Governing parents...

New York Governer, David Patterson, has decided to sign a game bill into law. My new governor seems like a good guy, in general, but I just don't share his optimism that this law will enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers.

You know what will enhance the quality of lives of all New Yorkers? New Yorkers, especially PARENTS, paying attention to what their kids are playing.

My youngest son, 8 years of age, had a friend over just yesterday. The friend, who is also 8, told my son that his mom lets him play anything. ANYTHING. He mentioned two games in particular, Mortal Kombat and BMXXX. Now...I can sort of give his mom a pass for Mortal Kombat. According to my son's friend, she doesn't watch what he plays nor does she pay attention to what is purchased for him. That led me to believe that although she's paying for the games, she's not always the one physically purchasing them. If you don't really know about Mortal Kombat and it's infamous 'finishing moves' where you're literally killing your opponent AFTER you've beaten them, then I can see how you might let this one slip by.

But c'mon...BMXXX. The game SCREAMS adult content. Although the game itself doesn't exactly promote sexual intercourse in any way, there is nudity and videos of strippers doing what they do best which can only be seen by unlocking them as you play. The Playstation 2 version was censored by Sony but my son's friend had the fully un-censored GAMECUBE version.

I know life is hard. I know life 'comes at you fast'. I know life is 'dog eat dog'. You can use all the cliches you want about being busy, tired, run down, etc. But I will never understand how parents can just let their kids do any thing. Don't get me wrong. Things happen. Other people buy our kids gifts. Sometimes we ARE too busy to notice this and that. But when does the check and balance happen? When do YOU stop, check on your kids actions/whereabouts/etc. and evaluate the situation? When the government has to step in and protect our children from 'us', then something is wrong. So wrong, in fact, that this law is essentially powerless and a waste of our tax dollars.

I told my son's friend that my son was not allowed to play those games and I would appreciate it if he wouldn't bring them to my house again. He said okay and felt the need to reiterate to me that his mom let him play pretty much any M-Rated game. I told him that was fine if his mom lets him...but I think I know better. She probably doesn't even know what her son is playing. I could get all involved and stick my nose in their busy but I won't. It's simply not my place. The rules behind the village raising a child has changed and getting involved can get you sued and/or physically hurt. Hopefully Mrs. Mom will read my blog and realize that I'm talking about her. But then again, she's probably too tired or busy or run down to surf the web...

Bigg Russ