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Welcome to the real life of a full-time adventure seeker and part-time superhero. Will always love Chicago. Currently resides in Bangkok. Enjoys biking through the city and eating too many noodles.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Roller Skating (a lesson in modern culture)

Today, I was a field trip leader for the older kids. Normally, I go home right after lunch so I only see the kids who come super early in the morning, most of them being under 8. This was the first time I'd been around any kids who had extreme attitude problems and could not listen to an adult. Honestly, I didn't even want to go but, right after lunch, 30 kids, myself and another staff boarded the bus. As I had anticipated, hardly any of the kids listened to me when I tried to instruct them on what to do and how to behave.
"Just let it go," I told myself.
About halfway through our time at the rink, I started talking to one of the boys who was singing the song that was being played.
"I really like this song. I turn it on when I'm in my room with my girlfriend so my dad won't hear"
I was shocked. This boy was 10 -years-old. How many girlfriends does a 10-year-old have? And why on earth would you let your 10-year-old have a 'significant other'?
This got me thinking. As appalled as I was at this new, it honestly didn't surprise me. The average age for a first kiss is 14 and the average age of having sex is 17, however by age 13, 17% of kids are already having sex. What does this say about our culture?
Listening to the songs they skating rink played, I found my answer. Children are born into an extremely sexual culture. At the rink, there where kids ranging from 5 to 15. The music choice fit more of a adult dance party than a family venue. There is literally no safe zone for young people. Sex is bombarded from every street corner- it's used in billboards on roads, in television, and in music. On the way home from work, I scanned the local radio stations and found I could not get away from some sort of sexual message. At least one or more of the 'popular' music stations streamed music with profanity or inappropriate content.
The biggest challenge is to find a way to de-sexualize these kids, to give them a place to be their age, not act like the songs on the radio. I don't like this modern culture nor do I suport the message it is sending our young kids, but this will not stop me from finding a way to relate and ingage this over-sexualized culture.

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