ATTENTION PARENTS OF THE WORLD

A friend told me a story last night that made my blood absolutely boil in a goddamned boiling way.

Playground games. "Chase" specifically. A game was played...instigated by one of the girls. A 6 year old girl. At one point "allegedly", her arms were pinned behind her back after she was "caught". One of the mothers chose that moment to actually be a parent and broke everything up, screaming and yelling and probably scaring the hell out of every child involved. Then there were accusations that one of the boys kissed the girl.
GASP!!! HOLY GOD IN HEAVEN HELP US!!! SIX YEAR OLD CHILDREN KISSING???
One child when questioned about the incident had this to say:
"We were only playing a game."

Here's what we don't know.
We don't know whether the girl was a willing participant. Which is entirely possible, especially if say, for example a few things:
-If her TV watching isn't supervised, chances are she's seen programs romanticizing the capture and rescue of women by big strong men.
-How is her home situation? Dad around? Available? Because here's the rub. Most of the time, this girl instigates these games of chase. Is she having issues around healthy male attention? What is going on at home?
These are important things to explore. Now, before you go accusing me of saying "she asked for it" let me say, relax. That doesn't even apply here. At such a young age, red flag behaviors like that need to be watched. So that it doesn't continue into her future. And the boys need to be told that no means no. And according to my friend, they are. Repeatedly. But was she saying no? No one knows. Everyone is just UP THE FUCK IN ARMS about this game, and now probably there will be completely overblown consequences.

But. Besides that.

It's all rather animalistic if you think about it. Children are all about instinct until they get it socialized out of them. So, of course she's going to instigate chase. That's how most species mate. That thought kept running through my head the entire time I listened to this story.
Children are just more animal-like versions of adults. They play like animals. Their play prepares them for adulthood. Just like cats, dogs, lions, tigers and bears oh my.

But parents make sure very early on that the games they play are "appropriate"-which is all well and good, provided your definition of appropriate isn't severely skewed.
Which really brings me to the crux of why this whole thing pissed me off so much.
Sex.

A quick story of my own:
When I was in first grade, I used to play with these two boys. They were nice, they didn't make fun of me and we played Dukes of Hazzard. (note, however that my tv watching was not supervised either. I loved being captured and then rescued. Anytime there was a video game involving a princess being captured I was all over it. Movies? TV? Absolutely fixated on it.) But anyway...It was fun. One time, we had concocted some drama and I can't remember if I had something in my eye, or if I was just pretending to further the plot along... but my friend came up to me to look in my eye to see if he could see anything. Nope. So, we went on playing.

That afternoon, I get pulled aside by my teacher who asks me
"We're you kissing Jimmy on the playground today?"
"N-n-no... we were just playing."
"Well, I saw something different. I saw him kissing you on the playground."

I wracked my brain trying to figure out what the fuck this crazy woman was on about (that's a whole different story) and it hit me that she must have seen him looking in my eye but from an angle that may have looked like we were kissing. I tried to tell her as much, but, I doubt at 6 I was really able to express anything with as much sophistication as that.
The outcome?
I was not allowed to play with Jimmy and the other boy anymore. The only kids who WOULD play with me.
WHY??????
Even if we were kissing, WE WERE FUCKING SIX YEARS OLD!!!!
Yes, please, shame the hell out of us about anything remotely involved in sex or the body. It's a wonder I could take a piss without being ashamed.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking.
"LC, do you know how many kids under 13 are having sex right now?"
Yes. I do. But I'm here to tell you, it's more than likely because their parents and teachers have done a shit-ass job of teaching them about sex, their bodies, respect for themselves and one another, so they start down the path of unhealthy behavior. Not to mention all the sick fucks out there having sex with their own kids. I have to doubt it has anything to do with allowing children to play chase games and be nice to eachother physically. It's like,
"Either, kick the crap out of eachother, or avoid contact all together."

Oh, and God forbid you were seen holding hands with someone.

With all the goddamned smoking and anti-drug ads we see nowadays urging parents to "talk to their kids" you'd think that somewhere in there, someone would say:

"Hey, America? Um, it's 2006. Not 1682. The Puritans died out a long time ago. Perhaps it's time we let their fucked up, repressed, shaming beliefs die with them. How about we celebrate the beauty of sexuality and affection so that girls can start telling good stories about how they lost their virginity. And women can start having orgasms in under 10 minutes. Or start having them at all!!"

Teaching children boundaries about what is appropriate behavior and what isn't is extremely important. But it's equally important to do so without damaging their fragile senses of self.

Fucking people sometimes. GOD!