Fun for Women of all Ages

I am listening to the radio the other morning, Z-100, and they were talking about the Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 BroomWhile this looks like your ordinary boring toy, it has a feature that has parents. mothers of your girls especially, up in arms. The broom vibrates. Need I say more. Apparently there is a petition going around that parents are planning to send to Mattel to get the product recalled or at least to prevent them from making more. What is the world coming to. Where in the world are these girls getting the idea to use the broom for purposes other than intended. And if girls between the ages of 6-12 are figuring out other recreational uses for the thing, don't you think at least one of the mature minded employees at Mattel, even if only joking, though about it.

Lets face it. Society today is considerably more perverse than it was even 10-15 years ago. Look at what they have done to the Disney movies. People claim to have heard subliminal messages in Aladdin & the Lion King, as well as seen phallic symbols in the Little Mermaid. Check out this site that has a pretty comprehensive list of current Urban Legends The topic of sex or sexuality is such a taboo, it has become that much more intriguing to today's youth. While I believe that there is a time and place for everything, and that includes educating children about the finer points in life, we can't hide from these discussions. We don't give children the credit they are due. We seem to think that children are incapable of understanding certain situations and that somehow, as they age, they miraculously develop into educated and well adjusted young adults. Think about it for a second. Where are they supposed to learn coping skills. What is the right age to start discussing things like sex, death, pregnancy. Back to the topic of the Disney Stories, these fairy tales were ripped off from The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson They weren't these candy coated, always happy ending stories you see today. The stories were originally created to educate children, to teach them life lessons through storytelling. Read a few of those good old fairy tales and you'll see what I mean. I think that to some degree our attempts to protect are children from the world, sometimes also prevent them from having essential experiences that help to mold them into, self confident adults.

Let me give you a perfect example. When I was growing up, my mother wanted to shelter us from every bad experience and impropriety in the world. This included TV and in the movies. Cable TV was the devil and forbidden in our home. We didn't get to go to the movies very often, and when we rented them. my mother would fast forward any kissing scenes. Years later I would see movies on TV and realize I had missed half the story because my mom didn't want us to see to people kissing. One of the worst experiences was when the movie Dirty Dancing came out. My mother refused to let me see the movie strictly because of the title. Now while she was very affectionate with her children, it was inappropriate to be affectionate with a man outside the bedroom. What made things more confusing was we were also not allowed to know what went on in the bedroom. We were never taught about physical relationships and intimacy. Now I was raised in a traditional conservative family. You waited until you were married to have sex, and it wasn't sex it was making love, yada yada. Of course there is nothing wrong with this theory, however it is not always practical.

Well fastforward to adulthood and my dysfunctional relationships because you can't hit the fastforward button to avoid kissing scenes in real life and I was so uncomfortable in intimate situations and with myself. Thank goodness for college, which is not always for a textbook education. I had my share of embarrassing hook ups and sweet intimacies and found that comfort zone. My point is however, because I was not taught about these things my only reference was movie relationships or the twisted and dysfunctional relationships of friends. Well how disappointing to find out that true love doesn't always ride up on a white horse with a dozen roses and embody perfection.

I have learned that real life is hard work but well worth it. Although sometimes I wish that I had had a more open relationship with my parents and been able to ask questions about love and relationships and sex. One thing I can say to my parents credit, I may not have waited until I was married, but I was much older and wiser and grateful that I waited for my first time. I was in a committed relationship, deeply in love and it was a beautiful experience. But I digress as usual.

Children would be able to play with a silly toy without causing controversy if we were more comfortable discussing with our children things that are and are not appropriate. Boy it took an awful long time to get to the point. The soapbox is retired for today. Y'all come back now as I am sure I will find plenty o' topics to preach about tomorrow.