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hot date, my ass

hot date, my ass

Is the world seriously fucked or did I just turn into this horrible nerd-mom?

It's not appropriate to give a 12 year old Sims Hot Date for her birthday is it?

And is it appropriate to give the same 12 year old a "date journal" where she has places to fill in about how hot her date was and whether he was a good kisser or not and a place to keep a tally of how many boys she kissed?

And I know, I don't even have to ask. The " I want your boyfriend" t-shirt was not really a good gift.

It's not me, is it? Am I that seriously out of the cool-parent loop? Am I holding on to that umbilical cord just a bit too long? Please tell me it's not me.

Anyhow, the kids are gone for the weekend and I don't have to be a good parent. So am I off for a playdate with Baz and Space and MG.

Details to follow.

Posted by on February 22, 2002 05:30 PM |

Comments

It is most inappropriate to give any of those gifts to a 12 year old. It is not just you, dear. If it was my daughter and she received those gifts, I'd be freaking out and the whole world would know it. Lauren's 9 and she mentioned something about Sims Hot Date for Christmas and I told her she was out of her mind.

A date journal to rate boys and how they kiss? Oh my God. I'm fighting the voice in my head saying "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

If we don't look out for our children, no one else will.

It's NOT you. It's NOT you. It's NOT you.

Posted by: Lee | February 22, 2002 05:52 PM

Maybe these gifts are like ... when you turn 40 and people give you Geritol. Maybe they're spoofing her entry into womanhood. :/ Or maybe they don't have the sense God gave a goose.

When I was 12, I got confirmed in the church, and we had a little afternoon party in the back yard. One of my mother's friends from high school gave me a filmy, basically sheer negligee. I loved it, even if there was nothing to see.

You could get iron-on letters and make it "I want your boyfriend to ..." The possibilities are endless.

Sim Hot Date? Um, no way. The diary? A stern talk about the objectification of men, which you must deliver without laughing out loud. She's just going to use it to complain about you and her brother anyway. ;)

Posted by: Nancy | February 22, 2002 05:55 PM

It's giggle stuff, hon. They give each other these things so they can giggle and speculate about the stuff they aren't ready to do yet. It's fun, girl sleepover stuff.
I wouldn't worry about it.

Posted by: Bill | February 22, 2002 06:16 PM

it's not just you. I'm still uncomfortable with my daughter dating, & she's 19!!! it's a parent's job to be over-protective....

Posted by: the netdork | February 22, 2002 06:18 PM

i have to agree with bill on this one. while you have every right to be questioning the intent behind these gifts and if it is opening the wrong doors too soon... i don't see them doing any more than telling eachother stories at slumber parties. it's like the "loves me, loves me not" of today's day and age.

Posted by: melissa | February 22, 2002 06:47 PM

You are SOOOO not in the wrong. I wouldn't tolerate those gifts either. If it were me, the shirt would get lost in the laundry, the game would be exchanged for something appropriate and the diary would have to just go. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I don't see how or why a twelve year old girl would have use for gifts like that.

Posted by: annie | February 22, 2002 07:21 PM

Well, I'm a generation removed from most of you, and I am appalled at the slut-wear for single-digit age girls. My daughters (35 and 40) have similar feelings, and I cannot see my 9 yr. old granddaughter EVER appearing in "Brittany" naked belly stuff. (Anyway, if you're going to show off your belly button, it should be pierced.)

Posted by: sue | February 22, 2002 07:29 PM

I'm not a parent, but I am constantly appalled by the clothes that kids wear. True, I dress in short shorts and a tight t-shirt, but I'm almost 27, not a child. The other day at the mall I saw a kid not much bigger than my knee (maybe five or six? I'm guessing) and she was in, I kid you not, a tight top, a short leather mini-skirt, and leather boots to her knees. I was totally appalled. Once again I have to ask, what the fuck is wrong with people?

Posted by: Kymberlie R. McGuire | February 22, 2002 09:06 PM

Hmmm, regarding these gifts, let me put it this way:

I am not a parent. Due to a birth defect I never will be. When I read things like this, I think I am the luckiest man alive!

Posted by: Chad | February 22, 2002 09:35 PM

i guess i gotta cancel the gift cert for the I want your girlfriend tshirt....

Posted by: g | February 22, 2002 11:13 PM

I wish society would let our children be children. I wasn't allowed to date until I was 15 and I don't feel like I missed out on anything. (I'm in my 20s so it wasn't ages ago when the culture was different.) A parent of a Columbine victim is quoted as saying, "We need to stop worrying so much about what we're getting out of our children and start worrying about what we're putting into them." I would say that Sims Hot Date is not appropriate material to be putting into a 12 year old.

Posted by: cherylzyx | February 23, 2002 12:52 AM

My daughter plays "The Sims House Party" but thats it and shes only 5.I do have Hot Date expansion pack and its really nothing "hot".They kiss and cuddle but thats as far as it goes.Its nothing different to what a kid would see on tv or on the street.As for the diary thingy and t shirt i think thats a bit over the top especially for a 12 year old.
Please dont tell me someone gave your daughter the latter of those gifts?!

Posted by: Nicole | February 23, 2002 12:53 AM

As a homosexualist with no children, I am really an expert on this.

But, uh, well, I agree with Bill. These things aren't as serious as they sound. It's a kind of preparation for adulthood, and awful as it may seem as preparation for an adulthood you don't want her to have, she's gonna have to figure that out for herself mostly, that all these cultural signals are just that, cultural signals.

And, I'm not altogether sure that a Barbie doll isn't potentially a helluva lot more dangerous as a toy for a girl. Even if a girl doesn't actually own one herself, she still probably plays with them somewhere.

Posted by: francis s. | February 23, 2002 04:37 AM

Thank goodness Natalie decided when she was very little that she thought Barbie dolls were stupid.

After reviewing the comments and going over the presents again, we decided as follows:

Sims Hot Date can stay. It's not as innocous as it sounds.

T-shirt: (and i quote natalie): "Like I would want their boyfriends anyhow? Ick." shirt returned.

Journal: put away to give to my mother as a gag gift on Mother's Day.

Thank you once again for making all my family decisions for me. I could get used to this.

Posted by: michele | February 23, 2002 06:37 AM

ah, that must have been a shirt from abercrombie and fitch. hey, my sister is seventeen, and i can't even bring myself to buy her a shirt that says, "we score more" or "fast girls finish first," etc. and for a 12 year old? unacceptable. kids are growing up way too fast. to send them the message that they're ready for sex (because isn't that what these shirts and other things do?) or just being grown up already is just ridiculous.

Posted by: amy | February 23, 2002 09:03 AM

Did the girl with the sporks in her eyes give either of those gifts by any chance?

Posted by: Leann | February 23, 2002 11:51 AM

Spork girl gave her the journal.

Double sporkings!!!

Posted by: michele | February 23, 2002 12:00 PM

About as appropriate as giving your eleven year old daughter the 'greatest hits' package of Janis Joplin as a guide to what is coming next... 'everything you need to know about men' I believe were her words... needless to say, it never got unwrapped from it's cellophane condom.

And the juxtapostion of these two comments is hilarious... Am I a bad parent? Oops, gotta run, off to play with the bad adults... grin

Posted by: jenn | February 23, 2002 03:28 PM

I was so guessing that Spork mom & Spork daughter were involved in at least one of those gifts... Spork out their eyes!!!

Posted by: Christine | February 23, 2002 07:29 PM

You do know that u need the original sims installed to be able to play Hot Date dont u?
Its something i got sucked into...i bought the Livin Large expansion pack,got home and tried to install it and no go.Then i looked at the box and noticed it said in tiny writing "u need "The Sims" to play this expansion pack"
Its a cool game and when Natalie gets bored with the original furniture,objects,clothes etc i can send a few urls that have free downloads that u can add to the game.
Happy Birthday Natalie!
XXOO

Posted by: Nicole | February 24, 2002 06:34 AM

I've never played The Simms, and I have no kids. But the "hot date" thing and kissing journal seem about age-appropriate for a 12 year old, I'd think. I'm afraid you're going to have to get over it - a couple of years and she'll be going on real dates.

Posted by: Charles | February 25, 2002 02:07 AM

My daughter is 12 and she has all that stuff and i dont see anything wrong with that! they are just girls! nothing bad about that.You need to let them express their feelings, even though they might not be so good but you cant hold them back!girls will be girls and thats all i have to say.

Posted by: Venessa | May 22, 2002 06:47 PM

Listen you need to get over it my girl is 10 and she has hotdate they don't have that much overated stuff as you think you are being a bad parent because you need to let your little girl grow up i mean its just a shirt and its just a game. and most of the stuff is not true that she writes in her diary look just step off a little bit please are you will never be able to let her go.and all those people that said hotdate is bad or whatever HOW would THEY KNOW they probably NEVER played so what the Hell are they talking about?

Posted by: Niki | June 13, 2002 08:57 PM

IT IS ENTIRELY INAPPROPRIATE,AND THE ONES WHO SAY DIFFRENT ARE PART OF THE REASON TEEN PREGNANCY IS SO OUT OF CONTROL.TIMES HAVE NOT CHANGED SO MUCH AS TO MAKE THIS RIGHT.THERE ARE MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THINGS IN A 12 YEAR OLD'S LIFE.THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF TIME TO ACT GROWN WHEN SHE ACTUALLY IS.

Posted by: MIKE | October 2, 2002 01:06 AM

I'm 13 years old and I probably know more about sex then my mom or some of my older freinds now.I dress in shirts that say I'll be a bad girl if u be a bad boy.It's nothing wrong when I was 12 I had a shirt that said spank my .... There is nothing wrong with those gifts.I'm into the whole let ur kids grow up thing don't hold them back.I mean come on American Pie has the same thing Hot Date has and I've seen far worst games then Hot Date and plus I've seen porn to my ex boyfriend showed it to me and he 16 so it's no big deal about the shirts.

Posted by: Jessi | November 17, 2002 10:11 PM

hey my name is andrew if ur noot a hot girls u went to chat whit i well kick ur a**

Posted by: Andrew | April 6, 2003 07:43 PM

Hello, have fun with easy blogging!

Posted by: wholesale radar detectors | February 9, 2004 06:39 AM