The fact that both guests write for relatively conservative papers is telling. It might have been interesting to tease out whether there’s a political back story to this.

And, my other observation is that this show was all about “nurture.” What about nature? I mean, it’s not like parents can mold kids like clay; some kids have natures that would make these kinds of controls rather difficult. The assumption seems to have been that it’s only the culture that pulls kids in all of these odd directions but in fact, it might be some of the genetic inheritance from one or both parents influencing things.

We have good friends (Americans) who worked in Japan while their three daughters were going through the ages talked about in this piece. They were delighted with the fact that young kids in Japan seemed a few years behind American kids when it came to pop culture. I’m not sure this is the case anymore but it was ten years ago.

I do agree that you can’t shelter them from popular culture. You have to help them process it and make their own decisions about it.

The business of exploiting parental anxiety is, to crib from “The Sopranos,” like certain aspects of the entertainment industry and the mob: recession proof. Author Marybeth Hicks flogged this schtick on Wednesday’s “On Point” with the never-miss-a-beat sunny professionalism of morning television show anchor. It’s pretty good as marketing plans go-the proprietary jargon, the perfect anecdotes, the obvious solutions. There’s even a nifty website where you can schedule a personal appearance through some outfit called GetPRTherapy.com.

None of this is territory that hasn’t been plumbed by Art Linkletter (or even “The O’Reilly Factor For Kids”). I began to wonder, though, if it’s more about political and social agendas than just the wisdom of a modern day June Cleaver. Was I hearing things or could “the culture” and “the media” be easily swapped out for “teachers unions,” “secular humanists,” “fluoridationsists” or whatever? It sure looked like it was going down that road when it came time for shout-outs to the value of home schooling. I wished the reliably skeptical Tom Ashbrook had pursued this thread further.

A gander at the author’s bio (http://www.marybethhicks.com/aboutMarybeth.aspx ) provides a look-see. Among her credentials are having “scribed special correspondence and talking points for President Ronald Reagan” and a weekly column in The Washington Times (“known across the country as “America’s newspaper.”) I kid you not.

Politicians have swindled us into wars and out of liberties and loot on vague promises that they will keep us safe from the what’s lurking out there in the shadows. We’ve become so terrified of mucking it up with the world out there that Main Streets and village squares are an anachronism, replaced by strip malls and suburban half-acre islands on cul-de-sacs.

I feel sad that this next generation might have to spend its childhood housebound in the name of security. These poor teen hydroponics could make the mallrats who once roamed the mean aisles of The Gap and the Food Court look like Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise by comparison. Or maybe those kids will look back at all this hoohah and laugh, the way another generation recalls the uproar over those crazy kids with their long hair and Beatle music.

My husband and I parented “intentionally” in a time(15 years ago) when the biggest challenges were tobacco, alcohol, and pot usage – which was often a subject at our nightly family dinner table. I find today’s culture is so much more invasive on almost all levels; parents have to be even more vigilant.

I bought Ms. Hicks’ book today; when I finish reading it, I plan to pass it on to our grand daughter’s Mommy and Daddy. Though she’s only two, I don’t think it’s too early to read this book!

I agreed with her views, but felt it was more for the rich families than the average families.

I just get the sense that Ms. Hicks’ approach of rectitude is carried too far into development. The fact that the kids may be sheltered from the R-rated media does not make them well-adjusted. I think that over-involved parents can rob a child of the
chance to develop an autonomous personality, and can end up causing perfectionism problems, anxiety, eating disorders, and stunted maturity. My parents didn’t let me do lots of things, especially through middle school, but they weren’t afraid that I was
constitutionally incapable of making the right choice on my own.