At the risk of suffering great derision, I thought I'd share a glimpse into childrearing in this "conservative" household. Living in a rather homogeneous enclave of the country, our major exposure to other lifestyles is through our television. We generally watch together, except for the Disney/Nickelodeon stuff.
I watch both Will & Grace and Friends in syndication with the girls. Calblog husband disapproves. At this age (11 going on 25), he'd rather they not get regular doses of straight women living with gay men or Rachel and Ross having a baby and not getting married. He mutters and I point out how strong the friendships are and how well they treat each other, etc.
Last weekend, we watched Jackass the Movie. Calblog husband thought it very funny. The girls and I generally thought it gross and actually turned away a lot. (At one point, I started gagging and almost lost my dinner.) In one stunt, one of the young men puts a toy car into a condom and inserts it where the sun don't shine. The prank is to show up at a radiologist's complaining of pain and watch the radiologist's reaction at the reason. Toy cars, condoms, and bottoms. I tried to ban this from the children's viewing and cited the Calblog's husband's objection to the sitcoms with alternative lifestyles. His view was that this was not as problematic because it was a prank and so clearly gross that the girls would not imitate it.
The result of all this is that the girls watch everything and have to sit through the running debate and exchange of ideas. How are they turning out? Not much differently than their friends so far. When parents aren't involved, the TV turns back to the usual favorites, Lizzie McGuire and other preteen girl shows. Boys are still icky (though we spend a lot more time discussing just how icky). The highlights of life are the upcoming Girl Scout sleepovers, the dance they're rehearsing with their friends (to the Lizzie McGuire tune, "Hey Now", and summer vacations with cousins. Check back in ten years to see what damage we've done.
Posted by Justene Adamec at May 30, 2003 09:04 AMBuzz off, Banana Nose; Relieve mine eyes
Of hateful soreness, purge mine ears of corn;
Less dear than army ants in apple pies
Art thou, old prune-face, with thy chestnuts worn,
Dropt from thy peeling lips like lousy fruit;
Like honeybees upon the perfum'd rose
They suck, and like the double-breasted suit
Are out of date; therefore, Banana Nose,
Go fly a kite, thy welcome's overstayed;
And stem the produce of thy waspish wits:
Thy logick, like thy locks, is disarrayed;
Thy cheer, like thy complexion, is the pits.
Be off, I say; go bug somebody new,
Scram, beat it, get thee hence, and nuts to you.
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