Childhood innocence

I was asked to go to the park today by my 6 year old. I honestly wasn't really in the mood but he asked and I have a problem denying him anything. I said I was going to sit on the bench and listen to some music. The park was empty which I thought was odd considering it was a beautiful day. He told me that he was really hoping that there would be some one at the park to play with, there was not one child to be seen. So he just looked at me and said well I guess I'll just play by myself. So I said OK I'll be here on the bench.

I watched him jump, climb, slide and swing. He dug, skipped and kicked. He hung, twisted and turned. While he was digging and letting the sand fall back to the earth I watched him and made a simple wish. A wish that childhood innocence could last longer than it does. Maybe I am naive and lost in a world of wishful thinking but I would love to see it stretch well in to late teens. Kids just seem to not be able to be kids anymore. I was robbed of my childhood at ten. My parents got a divorce and I had much more to deal with than regular kids at that time. Kids are exposed to so much at such a young age and there just seems to be some much more pushed on them. They are exposed to violence on television in cartoons, they are exposed to drugs in the media in the news, they are exposed to alternative life styles in day to day life. Sure sometimes it seems like they don't notice it but you know they pick up on everything. I remember the time I used the word "fuck"... he was a year and a half old and he repeated it for the next 30 minutes. They hear and see everything. I love both of my boys and I want them to experience things when they are ready not when some one else thinks they are ready.

I have neighbours that have older kids and their young boy has come home with all the wrong ideas about girls and he's only ten. Why does his friend who is only ten know all this? Where are his parents in this? Even if he has older brothers or sisters he shouldn't be exposed to this he should be still concerned with building the biggest ramp for his Hot Wheels cars or where to take GI Joe for his next adventure. Worry about what happens to the spiders in the garden when winter comes. He should be worrying about kid stuff.

I know the perception of how the family unit comes about is out of whack. My wife was a supply teacher for a period of time before she became a full time teacher. She took a long term assignment of a grade two class. There was a little girl in that class that asked if she was married, she said yes and showed her a picture of us on our wedding day. The little girl looked at the picture and asked to see a picture of her baby. My wife said she didn't have a baby. The little girl looked at her puzzled and said, no you should have a baby if you are married you have a baby before you get married. My wife taught that little girl in a Catholic school. A religion that is supposed to teach abstinence until marriage. I know that not everyone will abstain and God knows I didn't. The flesh is weak and God knows that. To skew a young girl's perception of the family unit like that though just seems so perverse. The morals and the values these days are out of line and I believe it is all in the effort to make more money and desire to fill ones life with things rather than good people, media moguls and conglomerates push the envelope to see what they can air on television or print in newspapers. News channels broadcast tragedy before they broadcast good. All in the effort to bump ratings or increase sales.

How do we stop this consumption of bad influences that is become our society? How do I prolong my boys innocence?