The whole "kids on the internet" thing, is because parents won't be parents by any definition other than legal, sometimes - like, either they're allowing curious kids on the internet, OR the internet is an escape for those kids, though some parents aren't bad and just trust their kids - it really depends, but stuff like calling them "iPad babies" or telling parents to do the visual equivalent of Chat Control or something, is NOT the solution, and like, if there's Sephora kids, it's PARENTS not talking about why Sephora is a store for adults (could never be me as I'm not a parent but do tell my brother if stuff is for adults), and also buying that kind of stuff, WHICH YOU DO NOT NEED TO - also a lot of things can honestly just have wholesome alternatives instead (there exists, like, light make-up stuff for kids though I'm worried for what's IN that, but besides that, for example, you could do a plushie spa day, gift some potion-making set, get a styling head, etc) - like again it's really a case of parenting. Is parenting exhausting? Yes, NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THE KID'S PROBLEM! What made some parents this way? Were they always like this and now we know? Is it just parents trying to make their kids happy and somehow and for some reason just making things worse? I don't know, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T LET THAT BE A CHILD'S PROBLEM! I don't know that much about ageism and parenting (I think), so like, I do recommend to read #ageism sometimes, there are some faces that come again as well, so like no I do not really know what to do or what the solution is in anything, but I'm just saying, that I would NOT be a good parent, but I'd still do better on at least all of THIS (I'd be a bad parent on some other things) - like, just tell kids like "no, I don't think you can watch that make-up influencer, that stuff is for adults and complicated and like with chemicals and hard to understand, and because your skin is so different, it will make everything bad. You can watch it when you get older. Let's watch this other interesting thing instead!" - like, saying something is for adults doesn't ALWAYS stop kids (and I personally have tried claiming that some 15+ game includes things like *insert boring adult tax-related word*, or actually EXPLAINED the plot of a show in a boring but kid-friendly way that wouldn't make him interested, or stuff like that) - but like, yeah, still - and I mean parenting is also kinda about having to find solutions to why the fuck your kid is walking on the ceiling and how they even did that, I guess. There's also like, the lack of kid-friendly spaces of course, as then kids would wanna go THERE, but just fyi, don't think it means those kid-spaces were all wholesome and all - like, dude, we had fucking CLASSISM ... I literally lost a fashion contest, because I'd need a membership to properly participate in the theme ... and trading and dating and exclusion and popularity - like, do people remember what childhood was like? And I don't mean "yeah, back in the 80s -" I mean ACTUALLY? Like, having to exist in an ageist world and also having to be kinda excluded for the 20th time this year because you didn't ask your mom to buy you Shopkins because you also kinda DO NOT LIKE Shopkins and would rather spend the more-limited money you have, on something you would like? Actually happened to me by the way, and then at some point I saw some fellow zoomer lament about how kids these days don't know FUCKING SHOPKINS - like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! But anyways, like, yeah, I personally know what it was like being the age of the kids I happen to interact with, which is what I've been using for social context, and also because then I, like, get it or something, and can know their development (to be honest I was also interested in child development, WHILE being a child - I was gonna max out my skills and prepare myself for physical + emotional survival ... did not succeed, but at least I could count how many milestones I missed) - but yeah, like, it is as people say:
" Give a kid a kid's friendly-Netflix account with a lot of stuff including stuff they'd actually wanna watch, and they won't be going into the adult account" - well no one says that, but it worked for ONE PERSON AT LEAST - also, like, another thing to remember, is how mature you wanna be as a kid - and I don't mean "you think you know it all" - I mean that as a kid, people being ageist may or may not make you act less mature than you actually are, or overcompensate (or at least I'm more mature around my friend who doesn't infantilize the shit out of me for example) - so you're gonna wanna mimic adults, mimic that cool character, maybe take a life-hack from other places you shouldn't because why the fuck not, and your pony toys are gonna wanna go to casinos - and like come on, as a kid, you're doing trading cards, there's inappropriate humor and rumors, and being excluded is painful, getting bullied is painful, school is shit, and you also probably wanna make a sudden career-decision. So like, it's good to have like, actual good role-models, age-gap friendship isn't inherently bad, and also, OBVIOUSLY kids are gonna try to mimic adults - me AND my brother both for some reason while having phones, want toy phones ... people my age have fecking jobs man - so like, "Sephora kids" happen, because kids have seen it, decided it was cool, or maybe it was just trendy, or maybe they just wanna cross that off on the checklist of being an adult and no amount of "nah, you will die one day, better to be stuck being your goofy uglier self with school, ageism, toxic friends, and without the boyfriend you wanted", will convince them to just GO BACK - like, you gotta try something else. Seriously, in the process of protecting the kids (or in the government's case, "protecting the kids"), people are, like, ageist or something, and like, fecking WHY? Also, I kid you not, online or offline, kids are often just mean/toxic AF somehow for some reason (maybe not REAL toxicity ... though yeah I'd call a teenager toxic) - so no you can't just give into your kid saying they need to chase a trend that, from my experience, ALSO WILL NOT LAST AND IF YOU BRING UP WOLVES WHEN THEY ARE NO LONGER TRENDY, PEOPLE ARE GONNA LOOK AT YOU WEIRD - like, ya just gotta help the kid with the fact that no, going offline won't make all the kids magically sing in harmony - toy commercials ALSO influence kids, so really, I guess the internet just has all those traits ... and just makes them fecking WORSE - technically - as like, on the internet, you can meet all kinds of people, unfiltered or super filtered. And also, like technically you could let your kid watch make-up content, with like the context that it's all just fun and you don't need it and all - I don't know, at least I know someone who watched it ONCE, and then proceeded to not care. And also, like, kids will be affected by media differently - I for example am in a constant state of never being truly happy with myself as I can't embrace myself without embracing my gender, and like, GOOD LUCK TO ME WITH THAT - and also how, before knowing any better I would've loved to ban some things related to sexual things, as first of all it's uncomfortable to watch the Kpop Demon Hunter Saja Boys introduction scene with someone younger than you who likes to rewatch it on purpose, and second of all, sometimes I genuinely think life isn't worth it whenever I remember that sex exists, but like I read like 1 post and I was like "oh that's just a me-thing, nevermind", and also I sometimes wonder if I politically have any thoughts of my own at all or if I'm incapable, and I think that I am - I can have thoughts on other things, and also I do genuinely know I hate Chat Control, just because ... why WOULDN'T I hate it? So anyways, don't like, ban stuff or age-restrict stuff just based on that I guess - and also foster a relationship where a kid would ACTUALLY tell you what they're watching out of trust instead of fear, and talk about internet safety, emotions, and in general just, STUFF, and do be encouraging hobbies,
