Parents cautioned
An article titled “Teen Tweens: Today’s Youths Growing Up Faster’ was recently published in the newspaper. In the article, parents of today’s “tweens” talked about how fast children grow up compared to their generation. Being a teenager myself, I do agree that today’s children have access to things that should be off limits-whether it’s on television, the radio, or in their own home. What astounded me, though, was how so many of the parents are trying to shelter their children. To keep a child in this generation in the dark on subjects like sex and violence is almost impossible and instead of parents addressing the matter, they are making it worse by trying to protect their children. Don’t parents want to have “the talk” with their children before the kids learn it from their 9-year-old classmates at school? Music is a major issue among over-protective parents. I do not blame them one bit, though. When the radio is turned on, you’ll probably hear rap music with 90 percent of the lyrics (that you can actually understand) being curse words. I agree that action should be taken to limit the amount of violence and profanity that children can hear, but one woman in the article took it too far.
Claire Unterseher, a mother in Chicago, commented in the article with this statement:
“I think I bought my first Abba single when I was 13 or 14-and here my 7-year-old daughter wants me to download Kelly Clarkson all the time. Why are they so interested in all this adult stuff?”
Adult stuff? I suppose this woman knows nothing whatsoever about Ms. Clarkson. I do not think Kelly Clarkson could make her songs anymore G-rated! Out of all four albums she has recorded on, the only thing close to a curse word in her lyrics is the word “damn”. For goodness sakes, she has been on movie soundtracks such as “Ella Enchanted” and “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement”! She even recently sang at tributes for Reba McEntire and Tony Bennett. Is Tony Bennett a bad influence on 7-year-olds? Her songs have nothing to do with sex, drugs, or violence-they teach about real-life issues such as divorce and self-confidence. What more could a parent ask for in a role model?
A tip for today’s parents-sheltering your children from things will not force every other parent in the world to do the same. If you do not take the initiative to teach your children, one of their friends will. And as for Ms. Unterseher, music is a teacher in itself and it does not necessarily always teach negative things. You can try to shelter your children from the outside world, but please do not deprive them of culture and music.
Carol Fritz
Smithfield