When I’m a Parent…

Amidst all the ever growing concern with MySpace.com (my previous article), we are missing the real issue. Just today, I’ve stumbled on three articles concerning the problem of showing the “youth” of this country too much.

E3, the largest gaming convention of the year, recently banned the “game girls” normally present at the convention. They wear skimpy clothing in order to lure passer-by’s to their booths. E3 is a press event. You can’t buy a ticket or anything to it. I’m pretty sure most people who are in the press are over 18. It’s more of a reaction to the whole “hot coffee” fiasco. They are trying to distance themselves from any type of sexual thing to cover their own asses. Recently banned was a game that targetted adults to come together in a social atmosphere. A mix of World of Warcraft and a dating service, if you will. Another attempt to quell the vicious soccer moms and politicians.

Second article: the recently released Oblivion, the new Elder Scrolls chapter, has been changed to a Mature rating, from its previous Teen rating. The reason? With a downloadable mod, you can see a *gasp* woman’s breast. Slaying monsters, knights, and other demons is completely safe for a teen. But if there is a boob somewhere in there, they must be over 18. This is an exact replica of the mod for GTA. Wtf? Who is deciding this bullshit? Oblivion is a gorgeous game and took years to develop and program. And now, over night, they are having the game ripped from shelves because of its new rating.

And finally, coming full circle, the latest article I read. Politicians in Massachusetts are starting a push to make MySpace.com raise the age required to 18. Okay, it’d be a great idea, if you couldn’t just tell MySpace.com that you were 18 already, and not have to do any form of age verification. It seems to be purely political. Trying to gain support from voters, they push for something that sounds good, but has no real impact on anything.

So what’s my point in bringing up all these stories? Where does the fault lie? Well, if you read the title you’d know already. Parents. All it takes is a little involvement. When a child surfs the internet, know what they are doing. At least try and watch the video game the kid plays day in and day out. STOP RELYING ON THE GOVERNMENT TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR KIDS. The worst thing to ever come about in this world were ESRB ratings and MPAA movie ratings. We are automatically told what is appropriate for what age. Who is to tell us what we can watch? What ratings should include are simply what is in the movie, and allow people to decide from that. Don’t get me wrong, the idea of rating something is just fine. I don’t think kids should be exposed to rape or heavy drug use at an age of 12. But simply throwing around generalizations like R, PG-13, etc, don’t do any good. Again, ultimately, it comes down to the parents. I know it’s impossible to see everything your kids do and see. But that’s parenting. Sit them down and explain why they shouldn’t see something. Don’t shrug it off and leave raising your children up to a system of numbers developed by someone other than yourself.

When I’m a parent, that’s what I plan to do. I know it’s unfair for me to make a statement, as I have no kids of my own, but from what I’ve seen, and from what my own parents have taught me, it seems so logical. I’d tell my child the truth about marijuana. Then I’d tell them why they shouldn’t smoke cigarettes or cocaine. I wouldn’t leave raising my kids up to DARE or a school system. Raising kids is tough. But it should be. It doesn’t matter how you feel about any of these moral subjects. Raise your own kids. Whatever it is you think they should know, tell them. Don’t wait for them to get on MySpace and start posting pictures of themselves in underwear because they are friends with a cute boy/girl in math class. They should already know that there are bad people out there. And you should be the one that tells them. Morals are something taught by a parent. There is no standard way to live life. Tell them what you know and have experienced, and let them make a decision on that. So what if they make mistakes. Life is fucking full of them. And if you don’t think so, then you aren’t living.

/rant over