We know, of course, that we can't protect our kids from the assault of messages they get from everywhere nowadays. Friends has become off-limits in my house if Rachel or Amelia is in the TV room(never knew, until I paid attention, just how many sex references there are), and The Big Bang Theory is now carefully monitored(and quickly changed if Leonard and Penny end up in bed). Yes, I realize I sound like a Ward Cleaver square who will one day be yelling at "those damn kids" to get off my lawn, but making sure not to hypersexualize our kids at so young an age is one of my jobs. This stuff is good when they reach high school(maybe), but not so much when they're 7.
I thought I was doing a good job until a few months ago when I heard a bizarre sound coming from upstairs. My daughter was taking a shower, and the noise soon became apparent. If you've ever seen this Herbal Essences commercial, you'll quickly know what sound I mean.
Rachel has absolutely no idea what the commercial is alluding to, but I was horrified. We thought we were doing a good job at keeping TV to a minimum and changing it when something inappropriate came on, but we can't monitor all the time. One would think that bathroom breaks during commercials for things like The Nanny or George Lopez, you'd be safe. Even the few times I caught it - I rarely pay attention to commercials - I caught the tail end and shrugged it off. Little did I know just how much little Miss Copy-Cat was taking in.
I took my wife's advice and decided not to make a big deal out of it, lest we make it worse. And, fortunately, this little ode to what shampoo can do has tapered off in the last couple of weeks. Still, it has made me hyper-sensitive to what else is going on around us. There's nothing like hearing something no father should ever hear from his child to do that.
Has anyone else ever had something like this happen? I hope the answer is YES YES YES!
Russ
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