My time in actively raising children is done as my daughters will be 25 and 21 this year and I have done all the damage I could do to them by now. At least these are two women who are as well versed in comic book lore as anyone can be, but that's a tangent.
I was recently reading an article about young girls (13 - 16 age) wearing extremely or very provocative sexy clothing. The article is about posting said pictures on myspace and other similar forums. The discussion was is this a bad thing, is it just girls acting out and will this set women back and make themselves think of themselves as only sex objects.
As I read all of the back and forth and the pros and cons of the various positions I realized that as a parent you have to make the best choices you can and hope to god you are right. The problem with all of these types of articles is that in a global scale a valid point could be made and maybe a conclusion can be drawn that girls are just playing dress up at that age and as surveys show early teen sex activity is down you should not worry about it. The problem is each child is an individual and you have to raise them as such. For one girl it maybe dress up, for another it could be a sign she wants to be sexual active or be more active.
With all the various ways to communicate and areas where children can find information the ability to allow our kids a chance to live in a naive and idyllic life seems to be shortened.
I think it is harder to raise children now then it has ever been before in the United States. For the most part we are past the physical struggles of survival, food, clothing and shelter, so that all the needs we have to address are more and more esoteric then before.
So good luck to Airelle, Lee and Shawn as your children are either infants or very young and that is a tough road ahead. Still the rewards are also fantastic.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Raising Children - First Water
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Hah! Thanks - I tease my husband about when we have girls, because it clearly worries him. He said he doesn't think he wants hotties for daughters - though he doesn't want them to be mules, either.
ReplyDeleteYour daughter also thinks it will be funny when Mike has daughters, because they'll make him have tea parties and kiss dollies.
I don't even know what it is like to raise a son, but I enjoyed raising my two girls.
ReplyDeleteoh my god... I'm so old =/
ReplyDeleteI can't wait until Mike and Arielle have girls, it'll be hilarious! Mike will cry when the become teenagers.
With an 8 year old daughter and a 5 year old son (5 1/2, as he'll be sure to point out), I'm constantly amazed by how much of what's going on in raising them reminds me of things when I was a kid. In fact, the most challenging thing I've seen so far is school. And not from a safety sort of stand point. They have a lot more to learn at an earlier age than I remember. But the social interactions and the silly little songs and games are often times re-treads of my own childhood.
ReplyDeleteVery good point on the individualized child rearing. You can never raise a child based on studies and books. Each kid is entirely different from every other kid.