Yes

by It's Me

Created on: May 07, 2009   Last Updated: May 13, 2009

When I look around at the things people are accepting these days I wonder what in the world has happened to the days when people used to have strong beliefs in right from wrong... It saddens me that the morals of people all around are quickly disappearing. The one thing I never thought I would see disappear is the respect people had for others. You helped your neighbor, you did not try to make things worse for them. You brought your kids up with respect for themselves and marriage. Not anymore..

I could sit back, like most, and say this is normal teen behavior, but it is not. In my parents day teens didn't do that. Yes kids will be kids and they will mess up but there used to be a line that wasn't crossed. Parents have forgotten to teach their kids respect for other people, for themselves, and for marriage. It seems by the time a parent gets around to having "the talk" with their kids it is already to late.

I also believe the media plays a big role in the way a teen thinks. The media is all about sex. It has gotten so bad even the commercials are about sex. It is even spreading crudeness into cartoons. Sex is made out as a casual things that all people do or should be doing. You see womens bodies everywhere now, the more skin the more who will go look at it. Although I think when it comes to sexting the ones who do it aren't out to expose themselves to everyone and that is why it becomes so hurtful to the one who does it. They may be in a relationship and have that much trust in the person they send it to, that trust shouldn't be broken.

Then you have your teens who really just don't care who sees this type of picture. These teens need to be taught that when you split with somebody or stop being friends with somebody it is not okay to try to ruin their world. There needs to be punishment for that. While i believe a parent should teach their child that this is not okay that will not stop the one who has parents that are to busy to teach them, to busy to punish them, usually to busy to even know what their kids are doing.

This is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with. While most parents teach their kids not to steal you still have the ones who do it. The ones who go ahead and steal get in trouble right? Why is this any difference? Doing either one is wrong.

Sex is a funny subject, most parents are afraid to bring up the subject and don't want the schools to teach about the subject yet let their kids see every type of sex they want on TV. I don't understand that? If sex is so personal then why is blasted everywhere we look? Then there is sex-ed, which to me is very laughable.. If you want to teach a teen about sex then do it on their level. They do not care about ovaries, eggs, etc. They need somebody who will just put the facts out there for them not somebody who will say go ahead just use protection.

They need somebody who will be honest and straight forward about the facts that matter before going into the details that will likely bore them to sleep. Not only do they need to be taught the facts but they need to be taught self respect as well. Yes a persons body is beautiful but it is a gift that is not meant for everyone! It is something you were given to share with a special person. People who respect themselves do not have to have the whole world approve their body to be confident in who they are, they don't have to prove themselves to the ones they date by showing their bodies.

That said, I believe anybody who is caught with these types of pictures on their phone should be punished. Especially if these are pictures of an uderage person. As a parent I want to know that my children are protected, even if it means they need to be protected from themselves. There should be a line that is set for these punishments though. I don't think they should be labeled as sex offenders because that is not what they are.

To simply punish is not the answer to the problem. There needs to be a fit punishment. What some people fail to realise is the aftermath of what happens when one of those picture messages are spread around to cause hurt. They aren't part of the pain the person feels, the jokes they become the butt of, and they sure aren't the ones dealing with the pain a family feels when their child has committed suicide because there is no escaping their peers after the picture has been spread. How can you let that go unpunished? If it were you child on that end of it would you let the one responsible for sending it off free?

While our kids need to be educated on the whole sex issue and the respect issue, they also need to know that there is punishment for when they mess up. I just hope whoever gets to make the choices in this makes the right one for the punishment and sex offender doesn't apply in this case. Maybe they will figure it out and soon put a stop to some of this craziness.

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