Today has left me scratching my head. When did we decide that the rest of society has to parent our kids instead of parents just doing it themselves?
I've been reading some blogs today that worry me for the children of our future. I know that I'm forty-something now and my kids aren't toddlers, but I see so many kids growing up with this idea that they are entitled to everything. I've often wondered where this idea of entitlement comes from. Now, I think I know.
It starts out with this idea that you have to change the whole class because your child is a little different. Maybe they have an allergy or something, but this sense of everyone bowing down to them seems to go on from there.
I have raised my kids and instilled in them the values that I believe are right and correct for them to have. They're the ones that I hold dear to my heart. They may not be the same as yours, but to be blunt, I don't give a crap.
Today, though, I read a couple of blogs I normally read and was just kind of bewildered. Yes, the FCC is considering loosening up its standards when it comes to profanity and nudity. The standards that have been in effect for decades aren't really in line with real life today. If you do a little research, you'll see that the REASON the FCC is considering the changes has to do with a little thing called the First Amendment and a little group of people called THE SUPREME COURT.
Yes, it seems the Supreme Court(remember them?) decided that the FCC had been wrong to fine certain networks for allowing Nicole Richie to drop the F-Bomb during an awards show and there was an issue with showing someone's butt on NYPD Blue. Hey, remember THAT show? As I recall, it won a ton of awards.
Anyway, to be honest, the outcry I've seen on a few sites today made me think that these moms who desperately need to "protect" their children believe that if the FCC loosens up, we'll have "F*cking With the Stars" instead of Dancing with the Stars and Dora will be naked on Nickelodeon.
Here's the truth, plain and simple. If you don't want your kids to hear so-called bad words, that's your right. Monitor what they watch on TV. There are enough network channels geared to young children that at any given time of day or night, you can find something acceptable for a child to watch and if you are NOT paying attention to what your kids are watching, that's an issue right there.
Don't decide that the WORLD has to meet your standards, whatever they may be. My kids heard the f-bomb before they turned 2. Did it scar them for life? Hell, no. My kids know what is appropriate and what isn't. I didn't beat them for words. We talked about how words have meaning and that you should use "better" words to convey your emotions. Hey, it worked for us, but maybe my kids are just smarter than the average kids out there? I don't feel I need to shelter them from life.
My kids also never got the idea that they were more important than anyone else. I read a STFU parents post today and just couldn't get over it. I know nut allergies are real, but here's the thing, if your child has a severe nut allergy, please don't expect the school or other parents to be responsible! It is YOUR responsibility to take care of your child, not mine. IF your kid has a nut allergy, I would never in a million years knowingly expose him to something with nuts, but I also don't know every single thing that has a nut in it. I don't know every single thing that could potentially kill her.
That's why it is YOUR job to teach YOUR child to never take food from anyone else. To never touch surfaces that MIGHT have residue and then put their hands in their mouths. To NEVER pick up food off the ground and eat it.
That is not MY job. MY job is to take care of my kids. We had a child with a nut allergy in one of my children's classes. We were very lucky that the parents were cool and understanding. They never demanded a nut free classroom which was a good thing because there was a year when my daughter would basically eat nothing but peanut butter and jelly. I'm not joking with you. My child would have probably starved if you'd said no peanut butter allowed.
You say, "oh, she would have eventually eaten something." No, not really. You don't know her. She wouldn't have eaten all day at school and I would have spent a year stressing and worrying that she wasn't eating.
Instead, that understanding family simply asked that she sit at a separate table for snacks and lunch. The teacher was great about checking snacks and the child had a couple of friends whose parents did go nut free so that the child was never sitting alone.
Now, that is how you handle it.
You don't say "Your child can't have nuts because my child might get sick."
Parents, we MUST teach our children to cope. We have to teach them how to be independent and how to SURVIVE on their own. If you do that, they won't turn out to be a generation of whiny, self-entitled brats.
