As a mother, I have concerns about the music my sons will listen to in the future. I realize I may be getting ahead of myself since my oldest son is only 2 1/2 years and my youngest turns 1 this upcoming Wednesday; I highly doubt that 'Old McDonald' and 'Twinkle Twinkle' pose a threat to their development into sweet boys. However, there will come a day, quite a few years down the road, when my sons will ask me to purchase music for them. Now, it's very possible that it may be an artist that I've never heard of at that time. (I would hope that I'm still somewhat aware of the artists being favored by youth since I will be in my early 30's when my oldest son enters high school; but nonetheless, I'm sure my music interests will differ). In the event that I purchase music for either one of my boys and had no idea who the artist was, I would be absolutely appalled if I walked by his bedroom door and heard nothing but profanity or obscene comments blaring from his Ipod (or whatever new little musical device he will have). I would be embarrassed and quite upset with myself for making such a purchase. I wouldn't put the blame on the record company for not having a 'Parental Advisory' label, even though it sure would be nice of them, but I would be upset with myself for not having done a little research into what kind of music my son was curious about listening to. (This is all hypothetical, of course, as my sweet, sweet well-mannered boys would never ask for their mother to purchase such a crude CD. Knock-on-wood.)
Thank goodness for advisory labels. Of course certain things will pass through undetected, but for the most part, the record companies are doing their part. It is not their fault if these albums are getting into the wrong hands. I have never purchased a CD with a 'Parental Advisory' and had to worry about how old I was, but do the stores enforce a certain age requirement to purchase these Cd's? If not, I feel like maybe that would be a start to the solution to very young children listening to very mature content. Although, it definitely is not the store's fault, either. The biggest solution would be for parents to pay attention to what their kids are getting involved in. I understand that there are certain kids (primarily in the adolescent department) that are beyond the point of rebellious and there's really no controlling what they listen to (although I believe that stems from issues earlier in their lives regarding the parents, but ANYWAYS); there is no excuse for letting young children listen to music relating to sex and drugs freely, unless that is the sort of mentality and lifestyle the parent intends on the child to welcome (in which case, this particular individual should not be a parent and should be neutered/spayed immediately). 'Parental Advisory' labels are only effective as long as the parents who are being advised are being attentive to what their children are listening to.
Hey I have a young son too (he’s sixteen months) and I have the same worries as you do. I feel like I won’t be as up to date by the time he is old enough to start listening to his own music and won’t know every single artist or band he likes. For this reason I think the record companies should be required to put parental advisories on the music they distribute. How else would the parents who have never heard of the artist before know what their music is about? I wish they would require kids to show a picture I.D. showing how old they are when they’re trying to buy music with adult content at a store or something but they don’t. There is also the issue of kids buying music on the internet. I don’t think that kids are supervised nearly as much as they should be when their own things like iTunes. Their parents probably feel like it is innocent enough to not worry about it which, I feel, is a huge misconception on their part. I just wish they would find a more effective way to make the parents who aren’t as current with the popular music more aware of what they are buying for their kids.
ReplyDeleteI understand your feelings, and let me tell you that it is hard to keep track of every CD or album that your children will buy, and this is comming from a mother of four, two boys and two girls all different ages( 20, 19, 15, 12). I believe that the labeling really helps me keep track of what they listen to. im not there with them 24/7 I work and of course I'm in school I pray every day that the morals I tought them and the values that I hold dear to me will follow them every where they go with and without me. when you teach your child the right way it's hard for them to keep any thing from you I still go through there room, back packs and what ever I feel just to keep up with them. so it does help when everyone has a part in it and that includies the record companies. they do there part and we will be better able to do our part.
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