What are We REALLY Teaching Our Kids?:

There is a reason behind the phrase "Monkey see, monkey do". Childhoods are important, and children are so impressionable at early ages. There are a few things that are included in (most) every childhood, that really have me thinking. So, riddle me this.....

- Being a gambling addict is not looked very highly upon in our society. For some people it can ruin their lives as they find themselves hopelessly gambling away everything they have. I wonder if these addicts were taken to Chucky Cheese as a child? Is it really healthy to instill a love for gambling in young children? You put your money in arcade games, and take a gamble on profiting a ton of tickets or wasting your token. Is Chucky Cheese's just a casino for children?

- You teach your children not to lie, don't you? At least you do if you are like most parents. Yet do you really set a good example when your 9 year old daughter finds out Santa Claus isn't real from her friend at school? Now she knows you have been lying to her for 9 years about who really puts those presents under the tree. Now do you feel like a hypocrite when you punish her for lying about the grade she got on her spelling test? And don't even get me started on the tooth fairy. Do children really need to believe that selling parts of your body to strangers for money is a good idea?

- We buy our little girls Barbies to play with, yet we try to teach them that their physical beauty isn't everything. If Barbie were a real person, her proportions wouldn't even make it possible for her body to hold her vital organs. I think most people would rather have kidneys than a 5 inch waist. When your daughter picks up her perfect babies, with their perfect bodies, perfect hair and even perfect plastic breasts, what is that really doing to the little ones self-esteem? Is she feeling bad that she doesn't look like a barbie? But then again maybe she will realize that Barbie must not be all that great since you do have to buy all of her friends.

- We let children watch these fairy tale movies and read Disney stories, but have you ever really looked deep into the messages they are sending our children? First off, children should realize that everything doesn't always work out perfectly like they do in movies. Life is full of twists and turns. And some Disney movies really send some disturbing messages. Cinderella teaches that if you are unhappy with your current situation, all you have to do is find someone rich to marry that will take care of you. Snow White lived with 7 different men. Beauty and the Beast taught little girls that even if a man is abusive and treats you horrible, hang in there, there is probably a gentlemen that loves you hiding in there somewhere. There is a great article that goes into greater dept of all the bad lessons in Disney movies. Read it here:

Now, before you go taking your daughter's Barbie away, and burning all of the Disney Movies in your collection, just calm down. The point of this Hub was to make you think. I am not saying that children shouldn't be allowed to partake in these favorite childhood activities. I went to arcades, believed in Santa, played with Barbies, and watched Disney movies and I think I turned out okay.