Since when has it been easy to be a parent?
The government is banning flavored cigarettes, namely cloves. I thought it had something to do with the fiberglass content - which was not true I found out. It was because studies have shown that the sweet flavor lured teenagers to begin smoking.
Granted that I began smoking as a teenager, and I loved methol light cigarettes; and the fact that I stopped buying cigarettes (note: not quitted smoking) partly because I couldn't find a brand of menthol cigarettes in the States that tasted anything like the those in Asia.
Is it me? Or does it sound like another cop-out for parents? Blame the government; blame the society; make it somebody else's responsibility to watch out for teenagers' behavior. Well, I'm not yet a parent, so what do I know? I mean, the world is so much more complicated today than it was in the black and white times. Who would have thought a cell phone will become a necessity, even for children? I remember having to hide my pager from my mom after I've secretly saved up money for one. Oh, but they make it so much easier to locate your kids, and for them to contact you when they're in distress. How about watching them, knowing where they are, and making sure they're in good hands if not in yours at all times? You didn't think they wanted a cell phone, so that they could call you, did you? You're lucky if they even answered your calls half the time.
Kids are gonna be kids; teenagers will always be rebellious (I don't know how many times I've said this at this point); so I don't think a parent's role or responsibility should change because time changes. On the same token, humans are always going to have certain desires that would drive us to approve further technological advances. So we all want the same things as we did before, we just didn't know it, and now there are more ways to get it. In that sense, parents' jobs have become a lot harder. For example, "sexually-curious" people will always have a drive to obtain some form of porn, whether it be - in the good old days - poking a hole through a screen or finding a crack in the wall, and risking the chance of being caught peeping; or simply hiding out in the basement, jerking off while conveniently dragging the mouse over the titts and clits found all over our cyberspace. So you have to keep a close eye on the kids even when they're at home, which in the past would have meant they're at a place where they couldn't cause any trouble.
You can't keep up a 24-7 surveilence on kids. Plus, that brings up the whole issue with privacy and trust and yada-yad-ya. So perhaps parents do need help from the government. And if studies shows that flavored cigarettes gets children into smoking habits (isn't it funny that objects can cause subjects to do things?), ban it. But pot and crack aren't exactly legal either, and I don't see that stopping anyone from smoking them, teenagers and adults alike. So what are we gonna do now?
I'm not saying I have a better idea. I just like to rumble. But if you ask me, I'd say we should figure out how to do things more constructively, like teaching our kids how to properly communicate, i.e. listen and speak (so that next time I'm at a restaurant sitting next to a bunch of high school kids, I won't have to listen to each of them repeat themselves 5 times for everything they have to say while you wonder if they were speaking english at all). And parents would have to learn how to do the same - again, listen and respond. You always hear that in those commercials "talk to your teenager" about this and that. It's not just all talk, you know, you have to be a good shining example, too. You can't convince your kids not to smoke if that's what you did all your life.
And if we're going to continue to ban things anyways (because we like the power), why don't we put up propositions to ban myspace, facebook, twitter and god-knows-what's next? I personally think they are just as bad as letting Teletubbies air on TV. But that's just me.
Granted that I began smoking as a teenager, and I loved methol light cigarettes; and the fact that I stopped buying cigarettes (note: not quitted smoking) partly because I couldn't find a brand of menthol cigarettes in the States that tasted anything like the those in Asia.
Is it me? Or does it sound like another cop-out for parents? Blame the government; blame the society; make it somebody else's responsibility to watch out for teenagers' behavior. Well, I'm not yet a parent, so what do I know? I mean, the world is so much more complicated today than it was in the black and white times. Who would have thought a cell phone will become a necessity, even for children? I remember having to hide my pager from my mom after I've secretly saved up money for one. Oh, but they make it so much easier to locate your kids, and for them to contact you when they're in distress. How about watching them, knowing where they are, and making sure they're in good hands if not in yours at all times? You didn't think they wanted a cell phone, so that they could call you, did you? You're lucky if they even answered your calls half the time.
Kids are gonna be kids; teenagers will always be rebellious (I don't know how many times I've said this at this point); so I don't think a parent's role or responsibility should change because time changes. On the same token, humans are always going to have certain desires that would drive us to approve further technological advances. So we all want the same things as we did before, we just didn't know it, and now there are more ways to get it. In that sense, parents' jobs have become a lot harder. For example, "sexually-curious" people will always have a drive to obtain some form of porn, whether it be - in the good old days - poking a hole through a screen or finding a crack in the wall, and risking the chance of being caught peeping; or simply hiding out in the basement, jerking off while conveniently dragging the mouse over the titts and clits found all over our cyberspace. So you have to keep a close eye on the kids even when they're at home, which in the past would have meant they're at a place where they couldn't cause any trouble.
You can't keep up a 24-7 surveilence on kids. Plus, that brings up the whole issue with privacy and trust and yada-yad-ya. So perhaps parents do need help from the government. And if studies shows that flavored cigarettes gets children into smoking habits (isn't it funny that objects can cause subjects to do things?), ban it. But pot and crack aren't exactly legal either, and I don't see that stopping anyone from smoking them, teenagers and adults alike. So what are we gonna do now?
I'm not saying I have a better idea. I just like to rumble. But if you ask me, I'd say we should figure out how to do things more constructively, like teaching our kids how to properly communicate, i.e. listen and speak (so that next time I'm at a restaurant sitting next to a bunch of high school kids, I won't have to listen to each of them repeat themselves 5 times for everything they have to say while you wonder if they were speaking english at all). And parents would have to learn how to do the same - again, listen and respond. You always hear that in those commercials "talk to your teenager" about this and that. It's not just all talk, you know, you have to be a good shining example, too. You can't convince your kids not to smoke if that's what you did all your life.
And if we're going to continue to ban things anyways (because we like the power), why don't we put up propositions to ban myspace, facebook, twitter and god-knows-what's next? I personally think they are just as bad as letting Teletubbies air on TV. But that's just me.
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