Monday, January 31, 2005

You've heard this before

OK, you're watching a cartoon, and there's a family. The father is a light green color, and the mother is a pretty pale blue. Is this safe for children to watch?

You're watching a cartoon, and there's a family, and the mother is black and the father is white. Is this safe for children to watch?

You're watching a cartoon, and there's a family, and the parents are divorced, and the kids live with their mother. Is this safe for children to watch?

You're watching a cartoon, and there's a family, and the mother is a widow. Is this safe for children to watch?

You're watching a cartoon, and there's a group of people/things/animals living in one home, and they don't mention what their relationship is, and they all seem to be about the same age. Is this safe for children to watch?

You're watching a cartoon, and a bunch of children run around all the time and you never see their homes or their parents. Is this safe for children to watch?

You're watching a cartoon, and a girl introduces a bunny to her mommy and her mommy's "friend" who lives with them. Is this safe for children to watch?

Why?

All right, some people feel that their children should learn about alternative lifestyles from their parents, when they (the parents) feel that the children are sold enough, and ready to understand. What would they do if their 1st-grader came home and told them about the girl at school whom they eat lunch with. This girl lives with her mommy, and her mommy's "friend". Sure, you can keep a program off TV, but how do you keep your kids from noticing something like this in the real world.

I'm sorry, this just isn't something harmless, like telling your kids that those presents came from Santa, or something. No, it's not the mainstream, and it's really a very small minority, but families like this are out there, and all we have to do is tell our children that these people are different, but different's OK. And that's it. You're never going to be comfortable with your kids dating anyway, you know.

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