Recently I’ve been following the sad story of Jessica Logan and her tragic death through the articles in the Enquirer. Her parents want to get a law passed about “sexting”. Public opinion varies…some for some against.
I’m amazed to read comments from grown adults that say things along the lines of, “Bad behavior needs to stop at home, not with laws” or “Warn kids about consequences, fatal mistakes can be prevented that way“. Basically saying if you tell your kids what NOT to do, then they won’t do it.
Heeeello???? McFly????? Are any of these contributors parents of teenagers? Ummmm…as a teenager, are you telling us that you NEVER did anything you weren’t supposed to do? If you did contribute a comment like the ones above and you do have teenagers, are you telling us your kids never did anything wrong because you’ve told them not to?
If all it takes is warning our kids of consequences, then heck, let’s do away with some of the existing, frivolous, un-necessary laws that we have now. We don’t need them according to you.
Let’s see….how about the following:
1. Underage drinking. Don’t need that one do we? Just tell your teenagers not to drink and they won’t right?
2. Speeding. Ahhh…don’t need that one either. Just tell them what could happen if you do and they’ll never speed….EVER.
3. Shoplifting. Nahhh, we don’t need that. Just tell kids you could go to jail and they’ll never steal that 5 cent piece of candy from the grocery store.
4. Buying adult rated movies/video games. What a waste that law is. I’ll just tell my kids its bad for you and again, they won’t do it.
Getting the picture here? HOLEY MOLEY! If we start warning our kids now, then in 15-20 years, we won’t need ANY LAWS. Because our kids, now grown ups, will know right from wrong and we won’t have anymore criminals!
Moral of the story:
Kids will do what kids want to do. No amount of perfect parenting will stop a teenager from drinking at a party if they want to. No amount of perfect parenting will guarantee 100% that a teenager will never, ever do anything wrong.
Laws are there to protect each other because people DO make mistakes. Kids DO make bad choices and as many of you perfect parents know, bad choices have consequences, i.e. punishments so that you are reminded not to do it again. That is what the law does for us less then perfect people out here. Laws remind us of the consequences so we don’t think of going down that wrong path.
I believe a law against ’sexting’ will help prevent another tragic death like Jessica Logan’s. Notice I said “help”, not Stop. Only you the individual can make the choice to stop, as is your right as a citizen of the United States.
Choice.
Filed under: Daily Life
