My whole point was that this situation is a continually unhealthy cycle: people hide children from certain realities for fear that they'll abuse them; suddenly one of those realities pops up on television, trying to push the envelope, take on a more mature subject, or simply rile people up; and instead of taking it in stride people clamor for more and more restriction. --Blanco Meow

Children should be allowed to be children. No one should be forced to learn the harsh realities of life just because TV decides to show it. There is a time and a place to learn everything, like I said. I'm all in favor of teaching kids responsibility and keeping them informed about sex. But when and where a child is ready to learn it should be up to the parent. When boobs are being shown during football games, that takes the choice away from the parent.

I'm not in favor of "hiding" information from people to keep them from doing something bad. I am in favor of teaching things at the appropriate time. Children aren't ready to understand things like sex until they grow up a bit. Before they're ready or even capable of understanding it, then yes, it should be hidden from them, to keep them from being confused or getting the wrong ideas.

Unne, to say that healthy introduction to something like alcohol or sex is the same as "teaching people to do it" is a misinterpretation of the argument. You act as if i'm proposing we should do things like get our kids drunk and tell them to enjoy themselves; or send them out to find prostitutes, which is absolutely not the case. To introduce something like alcohol (which is simply a similar example, not a mandate) in small amounts and show by example responsible drinking habits is absolutely the best thing you can do for a kid's future with alcohol.

The best thing is to teach kids not to touch alcohol period, and make sure they don't. There is no such thing as "healthy" introduction to something unhealthy. "Healthy introduction" may not be teaching people to do it per se, but it IS teaching them that it's acceptable to do it. I don't believe in accepting that a child is going to do something harmful and just letting it go on and trying to minimize the damage. That's bad parenting.

Everyone will experiment eventually, but it instills far more strongly the idea that alcohol is a pleasure to be enjoyed responsibly than any law.

I once again disagree with your premise that experimenting with alcohol is a certainty in life that should be accepted as a given. It isn't. Do you think that people are inherently depraved to the point where people can't learn right from wrong no matter what? It's a matter of saying "Don't drink alcohol; it's wrong", explain why it's wrong, and keep your kid from doing it, period, whether they understand the reasons at the time or not. There is no need to make sure that a kid drinks alcohol responsibly if you make sure your kid never drinks alcohol at all.

i'm also not saying any parent has to force anything on their child - obviously, bringing up that child is a matter of the parents' own philosophy.

I am saying that though. Parents should foce their kids to do the right thing, and at the same time teach them why; teach them the difference between right and wrong. That's the job of parents. It's less and less of a job as a child gets older and wiser and more able to make his or her own decisions, but still.

The "unhealthy cycle", to me, is shaving down your morals for the sake of convenience. "Kids will drink, so let's teach them to drink 'well'". "Kids will have sex, so let's make sure they do it 'safely'". That's a load of crap, in my opinion. There is no such thing as compromise when it comes to right and wrong. My parents never gave me compromise; if I did something wrong, they punished me and made sure I never did it again. They didn't try to make sure I did that wrong thing "healthily" next time in the future. I plan to do the same with my kids, if I have any.