I am not a parent so take what you are about to read with a grain of salt. Yesterday I was watching the Patriots vs Jaguars football game. I imagine that there was probably a lot of parents also watching that game with their children. It was a good and entertaining game that was fun to watch. Then a commercial came on for viagra. Now I have seen this commercial lots of times and never thought twice about it. I do not use viagra so the commercial doesn't really interest me and I never really paid attention to it. Yesterday I did pay attention to it. During the commercial there is a part that says 'if you have a erection for more then 4 hours you should contact your doctor', or something like that, I am paraphrasing. I thought about it and this thought hit me, how many parents just got a terrible feeling in their gut just now. I wonder how many children asked their parents, 'what is an erection?' Another question would be what is viagra and what is it for? As a parent of lets say a 7 year old, how do you answer that? Is there a way to avoid answering that question and if so, will your child try to find out what it is by asking his/her teacher or someone else? I have to wonder if a commercial for viagra is a smart move for something a family watches together? Shouldn't corporate America be more responsible then that? But my thoughts continued, and I realized that sex is what tv has become. A lot of what is on tv, shows and commercials have sexual innuendos that must have children asking questions. Even though I am not a parent, i do know it does not take experience to know it is hard to be a parent. I just think that things like this can not make things any easier. Hopefully someday we will live in a world where responsibility is more important then money. Until then, good luck parents raising your children, you are not getting much help outside your family.
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sarina543
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Jan 13 @ 5:38PM
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Actually my 7 year old did ask and I answered. He said hey what is an erection, and I told him. Just like when he asked what tampons were used for I told him. He wanted to know what a maxi pad was for I told him. I walked around blindly for years until I was in the 7th grade, I asked the questions and never got any answer, I was told something like you'll find out. I swore I would never do that to my kids and I don't. Now to be honest I am not gonna go into sex with him until he is older, but as far as the functions of the human body, yeah I will discuss it with him. As for telling him what exactly viagra is for, no I think not, I just answer with, give me a couple of years and then I will tell ya.
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JimNastics
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Jan 13 @ 5:50PM
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I think questions to a parent are a good thing, no matter what the topic. 
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sweetgypsysoul
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Jan 13 @ 5:51PM
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My daughters are all grown. When they were younger and these sorts of television prompted questions came up, I tried my best to give an age appropriate answer but once answered, nearly always redirected the conversation toward how advertising attempts to influence our lives and how we have to be critical consumers of media generated information.
It was important to me to raise them to be independent thinkers. It didn't take long for them to initiate the critical viewing conversations.
Television isn't about entertainment being interrupted by advertising. The programing is what delivers the viewer to the actual target product .. the commercials. 'We' are the commodity. As adults, they seemed to have learned that lesson from so long go.
Parenting was the hardest thing I've ever done. Rewarding, but .. so many two family households raising a generation of dummy, boobtubers. My best advice? - Turn the thing OFF and work on some hobbies together instead. Be highly selective about what is watched. Entertainment is one thing, but hour after hour of flipping channels is feeding into the trend toward the dumming down of the general population.
Whew. Guess I'm sort of passionate on the topic, huh?
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sloriver
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Jan 13 @ 5:54PM
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As a young father I tried to protect my son from bad language and knowlege that a five year old is just not ready for....or maybe I just wasn't ready to deal with it. He had never heard the four letter words. None of them. Then he came home from kindergarten the very first day and asked what f**k was. It's disheartening to be so careful to protect your kids and find out it was in vain. The positive side of this was it forced me to deal with language and sex in a way that was acceptable for children. We can't shelter them. That's the sad fact. We just have to deal with it. It's best to answer the questions without volunteering more than they ask for. Answer honestly without moving on to the advanced stuff. That comes soon enough.
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scorpiogirl36
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Jan 13 @ 5:55PM
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Entertainment is one thing, but hour after hour of flipping channels is feeding into the trend toward the dumming down of the general population. What she said 
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Skydognc
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Jan 13 @ 6:07PM
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as a father of 4, and never lying to my children,
I would do the responsible thing any good father would do for their children.
I would look at them and say........
go ask your mom !
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Chickapea
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Jan 13 @ 6:37PM
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I agree with your comment about the commercial. And Great for the parents who are open with their children but I think people are missing the point.
Just because men are so into the football games and masculine sports does not mean that a Viagra commercial should be on TV at prime time.
Its the princible of the thing. Who is accountable for stupidity on Tv or lack of sensitivity that cildren are sitting with a bowl of pop corn with their Dads watching .
As for me I have to chuckle when that dumb commercal comes on because my Big Ole Buddy who has since passed, Would look at the commercial and say YEH RIGHT ,,,,  Like I,m gonna call the Dr after 4 hours LOL.
I just don,t think football games are the place for that commercial, But thats only my opinion.
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freeagent811
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Jan 13 @ 6:40PM
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I wonder how many children asked their parents, what is an erection?
Erection: Simplest of terms... A rise in the Levi's..... 
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Peachdejour
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Jan 13 @ 7:17PM
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Well, I suppose there is a good side to this. It might force parents, who might not bring the subject up otherwise, to discuss the sex issue. Nip the myths in the butt before they get into trouble listening to their buddies. 
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whatagal
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Jan 13 @ 8:51PM
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What gets me are those hemorrhoid commercials.   
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