Must be Palin. : )

Kissing leads to longer kissing, which leads to closer hugging, which leads to excited hormones, and well you know the rest. She must not have told her.

I am going to be extra careful here, as I have already offended some with this subject. I agree with you that our sexuality is just a basic part of our natural existence. It is not in and of itself a shameful subject, and to raise our children with that mindset of guilt, can have a crippling effect on their adult lives.

I do not necessarily agree with you about the violence though. I used to, and prevented any exposure to aggression with my oldest son. It was drastic enough it caused problems with our extended family. I truly believed I was doing a good thing. Then, when he started kindergarten, I saw him interacting with other children. I had fears that those other "bad" kids that had been exposed to who knows what, would be all over him. I was only half right in my expectations. He was just as aggressive (if not more so), not only in the occasional pushing and poking, but in the way he positioned for a spot in the pecking order through verbal insults and emotionally motivated attacks. After some guilt, shame and serious contemplating of what I had done wrong and more importantly why I had done it, I came to the conclusion that violence is just as basic to humanity as sexuality. I think the trick to managing either is the appropriate channeling, along with clear guidelines for acceptable behavior.

Sports and other competitions are great ways to channel aggression. My children are not at all physically inclined and have never developed an interest, so we do not currently play any sports. We do however sometimes still sit around and play MK. That is not the only game we play, but it is one, and you had better believe it is a competition that is taken seriously. To a stranger watching this interaction take place, they would likely assume that someone scored a game winning TD in the Super Bowl when a kid actually gets a "fatality" on mom or dad. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is an outlet (sometimes even for mom & dad). I believe that if everything else is in place, exposure to either will not do much to change who we are. I do worry about the children that do not have "everything else" in place though and how the exposure molds their thought processes.

I agree with the sports channeling aggression. My two older boys both have brown belts in karate, which not only allowed them to channel agression, but taught them self-discipline where force is concerned.

I just have a problem with the movie and video games with obligatory and unneccesary blood and gore. I don't want them to think that's what life is really like or should be like, anymore than I want them to think X-rated movies are what life is really like or should be like.