Can We Stop (3/3/22)

Dear Parents,

Can we stop? Please.

Can we stop letting our first and second graders watch crap like Huggy Wuggy?

Can we stop letting them have unrestricted access to cellphones?

Seriously, I'm doing my best to protect my kids from all of the terrifying things in this world. I'm trying to keep them from seeing things that little minds shouldn't. I'm trying to let them have a childhood filled with imagination, dirt, and cardboard box inventions. I'm trying to make human beings that treat each other with kindness. Damn it, I'm trying.

But it takes them leaving my perfectly crafted bubble for that to all be erased. I'm doing research to find out who the hell Huggy Wuggy is and why he's in my house. I'm Googling Tic Toc videos to find out how my kids know signs or words because I know they didn't learn them from me.

My question is why? Why when my kids leave my house do I have an instantaneous worry about what they'll come home knowing? Why isn't that sacred bubble around all of these kids? Why are we just ok with handing them over to the internet to be raised?

It's a fight in my house weekly: "when can I get a phone?" from my seven and eight year olds. When you're about 87 is my answer. Why? Because your sister owning one ruined it for you.

Seriously, our oldest got one a year ago (at a little over 12 against my better judgment), and I've regretted every minute since. Absolutely there are guards and time limits on it. Absolutely I look through it. But absolutely, it's changed my kid. Also, what I spend time blocking and protecting, she can see when she goes to a friend's house. WHY???

It makes me crazy. It makes me sad. I just don't understand why. Why are we ok with this being the world that takes away our kids' innocence while we sit idly by? I'm NOT ok with it! I'm just not.

I want my kids to play outside and have skinned knees from running and falling. I want them to make ice cream trucks out of boxes. I want blanket forts in my living room, not flipping Huggy Wuggy in the closet.

Can we rise up? Can we take back our kids? Can we please stop letting the mindless world of the internet set the standards for how they think life should be? Can we please make it stop? Can we please?

Will you join me? Will you protect your kids and mine? We can do this if we do it together. We can protect their innocence if we do it together. Can we please?

Love,

A Mom Who Just Wants Her Kids To Be Ok