I was relating to some friends about how my sister at age 7 was singing “I Kissed A Girl” by Katy Perry.
One friend argued that it wasn’t going to turn my sister lesbian or anything, and the song wasn’t even a song about being lesbian. Yes, I know that, but the fact that my little sister who hasn’t even moved up to the upper grades of elementary school is singing it bothers me.
She also said that little kids aren’t so innocent anyway, and that anything we did wouldn’t influence them. Granted that kids are little munchkins, but I have to disagree and say that what we do DOES influence them and we influence them a lot.
As the eldest, I watched my brother and sister grow up, and even though I went through the normal stages of acting like I was too old to do anything they wanted, or teasing them about every little thing, I thought a lot about how they would grow up. I didn’t want them to turn out impolite or disrespectful. I wanted them to get excited about education, and not just focus on what’s the latest game or fashion trend. My siblings have reached a medium with these things, I guess. My brother likes to play video games, but he loves math as well. My sister hasn’t been in school long enough to know what she’s got a knack for, and for now she loves to play the quintessential dress up and be the ball of energy she always is.
But I’m scared of the other things that happen around them. My sister is always watching the variety shows on GMA( Philippines main channel) as well as the comedy shows. The dancing, singing, and acting that she picks up is incredible to fathom at that early of an age. She dances like an early Britney spears, with the choreography (not with the outfits) and is very dramatic in her re-enactments. Sometimes she gets so caught up in whatever is on TV that she doesn’t know that it’s just acting and not something in reality.
I’m always telling them things that a mom would say. “Wash your hands before you eat.” “Finish your homework.” “Don’t talk to Mom (or Dad) like that!” It’s a bit weird, considering I’m just their big sister, but I’m overprotective. It’s also an experience thing. I want them to know the same things I learned, and the same things I went through, but I know that they’re different from me and they’ll learn at different times. No matter how many times I keep saying this to myself, I end up telling them some lesson or that they should have learned “this” and “that.” I’m just stubborn like that.
I get worried when I see shows like Total Drama Island on Cartoon Network and the variety of shows I won’t care to mention specifically on Nickleodeon and Disney Channel. Some shows were just meant to be on Noggin (channel for teens) and not on main kid networks. I understand that Cartoon Network has Adult Swim, but it has clear warnings at the beginning of the block and most kids should be in bed by 11. But times are changing. More and more each day things are created for kids to emulate the adult life and it makes me think of the childhood that they are replacing for synthetic adulthood. These shows have teens in stiletto heels, glitter make-up, tacky clothes, and bad stereotypes. Total Drama Island is a cartoon reality show that is like a Survivor for teens. The show specifically focuses on teen stereotypes in order to make the characters more memorable for the viewers. The geek, the jock, the pretty girl, the nerd…where does it stop? Why do we need to show the children of society some conformity, when we are supposed to be teaching them to break it. This show is rated PG and has a parental-discretion warning after every commercial break and at the beginning of the show. You would think PG is good enough for parents right? Yet the first episode I saw of the show had a scene where the challenge was to knock off the person holding onto a rope attached to a jet ski by riding fast. One of the girls was on a jet ski and turned around to cut off the rope. Her top (which was a bikini top) caught onto a branch and it came off. CAME OFF!! There was a moment where her pixelated chest is bare and then she covers herself. What kind of image is this trying to say?
I know I have no control over what kids watch, but they should know what is decent and what isn’t. Since when is it okay to put stripping into a kid show? Sex education is one thing, plain lewdness is another.
It’s the same thing with music, but it’s harder to control. Songs like “I Kissed A Girl” and various other songs have been out and about for a long time. Once it becomes a hit, there’s no stopping the song from hitting the radio waves, on stations that kids could be listening to. Yes, yes, there is Radio Disney, but they are bound to hear the song somewhere. What do kids think of when they hear these songs? Do they even know what the lyrics mean? I guess it comes down to the parents/guardians in their life. Control over exposure to these things is crucial, but sometimes things just slip by the cracks.
Do you think that the world has gotten careless in exposing children to things outside their age? Has it always been like this or have I just been naïve? Is there anything we can do?
No comments:
Post a Comment