Defending the Truth

what a pitiful excuse for music

I like this song... I especially like it when I can get my girl & or her sister to dance to it... They both have some skills, but her sister is a stripper, and so can do a little something extra with the song.

This one gets changed by mom in the car all the time. Me being mom.

What music?

Music it is, but not music that anyone should let young people listen to.

Before age 15 it should simply be turned off. After that, the question of vulgarity and callousness should be raised. Should sex be that impersonal and dirty?

Sometimes you have to ask teens questions like that to really get it in their heads about a particular song.

Oh, believe me, I talk to my kids about everything. How can you not if you are a parent in a house with more than one television with cable, with more than one computer with access to the internet, or if the kids go to the library where there's computers with internet access, or you own a music system and so do they, or let your kids do anything at all with other kids.

If you want your kids to get the right information, rather than let the media or kids educated by the media educate them on values, you gotta talk to them. A lot of parents fall prey to it, saying they're just going with the flow or keeping up with the times, so it really is important to keep the communication going. Really because you cannot keep kids away from other kids, and they talk about everything.

And... yes, they do listen, even if they disagree sometimes. Other times, it's just a stage, like the goth stage, the baggy stage, the name brand across the chest or butt stage, the "are you sure there's enough unripped cloth to hold those jeans together" stage. (We've seen a lot of stages, they can be quite entertaining).

And it really feels good when you see them rise above the influence of pop-culture and show who they truly are, or when they make decisions not to be followers of the crowd, even at the stake of being left out. Those are proud moments.

You would be surprised at how many parents DON'T talk to their kids about things, much less music lyrics.

Unfortunately many parents don't see that their kids are rising above negative influence.

Sometimes, with teens, it's a bit of a game...

I remember one time when our elder son decided that he was going to be ornery. I asked him where he was going, he said 'out.' I asked him what he was going to do, he said 'whatever' and I asked him who he was going with and he said 'friends.' I objected to his one word answers

Right about that time, his elder sister came in and said 'I thought that you said you were going to the library.' He shot her a dirty look (I saw it) but I turned around and said 'Huh? What did you say?' ( heard the whole thing, mind you) He said 'nothing' and headed out.

He was at the library... I called.

Unfortunately a lot of parents don't take that level of interest and they don't find ways to accomodate their children's need to rebel.

Yeah, we check up on them too! Ah, that's great!