Remember when you were little and wanted that troll doll? Or when your child really really wanted that Razor scooter? How did kids learn about this stuff and come to crave it so? ADVERTISING and TV and an overdose of media/video influence!! I am so sick and tired of the excuse that Tv/Media/video games do not have an influence on our children. Then why are our kids so numb to violence? Why is it okay to have lines of coke and scanty bodies on TV? My daughter was watching MTV at 330pm on a Saturday. What was it about? A bisexual making out!! I am not a prude nor am I judging peoples lifestyles. But when is enough, enough?

There is no point in sheltering your kids. What difference does it make if they learn at age 12 or age 16. If I told my parents all the things i know about sex they would be shocked. Kids just learn. Relationships don't start at age 15 they start at age 11. Trust me I'm 11

I agree, brown_eyed_girl isolating your kids from everything thats happening in the POPULAR-culture world is definitely not the way to go. people like to have things in common with others and its a good way to make new friends, so when someone is completely out of the loop people become outcasts or its awkward talking to people when the conversation is about maybe a movie, tv show, book, video game or anything that a lot of people know about and enjoy. Im not saying just let them do anything and if they know the dangers of doing something and they're old enough to know about it chances are that they wont do it.

brown_eyed_girl, I'm sorry to say that your children will be totally lost as they get older.

Take it froma thirteen year old who's always been very sheltered. When kids start talking about sex and movies that you're not allowed to see you feel so disconcerted. When kids are extremely naive, they can be easily taken advantage of. So think twice before completely cutting your kids off from the media. While a good decision short-term, it's very detrimental in the long-run.

Exactly. I wish there was a way to post very loud applause.

No, but you parents are more concerned about sex than violence, which is quite a shame. Why is it, in America at least, sex seen as so much worse than violence? Sex is the creation of pleasure, and sometimes life. Violence leads to hate, cursing, screaming, fighting, and death. For example, my mom sees a game that has horrible levels of gory, all out violence, she lets me buy it without question. Then say another game, with very little violence, but just a bit of sexual themes (mild to average), she goes all out on me saying that it's "not appropriate"?

I really don't see where "sexting" goes wrong. And does anybody know how that name came up cause i'm 16 and all me and my friends said was "Hey did you get that pic of the hot senior girl. She was completely naked. It was tight." Now i here the news saying that kids say "hey do want you want to sext." I wanna know what retard came up with that name. And you parents should be more worried about sex being taught in school. I'm not sure if you've seen it but i've seen "The Miracle Of Life" video in 8th grade and 10th grade. You should be worried about that cause it shows some ugly lady with a hairy V having a baby coming out. At first it just looks like a normal V with a lot of really nasty pubes, but then you see a head pop out of a hole that i didn't know could actually go that wide. So you should be more concerned about that than "sexting." Oh and also kids don't need "sexting" to see naked girls. All it takes is a great weekend party and a lot of alcohol. Well not that much cause a lot of these kids are lightweights. It takes a high school girl like 3 drinks now and then shes got you in a bathroom. Maybe you parents should try and make it so it takes girls more drinks to get drunk so this stuff stops happening. I'm getting tired of going to a party and having drunk girls every 30 minutes after the party started. It takes me 10 drinks to start feeling a little buzz. So parents you should start prepping your girls so they can be heavy drinkers and then they'll be able to think about what's ganna come out of them taking the picture.

There must be a parenting that goes beyond television.. children must be taught their moral values from birth. Often parents wait for television to present an image and then the parent explains. This is too late. Yes..the child should be instructed about what is going on the show..it is better to watch it with them and explain but the core values must be presented from birth.
Teens are cutting and self harming and parents have no clue http://spirithappy.wordpress.com
We work with depressed and suicidal teens http://suiciderateup.wordpress.com
..media is a strong negative image on many of these depressed teens often.
You have to guard the children deeply these days

I have to agree that this is about good parenting, not about political perspectives. I'm politically liberal. My kids were not permitted to watch TV until they were 12, mostly so they'd become voracious readers, but also because it's addictive and a slippery slope -- yes, we do become numb to the constant violence and sexual references, not to mention the emphasis on consumption.

I would never let my 13 year old daughter watch Gossip Girl. I'm often taken aback at the choices that her peers' parents make -- not just watching GG and other sexually exploitative, shallow presentations of women, but sending their tween daughters to school and social events in extremely revealing clothing, for instance.

Of course, my high school senior son, who never had any interest in TV until this year, now watches GG regularly, because it's filmed near his school and all the kids in his grade watch it. In the beginning I watched with him but he not unreasonably found my comments tiresome, so I give him his privacy. We still have plenty of conversations about values and choices, but I've had my chance for input regarding media. Now I get to watch the results!

Dr. Laura Markham
AhaParenting.com

Agree with Brown Eyed Girl. We've never had cable and due to poor reception, basically just get PBS and one main broadcast. My kid just reads, does art, helps me bake or cook, etc. We only go to select movies. If there is adult content, we discuss it. I am more worried about teens (including my high school students) creating child pornography that will live forever on the internet, possibly sent with identifying info that will put the photo's subject at risk of stalking. Sexting teens don't seem to understand that what starts out as a little gift to one's current boyfriend/girlfriend ends up reproduced, posted on porn sites and used as revenge tactics after the romance breaks up- for years to come.

I will be the first to admit that my eyes "bug-out" (to use my kids' language) at the first sign of racy sexual content or questionable language that seems (IMHO) completely out of place in a "family" TV show or Movie.

I also would prefer it if "I" didn't feel so uncomfortable when my kids watching some of these scenes (half-naked flawless-looking gorgeous young people kissing and making out) that relay all sort of conflicting messages about sex, fitting in, being cool, being liked, etc, etc.

But when I sleep over it and consider what "my" reactions are about, I soon realize that they have a lot more to do with my own attitudes about sex and language. I come to realize that I grew up in a very different time and place and that the values that I learned to love and live by are NOT the values that our kids have or are expose to today.

For better and worse, we live in a very different world than when we were kids 3 decades ago.
One of my main objectives I set for myself when I first became a Mom was not to become my Mom.

I still remember my Mom's eyes and attitudes when we were watched "Guess who's coming to dinner" (int he 80's and on TV no less) and how I felt she was so disconnected from how I felt about the movie AND the subject.

Does this mean that I agree with how the media is always pushing the envelope? Does this mean that I would condone my kids doing and saying whatever they see on TV? Does this mean that I don't care about what my kids see and hear?

No, No and No.

Nothing but the opposite.

I want my kids to watch and hear what others kids are watching and hearing - and I want to see and hear it too so I can be a part of the conversation that is already taking place among them.

I won't be able to control everything they watch and hear everywhere they go, but I want to be able to say: "well, now that's not cool" , or "wow !, that was vulgar", or whatever... when they watch it in the house.

I rather we all see it and have them hear my comments, than NOT see it in the house and be out of touch with their life&times.

I'd still like to think that, despite all the messages kids get out there, what my husband and I convey to them (verbally and non-verbally) has much more of an impact.

(just my 2 cents)

Sorry LinuxHawk, you are totally off base. My husband and I are proud liberals and our children are pop culture deprived. Since toddlerhood, our kids have had no marketing-based clothing. We've never had cable. They don't watch movies or read books we haven't pre-screened. They aren't exposed to the trashy talk, clothing, and behavior pushed by the mainstream media. This isn't a political issue, it's a parenting one. Parents control the access. If you don't want your kids exposed to sexual images, monitor their TV, reading, and web browsing. Our kids are too young to even have cell phones but they already know the dangers of posting photos online and how a seemingly innocent action can have permanent repercussions. Parents have to teach their kids to be savvy consumers and monitor their exposure, regardless of political ideology.

IMHO, this is a discussion that can't really go anywhere without our country as a whole dealing with its highly conflicted attitudes toward the human body and sexuality.

We fine a broadcaster half a million dollars for an exposed breast so fleeting it might have passed unnoticed in the pre-DVR age, and then rebroadcast the footage over and over for days (with the ludicrous figleaf of pixelation) while wringing our hands about the harm it may have done to children. Cable news networks devote 24/7 coverage to whether a young model posed semi-nude, making sure to show the pictures as often as possible, totally missing the real story -- whether signing a contract actually means anything (topless photos are good visuals; contracts, not so much).

I have the opportunity to watch television from all over the world, and every country has its unique mores and taboos, but none are so wildly erratic as our own. In those places where a bit of exposed flesh doesn't provoke either dramatic swooning or nervous titters (pun intended), the door is open to a more honest, healthy and productive approach to the body and sexuality -- even in children's programming -- thereby reducing the incentive to push boundaries.

(I'm coming back to edit, to add that perhaps this comment would be more appropriate attached to the "Full Frontal Awkwardness" blog post, a textbook example of our hang-ups.)

I was noticing the same thing when I was watching the new 90210; a lot of drinking, drugs, and definitely sex. I definitely don't believe in censorship either. I am concerned with the sexting as more and more stories come from their friends-texting or emailing naked or nearly naked pics of themselves. And then no control---who knows how many cuts/pastes and resends and how it could affect their lives later down the line.

You make a good point. We can't forget about tv, movies, and such. I think I tend to focus a lot on sexting, online junk and music and videos on ipods more because they are portable and can be very private. Our tvs are in family rooms so we know what's going on. Cell phones aren't, which is why our children don't have any yet. I remember when I was 13+ and, I gotta tell you, if I had the opportunity to carry around my own personal, completely private, electronic version of Playboy I don't think I could have passed it up.

I stopped watching television 4 years ago. I'm 23 today. The large amount of unmarried, ellicit sexuality injected into the necks of Americans may be the root cause of many of our problems: broken marriages and broken homes, high divorce rates, abortion... Of course that's unresearched and based on a non-empirical cursory observation, but that by no means is a slippery slope. There doesn't appear to be any mechanism to slow it down or make it get any better. Companies use it to sell their products. Advertisers use it to spread their events. What should be intimately shared between a husband and wife, in private, is now put on gross display and is so flippantly public that no one seems to see it as a sanctified act between two who are married together as one, anymore. It isn't a sign of growing up into greater maturity. It's freely dispensed through television and internet, so why bother to get married? Because of this, I feel that the kids who watch this programming will remain just as they are...kids. Sex is for married people. Always has been, always will be. But the entire media's persuaded everyone of otherwise.

Prude???
Prude is a word in America that , yes Liberals, belongs to liberals, who want to, and have succeeded in demoralizing America. Prude is one of the words they use to describe people who do not agree with them. It really is used by people who claim they are "Tolerant" but they themselves are intolerant of others who have different values or opinions.
I was not meaning this to be political, but the root cause of it is political!
I, myself, have turned our cable off 8 months ago, We have DVD's and rent DVD's that we know are of our values. I personally did this in response to the "R" rated nature of "some" shows and even "some " commercials, that would appear even during the watching of a "family" show. (I am not saying that this is the choice for everyone)

The review we are talking about is just more evidence that I had made the right choice for what I believe in.

Remember, you can say what you think, but you live what you believe.

That does seem a bit much, actually. My kids are too small for a show like that and I'm too old (or just not interested, more likely).

It does touch on the age old "slippery slope" (God, I loathe that term) about how much is too much? I don't suppose any parent needs to have their kids seeing that, despite the show's laudable fealty to the reality of the 80s.

The whole "sexting" issue is a thorny one, as well. Got me to thinking here:
http://bit.ly/JNtIP

look cool