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