Teen Pregnancy & TV

"Studies show that Teen Pregnancy and TV link together", quoted by Dr. Nancy interviewed on the Today Show this Monday morning. She said research has been conducted since 2001.

Research has also discovered that 80% of shows for teens contain sexual content and or innuendo; however they do not promote safe sex, condom use, or the consequences of teen pregnancy.

As a parent of a preteen, I am aware of the effect of TV on our children, not just teens. It inspires and encourages them to take on various character and personality traits, positive as well as negative.

For example, the ever-popular Hannah Montana, Raven Simone, Corey In The House, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, iCarly, High School Musical, The Bratz, and Cheetah Girls.

They all have child stars within the preteen and teen age group. 12-16 years of age, and as they have gotten older the content of the show has changed as well.

The girls are sneaking out of the house, lying to parents, dating, kissing, and more. I will not say that all of the episodes are negative, some are positive, like an episode on Raven Simon about Coreys' friend smoking cigarettes.

The problem that I see however is that the kids watching these shows are not in this age group, especially inner city kids; but they are much younger.

I've had to block these shows from my seven year old daughter, but most kids her age watch these shows, and its looked upon as normal.

But what is this teaching her at such a young age. At first we watched them together, until the content began to change as the stars got older, then I noticed her attitude changing, than the type of clothes she thought were cute, than she began talking about how cute boys were. Come on, she is seven. If some one says Zach Afron is cute, she agrees, and her reason his beautiful eye. Just like she was brain washed to think. So her other options are shows like Barney, Blue's Clues, and Dora, C'mon.

The older kids that are actually the ages of these child stars are not interested in childish shows such as these. Their words, not mine.

They would rather watch shows such as Sex In The City, The Real World, Baldwin, Hills, One Tree Hill, and The O.C.

Well these shows have teens, and adults as well. These shows are more realistic to the society that our children are living in, and so they relate to them more. Their social lives at and away from home are similar, unlike Raven, Hannah Montana, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

These shows do not promote safe sex; they do not show the consequences of these relationships. They do not show the stress, and struggle in which teens have to deal with. It is all glamorized and promoted as natural. Just like the Bling, and Materialistic life styles that some of the Characters have.

If you look at it's the Media, TV and Music that tell our children what is cool, tight, the bomb, what ever; and in order to fit in they have to think in the same way. The Grunge, the Hip Hop, The Goth, The Emo, its all put out there by the Media, not the teens themselves.

I understand the normality's of teens being interested in the opposite sex, creating relationships and friendships.

The problem is most teens are not mentally ready for such responsibilities as they used to be during the times of my grand parents. Sixteen-year-old girls during that time were taught to be great mothers, and how to take care of the house etc, boys had apprentices, and part time jobs after school.

Girls today have no idea how to cook, cannot clean properly, and some look nice on the outside, but have poor hygiene. How can they be responsible for the lively hood of another?

The young men were not sitting around watching hours of countless TV, and playing Play Station and, Xbox, or Wii, I mean even so called men in their mid 20's have parents and girl friends complaining that these boys; I call them, just sit around and play video games all day.

We are at a time, where the mental capacity, and maturity rate has slowed down, but yet the physical and sexual maturity has risen, I call it ignorance. Ignorance fed by the media.

But yet the media say's, its just TV, its not reality, and intelligent people would know the difference. The problem is we need to find the time as parents to pull our children away from the ignorance, and help them grow as intelligent minded people of society that are not sucked in to such ignorance as bliss.