Stop Them in the Nick of Time

I know I've passed the 50th birthday, because I seem to do way too much talking about "the way things used to be." I don't really want to go back to the "good, ole days" because I love computers, microwaves, cell phones, sushi, microfiber, and too many other things to mention.

However, just last week I was talking to someone about what I do wish could revert to life as I knew it as a child—the innocence and lack of even awareness of sexuality and violence. I blissfully enjoyed life, not knowing what sex even was until 4th grade, and then I only found out because a friend told me (and I'm not sure I knew it as "sex"; just as "making babies."My response, which is classic, was: "That can't be how babies are made because people are always surprised to find out they're pregnant. And if they'd done that, they would know it!"

Today's kids are exposed to sex and violence everywhere—TV shows and commercials, the clothes marketed to them, toys, video games and, now apparently, Nickelodeon. Campaign for a Commercial- Free Childhood has the following info:

Nickelodeon, the children's media empire, is promoting sexualized and violent video games to children as young as preschoolers.  Its popular gaming website, Addictinggames.com, features games such as Candy the Naughty Cheerleader, Bloody Day ("Back alley butchering has never been so much fun. . . . How many kills can you rack?") and the Perry the Sneak series, where gamers take the role of a peeping Tom trying to catch revealing glimpses of scantily clad and naked women. Nickelodeon promotes, and links directly to, Addictinggames.com on its Nick.com website for children and even on NickJr.com, its website for preschoolers.

Apparently there is another game called Naughty Classroom so kids who have a thing for their teacher can act out the fantasy. Help end this absurdity. Click this link to quickly send an online e-mail to Nick's leadership. You can simply send the e-mail the Campaign for a Commercial- Free Childhood has already written, or you can write your own in the blank.

You don't have to be over 50 to think preschoolers shouldn't be encouraged in sexual or violent fantasies. Let me know in the comments below that you took the time to click. Then provide a link to this blog or the action website in your Facebook status.