JENerally Informed: Four Things That Aren't Helping Today's Youth

Four Things That Aren't Helping Today's Youth

As a mother of young children and one preteen, there are quite a few things that I see in our pop culture and through the media that really bother me. They bother me because they are destructive and mess with the heads of our children.

I've compiled a brief list of four things and people that I wish would just go away.

1. Justin Bieber's video deposition relating to his DUI arrest. Picture this being YOUR child. . .

2. Target taking photo- shop a little too far.

On a side note this is an interesting video on the whole photo-shop process.

3. Kind of old I know, but what happened to Miley has made me and thousands of other little girls and their parents very sad to see her turn from this.....

To This....

Update: Miley now has a sad kitty tattoo on her lip. So maybe we won't see her tongue anymore, just her lower lip.... What truly saddens me though is that my pre-teen was the one who showed me this picture before it had even popped up on any of the media's real radars.

One last thing, although there are many more I could include on this list.

4. Sierra Vista, a small town located in my home state of Arizona recently had this story concerning high- schoolers being required to read sexually explicit material out loud in class as part of a Common Core accelerated reading assignment. Read the story here and I am not kidding, reader beware.

What have you seen lately that bothers you?

Comments (14)

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Lisa Loves John · 585 weeks ago

That Target photoshop is so wrong... I love Target, so that made me quite upset!!

1 reply · active 585 weeks ago

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queenmomjen 75p · 585 weeks ago

Target has had a really bad couple of months. Hopefully they can pull it all together soon.

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Kim @2justByou · 585 weeks ago

This is a great post. I am going to have to check out that story on the Common Core reading. You've got me wondering...
Hopping over here to your blog, because I'm now following you via Instagram. I wanted to stop by and follow your blog (via bloglovin) real quick. I'm sure I'll be social stalking you elsewhere later, when I'm signed in everywhere else too. =0)

Kim

1 reply · active 585 weeks ago

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queenmomjen 75p · 585 weeks ago

Before I first read the story I thought, "Bah- how bad can it be?" Uh no, I was totally wrong. How horrifying to make teenage children read the section out loud to their peers. What was the teacher thinking?
P.S. I love social stalkers as long as your name isn't Guido and you aren't informing me of my winnings or a great time share....

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Samantha · 585 weeks ago

I believe that Miley and Justin are young kids with a lot of money and don't know how to be responsible for their own actions. Justin thinks he's larger than life while Miley is trying really hard (and succeeding) to shed her good girl Hannah Montana image. It's sad because not all young celebrities act the way that they do so we know it's their choice. As for the other 2 topics it's really just poor judgement on the both ends.

2 replies · active 585 weeks ago

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queenmomjen 75p · 585 weeks ago

Not all stars do act that way, but these 2 stories are being constantly run through the media circuit. No kid can be totally immune to hearing about them. It's reminds me of several years back when Princess Diana died. That was very sad, but Mother Teresa died at the same time and this amazing hero was only given minimal face time in covering her passing. The media needs to responsibly cover stories.

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Samantha · 585 weeks ago

I agree but we know the media is never going to filter anything. That leaves it up to us as good parents to continue to teach our kids right from wrong.

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sara 35p · 585 weeks ago

You know, Miley doesn't bother me so much only because I saw an interview with her and she basically just shrugged and said "look at my sales" and the girl's got so much money rolling in because of her antics. So while she's not a good role model, she's at least got a pretty solid reason for acting the way she does. But man, the body image issues really scare me for my daughter. That target ad is barely even the icing on the cake -- it's every where you look! I mean, my husband and I have had long discussions to make sure we don't ever do or say anything to make our daughter self conscious about her body or looks or anything in any way, but the rest of the world terrifies me for her.

2 replies · active 585 weeks ago

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queenmomjen 75p · 585 weeks ago

See that's the problem, Miley had to change herself in order to make sales. What message does that send to little girls? Once our children get to a certain age no matter what we have tried to instill in them there is so much garbage being thrown at them from so many angles that is out of our control. This angers me that I have spent years molding, loving and teaching these children that they are good and special people only to have others in pop culture, media, school or whatever tell them that they aren't good enough until they change what they are.

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sara 35p · 585 weeks ago

Yeah, I definitely see what you're saying here! I think maybe the key is to always maintain an open dialogue with our children. Confront what you see in the media head on with them so that they understand things that are thrown in their faces aren't always "real." Plus, it sounds like (from other stories in other posts) you're doing a kick-ass job with your kiddos and will triumph as an awesome parent even in the face of stupid exterior pressures from the media. :)

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comedyplus 47p · 585 weeks ago

Yep, we are a mess aren't we. I don't care for celebrities. At. All.

Have a fabulous day. ☺

1 reply · active 585 weeks ago

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queenmomjen 75p · 585 weeks ago

Big old mess for sure!

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Dizmommy 66p · 585 weeks ago

The target ad is the most disturbing to me on this list. I don't give celebrities the time of day and though kids might look to them, my hope is that they see through them. But the subtle marketing of distorted images sends a message that sometimes we don't even know we're receiving, and that scares me.

1 reply · active 585 weeks ago

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queenmomjen 75p · 585 weeks ago

Absolutely! There are entire discussion boards and websites about girls wanting to recreate this body type with space in between their thighs. It really is scary!