50
In this moment, Big Strong Man and I are in the midst of birthing and raising
these three incredible Little Men.
There are children all around us when we think about it: god-children,
nieces and nephews, children of friends and neighbors.
There are three sets of boy/girl twins on our block!
When I was pregnant with Demitri, there were eight other women I
know who were also pregnant.
We all attended church together, and within a six-month period, seven
boys and two girls were born.
Some people are naturals when it comes to loving these little people.
With others, it is a learned feeling.
As parents, we try to protect these children from harm and reinforce
love for them.
Even children who are not ours by blood.
A stranger's child who is about to fall off of the neighborhood slide.
A new child attending Sunday school for the first time and is feeling
insecure.
The shy child who looks longingly at the toys my Little Men are playing
with at a play date but doesn't feel comfortable leaving his mommy's lap.
So what happens when a beautiful, innocent, child confesses that he or
she saw something uncomfortable?
she saw something uncomfortable?
Confesses... as though this child is guilty of something.
When words are spoken in confidence to an adult and the words are difficult
to comprehend?
Guess what I saw....
to comprehend?
Guess what I saw....
I saw someone licking someone...
I saw cream...
I saw boobies.
WHAT?????!!!!!!
The most natural reaction that comes to my mind would be that of shock.
A look, followed by a stutter : "Excuse me, what?".
A look, followed by a stutter : "Excuse me, what?".
Instant unease.
Should a child have to feel embarrassed over something the child had no
control over?
control over?
Should a child have to bury his/her head and cry?
Perhaps there was a misunderstanding?
"Boo-boos?"
No, not boo-boos.
Where would a child see this?
Who would a child be with, looking at this?
How could this happen?
At this point, I would demand answers.
Do your parents know?
Were you with your parents when you saw this?
Here, this little child,
crying,
ashamed,
scared.
Oh sweet child, you did nothing wrong; you did nothing wrong.
Once the child is calm enough to communicate, there is a process of ruling
out that the child was, him or herself, never involved in something like that
personally; that the child isn't afraid or uncomfortable around any family,
friend, or other person who may have interacted with him/her.
But that image, where would that image have come from?
It is scary that we live in such a time when everyone and everywhere need to
be evaluated.
Could it have been school?...
Maybe church?...
A neighbor?...
Maybe there will be no simple idea of where to begin to look.
But it is too important not to try.
What could be the cause of shame that a little child had no right to feel?
Someone mentioned a commercial.
A torso.
Cream.
The movie 50 Shades of Grey is coming to the theaters.
I think it was a preview.
Is this what an innocent child saw?
I have not seen such a commerical, and I did not read the books, but I can see the connection.
When this post was first written, I did not know when or how I would share it.
Yesterday I saw this on Facebook, posted by another friend:
To everyone who thinks 50 Shades is all sorts of awesome: Please, stop and THINK .
Again, I have not seen the movie nor read the book.
I have no plans to, either.
What little I know about the premise was enough to lose my interest. And, after reading this blog post, I am fully convinced that the author, Jonathon Van Maren, is probably fully correct.
One other thing: This is a controversial topic, I understand that.
Many friends of mine have read and enjoyed this series.
If you do not take the time to read the above posted link to the post by Mr. Van Maren, let
me break one piece down for you:
"...Dr. Gail Dines relates that when speaking to groups of women who loved the book,
they all grow deathly silent when she asks them two simple questions: Would you want
your daughter to be in a relationship with Christian Grey? Would you want your son to
turn into Christian Grey?..."
---
I recently had my two Littles at the local mall and the two of them were
getting antsy.
There is a little space off to the side of a few stores where there is plenty of
running space. A carved out area of the mall for entertainment.
That day there was nothing going on, so my Little Men got their wiggles out.
As I was standing around watching them enjoying themselves, I found myself
mall-watching.
Off to the left of where this mall entertainment/relaxation area is located, is a
Victoria's Secret.
I have nothing against underwear, just let me get that out there, but with a store
of that caliber, there are posters.
Huge, 12 ft. posters of half naked women.
I think this is considered "soft porn".
My sons are four and two.
They have no idea what those posters are trying to sell.
But are those images impressed on their minds?
Their sweet, little, innocent minds?
Although the boys made no reference to the posters, nor the store for that matter,
I felt disturbed.
It bothered me to think of the message, subliminal as it may be, that is being feed
to our children.
It bothers me to think that there can be movie advertisements and commercials with
sex and partial nudity and indecency. That our children are being fed a steady diet of,
big chests and small undies; everyone has sex with everyone without consequence; and
even cartoons and tween shows where the parents are dufuses who have children running
the place.
I really just want to yell, "WAKE UP, PEOPLE!"
This is not ok.
Our children deserve better from us.
-not going to lie, this fires me up, gomommyblogger
Perhaps there was a misunderstanding?
"Boo-boos?"
No, not boo-boos.
Where would a child see this?
Who would a child be with, looking at this?
How could this happen?
At this point, I would demand answers.
Do your parents know?
Were you with your parents when you saw this?
Here, this little child,
crying,
ashamed,
scared.
Oh sweet child, you did nothing wrong; you did nothing wrong.
Once the child is calm enough to communicate, there is a process of ruling
out that the child was, him or herself, never involved in something like that
personally; that the child isn't afraid or uncomfortable around any family,
friend, or other person who may have interacted with him/her.
But that image, where would that image have come from?
It is scary that we live in such a time when everyone and everywhere need to
be evaluated.
Could it have been school?...
Maybe church?...
A neighbor?...
Maybe there will be no simple idea of where to begin to look.
But it is too important not to try.
What could be the cause of shame that a little child had no right to feel?
Someone mentioned a commercial.
A torso.
Cream.
The movie 50 Shades of Grey is coming to the theaters.
I think it was a preview.
Is this what an innocent child saw?
I have not seen such a commerical, and I did not read the books, but I can see the connection.
When this post was first written, I did not know when or how I would share it.
Yesterday I saw this on Facebook, posted by another friend:
To everyone who thinks 50 Shades is all sorts of awesome: Please, stop and THINK .
Again, I have not seen the movie nor read the book.
I have no plans to, either.
What little I know about the premise was enough to lose my interest. And, after reading this blog post, I am fully convinced that the author, Jonathon Van Maren, is probably fully correct.
One other thing: This is a controversial topic, I understand that.
Many friends of mine have read and enjoyed this series.
If you do not take the time to read the above posted link to the post by Mr. Van Maren, let
me break one piece down for you:
"...Dr. Gail Dines relates that when speaking to groups of women who loved the book,
they all grow deathly silent when she asks them two simple questions: Would you want
your daughter to be in a relationship with Christian Grey? Would you want your son to
turn into Christian Grey?..."
---
I recently had my two Littles at the local mall and the two of them were
getting antsy.
There is a little space off to the side of a few stores where there is plenty of
running space. A carved out area of the mall for entertainment.
That day there was nothing going on, so my Little Men got their wiggles out.
As I was standing around watching them enjoying themselves, I found myself
mall-watching.
Off to the left of where this mall entertainment/relaxation area is located, is a
Victoria's Secret.
I have nothing against underwear, just let me get that out there, but with a store
of that caliber, there are posters.
Huge, 12 ft. posters of half naked women.
I think this is considered "soft porn".
My sons are four and two.
They have no idea what those posters are trying to sell.
But are those images impressed on their minds?
Their sweet, little, innocent minds?
Although the boys made no reference to the posters, nor the store for that matter,
I felt disturbed.
It bothered me to think of the message, subliminal as it may be, that is being feed
to our children.
It bothers me to think that there can be movie advertisements and commercials with
sex and partial nudity and indecency. That our children are being fed a steady diet of,
big chests and small undies; everyone has sex with everyone without consequence; and
even cartoons and tween shows where the parents are dufuses who have children running
the place.
I really just want to yell, "WAKE UP, PEOPLE!"
This is not ok.
Our children deserve better from us.
-not going to lie, this fires me up, gomommyblogger
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