This week's episode featured a plot surrounding individuality and what it's like to get made fun of at school just for being who you are. My high school years were not terrible but I got made fun of a lot. I was called a Lesbian my freshman year because I was opinionated. When I was on the high school newspaper, I covered the first ever Gay/Lesbian/Straight Alliance meeting at the school. My teacher asked me to use my initials at the end of the story so I didn't face ridicule in school. I refused and used my full name. Once again, I was labeled a Lesbian. By 17 years old, I stopped caring about the names. I didn't dress the best, I didn't have the best clothing and I tried to dress like everyone else so I could fit in... just a little.
I made friends in my Jewish youth group that made me feel like I belonged. It gave me an outlet and the friends I made, I made for life. I came crying to one of the girls in my chapter because someone in my class called me fat and ugly. The next day, word got around that someone called me these nasty words because my friend blabbed that this couldn't tolerated. She was older than me by 2 years and could see how much I was hurting. Some of the boys in our youth group caught wind of it and threatened the guy who called me fat and ugly.
Glee is a great, GREAT show! It's all about individuality and coming together as a team. They cover the challenges most kids face in high school and ways to deal with it. In my opinion, Kurt is one of the strongest characters because he doesn't care WHO knows he's gay and he's not afraid to be himself. He tried to be someone else and it didn't work.
The issue of teen pregnancy may not fit in every high school but it's something that's REAL! You can teach your kids not to have sex until they are older or until they are married but not every kid listens (Bristol Palin) and it's a consequence of not teaching your kids to protect themselves when having sex. Abstinence is great but hormones rage and without the knowledge to use a condom or use other forms of contraception, kids are left to their own devices. Girls are left thinking that having sex once without a condom won't have consequences. The story of Quinn is a great portrayal of that.
I know this is long but all I'm saying is - some of this is reality. You can't hide your kids from it forever. Exposing them to the 'real' world is early is not necessarily a bad idea. It teaches them to be more tolerant. Tolerance is GREAT! They may not support gays or teenaged pregnancy BUT they don't need to hate on people.
Just my thoughts.
-Hillary
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