Are we raising our children or is the world?

Just a fair warning, this post is me on my soapbox. :o)

All over the news today, you hear people up in arms about how video games, violent movies, rock and rap music and television content are creating children who are violent, sexually active at a young age, and just thoroughly "damaged." Parents are constantly blaming these media sources for being the reason their children are teen parents, in jail, in trouble in school, rebellious and (in extreme cases) killing other people. But is this really the reason our children are not safe and are becoming more and more violent?

Yes, I agree that these sorts of media outlets are in many ways damaging our children. But should we really be blaming the TV, video games, movies, Internet, etc.? No. We need to be looking a bit closer to home. It is ALLOWING our children access to these violent, sexual, and sadistic materials that is causing these traits in our little ones. Do our 5 year old boys really need to be playing fighting games? Do our 11 year old daughters really need to be up till midnight chatting with their friends on Facebook?

The Lord tells us that WE must raise our children. Not to be of this world but of His!

• Deuteronomy 4:9
• Deuteronomy 11:19
• Psalm 34:11

And what of the way we dress our children? No 6 year old little girl needs to be putting on make-up, wearing a short cut shirt and pants that read "cutie" on the butt. It's no wonder there are sexual predators out there preying on our children. We make them up to look like adults!

Today's society teaches young girls that to be popular and loved, you have to be sexy and beautiful on the outside. Who cares who you are on the inside? When young girls have role models like Brittney Spears, Bratz dolls and even Barbie, it's no wonder we have raising teen pregnancy and STD rates. And when we are dressing our young girls in bikinis, shortie shorts, and cloths stating things like "Sexy", "Hottie", and "Too hot to handle", it's no wonder that sexual predators are seeking younger and younger prey. And it isn't just the girls being effected by this view of women. We are teaching our boys to view women as sexual beings and nothing else. How are they supposed to respect and love women when we don't respect and love ourselves?

We have to stop letting the TV and Internet raise our children for us. Yes, it is so much easier to plop them in front of the TV and let the cartoons teach them to count, read and share. But those same cartoons can also be teaching then how to curse, hit, and be filled with anger.

Yes, putting a game controller in their hands keeps those hands busy for an hour so we can get the laundry done, but those same hands could be learning so much more if you taught them to help you do the laundry with you while talking about their day.

Yes, it is much easier to dress them in the latest fashions than it is to explain to them why it is that they aren't right to wear. But imagine having to explain to them why that man hurt them.

We blame the inanimate objects because it is much easier than blaming ourselves for the down fall of our children's innocence. But maybe we need to all stop and rethink what we are doing to the future of our children by the way we are raising them now.