Enough is enough.
When will adults learn that many of the phobias, discriminatory acts, and even misconceptions that we have, are generally passed on to our children? Oftentimes we are the ones who plant perspectives in our children’s minds that can have potentially harmful or skewed effects on them.
Sometimes, adults need to just chill out with some of the extreme thinking and paranoias.
I recently read a news article that suggested young children no longer kiss their grandparents, aunts or uncles.
Can you believe that?
Instead of kissing relatives, this team of experts suggested kids exchange handshakes, high-fives, or even blow kisses to any family member other than a parent.
That seems incredibly strange to me. What would be next? No hugging? No “I love yous?”
The reason Lucy Emmerson, co-coordinator of the Sex Education Forum believes parents should restrict kissing of extended family members is because “it could make them easy prey for sexual predators.” Emmerson feels that handshakes and high-fives make children more aware of the importance of consent.
So now adult family members need consent from children, huh?
That’s the wackiest thing I have ever heard.
Children need love and affection and kiss from grandma or granddad can be just as rewarding as a kiss from mom or dad. Appropriately displaying such acts of affection opens children up to emotions and compassion. Restricting such gestures will just contribute to children being emotionally inept. Or it could have even worse affects: as they get older, it could make children, teenagers and young adults gravitate toward the first person who actually shows them such affection, which may not always result in positive behavior.
Adults make things difficult and awkward for children through the learned behaviors they expose their children to.
Love is what makes people happy. Look at the Hippy generation. They practiced love and affection and most of them turned out alright.
OK, maybe that wasn’t the best example to use, but you get my point. Exposing children to the love of a trusted family member through kisses and hugs is completely normal and positive. It teaches compassion, which is what we need more of to stop the random killings and end wars.
Another off-the-wall perspective was a series of exchanges I read on Facebook.
Someone asked about the history of Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie. More, specifically, the person wanted to know if there were hidden innuendoes that suggested the two were gay.
Huh?
Among the things that raised these comments was the fact that Bert and Ernie shared a room (they slept in separate beds), took baths together (they were “children on the show), and when one wasn’t around, the other would generally be sad.
So those characteristics are a premise for being gay, huh?
What a ridiculously absurd perspective!
If you compare the children who grew up watching Sesame Street and those a generation or two after who grew up playing violent video games and watching violence-immersed television; which would you say has had the more negative impact on society as adults?
I say the latter.
Let’s stop making nothing into something. It is fine for children to kiss relatives and yes, watching Bert and Ernie is a go as well.
Email comments to Shannonw@indyrecorder.com.
