Persuasive Essay

I can clearly remember the day when I had the "birds and the bees " talk with my mom at the age of 12. It was short, sweet, and straight to the point. She said, "Look, you're becoming a beautiful young woman now so let me tell you this: Don't have sex! You'll get pregnant if you do. So keep your legs shut until you're married, and that's all I have to say!" I love my mom and all but, what the heck was I supposed to learn from that? At the time I was glad; better yet, relieved that that was all she had to say. But looking back now I realize I needed much more; maybe not that day but between then and now I did. I needed someone to talk to ; someone to tell me what was going on in, and outside my body; someone to answer the multitude of questions roaming throughout my head; I needed to feel like mom was there for me and that I could come to her with any and all of my problems; but I couldn't! So, I had to go elsewhere. I learned about sex, and other aspects of life through my friends, television, music, and my personal favorite books(yes there are some pretty explicit books out there!). Even though these outlets fulfilled alot of my curiosity, I was still yearning for more. I needed a teacher, my mommy, even would've done (not my dad though, he probably would've scared the mess out of me!), but no; they weren't there.

You see, we're allowing these devices to raise our kids. Parents need to take the responsibility to teach our children about not only the pleasures, but about the pain and unpleasantries of life. I can understand that it may not be easy talking about sex, or drugs, or racism to your kids; and believe me, it's not easy for us to hear about it from you guys either, but it has to be done! We must be willing and able to give them the facts they need and deserve. We need to start taking time out of our busy schedules to sit down and talk to our kids about the many conflicts and issues they face and are inquiring about. They're curious, and we must fulfill their curiosity. If we aren't there they will look elsewhere. I have mixed views about filtering. On one hand there's alot of explicit stuff out on the internet that kids really have no business getting into; but on the other hand if parents/gaurdians don't do there part, they need to expect us to go elsewhere, and not complain about it later. If you start filtering everything, where will they go to learn? You parents are out there ranting, raving, and protesting, which is cool; but be willing to step up to the plate afterwards. Will you teach your kids when they come to you with their questions or will you shun and avoid them? If you're open, maybe they wont want to run to the computers, or televisions, or books, or and their friends; and maybe they wont be so eager to experiment either. Filtering computers in schools is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. Parents need to begin to set up good family values, openess, and good comunication. Teach them so they wont want to go elsewhere for information.