Kid-Controlled Culture

I heard the report the other morning on the news. Some major food marketers have decided to establish limits on advertising to children. Companies like Campbells (you know, the soup company) and General Mills are going to limit their advertising to children under 12 if their product doesn't meet certain nutritional standards. The companies represent about two-thirds of all food advertising dollars aimed at children. All well and good.

Here's the part I don't get. What is the point of advertising? I always thought that the point of advertising is to get people to buy my product. Here's what frightens me -- I may be right. If I am, apparently it is children under the age of 12 who are buying these products or at least deciding which products are bought. Thus the need to curtail advertising to this age group.

That frightens me. It appears that parents are allowing their children to determine what they will eat. The parent doesn't decide; the child does. The parent, who should have nutritional sense and parental control, has apparently surrendered any sense or control to children who are not old enough to see PG-13 movies. (Yeah, right, like children under the age of 12 aren't seeing PG-13 movies.)

American culture has long been a youth-oriented culture. In the 60's they said, "Don't trust anyone over 30." Over 30? And the culture has pressed on that way. It is the young people that determine what is right, not the experienced people. The youth -- anyone under the age of 30 -- believe that they know what is best and older folks are, well, just stupid. This view is reinforced over and over these days in movies and television. Watch any family presentation and it is highly likely that those brainless parents are going to be doing witless things that require the children to correct. Wisdom these days comes out of the mouth of babes, not from adults.

So the culture has continued as a youth-oriented culture, and then some. When I was 30, I asked my young son, "Do you think your dad is old?" "Oh, yes, Dad," he told me. "How old do you think I am?" I asked. "Oh," he said, real old. At least 18." "I love you son," I replied. "At least 18." That's old. So our under-12 group are determining what they should eat, what they should wear, how they should live. They decide when to have a cell phone. Many parents fear losing their parental rights to the government. What's the point? We've already surrendered them to our children. You can't lose what you don't have.

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Prov. 22:6). We've decided that makes no sense. Let them go the way they want to go, and everything will be fine. They will like us. We will have peace. They're on their own. Great! CBS is putting on a new reality show called Kid Nation in which kids between the ages of 8 to 15 are going to make their own world without adults to show they can do it better. (Hey, plans are already in the works for Kid Nation 2. Casting call is out. How about sending your 8-year-old into a hostile environment without adults to prove how much smarter they are than you?)

Parents, we have a responsibility to our kids. It is not to let them do as they please. It is not to be their buddy. It is not to allow them to grow up however they want to grow up. We have a responsibility to train them, to parent them, to prepare them for life. It is a God-given responsibility, not one to be taken lightly. It is not the popular perspective today ... but it is the biblical one. And, oh, by the way, "eternal youth" is not the answer to a good life. Regardless of the culture and the advertisements you will find, "Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life" (Prov. 16:31). Kids, remember, "Wisdom is with aged men; with long life is understanding" (Job 12:12).