Monday, January 15, 2007

Dropping the Ball


My DD Kathryn is 9 years old going on 16. She's very much into fashion, looking good, and overall being "cool". I'm trying to stress to her about just being herself and cultivating the good that comes from inside. She has plenty of time to act 16 when she's 16.

Anyway, she likes looking at those magazines that have all those Disney Channel stars, Nick stars, etc. I usually look them over myself before I let her buy them, but today, I dropped the ball. We were at Barnes & Noble in the magazine section. She was looking at her stuff and I was looking at my stuff. I was preoccupied with what I was looking for when she told me she picked out the one she wanted. I barely glanced at it and said OK. It looked just like all the other ones that she's gotten in the past. Once we got home, I had a better look at it. It was definitely not appropriate for a 9 year old. It talked about first kisses, what your lips say about you, how to write love notes, and other things related to those topics. That stuff may be OK for a 16 year old but not my 9 year old. If I would have been paying attention in the first place at the bookstore, I would have told her she couldn't buy it. I gave her her money back (she had bought it with her own money) and ate it up myself.

I know that is not the worst incident that could have happened, but I really try to maintain my children's childhood innocence for as long as I can. I know they'll be exposed to those things and worse, but I want to enjoy them with their young innocence while it's still there. I only have them under my wings for such a short time. I want to make the most of that time and impart to them the things that matter most.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

RIGHT ON LISA, YOU'RE DOING GOOD.
--ROSE :)