Kids Say the Darnedest Things...

Last week, when I picked my son up from school, he was visibility upset.  I asked him what was wrong, and he told me he had just been called down to the office.  He apparently heard a word that he thought was funny, had no idea what it meant, and blurted it out in class.  The word was inappropriate to say the least (I won't repeat it here).  So, off we went, back down to the office so I could speak with principal.  Thankfully, she was understanding enough to realize that my son had no idea what this word meant.  Being a typical 9 year old, also has no "filtering system" to keep him from repeating it.  He finally revealed that he had heard this word from his sister (she's 15).  It made sense, in a way, that he would heard it from her, however, I knew she didn't know what it meant either.  Needless to say, I don't know which was more traumatic for him - being sent to the office (he never gets in trouble) or using this word.  I think he's learned his lesson (one would hope anyway).

Later, I found out that it was in fact, on a YouTube video, that is masquerading as a "kid's" video, however, there is commentary from this person using bad language and inappropriate words.  You'd think this person (or people) would have enough common sense that if you are making a video to put on the worldwide web, and you make it using a kids' character (in this case, Mario), that you'd tone it down and not using for a personal rant against the game itself, and in particular not use inappropriate language, knowing full well that kids will likely be attracted to this video.

I find it quite interesting that on a huge media like YouTube, they would monitor the videos that are posted little more closely.  They are certainly on top of it if one violates copyright laws.  Yet, when it comes to videos that are supposedly aimed at kids, but are not, they don't react.  I think they should indeed monitor this, and at the very least, post a language warning.  I know that the "higher-ups" from YouTube would say that it's up to the parents to monitor what their kids are watching and to an extent they're right.  However, if they own a site such as YouTube, the onus is also on them to make sure the content is appropriate for the intended audience.

In the meantime, we are being extra vigilant as to what the kids are watching.  You'd like to have your kids learn to make their own judgments, but at the same time, when you have videos that appear to be safe yet are not, it makes it extra hard.