After a big victory in a youth football game recently, my parents and I took my 11-year-old son toHooters for lunch. Though this was his first trip to Hooters, he knew from his friends exactly what the restaurant chain is famous for.
Here is an interesting story that started as a father's blog (http://therainracer.wordpress.com/). He then wrote a column about this in the USA Today (http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/10/column-sex-ed-and-a-trip-to-hooters-.html). I just listened to him talk about it today on Talk of the Nation (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114045285&ps=cprs).
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with the way this father wanted to teach his son about sex ed?
After thinking about this story for a few days, I've decided that I don't have the slightest problem with a dad taking his son to hooters. Do I think this is the best way for him to bring up sex ed with his son? Maybe not, but he definately gets points for creativity. I'm just glad to see that the father is doing something to be aware of his son's impending encounter with puberty and is willing and prepared to talk to the kid about sex. People have been bad mouthing this guy since he wrote about the experence on his blog, and I think they need to chill out. Hooter's isn't as smutty as most people think. Tank tops and shorts are hardly what I would consider to be scandelous attire, so lets give the guy (and his son) a break.
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree with him. By taking his son to Hooters, he is showing him he condones the objectification of women - even if he doesn't. There is a difference between incidence and seeking something out. If he wanted to see how his son interacted with girls, he could have volunteered in his class or gone to the beach. This was an overt and unnecessary action.
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly not quite sure what to think. When I first saw the title of this post I thought, "What the heck?" I do not approve of what this dad is teaching his son. For one thing, he is teaching his son to look at women as objects. I myself have never been to Hooter's, but from what I hear it is not the place to take children (or even preteens). I would not want my children subjected to that, especially at that young of an age. Yes, they will probably see similar things later on in life, but I would be in no rush to expose my kids to things like that. I don't think that sheltering kids is the best solution, but there is a big difference between sheltering kids and purposely exposing them to things that I would hope they would not be looking at in their spare time.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it took me a while to really form an opinion. But I realized later that I would hope I could teach my kids in a better way about sex without getting them involved in anything that would harm them later. They are just in tank tops and short shorts but for a young kid who maybe doesn't see that often can stir emotions and new thoughts that that dad will probably later regret.
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