Are you guilty of pushing views on your kid?

So the past two posts have been about advertising to children, in more of a traditional approach. This post however I'm going to talk about a pretty prevalent issue, seeing as how the primaries are around the corner!

So how many times have you seen adorable babies, toddlers, or even 5-8 year olds wearing a t-shirt to support a political figure?? This CNN article has gone on to give it the name as "party-training", which makes perfect sense if you think about it. Who are the ones who dress such a child/pick out their clothes day to day... their parents. Thus by dressing them in a shirt that displays your views, using them as a billboard, you are in turn starting them on your political views. Jackie Kaplan, a social justice worker who is a lesbian and talked about dressing her child in clothing that states thing such as "Let my parents get married!" stated, "... we all want our children to share our values, and these shirts are one of the ways we get to express that."However, is this really fair? Is it fair to push political beliefs on anyone? Just because someone is in your family gives you no right to force that person to believe one thing over another (especially when they cannot speak!). Also what sickens me more is that currently there are publishers publishing such children's books as Why Mommy is A Democrat (featuring squirrels as characters) and Why Daddy is a Democrat (a sequel with bears). I don't know about you, but does anyone else see this as having the word BRAINWASH written all over it.

Coming from a family where free-thinking was encouraged, I cannot even imagine if my father were to push his republican beliefs on me at a young age. No doubt I would VERY different from how I am today (a 20 year old democrat).

I'll end by a quote provided in the article by Joan Ingber a therapist who specializes in children's issues in Manhattan, "It seems cute and benign, however, the more I think about it, the more it fails to pass my cringe test. It seems that we're bombarded enough by constant advertising, so why should children become the canvas for any ad? ... Do we really want to see kids in this role?" She then went on to say, ""I see too many kids who mimic their parents' feelings and opinions," she says. "I, for one, would like to see children grow up to be critical thinkers. Can that happen if they're told how to think, feel?"

I couldn't agree more Joan!!!!!!!


Source: Cnn.com by Ron Dicker