editor's note

I am a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to pop culture. I don’t have an iPod, and never will. The whole Nintendo phase blew right by me. (Now what is it, Xbox or something?) Two years ago, I was forced to buy a DVD player after Blockbuster stopped carrying VHS tapes.  I can’t stand rap music and how it popularizes the denigration of women to an annoying, repetitious, hypnotic beat. I am disgusted by how popular it is for kids to dress and talk illiterately like “gangstas” – “Whassup, Dude?” And then there’s Freak Dancing, which has our children simulating sex by grinding erotically with partners at school dances.

Where is all this destructive influence coming from? YouTube, iPods, TV, MySpace and movies, for starters. My ex-husband bought my oldest an iPod with a gift card for free downloads. Little did I know she was downloading filthy-mouthed comedians discussing things a 14-year-old isn’t ready to hear. One night I caught the same teenager in question watching “A Shot at Love,” a reality dating show like “The Bachelor,” but with a slight twist: Tila Tequila had to decide if she wanted to date a boy or a girl. (MTV is now blocked at our house.) For Christmas, a relative sent my daughter the book “Gossip Girl,” a prequel to a popular TV show aimed at teenagers. In the first 10 pages, the “F-word” was used 4 times, and teenagers were discussing sex and one father’s affair while mixing martinis in a home absent of parents.

Is it any wonder that 16-year-olds, like Jamie Lynn Spears, are getting pregnant?

My message to parents? Be vigilant. PAY ATTENTION to what your kids are watching, reading, listening to and accessing on the Internet. If your children are young, come up with a game plan now for how much pop culture you will or will not allow them to be exposed to someday.

We, as parents, are the final fortress surrounding our impressionable children. And just because something’s popular, doesn’t mean we should let it in.