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The time has come to restore to parents some measure of control over the commercial influences that now pervade their children's lives. I urge you to support the Parents' Bill of Rights.
Raising children with strong values and good character is the most important task of a society. It is the primary responsibility of families. But parents today are overwhelmed. An aggressive commercial culture is arrayed against them, promoting products they don't approve of and values they find abhorrent.
This commercial culture has insinuated itself into children's lives. It bypasses parents entirely and speaks directly to children through the media and even in the schools. It musters the most sophisticated psychological techniques to induce children to whine, nag and throw tantrums in order to get the products they see advertised. Corporations are pitting parents against children and sowing dissension in the home. They are undermining the authority of parents, just to increase their own bottom lines.
There are consequences to the commercial assault on American children. Kids today are suffering from an epidemic of marketing-related diseases. Rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes are soaring. Eating disorders are the third leading chronic illness among teenage girls, who have become obsessed with body image. Alcohol is a factor in four of the main causes of death among young people aged 10 to 24. Millions will eventually die from the smoking habit promoted to them as youth.
Other effects are less easily quantified, such as the tension and strife within families and the nagging sense of lack that afflicts kids who don't have money to buy the things advertised. But these may be even more harmful in the long run.
I urge you to join with other concerned legislators in this effort by supporting the Parents' Bill of Rights.
Sincerely,
Robert Henderson
Copyright © 2003-2010, Rob Henderson