Who is Teaching Your Child?

Mixed Messages

October 29th, 2007

Grow up to be an Adult?

We attempt to teach our children, well most of us do, to grow up to be responsible adults. We attempt to choose our words carefully and to help them make sense out of the vast world around them. We don’t teach our children that a couch is actually called a stove, we don’t point to a deer and call it a bear. We understand that every action we take, every word we speak places a star in the sky your child will use as they navigate through life. We should be making every attempt to ensure our children are getting the right information so when they grow into adulthood they will be valuable members of society.

Obviously there are a number of words and phrases with different connotations, take conviction as an example - the word maintains many meanings which can be both positive and/or negative. There is one word however that should only carry a positive message to our children, it is a word we want ALL of our children to grow up and be, Adult.

The word adult does have many uses in the english language but the main use is to describe a level of maturity, a level of maturity we all want our children to aspire too. Today we see the word used more and more to describe pornographic stores, movies and web sites.

The Internet’s version of the word appears to be driven toward sex and violence. Search the word adult in Google using a “safe search” and it will return about 263 million pages (you won’t see pornographic sites but you can find out where to host them), add another 100 million pages if your not using the filter. Most search returns have something to do with topics you would not want a child reading or having any exposure for that matter.

Ask your child today, “What is adult?” - hopefully the closer they get to actually being one it will carry the same definition we have been teaching them. Ask your child a lot of questions! Be conscious of the fact there are a number of influencers providing input to your children’s mental growth and you have a responsibility to filter and adjust how the information is being processed. Be involved and demonstrate to your child your wisdom as an adult.