When I won't let my seven year old watch something on television I don't wait for her to ask why, I explain that somethings should remain private and that people do lots of things that are wrong for money. And that watching such things makes us part of the wrong.
That she can understand, that people act with bad motives and that she'll see many examples of it.
But most importantly I teach her by how I react to the vulgar and crass displays of sexuality.
And she also sees how her parents treat each other. Thereby we teach her what the relationship in marriage should be without having to say a word.
For certain children will be taught, the only question is by whom and what.
Don’t buy into ‘pop culture’. Don’t go to the mall and don’t watch TV (TV is much more loaded up with ‘porn’ these days) and don’t go to the movies.
Now the sleazy covers on magazines at the supermarket chekcout stand is a bit harder to avoid.
Guess I will also need the fire-suit after this one however...
Regardless of what you see in the malls and on television in the U.S., we remain one of the most puritanical countries on the face of the earth. So if we are so puritanical and go to such great extent to protect our children from such “filth” why is it the U.S. has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the world? Same goes for alcohol. We think we are doing such a great thing by keep the legal drinking age at 21, yet constantly we see cases of teenage binge drinking and resultant deaths.
There seems to be no understanding that children will invariably succumb to the “forbidden fruit” syndrome. That which you try to shield them from will be that which they seek out. Education and open explanation about sex and alcohol are the key to protecting children and ensuring a normal development. Kids are not stupid, they can handle the truth.
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting with my wife in a pizza place here in Moldova (a former Soviet Republic). Three boys, none of which could have been a day over 15 came in, ordered a pizza and each had a beer. They sat there, talked, laughed, ate the pizza and drank their beer, paid, and left. The uncle of my wife is an Orthodox priest in a small village, we were there this weekend and I asked him about the attitude here regarding young people and alcohol, and told him about the kids in the pizza place. He said he has seen families in his village who absolutely forbade their children from any alcohol, and that the rate of alcoholism in those families was terrible.
The advertising here is much more open and revealing than in the U.S. regarding nudity, yet there are virtually no sex crimes. I am constantly amazed that small children here can safely put on their little back-pack and walk to school with no worry they will be bothered by “chester the molester”. In the states 12 and 14 year old kids have been abducted by perverts while walking alone to school, where here 7 year old kids walk a mile to school by themselves with no worry.
I am at this point convinced that the Puritanical attitudes, hiding the truth, and the creation of a “guilt complex” regarding the human body and sex by the religous community in the U.S. has created the monster it was seeking to prevent.
He shouldn’t ignore the topic with his children, that’s a huge mistake. He has to carefully and clearly, in age-appropriate language, tell them what they saw is wrong, and why, and focus on the truth about sex.
I can’t beleive he is just not saying anything to his children.
And don’t go to the mall.
He is right, porn and out of control sexualization of the culture is ruining children. And will get worse. Mothers have a hard time getting clothes for their little girls that don’t make them look like sluts.
We walked by the Victorias Secret in SouthCenter (now Westfield) mall with our four year old grandson. He pointed and said, “that lady is naked!”
Those “nude” manequins have caused us to boycott that mall. Just don’t go there any more.
There are so many things wrong with the mindset behind this statement that entire books on practical psychoanalysis could be written about the author.
It’s surprising how many on FR think out of control sexualization of society affecting children is perfectly all right, and anyone disturbed by it is a member of the Taliban.
At our mall this week there is a large advertisement poster by ABC family of this fifteen year-old with her large belly prominently displayed.
There's a fine line between dealing compassionately with 15 year old who gets pregnant and promoting pregnancy as a normal thing for a 15 year old.
ABC with the advertisement for their "Family Channel" show, crosses it.
I know most would find it shocking to even suggest such a thing, but surely there are specialty stores in your area. We only have a few malls here in the Tulsa area, but they are always crowded with screaming kids, obnoxious teenagers and oblivious parents. At least that's the way it was five years ago. That's the last time I went to one of those Orwellian hell holes and I ain't goin' back.
A few years ago I was walking down (Main Street, U.S.A.) in our medium-sized town with our nine-year-old son. We passed by a floor-to-ceiling glass window in an empty store front which had been rented for a month to display an art project. There in the window for all the world and every child in town to see were two white, life-sized plaster replicas of naked men hanging upside-down by their genitals.
Consider the impression this assault would have on young children, especially boys. My son was scared witless.
When I complained to the city council I was told "it's just art." The patronizing smugness could be cut with a knife. I suppose they were saving that image for the next "art" exhibit.
Thankfully, the empty store front became a GAP. That's progress, of a sort.
Victoria’s Secret is a Lingerie store. It would make sense that the advertisements would be models wearing lingerie...if they wore turtlenecks it would be a bit strange no? Also, I have yet to see a Victoria Secret store display that is “pornographic”....
Similar commercials are one of the main reasons our kids very rarely watch TV. And when we do let them watch TV (maybe an hour a month), they're not allowed to watch commercials. We may just cancel cable.
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This is a very interesting discussion. The comment was made that "human beings are just animals" and this is indeed the crux of the matter. If human beings are just animals, just chemicals, just dirt, then there is no absolute foundation for morality. If it feels good, do it is the order of the day. And the very next step is The Big Dog Makes the Rules and if the little dog doesn't like them, too bad.
There is no neutral ground here. Rules and laws are based on morality. The canard of liber(al)tarian philosophy that morality has no place in legislation is false. Laws are based on morality - no lying, no stealing, no assault, no murder, no rape, no kidnapping, etc - all based on morality. What some people object to is sexual morality. They want an "anything goes" society with free rein on behavior and promotion and acceptance of such behavior.
There are several problems with this worldview. One, since no sexual experience is completely gratifying, if sexual behavior is not confined by any traditional (aka "real") morals, then gratification divorced from marriage, commitment, love and family becomes more and more prevalent, and more and more extremes are sought. Sex without love and commitment and family degrades the inviduals and thus society as a whole. And who is the most destroyed by a sexually libertine culture? Children. This is obvious.
So, the world view that "we are just animals" is the offspring of Marx, Freud, Darwin and other "great" materialist thinkers of the last century, and there is a war between their bleak, one dimensional, godless and soulless world view, and the world view of theism.
Make no mistake, there is no neutral ground. Either society is founded upon morality which springs from the great monotheist religions of the world (and I include Hindu scriptures as it is in actuality a monotheist religion, and even Buddhism, since it is also founded originally upon Hindu scripture - but particularly the Judeo-Christian) or it is based on "we're just animals and so The Big Dog Wins".
This explains why the homosexual agenda, the free sex/Planned Parenthood agenda, the evolution must be taught as the Absolute Truth with no mention of any planner agenda, elimination of any prayer or mention of God in public agenda - are being pushed upon society with such vigor. They do not want acceptance, tolerance or even equal time. They want a society of beasts, with all mention of God and His laws hidden in the dark corners, in secret. If we tremble with fear and swallow the lie that that atheism and immorality should be the default cultural standard, then the outcome is going to be a violent saturnalia of perversion, excess, exploitation and death that cannot be imagined.
Do NOT have the author of this article fly into the Munich airport.
Had just landed, was walking to the restroom while the wife and kids were getting a bite to eat, when I walked past a display of, hmmm, how shall I say?, products designed for the female of the species for those times when desire is stronger than the fact that they are alone.
Was that subtle enough? Way more than the display on the main concourse of the airport.
The only solution is to be the example of rising above it all. Children will see that and learn , and later in life appreciate real happiness. Even though they will make mistakes, they will rise above it all and will most likely raise their own happy family.
Hear! Hear!