I look around at the world today, our youth in particular and am slightly appalled. Maybe it's because when I was a child things were a whole hell of a lot different. We didn't have cell, phones, or those handheld gaming consoles, I played Atari games like Pong with my folks growing up, we played cards and Shoots and Ladders, not anything nearly as extravagant or gory as Halo or games of it's liking. We had payphones and cassette players, with recorded "mix tapes". Not cell phones and ipods with 6,000 songs "downloaded' to it, we didn't even know what downloading was. Has anyone aside from me noticed that payphones are starting to be pulled up? We certainly had no entertainers the likes of Britney Spears or Lady Gaga. I am not appalled at the growth of technology or the evolution of the music indusrty, I am appalled at the way parents are using it, or letting it be used.

It is my opinion that parents are solely responsible for what their children are allowed to watch, listen to, or even play with. I understand it's easy for parents to get caught up along the way by this gadget or that. However, I feel the parents should pay closer attention to what they are distributing to their children. I highly agree that parental control is needed on TV nowadays, not the PG13, or R type of parental control but actual physical parental control. I think it's also needed as far as music is concerned. I'm sure you've heard the song "If You Seek Amy" by Britney Spears, so you may understand where I am coming from, if you have not heard it say the title ten times real fast and then think about that playing on the radio for your child to hear. How about the rap artists and hip hop songs that portray women as nothing but sexual objects for men to throw money at, cuz after all, we're all strippers, or how they made it in life by selling crack or cocaine or marijuana. These are the types of people our children idolize, who they want to grow up and be like. Personally, I have no problem with Spears, her singing, or her shows but I am an adult, I think as an adult. I also don't find fault in rap or hip hop, in fact I like the music, it has good beats and makes for a good time at the club. Would I let my kids listen to this music or watch a concert or even a video for that matter? Absolutely not. However, I am afraid a lot of parents don't feel the same way. Hence some of the popular trends nowadays.

Have you noticed that children's clothes are shrinking. I'm not just talking about teenagers clothes either. I'm talking about your typical 8 year old with her midriff showing. People, if I can get nothing else across to you, I hope it's this. DO NOT let your children wear provocative clothing, this is a nasty, perverted, messed up world we live in. You, as a parent, might think it looks cute but in our society today, you have to worry about people looking at that 8 year old girl and having impure thoughts. Sick and twisted as it is, it is a reality. Do you want people looking at your little girl and thinking she's sexy? Think on that for a minute.

Do you want your kids to think it's okay to get high, or drunk, or take ecstasy or drugs of it's kind? Because that's what is going to happen if parents do not censor what their children's tiny ears listen to. Do you want your child to come up to you when they are 16 with a problem such as an STD or a pregnancy, because sex is all over the television as being okay. Again, I am not passing judgement on any of these things but as I have said I am an adult and therefore think as an adult. What I am doing is trying to make you aware of the repercussions on your child's life because of your actions, or lack thereof, as a parent.

 I understand parents go thru the "but mom/dad everyone has one, or everyone is doing it". As I mentioned, I was a child once and it was not so long ago that I cannot remember it clearly. I certainly moaned and complained to my parents in the same fashion and I usually got what I wanted. Case in point. I was not the example of a great kid, I had my fair share of wheeling and dealings far before I was supposed to, I grew up way to quickly and suffered my consequences because of that, I caused my parents and loved ones heaps of pain and suffering, with worry always mixed in or right there, hoevering in the background. However, I do not blame my parents for any of this, there were other forces at work in my life that were more powerful than them and had absolutely nothing to do with them, perhaps one day I will write about that so it can be better understood. But not now. It's too private. I digress. Parent's, do you want your child to look back one day and think it's your fault they are screwed up? Parent's, do you want to wind up a grandma before your time and have your children blame it on lack of your parental guidance? Parent's do you want your child to wind up in jail for selling drugs and not be able to talk to them but through a glass window? Parent's, do you want to get that call that your child is in the hospital, or worse, not coming home, because you failed to supervise them properly?  If not, do what I suggest and pay attention to the world today, monitor your children's music or croud they hang with, and please don't let them grown up too fast. Don't take their childhood away from them because you are too busy to pay attention.