PBS pushes sexual orientation in new Arthur episode; Mr. Ratburn marries a man
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I’m so glad we cut our screen time drastically while the kids were still little. There is absolutely NO shame in my helicopter mom game. And if there is one thing that I wholeheartedly believe in, it’s in cultivating the purity of our children.
Over the past few years, it became even more clear that I had made the right decision when, in even our limited screen time, I noticed that PBS was throwing little insinuations and comments about LGBTQ issues into their shows and commercials.
Then, PBS’s LGBTQ opinions became more blatant than ever in Arthur’s Season 22 Episode 1 (Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone) where Mr. Ratburn marries a man and the children from the classroom attend the wedding.
You read that right. In the newest season of Arthur, the children attend Mr. Ratburn’s gay wedding. Even Buster announces “It’s a brand-new world!”
And this isn’t the first time that Arthur has tried slipping in a very forward agenda.
You can look back to 2005 where it’s briefly mentioned in “Postcards from Buster” where Buster met children in Vermont who’s mothers where lesbian.
Although, to my knowledge, the words “gay” and “lesbian” are never used- yet, the context of each is there in the plainest form.
PBS used to be what I considered a “safe space”. It was a place where true education and childhood was the primary concern, and not one time did I ever feel like an agenda on either side of the fence was pushed.
And look, that means Christian or otherwise. Even though I’m a devout Full Gospel believing woman, I don’t just let anybody or anything teach my children about God. As their parent, God gave them to me, so it’s my job to teach them about who He is- not to depend on tv or technology to do so.
But that’s a whole other post…
As well, I’m a homeschooler. I believe that it is my responsibility to teach my children both educationally and spiritually. So, I don’t depend on those same efforts to teach my children. But rather allow certain joys to reinforce and encourage their learning through entertainment and play.
Yet, for weeks, I’ve seen commercials like Sandals Resorts make comments that they’re inclusive to all and love is love. Why is this on a station dedicated to children’s educational programming?
PBS, as a government-funded corporation that aims its programming at children aged 2-7, is pushing an LGBTQ agenda on our kids through their programming, and this is not okay.
And for the record, there are other PBS shows that we don’t allow for reasons other than this.
We don’t watch Caillou because he’s disrespectful, whiney, and pretty much an over the top brat. We don’t watch Ready Jet Go because we believe that God created the universe- rather than Science. And we’ve been very closely watching Sesame Street as they announce that they stand for inclusion and acceptance in all forms.
Conversations about sexual orientation in any form have no place before our children, and this is the straw that breaks the camels back.
After a report surfaced with claims that Bert and Ernie were gay lovers, a tweet from Frank Oz, co-creator of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street, announced: “They’re not of course. But why does it matter? ….. There’s much more to a human being than just straightness or gayness.”
While I have no idea what his thoughts are on the movement, why can’t we take this approach? Why can we not leave sexual orientation and general conversations about sexuality in all context, out of our children’s programming?
It’s not just the encouragement of LGBTQ that concerns me, but it’s the sexualization culture that our children are being introduced to.
At ages where creating forts, baking mud pies, bug collecting, dress up, and imaginative exploring should be prevalent. Instead, we have a society that is welcoming an open conversation on gender identity, sexual orientation, genitalia, and sex with children who can barely read, write, or make their own decisions.
We live in a world where alcohol can’t be purchased before the age of 21, tobacco before the age of 18, or even legal marriage before 18 years of age- because their minds, and brains, are not yet developed to the point of adulthood, practicality, morality, or decision making.
Read this article from the University of Rochester on Child Brain Development.
Yet, we think that it’s an appropriate time to nonchalantly chat with our children about their developing bodies, feelings, and emotions- that are ever evolving. And even further, that our children have the capacity to understand all of this and make an educated decision.
While in reality, today, my daughter wants to be a cowgirl and tomorrow she wants to be a mermaid fairy for the rest of her life. Then the next day she hates dressing up and wants to be an archeologist and zoologist who is a mom, blogger, and recipe creator.
I can’t expect her to make rational decisions about what clothes to wear or foods to eat, much less her sexuality.
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Stop hypersexualizing children.
A child’s innocence and, for lack of a better term, ignorance is not something to be taken advantage of. Just as my child is mine, your child is yours. And inside the parameters of morality, conscious, and the law, we can find common ground amongst not indoctrinating our children by position of entertainment.
It’s not just Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS or YouTube. You’d be surprised by how social media plays into the hands of liberalization and sexualizing our children.
It’s important for parents to be overwhelmingly involved in the things our children participate in or are entertained by. We must be vigilant and watchful in every form!
The creators of Arthur have gone too far by promoting LGBTQ rights in the episode of Mr. Ratburn’s gay marriage.
So, while PBS is consistently making strides to sexualize our children and force feed them an agenda that normalizes this sexualization, we will no longer be watching PBS.
And while we make this change for the betterment of our family, we hope that you do the same.
If you’re looking for quality television with a Christian background, be sure to check out JellyTelly! We love it and it’s what soaks up the majority of our allowed screen time!
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