Maybe Tipper was on to something

I had an interesting discussion with my dentist today about the iPod I was listening to. It seems his daughter now wants one and is begging her dad for one. Unfortunately, after talking to me he has made up his mind not to get her one, and I understand why. Here's the feedback I submitted to Apple regarding iPod.

I just finished showing my dentist the iPod I had since his daughter wants one. Unfortunately he has now decided against getting her one for a simple reason, he can't control what she will load onto it and has no way of monitoring it. It's not just the explicit songs he's worried about as much as he is about what he considers inappropriate themes and attitudes prevalent in the music his nieces and nephews listen to. As the mother of a bright and cheerful 5 year old son, who has just discovered music CDs, I can understand his concern. I also try to keep certain music and television shows out of his 'reach' because I believe those attitudes and themes to be an obstacle to success and happiness. It would be nice as a parent to setup an iTunes account and iPod for my children that would be prevented from buying, ripping or uploading not just explicit material but also thematic material that I don't want them to have on their iPods. A rating system similar to that found on TV - with DLSV and additional categories - for criminal activity, sexist attitudes, loser attitudes, blaming attitudes, and the like would be helpful. I know that even with ratings enforcement on iPod/iTunes this won't prevent them from being exposed to the songs and programs that I oppose from other sources. However, at least I will be assured none of that ends up on the iPods I buy for them.

I recently played with setting ratings on the TV we bought to replace another one that my son uses. I liked the fact that I could refine the blocks on TV-xy to separate Dialogue, Sexual, Language, and Violence but even those I found too broad for my mission.

Our mission: Well we've brainwashed our son into being a very happy kid who has manners, is kind-hearted and cuddly.

How? Simple.

• As a baby, we constantly smiled at him and we played with him. We also spoiled him by letting him sleep in our bed (he still won't leave after 5 years) hugging him and telling him often that we love him.
• As a toddler, we let him watch TV, but only the shows with happy smiling characters like Elmo, Barney, Roly Poly Oly and Baby Einstein.
• He plays happy video games, he has since he was 18 months old. I know many who will disapprove, but far from being a sullen and solitary child with a limited attention span and vocabulary, he is quite the opposite.
• We have also always quickly switched the channel or station when a show or song came on that had the following themes: sexist, loser attitudes, blame everyone, manipulative, lying, cheating, stealing and of course drugs.

Whether or not our son will continue to be the happy and huggable child he is now once he enters kindergarten is unknown. But he is in preschool (started this past September) and seems to have kept these qualities all the while he was dealing with children who weren't as happy or as nice as he is (he had bite marks to prove it!). Sure he has his bad days, for which he is punished or redirected. But he is still a happy kid - holding his own in preschool. I know, preschoolers are not known for being bad influences. However, he has a tendency to prefer nice kids versus those with attitudes. So maybe our decisions to keep him from the 'bad' attitudes of songs and shows has shaped his view of the world such that he finds that material alien and not reminiscent of home.

I know I am dragging on, but our son continues to draw pictures of his "family at home" all smiling. Pictures say a thousand words. His drawings tell us we are doing the right thing.


.:end:.