Yesterday I wrote a post on Digital Dads about how I'm sick of parents allowing our little girls to be sexed up an early age. After watching little girls shake what they didn't have on stage at Emily's first dance competition I was full of anger and then this week when the video came out of a similar competition I knew I had to share my thoughts. What is crazy is that while I knew it would get feedback, I guess I wasn't ready for it to totally go nuts. It has got more interaction then anything I've ever written before. I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone in being upset by this. I had hoped to sit down and show Emily the video and see what she thought about it, but now that it has been pulled down I'm sure there will be something else like it soon enough to discuss.
The lack of good judgment from parents is something that worries me more and more. While I certainly don't want to see us turn into a society of hyper protective helicopter parents, I do want to be sure that our children are being taught good manners, self confidence and respect. I want them to grow up with a sense of wonder and imagination rather then entitlement and an anything goes attitude.
I certainly don't have the answers and every day I'm challenged with what is the right way to raise my kids. You can read all the books you want. Listen to all the so called experts. But, at the end of the day it is just you and your children and the hope that you are doing it right.
Being a parent is the single most rewarding and challenging role any of us can play while on this crazy blue marble known as Earth.
I love it. I'm scared of it. I wouldn't want it any other way.
