I don’t know what kind of towns you ladies live in, but I live in Central Florida. We have Universal Studios and Bush Gardens. They BOTH have a Halloween event each year…which I really do not care what they do….EXCEPT…the billboards! I mean they scare ME! And, I do not scare easy! They are EVERYwhere. They have freddy krugar, and VERY mean and nasty looking clown (I mean clowns are scary enough for little ones! LOL), and several other very VERY mean, yucky, and just plain scary pictures. The are HUGE too…It’s like every street we drive on has some HUGE billboard with a picture that can bring nightmares!
My point is…well…geez, can we have a little tact. NOT ALL people driving want to or SHOULD see those pice. Especially the little ones. It’s NOT fair! Even my teenager gets paternal when we drive by one. She will distract my little one so she does not see them…WHY should we have to?
We could go one step further…it’s not just THIS time of year…what about the half naked pictures of UNrealistic women that bombard the billboards, commercials, and magazines. In our town, they even have a LARGE screen TV with half naked women flashing! My poor husband! I am blessed because he CHOOSES to turn away…but what about all the poor men out there that maybe struggle with pornography? What about our little boys???
My question is….Do you think freedom of speech and expression can go too far? What about our kids? Is it fair to them? Where do we draw the line??
LOL! OK, I am off my soap box, well, not really…LOL…I live on it! LOL! Please share your thoughts as a MOM…
A Concerned Mom,
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I couldn’t agree with you more on this subject. As a mother of two girls and a boy, I’m worried that they are going to think that the half naked women are “normal.” I don’t want my girls to think that if they don’t look like Britney Spears or Linsay Lohan, then there’s something wrong with them. And I don’t want my son to think that these kinds of women are what he should be after.
And for the scarey billboards, my daughter gets nightmares and I know that if she saw something like the ones you’re describing, she would be a mess.
I’m a firm believer in freedom of speach but I also think that this freedom should be exercised with descretion. You are totally not alone in this one and you have every right to be on your soapbox!
[just dropping by. Found your blog @ The Moms Blog]
I know what you mean! My daughter is still little [2 & 1/2] but is getting to the point where she notices things like that. It really makes me upset, b/c I don’t want her getting scared by various things.
You are totally correct on this. I am soooooo careful about what my kids watch, listen to and read. I don’t want them to have things that could cause them nightmares or to grow up with the idea that these things are right. I think you have every right to freedom of speech however like you all mentioned there should be some discretion used.
I fast forward through the Harry Potter commercial at the beginning of my kids favorite video of Scooby Doo. I am very strict about what they can see. LOL! It is nice to know that I am not the only one. I would probably call and complain if I were you. I am glad that I don’t have that kind of thing in my area. At Halloween we dress up (well, the kids do) and pass out candy bags with tracks in them and then go to grandmas house to show off. Some of the cosutmes that come around I have to hide the little ones, but most of them are tame.
I totally agree also. Here where I live we have a big 4th of July parade. For the last couple of years an older gentlman has ridden through with a very graphic picture of an aborted baby on his truck. This picture is about 6×6 feet and absolutely horrible. Now while I understand his view on abortion I feel that there is a better way to handle things. Freedom of Speech is very important, but somethings just aren’t meant to been seen.
I was just thinking about this the other day when I was shopping. They already have the skeletons, ghouls, witches and ghosts decorating the stores. My daughter kept asking me to “keep going” so we would get past the scary creatures but they kept reappearing around every aisle. It’s so sad and yes SCARY!