Trust the Village and It'll be all right
Do you have any young kids? I do - two daughters. One ten and one five.
My ten year old is a willowy brown haired beauty. She’s feisty, opinionated and, thankfully, not that into popular culture. My wife and I can take credit for that. After all, today’s culture is poisonous. There’s no rap music in our home, no music videos on TV and no teen magazines with half naked teenage sexpots strutting their stuff. We don’t allow it.
Our youngest is a bundle of energy. Flaming red hair and a temperament to match. If you never believed in stereotypes before, my obstinate, red headed beauty will give you pause. She is everything you have ever heard about red heads and then some.
Being a dad these days is a tough go. There is so much out there that is contrary to any reasonable parent’s sensibilities and moral beliefs. Magazine covers in every storefront with half naked girls and women strutting their sexuality as if all they are is dependent on how sexed up they can look. Music videos that make it clear that if you don’t got the booty, you just ain’t happenin’. Horrible ebonic slang that ensures the marginalization of anyone who speaks it. Kids on commercials and TV shows that get to mouth off to their parents and stay up ‘till all hours of the night.
I worry. I worry about the culture we have created. I worry about the messages that our media is sending our kids. I worry about all the tired, sensitive, overworked, gutless parents who capitulate to their children’s whining demands to appease their own guilt. I have to compete with these parents. Every night I hear how so and so gets to stay up late and eat at McDonalds five times a week.
I remember reading that Hillary Clinton once said that it takes a village to raise a child. I don’t give her credit for this profound little gem. I’m certain it was said by someone before her. In fact it’s more or less a philosophical social staple for many parents these days who have too much on their minds to raise their own kids. And don’t doubt it, when these parents say “Village” they really mean "society". Of course, they don’t really expect the village (or society in general) to raise their children. They just want society to take some of the pesky parental and financial responsibilities off their hands so they aren't unduly inconvenienced by parenthood.
Hey there. Reality check. Society cannot raise your children in the same way you can. If you let your children listen to 50 cent and your daughters dress like whores, society will not protect them. In fact, society will only encourage them. Or haven’t you noticed?
Parents, if there’s a problem, it’s you. You have the power. Whatever your kids become is your responsibility. Sorry to have to break this to you, but society will always disappoint you. Especially today's valueless secular societal cesspool. Society isn’t equipped to care for your children or love your children or rescue your children from bad things. If anything, the opposite is true - we need to rescue our children from society.
Oh, and to all you socialists out there, please feel free to substitute the word "government" for the word "society" in any of the above text. Sorry.
My ten year old is a willowy brown haired beauty. She’s feisty, opinionated and, thankfully, not that into popular culture. My wife and I can take credit for that. After all, today’s culture is poisonous. There’s no rap music in our home, no music videos on TV and no teen magazines with half naked teenage sexpots strutting their stuff. We don’t allow it.
Our youngest is a bundle of energy. Flaming red hair and a temperament to match. If you never believed in stereotypes before, my obstinate, red headed beauty will give you pause. She is everything you have ever heard about red heads and then some.
Being a dad these days is a tough go. There is so much out there that is contrary to any reasonable parent’s sensibilities and moral beliefs. Magazine covers in every storefront with half naked girls and women strutting their sexuality as if all they are is dependent on how sexed up they can look. Music videos that make it clear that if you don’t got the booty, you just ain’t happenin’. Horrible ebonic slang that ensures the marginalization of anyone who speaks it. Kids on commercials and TV shows that get to mouth off to their parents and stay up ‘till all hours of the night.
I worry. I worry about the culture we have created. I worry about the messages that our media is sending our kids. I worry about all the tired, sensitive, overworked, gutless parents who capitulate to their children’s whining demands to appease their own guilt. I have to compete with these parents. Every night I hear how so and so gets to stay up late and eat at McDonalds five times a week.
I remember reading that Hillary Clinton once said that it takes a village to raise a child. I don’t give her credit for this profound little gem. I’m certain it was said by someone before her. In fact it’s more or less a philosophical social staple for many parents these days who have too much on their minds to raise their own kids. And don’t doubt it, when these parents say “Village” they really mean "society". Of course, they don’t really expect the village (or society in general) to raise their children. They just want society to take some of the pesky parental and financial responsibilities off their hands so they aren't unduly inconvenienced by parenthood.
Hey there. Reality check. Society cannot raise your children in the same way you can. If you let your children listen to 50 cent and your daughters dress like whores, society will not protect them. In fact, society will only encourage them. Or haven’t you noticed?
Parents, if there’s a problem, it’s you. You have the power. Whatever your kids become is your responsibility. Sorry to have to break this to you, but society will always disappoint you. Especially today's valueless secular societal cesspool. Society isn’t equipped to care for your children or love your children or rescue your children from bad things. If anything, the opposite is true - we need to rescue our children from society.
Oh, and to all you socialists out there, please feel free to substitute the word "government" for the word "society" in any of the above text. Sorry.
2 Comments:
Amen. While I see no problem with the village concept when you are talking about enforcing your moral values (for an extreme example, in a Hutterite or Amish colony), the only way our current "village" can help you is if you buy into the current trends, which I don't.
Get ready for so much more of the "but so-and-so gets to..." as it gets worse the older they get. The good news is, if you haven't set a precedent by caving yet, your child's expectation that it is a valid argument will be pretty low. Thank God.
Great post. I share your concerns. Too many parents allow their kids to do whatever they want and use well, they're going to do it anyway, better that I know about it as an excuse for not parenting.
(I know this comment is very late, but I'm just catching up on a lot of blog reading here.)
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