I thought this would be the best place to put this, because it may be a bit "angry" for the mature section because it is a general rant, but I want to hear other's opinions on the matter. Parenting is a nearly universal experience. If you had at least one parent growing up or have children yourself, then you know most of what I'm going to talk about. Basically, it is getting worse and as a result, children are growing up in a world that explodes in their faces once they get a good look at it. Parents need to be up front and personal with their children. They must be the teachers in order to establish that trusting bond between parent and offspring. The major problem is that people everywhere in any position try to find new, easier, more efficient methods of going about their everyday lives. This is bad when it is applied to parenting. Did you see someone smoking on televsion and now your child may be tainted? OH MY GOD! Call your congressman, he'll deal with it right away . . . get serious here. In my home town, there's a newstory floating around about a man who's pushing for a $10,000 fine for television that shows people smoking. That's bullshit, if your kids sees it, do what good parents do: EXPLAIN IT YOURSELF. The same with sex. Sex is everywhere in our country today whether it's right in your face or subliminally advertised. It is very important that kids learn about sex from their parents because it's a natural thing that is corrupted and exploited in today's media. Your son should be taught to respect others and to work hard for his pay. Your daughters should learn that they can be whoever they want and that their bodies do not have a price. Children often learn an awkward combination of things about sex and it can lead to possible dangers and trouble. For example, I want to make sure that any children I have in the future know that love, sex, and relationships are special, that they are wonderful things but should not be treated like your clothes, being changed every week. If you really want to look at it another way, you're letting the media teach your children everything. Well guess what, if you let TV, books, the government, or any other source that is not the parent of the child, then he's/she's not your child anymore. Like I mentioned in the beginning, you must create that binding of belief and trust that is so vital between children and mothers and fathers because it lets the child know that he/she can tell the parents anything. Whining to the FCC everytime something "violent", "provacative", or "inappropriate" is on televsion, the radio, the internet, movies, music, or video games. That's a lot of different media mediums to scan over continuously. The government cannot do everything, you need to be there for the child to teach him/her right from wrong and true from false. A lot of anger from parents is geared towards video games and TV these days. Sex, drugs, violence, and rap music are everywhere and parents are on constant guard of their children. Some parents completely sterilize their children and don't let them witness any of these things. Don't get me wrong, I do not support violent r-rated television for children, I just think it's more damaging for them to not see any rather than to witness a brief glimpse of say, a foil covered breast. Does that nipple-ring any bells? The world will explode in their faces if they do not know of any of this. It will be some dark day where the child learns that he/she has been blocked from so much in the world, that they've been held back, and that they were denied full access to the world. Unfortunately, this usually happens in teenage years, when rebelling against authority and acting like you know everything are cool pastimes. However, the issue of violence in video games is a touchy one and the hip and trendy thing to babble about if you're a politician. I just don't see the issue. If the game is violent, you do not buy it. If they play one anyways, you talk with them and make sure that they know it's fantasy and that it is very unreal. Now I'm not a parent, but I witnessed my parents raise (I helped a bit too) my three siblings and I saw how they worked, the obstacles they faced, and the joys they got. They had to decide when it was right to talk to us about drugs and why we shouldn't do them. We had to learn why it was wrong to imitate TV and how it was wrong. I believe my parents did an exemplary job of raising us. It doesn't make it perfect, but they did what most parents today don't: they TALKED. They knew my siblings and I. We weren't just shuffled back and forth from daily activities, pumped full of ritalin and tossed into bed, we were treated like actual breathing people. More to add later, I have to leave for now. Parenting discussion begin!
I do not think many people will have something to discuss, since most people will probably agree with you.
Just parenting in general, perhaps how you plan to teach your children things? Perhaps related stories of successful/failed parenting? Anything on the subject really. The rant was just meant to open up the topic to discussion.
not to mention most people see a post including more then a single paragraph and browse over the topic. I can't agree entirely. I said it often my self, the present generation - often associated with negative imagery - is only a reflection of a previous generation. Honestly I don't think there is much of a difference between my time and my (grand)mothers. the way I see things, history still repeats itself, only in a different form. Rap music for example maybe considered the R&B or Jazz of yesterday. I can't agree the media hasn't influenced our youth. Many children often idolize unrealistic figures, and not all of them have bad parents. I can think of a lot of kids that have parents, involved with their lives, and yet their sons/daughters still lead a stray. It's a fact, children with two parents are more likely to be successful, but sometimes a small amount of influence is all you need to send a person completely off track. That shit about suing stations for airing programs featuring characters smoking cigs is crazy. =\ Nothing is as bad as blaming media for obesity, tho. > < edit: depending on the threads progress I may move it to MD
Hey Merc, did you read my rant on people taking things too seriously before you posted this? Because I agree with everything you've said.
How could I have? This was posted a day before your rant. That's kind of awkwardly worded, what do you mean? I never said the media doesn't influence our youth.
I dont recall Merc saying that either, considering the media is one of the big influences of the youth in this country, and most other Western countires.
It was a typo if you read anything that suggested that. It would just be ignorant to say that the media doesn't influence. As much as you may hear "be yourself," it's impossible because of all the outside influences and nobody can just "be themselves."
When you mentioned parents centered blame on television, I assumed you thought t.v. wasn't responsible for anything.
I think some parents try to over emphaize the affects video games and television have on their children. Instead of just now allowing their children to not watch something, then try to get it banned, I swear.
