Posted on 03/16/2002 7:16:29 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Edited on 04/13/2004 1:39:20 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Picture the mating rites of middle-schoolers. Perhaps you imagine hand-holding and first kisses, girls trying out eye shadow, boys sneaking a peek at vulgar men's magazines.
The list goes on. Middle schools that used to do without dress codes now must send home exhaustive inventories of forbidden garments, from tube tops to too-low hip-huggers. Schools that used to handle crude language on a case-by-case basis now must have ''no-profanity'' policies. And sexual-harassment training is a normal part of middle-school curriculum.
(Excerpt) Read more at usatoday.com ...
On the serious side, anyone have these problems? Concerned about the possibility? Need assistance in guidance? Feel the story is off base?...
It all comes down to the morals of the parents. It is the beginning part of it. Then the next stop is the schools. Morals are dwindling away.
I feel that you are being overly optimistic.
Everywhere in the article they talk about how the media images are causing teens to act out in sexual ways. Except when it comes to oral sex rates. That is from all that abstinence teaching.
It couldn't be x42's wall to wall advertising of oral sex for a year.
Well, DUH.....why don't the teachers TELL their PARENTS or do something about it?
I use this example when people say that games/movies/songs don't make kids do bad stuff.
Why do they call it "Mood Music" if it wouldn't put you in the mood? If gospel music can be uplifting, if love songs make you want to hold your sweetie tight, if songs can do all that why can't they make you angry or depressed enough to hurt others or yourself?
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An excellent argument for ditching the TV and dropping subscriptions to those magazines.
Our children are still very young, but my wife and I are already doing what we can to prepare them (and ourselves) for their teenage years. One of the most important steps we have taken is to control the sounds and images we allow into the home. That means no cable TV, no network TV, no videos rated R or PG-13. (And lately, we have been avoiding recent PG movies because the standards have slipped so much.) We also bought a device that filters out bad language which is increasingly heard even in "family" movies.
We have also taken some positive steps. We have a good selection of children's videos that we have carefully pre-screened. We rent a lot of films from the 1930s through the mid-1960s. We play good music, especially classical music. (My mother-in-law is a concert pianist, so we often play her recordings of Chopin.) And we read good books.
''When you get down to what's right or wrong, popular culture is going to have an influence, but the stronger internal voice comes from you,'' she says.
That only works if you have taken the trouble to help your children develop that inner voice. From her comments (below), I have my doubts about this paricular mother.
Becher admits that setting limits and encouraging independence can be a real balancing act. When her own 13-year-old daughter dressed for a dance in a pair of ''those nasty hip-huggers'' and a short top, Becher says, she asked her to think how she'd look when ''she was waving her arms around on the dance floor.'' But she didn't make her daughter change. ''You've got to pick your battles,'' she says.
No! You do not "pick your battles. That only ensures that there will be many more battles. You must set your standards -- the clearer the better -- and insist that they be observed.
On the other hand, however, sexual situations are not as all encompassing in that most children cannot differentiate between it being any different than real life. Sure, some may, but sex is a part of life. They know this, for they have parents. However, the way sex is portrayed, out of marriage, etc., is what is seriously warping their minds, and what is confusing them about the issue. That is, they not only view what they see as being realistic, but they also have a distorted view; one Hollywood has dessiminated.
If it were up to me, blatant sexual scenes would be eliminated out of all Prime-Time television shows, as well as all movies directed towards Teens. However, the media is run by greed, and if it means showing degenerate stuff, they'll do it. It's absurd, and it, along with sorry parenting, is resulting in a generation of hedonistic individuals.
It doesn't say what planet she was from, but my comment to her would be that when God blesses you with a child, it is your responsiblity to ensure that your child is raised knowing God and the difference between right and wrong.
I fear there are too many parents who think that worrying will solve or prevent a problem. No, playing an active, unselfish, positive, loving, moral role in the rearing of your child solves and prevents problems, IMHO.
The sublime irony is that the human species will thus have come full circle: from animal indulging in blind sexual urges, to sentient being aware of his/her own mortality, to a philosophical animal seeking the answer to existence, to (i hope, at least PARTIALLY sentient) animal trying to fire off a select set of neurons in the brain strictly for amusement.
It makes me extremely depressed that so many fall for the urge to have sex without asking or wondering or appreciating what force has created this fantastic apparatus called the human body, where a few neurons in the brain can so affect the behaviour of a being that is supposed to be able to reason.
Too bad there isn't a licensing requirement to become a parent.
Well I want to know WHO BOUGHT THE CLOTHES for her daughter? The woman says she has to pick her battles, well what does she think is WORTH fighting for? If she doesn't want her daughter to be perceived as a slut, then she shouldn't let her DRESS like one! I am continually amazed at these parents who shrug "what can you do?" THEY ARE THE PARENTS! They have to take the lead and that means taking the heat from their kids sometimes. But GOD FORBID they should be thought of as NOT COOL! That would be the death knell for a baby boomer parent who has never grown out of being influenced by peer pressure.
No there is nothing new here. The sexual revoulution of the 60's was a resounding and instant success. We killed our culture for pleasure of sex, and now we can't understand why our kids are the way they are.
I'll tell you why they are the way they are. My generation never considered growing up as a goal.
It's easy for 14 year olds to act like adults, when the adults act like they are 14 years old.
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