The No Kool Aid Zone

Parents Losing Their Minds (Not to Mention Backbones)

Posted by Byron May 8, 2005 at 8:54 pm
Filed Under In a Handbasket | 1 Comment |

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today published a front-page piece entitled, “Is Childhood Becoming Oversexed?” The header featured a picture of a “Bratz” doll; I’ve seen these things around, of course, and apparently, these little tarts are giving wholesome ole Barbie a run for her money among our children. The article states that these dolls are “flirtatious looking”, and I’ll have to agree, and then it goes on to talk about the existence of “thong underwear emblazoned with sexually suggestive phrases for 6-year-old girls; ‘pimp’ costumes for little boys”, and so on.

Then, it references a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation which found that most American children age 8 and above have TVs in their bedrooms and no parental rules about what to watch, and lists among the most popular shows for children ages 2-11 “Desperate Housewives”.

Soak that in for a minute…

The marketers, of course, want to throw all of the responsibility onto parents (and, of course, parents bear the weight of it); one mouthpiece for the marketing industry says that “kids are looking for parents to tell them what is right and what is wrong”, which is true, of course…but apparently, this depraved individual seems to think this absolves his industry of any responsibility whatsoever. Apparently, as long as parents are willing to turn a blind eye to the sewage being foisted upon our children, these opportunistic, make-a-buck-regardless pimps will continue to push the boundaries.

But the fact does remain that the buck stops at home, with Mom and Dad. Why are parents such wimps today? When will we regain our moral sanity and backbone, and say, “no, not in my house, not now, not ever” to our children, who are, as the man said, looking to us for moral leadership?