Teachable Moments In The News

As I sit and wait for my oldest son to finish soccer practice, I listen to a lot of AM radio. Of course, it’s the conservative AM radio station, but in the evenings, the host is more funny and sarcastic than he is serious, like the day time hosts.

I was listening to him tonight discuss the story of Governor Spitz*er and the call girl, Ashley Du*pree. It appears that she has discovered the error of her ways and is attempting to turn her life around. For her sake, I hope she does, it’s really heartbreaking to see anyone living such an empty life…the same for the governor.

Well, the host of the radio program I was listening to was less than gracious… He sounded like a high school/college boy talking about a girl with a bad reputation… But as I listened to him, it dawned on me that as mothers, this is a great teachable moment, if you have teenage daughters. I will probably even discuss this with my 10 year old, in a much more subtle way…

I think our daughters need to hear how men talk about women, or boys about girls, who behave as Ms. Du*pree chose too… I am not holding her responsible for the governor’s choices, only hers. But sadly, in situations like this, it is primarily the woman/girl who takes the brunt of the nasty, condescending remarks. The radio host said, "This is just not the kind of girl you take home to meet mom." I think that sums up men's attitudes about women who behave like this young woman did. As I sat listening to him, I thought, "Why would any girl or woman want to be known this way?"

The other opportunity that we have right now is to teach them what an empty life this is…

If you read some of the recent interviews with her, she appears to be a girl with hopes and dreams who simply stepped off onto the wrong path… She ran away from home at 17, she starting drinking and partying and one night stands soon led to a life of prostitution. Often all it takes is one step onto the slippery slope… And even she recognizes her part in the destruction of the lives of the governor's family.

As I said, Mackenzie is only 10, so I’m not sure how I’ll use this yet. I may just file it away for future use… Or, in a few years, I’m sure they’ll be another story… It wasn’t that long ago that we had Monica Lewinsky…

But I do believe that we need to make the most of these teachable moments with our children… Drug related incidents in the news, accidents realted to alcohol, even Oprah (who I'm not a fan of) has the occassional story that is worth having our kids watch, like the young man who was addicted to methamphetamine, it made a huge impact on my children...

We need to be on the lookout for anything that will open the doors of conversation with our children and allow them to see that living for the moment will often lead to heartache and destruction.