Take some RESPONSIBILITY, Parents!

JCPenney recently pulled a T-Shirt from their shelves/online store/whatever because some idiotic parents screamed out about it.  What is the fuss?  It said, "I'm too pretty to do my homework, so my brother does it for me" (or close enough).  Frankly, I thought it was funny.

Seriously?  Are people that stiff-lipped that they can't enjoy some tongue-in-cheek humor anymore?  And, worse, JCPenney complied!  Umm, let's see, last I remember, this is AMERICA. If you don't want your kid wearing the shirt, DON'T LET THEM! DUH!

If you don't want your kid eating fries with their chicken nuggets, DON'T LET THEM! DUH!

If you don't want your kid eating a bunch of fast food/junk food, DON'T LET THEM! DUH!

If you don't want your kid watching a TV show about vampire babysitters, DON'T LET THEM! DUH!

If you don't want your kid listening to a certain kind of music, DON'T LET THEM! DUH!

If you don't want your kid to waste money on some kind of make-up or some particular video game, DON'T LET THEM! DUH!

It is WAY past the time for adults (yes, I'm talking to you people that are sitting around posting laments about some stupid T-Shirt on Facebook and Twitter instead of teaching your children your own values) to TAKE CHARGE of their own children's lives.  Come on, people.  Get off your butts and show your kids what it means to be a parent.  You are *NOT* your child's best friend. They have other kids for that.  You are the parent, the adult, the one who sets the rules and makes your children follow them.  YOU have to teach your children what's appropriate for them to wear or not and why YOU believe it to be that way.  You see, each parent (or guardian or 'person in charge of a youngin') has a job to do: Train up your child. 

Our children have to be raised to UNDERSTAND why something is a good choice or a bad choice.  They have to understand that some people use fast food in a pinch or as a treat instead of relying on it for every meal.  And, some people don't do it that way.  Neither way is wrong, in my opinion.  But, if one way is wrong for YOU, then YOU have every right to TRAIN your child in what is right and wrong.  You should NOT have the right to tell *ME* what is right and wrong for *MY* child. Period. In my opinion, that goes for everything: religion, food, games, tv, cigarettes, alcohol, clothing, how to use a restroom.  What I teach my child has nothing to do with what you teach yours.  If I want my kid to wear a shirt that says, "I'm too pretty to do homework" because I think it's funny (and then explain why it is funny and how it is NOT TRUE), then my child should be allowed to wear it.  Likewise, if you don't, then you are allowed to NOT buy it. 

As for companies, it is HIGH TIME to quit pandering to every cry-baby group of "adults" out there that threatens to quit buying your stuff.  Some people were offended, some people thought the shirt was funny.  So, what!?  You have got to STOP selling only what a limited group of closed-minded people who make a lot of noise tell you to sell (or not sell).  I believe we have this thing called "supply and demand."  Here's how it works: If people WANT an item and are willing to buy it a a certain price, you will sell a ton of that item.  If people DO NOT want an item, people won't buy it and you will have to find something else to sell.  Remember that one class your marketing people took in college? Yeah, the one that had something do with all this stuff?  You might want to open the textbook (or just Google It, as the kids say now) instead of cowering to panicky "masses."

This whole country has been on a long path to blandness, vanilla-itis, and status quo.  It's time to kick the "quo" out of the status.  For every person that raises a stink over a company's mascot or a certain piece of clothing or an item on a menu, there should be millions of others letting companies know that we have our own minds and we are teaching our children to exercise THEIR own minds: we are teaching our children about choices, right and wrong, and that we appreciate the opportunities to share these teachable moments with our children.  We may agree with a marketing decision or we may not, but ultimately WE decide (through our purchasing power) what goes and what stays.  WE decide what we want our children to eat, wear, or play based on our own set of values, not because a bunch of other people think it's wrong or right. 

Stand up for your right as a parent to be the one to teach your child how to make the right choices. Don't let other people remove the choice for you.