On a day like today, which will be taught in history classes of the future, I wonder what kind of world my kids will inherit as adults. What will be the same? What will be different? What will be better? What will be worse? How in the world do I prepare them for it? How do I make them "as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves"? (Matt. 10:16)
Here we see Baby Jay. So cute! So innocent playing with his daddy's hat! And when I went to look up the song that was most popular the day of his birth (See Sherri's Matter of Fact blog), it was "I Kissed A Girl." A song about a girl who gets drunk and experiments with homosexuality, saying, "Ain't no big deal, it's innocent." Hmmmmm..... I'm not even going to go into what the Bible says about homosexuality. That's not my point with this. What I find most disturbing is that sexuality is treated as no big deal, and is it me, or did the definition of "innocent" just change? And sure, I can keep my kids from listening to radio stations that play songs I don't like, but I can't keep them from the six year old I saw at the youth center last week who had this song on her mp3 player and was singing it at the top of her lungs. It makes me incredibly sad the messages we feed our children about sex in this country. I am pretty sure I am going to have to have a sex talk with my daughter before she goes to kindergarten.
Parenting is a tough job. Lots and lots of prayer is involved.
9 comments:
We're right there with you, Beth. I'm glad the kids have such good friends to be around in our church family, because a lot of the rest of the world scares me.
Yeah! I can comment again!
I totally agree about the sex thing.
I sing at weddings, and one in particular a couple of years ago, I stayed later at the reception than I normally do as so many old friends were there to catch up with.
That was the first time I saw the "Bump and Grind" dance they were all "doing" to each other. Rubbing butts into private areas for the world to see! (Excuse me, but really, how else do you say it?)
I went home that night, to two of my sons and explained the dance that horrified me and they said, That's how EVERYBODY dances!
I said, "Do you?" Of course they said well everybody BUT them, (probably were lyin'), but I told them, I don't care how old they are, even when they're 50, if I see them dance like that I will march out on the dance floor and pull them off!
WHat are people thinking? Christian people watching their kids doing this dance and seemed unphased by it.
If I see girls kissing on the dance floor, whether their mine or not, I'm pulling them off!
wv: rescu
Rescu me from this open vulgarity!
Larry...yeah...it scares me too, but mostly I just get really sad for those who grow up with such a warped perspective. It's like they never even get a chance to see anything done right and then they get the consequences for choosing all the wrong things. I'm thankful that my kids have friends at church, too, who have their heads filled with Godly stuff!
Sherri- Yay! I think I fixed the comment thing all by myself! Ahhh...the Bump and Grind...yuck. Although Frank and I did dance to Love Shack at our wedding. Hope we didn't kill the pastor with that one.
Anyway, I rarely write out of shock and anger, but when I looked up the lyrics to that song it's like I suddenly saw how very very very very desensitized music has become. How does your son deal with all that?
Very sad, Beth. I had the talk with my first daughter before third grade. Fortunately she was (and still is) pretty innocent. Of course we're kinda hermits, so not a lot of exposure to pop music that's not on Radio Disney.
My kindergartener is still sheltered. I like it that way. And like you I wonder what it will be like for them when they're teens.
The number one song on the day I was born was Honkey Tonk Woman. I am 39 years old. I think as we become more mature, we pay more attention to the lyrics and find ourselves horrified. I gave up secular pop music for Lent one year after I found myself singing "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince (I was in my late twenties then, but a teen when the song first came out) and was shocked to realize the poem in the beginning denies God's relationship and love for the world. I had never listened before.
I saw the bump and grind at a wedding, too. Two men were dancing. Ewwww.
First of all let me say that is one of the cutest pics I have ever seen!
And about that song! This is how clueless I can be... I had heard it several times (not the whole thing-just bits 'n pieces) and it suddenly dawned on me... and I asked my youngest son (13y/o), "Isn't that a girl singing?" to which he replies, "Duh, Mom"-- that was the end of that! Not allowed! When he whined and said why not? I replied with, "Well, Duh!" And we had to have the talk (again) about what our Lord has to say about homosexuality. *sigh* It makes me very sad and scared to think about where this world is headed...
Yes, the definition of innocent does change. We move the bar that measures deviancy downward, when enough people do something that used to be considered deviant. I think you've got the right idea about the sex talk. Don't let the schools win out and brainwash your kids!
The song that was popular when Rachel was born was "Bootylicious" - ugh!
My friend was helping me paint yesterday, and the topic of promiscuity came up. She got pregnant when she was 17 and married the father. They had 2 more kids and had a very rocky marriage for years that eventually ended in divorce. What struck me about our conversation was that she said the reason she was so promiscuous was NOT because her parents were bad examples, but because they never sat down and explained that sex was supposed to be a beautiful thing shared between a man and wife; that it was sacred, not just something to be taken lightly. Sometimes I assume because my kids are being raised in a Christian home that they will learn these things through osmosis or something. But I send them off to school every day where they are surrounded by kids who don't know Jesus. Even though it makes me sad that I have to talk to my kids at such young ages, the alternative is just unacceptable.
No matter how popular culture attempts to spin it, casual sex degrades the sanctity of a beautiful, intimate act that should be a gift shared between a husband and wife. Outside of that, it often damages self respect and respect for others.
Well said, Kathy!
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