It’s About Making Babies!

If you believe what you see in television shows and commercials, or what you see in today’s middle and high schools, we are apparently raising a generation of kids interested in carreers in the sex industry.

How can a parent choose clothing for eight (8) year olds and younger that emphasize sexual desirability? How can we let our kids get tattoos and body piercings? Granted, when I was in school, tattoos were mostly for guys in the military (i.e., away from the folks). Today the ‘tasteful’ butterfly or rose on the breast, buttock, or other area to advertise, undeniably, that at least one person (the tattoo artist) has been there before. That is right — this is sexually oriented.

If we are concerned about our children learning to lead a moral life, we cannot just tell them ‘avoid xxx’. We have to demonstrate that the values we advocate are the values we live by. Instead of watching the sex-driven Superbowl half time show, we should be *working* at tasks which use our kids in a productive manner while sharing a task with their parents. Instead of letting the kid go ’shopping’, ‘cruising’, or ‘hanging out’ — have the kids over for an adult-present family event — watch TV, play board games, paint a dog house.

Making babies, together with raising children, is good. This accomplishment is necessary for society, and a reward and challenge for the individual. The problem is that sex as entertainment or advertising is deceptive — it promises, tantalizes, teases. When we practice sexually related advertising, tell jokes, or dress revealingly, we teach our kids: a) to deceive, to break respect and break promises, to evade responsibility for our actions; b) that sex sells, that sexually related feelings and urges are important *of themselves* without regard to personal consequences or risks of disease or pregnancy; c) That the family-building that goes with making babies, honor and integrity are non-issues.

Let us restrict sexual topics to making babies, and to selecting mates.

Brad K.