[thechris]

Hmmm yeah, I don't think that this moral decay is anything fresh and new. Actually, I don't think moral decay is quite what it is. I think that society is just less shy or ashamed of certain things that it once was. Oh and omega is correct, this really is down to parenting. It's also down to what a parent wishes to pass down to their children. Kids will often emulate their parents, this much is true. I think that it's just more in your face now than it was in the past. For example, I had a friend whose dad used to encourage him to do pot, drink and bully in order to fit in with the popular kids at school. Some people might look at this as abuse. Some people might not think anything of it.

I grew up in the Mickey Mouse Club era and GI Joe and "Winners Don't Use Drugs" on the arcade machine FBI warnings and so did he. This didn't save him from making "poor" choices. His father certainly didn't save him from making these choices. In fact, it was encouraged. This stuff has always been around but ignored or when you saw it portrayed in film, it was villified (perhaps rightly so) and as such, people were doing it in secret. Now it's commented on more in more of a "So what do you think?" sort of way and people are doing it more openly. For example, the dad who used to give his son a few underaged beer to "make him a man" in private would now do it openly and even tell other parents about it. People who do recreational drugs share this fact with others. Heck, this forum has been an open mic for that. I don't really know what to make of this stuff but I know that I was raised a certain way but I certainly couldn't be sheltered from everything.

I made generally positive choices (in my mind) and to this day, I haven't tried any recreational drugs, I don't drink often, I don't smoke, yadda-yadda, but then this was my choice. I could've just as easily have done drugs, become an alcoholic, objectified and abused women, etc. In general, my parents told me that stuff wasn't good for me and I decided not to do it. While I was growing up, a lot of kids smoked, I'm pretty sure if they offered it to me and my own dad told me that it was okay to do it and it would make me cool, I probably would've done it. On a funny twist, my dad did smoke and I hated it and that probably attributed to me not smoking as well.

Wow, okay, that was too much ranting there. Read only if interested. The main point is that if it's out there and running rampant and you tell your kids that they probably shouldn't do it, they may or may not listen to you. However, if it's running rampant out there and you tell your kids that it's cool to do it or not give them any direction, they'll more than likely do it. It's up to you to teach your kids what's right and what's wrong. Just make sure that you can look yourself in the mirror after and that you're not just saying something is okay to justify your own poor habits as "misunderstood".