10 dumbest laws in America

why are they hanging from the truck?
the driver thinks it's funny.
why is it funny?
i'm not sure.

next day from school spange and i get a note saying spangelet's been drawing testicles and showing them to her friends. and telling them about testicles. and making testicles at home and taping them to the fridge and her room window. and then we have to sit down and explain that testicles are part of the private area that is not to be joked about by a five-year-old. and all of a sudden, because we had to be honest, we've driven it back to dirty and wrong from a different perspective.

My limited experience has been that if you don't make a big deal out of it, the kid wouldn't either. I remember seeing the Discovery channel at like 7 and then asking my mom about sex. She told me and I went about my business. I wasn't drawing anatomy at school for weeks on end or anything. Its the human body for crying out loud! What is this nation coming to??? This doesn't seem at all outlandish to you?

And btw, my explanation would just get technical until their eyes glazed over...
 
I would answer the questions honestly again. There is a point that kids understand and I would think it would just take a good conversation.

My parents shielded me and my sibs. I do not approve. LOL

There is a difference in sheltering a child and teach them something when it is appropriate. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing.

I'm certainly not going to talk to my daughter about why someone would kill over cash at a convenience store, start a war over religion or rape child for fun. You have to have values and to teach those values in steps. You can't just hand a child the world and then say, "Ok. Go out and make the right choices."

I can't get my daughter to not talk during the entire meal when I tell her at every single meal. What makes you think that complex ideas and social situations could be completely understood? By no means do I think she is stupid. In fact, I'm positive that her IQ is WELL above mine and Thorn's. But she lacks the experience and understanding to deal with all topics. When we feel it is right to explain things, we will. Until then, we will make it age-appropriate and with our values. Not someone else's.
 
I would answer the questions honestly again. There is a point that kids understand and I would think it would just take a good conversation.

My parents shielded me and my sibs. I do not approve. LOL

i would doubt that there is one child who is ever born ready and equipped with enough capability to thoroughly and appropriately understand and comprehend everything the world has to know. i am not talking about shielding her until she's 18...what good would that do anyone? i am waiting until the moment where i feel she is capable of not simply comprehending what i'm telling her, but being emotionally mature enough to be able to handle the information. and, with my daughter, i do not feel like she's ready at five to get it. she'd understand the pictures i'd present her, but she is not ready to handle all that information, especially since in her world, there's so much else she has to get right at the moment.
it's not about her knowing, it's about HER. i am not only considering her comprehension level, but also her maturity level, her security level, and her emotional level. there's SO. MUCH. to know out there...it doesn't have to be given all at once. then what?
You'll get a pair of testicles when you get married honey.

:lol:
My limited experience has been that if you don't make a big deal out of it, the kid wouldn't either. I remember seeing the Discovery channel at like 7 and then asking my mom about sex. She told me and I went about my business. I wasn't drawing anatomy at school for weeks on end or anything. Its the human body for crying out loud! What is this nation coming to??? This doesn't seem at all outlandish to you?

And btw, my explanation would just get technical until their eyes glazed over...

seven is a looooooong way from barely five. i'm sure by seven, she'll know. but i told her a few months ago about smoking because she saw somone doing it right next to our car, and she asked. and i told her. and then for days afterward, she was pretending to smoke. she was trying out this new concept because she was trying to understand it. i did not like having to tell her about it because i didn't feel it was the right time. and we both had to handle it for days after.
big deal? not really. but it further supports my insistence that there is a time and place for everything. and there's no need to rush her growing up.

for the record, i completely agree with you regarding the human body. it's a beautiful thing. and that's why we don't dub genitals with cute and fuzzy words. and that's also why we don't hang testicles from our trucks.
 
There is a difference in sheltering a child and teach them something when it is appropriate. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing.

I'm certainly not going to talk to my daughter about why someone would kill over cash at a convenience store, start a war over religion or rape child for fun. You have to have values and to teach those values in steps. You can't just hand a child the world and then say, "Ok. Go out and make the right choices."

I can't get my daughter to not talk during the entire meal when I tell her at every single meal. What makes you think that complex ideas and social situations could be completely understood? By no means do I think she is stupid. In fact, I'm positive that her IQ is WELL above mine and Thorn's. But she lacks the experience and understanding to deal with all topics. When we feel it is right to explain things, we will. Until then, we will make it age-appropriate and with our values. Not someone else's.


:heart:
ANOTHER reason i need you. :heart:
 
I generally support obscenity or decency laws. Do we really want titties, penises, and vaginas plastered all over lay society simply because we physically possess them? People should be dignified enough to leave some things in the boudoir where they belong.

We have, in our nation, generally accepted that people should wear clothing in public. We have also imposed regulations on media content and legislated sexual interaction, all in the name of decency. It cannot, therefore, be considered a stretch of judgment or imagination to accept that large, rubber scrotums dangling from automobiles can, and indeed should, be considered obscene and unconducive to prosperity and productive living and working conditions.

This isn't an issue of fear or puritanical oppression, Mr. Ackerman. Look around you. America isn't ashamed of much, and we don't appear to be in the midst of any kind of sexual Prohibition. Every single person in this courtroom probably masturbates at least five or six times a day with a cucumber in their rectum. I know I do.

The question that must be asked, therefore, is whether 'truck balls' fall within the realm of art, classical or otherwise, and whether their public display should be protected by cultural precedent. The prima facie evidence shows no traditional association between the primarily 'redneck' and/or unsophisticated male majority which supports the truck balls and 'artistic appreciation' as it has been generally defined by museums, galleries, and their patrons (whom I defer to as the authorities on the subject, and whom I would like to thank for supporting my sister-in-law Bertha's recent porcelain rooster exhibition).

In the absence of any such apparent connection I therefore find it difficult to acknowledge the validity of any 'artistic expression' claims on their behalf. Thus it is my opinion that truck balls be grouped into the same category as shower curtains, lawn decorations, tattoos, and apparel; all are instruments of self expression, though virtually none are recognized as proper art or preserved as important facets of cultural identity.

I hereby smite the art defense, order the Defendant to castrate his automobile immediately under the supervision of the Sheriff's Department, and impose a sentence of 200 hours of dignity and social etiquette classes, to be completed in their entirety on or before December 31, 2009. May God have mercy on his soul.

This court is adjourned.
 
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seven is a looooooong way from barely five. i'm sure by seven, she'll know.
It was the only personal example I had, so I shared it.

but i told her a few months ago about smoking because she saw somone doing it right next to our car, and she asked. and i told her. and then for days afterward, she was pretending to smoke. she was trying out this new concept because she was trying to understand it. i did not like having to tell her about it because i didn't feel it was the right time. and we both had to handle it for days after.
big deal? not really.
Exactly, its not a big deal. And while I'm certainly not knowledgeable enough to even begin to question your parenting skills (which I'm impressed with), it is certainly likely there could have been a different explanation where she forgot about it completely. Could be, right?

but it further supports my insistence that there is a time and place for everything. and there's no need to rush her growing up.

It seems to me that you, as an adult, are putting testicles and sex together. That's a abstract concept and is foreign to most small kids. Learning about how testicles physically look doesn't seem like it would be "growing up" to me.

for the record, i completely agree with you regarding the human body. it's a beautiful thing. and that's why we don't dub genitals with cute and fuzzy words. and that's also why we don't hang testicles from our trucks.

I ask you, what would you do if your daughter saw someone nursing in public? Would you freak out that she tried to nurse a classmate at school and hope to get it outlawed? Where does this end?
 
Exactly, its not a big deal. And while I'm certainly not knowledgeable enough to even begin to question your parenting skills (which I'm impressed with), it is certainly likely there could have been a different explanation where she forgot about it completely. Could be, right?



of course! there are ALWAYS a number of ways things can go, and you usually don't get to but one or two. this always allows room for second-guessing and wishful thinking. that's what parenting's about. if you're 100% confident in your parenting skills, you're not doing it right. ;)
i believe, as with most other things, you try your best to do what you think is best for the reasons you think best. i try and try and try some more because there is nothing more important to me than being able to successfully build a person with consideration to the morals and values i believe in and to the people my children already are (personalities and abilities) so they will be able to take care of themselves and others to the best of their abilities in a world where i've hoped i've contributed a GOOD person to. (how's that for a run-on sentence?)




It seems to me that you, as an adult, are putting testicles and sex together. That's a abstract concept and is foreign to most small kids. Learning about how testicles physically look doesn't seem like it would be "growing up" to me.



i am assuming how the conversation might go, based on previous conversations. most of the time, with our daughter, it never stops at one question. yes, i'm assuming, but i'd be willing to bet that the questions would eventually lead to asking what testicles were for, and that gets into sex, which i'm not ready to explain to her just yet.




I ask you, what would you do if your daughter saw someone nursing in public? Would you freak out that she tried to nurse a classmate at school and hope to get it outlawed? Where does this end?



actually my daughter has pretended to breastfeed many a baby doll. she even pretended to nurse herself by lying in my lap, back when i was breastfeeding baby bird. i didn't freak out about it. there is a necessity/valid reason for nursing. it's not some crude, offensive thing. the whole breast is usually not exposed, either.
if spangelet lifted her shirt to nurse a doll it would be very different than lifting her shirt to expose herself for a laugh. same body part, different meaning.
if some man's pants accidently fell down he flashed us it would be much different than if he pulled them down and intentionally flashed us. the problem is not the body part...it's the manner in which it was used.
 
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picture.php

awesome :drool:
 
And btw, my explanation would just get technical until their eyes glazed over...

This is exactly what I do with my son, bore him with a detailed explanation. he eventually loses interest and goes back to playing with his balls.

Now, on to the topic at hand, as far as the truck nutz go, I'm saddened that our state legislature wasted their time on this. It will be of course, one of those tack on charges that you'll get if you piss off the state trooper or deputy who pulled you over for speeding. Can anyone honestly say that the sight of these rubberized testicles will in anyway impact their quality of life?
 
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