In past several weeks I have heard of some disturbing behavior of the children/teens in different parts of the county. That is in our Baldwin County. The first one was an incident at Loxley Elementary when four students were caught in the boy’s bathroom playing a game called “The Rape Game.” I’m not sure what all that involved but with a name like that, it doesn’t sound good. The end result was that the four students were sent to other schools in the district.

The second incident was at a school dance at one of the high schools in our county. A friend of mine whose daughter was attending this dance went along as an approved chaperone. When he got there, he was asked to leave by the school officials and not be a chaperone. He was totally appalled and would not leave the school. He felt very strongly that he should stay and had to convince these school officials that he needed to stay or his daughter would not be allowed to stay as well. They relented and he watched over the dance as any concerned parent would do. What went on there was very disturbing.

Have you been to any of the school dances recently, he asked me? I hadn’t and wanted to know what had happened. Not only were most of the students dancing inappropriately, those school officials weren’t correcting the situation. Oh, they did tap on a few shoulders to tell them they were not dancing in an approved way, but as my friend watched, the majority of the students needed a tap on the shoulder but they didn’t get it.

As a parent, I wonder where all this bad behavior is coming from. The Baldwin County Public Schools Spokesman said, it is believed that the Loxley students got the idea of the “Rape Game” from the internet. As far as the inappropriate dancing, I have watched the downward spiral of immoral entertainment for years and the good examples of what is appropriate for teenagers has been lost. It’s what they see in movies and on television shows that they think is great. We can’t trust any of the media influences on their own merit without teaching our children what is appropriate behavior.

This has been going on for years and parents need to be careful of what their children are watching. How can they know what is appropriate behavior if we don’t teach them? From over the pulpit on Sunday, I have heard it said many times: Where in the world will our children learn chastity, integrity, honesty and basic human decency if not at home? How can we as parents correct a situation that will only get worse as time goes on? It’s a question that needs to be addressed. Certainly the world won’t teach them the correct principles. Parents need to find a way to do that. Gyrating pelvises and what looks like sexual acts on the dance floor is not what teenagers should be thinking is okay behavior. It’s unfortunate but the reality of the situation is that our media can’t be trusted to always show appropriate behavior. As a community, we need to be aware of what our children is watching from the internet, movies and television shows, especially on cable stations, and then teach them correct principles. This will go a long way for a safer world.

Loxley resident Valerie J. Steimle is the author of two books, “Home Is Where The Heart Is, A look at strengthening the American Family,” and her latest book, “Home Is Where The Learning Is” (www.amazon.com/gp/product/1403379637). Contact her at valeriesteimle@yahoo.com or visit her website at www.stengthenyourhome.com.