Pop culture is full of passing fads. When I was a kid back in the early 90s all the cool kids had their pants tightly rolled up at the ankle. I was convinced that this was not a passing fad and that I would likely get married in red Reebok high tops with my tuxedo pants pegged as my suspenders hung uselessly by my legs. A few years later, those same kids were buying pants that were five sizes too big and were wide enough at the bottom to fit a few friends inside. Looking back now, it was all stupid, but it seemed so important back then. Except for the Reeboks. Those would still be cool.
As a homeschool family, my kids are somewhat sheltered from the whims of cultural change. Social opportunities abound, but peer pressure is at a minimum. My kids aren't dorky, but they don't know what the cool brands are, nor do they care. On the upside, they will never look back at old photos of themselves and wonder why they ever had that mullet and Z. Cavaricci pants. They don't crave the latest style fads and they don't idolize teenage pop stars who glamorize lives of narcissistic stupidity.
The latest fad to hit the elementary school where I work captures the culture of today's youth perfectly. We all know the YMCA and the Chicken Dance. Most of us are familiar with the Macarena. This most recent craze is known as the Harlem Shake. On the surface, it appears harmless enough. Boys and girls aren't even dancing face-to-face and the kids are having a good time. Some are more animated than others, but none have rhythm. Others stand innocently on the sidelines watching the action, thankful that the bystanders will never have to deal with a future love interest finding them on YouTube.
What bothers me about this particular dance is the loss of control that it symbolizes. In order to perform the Harlem Shake, the dancer throws his shoulders back and lets his arms go completely limp. He then begins to shake his shoulders back and forth as his arms flop about like a fish dying on the deck of a boat. Again, this sounds innocent enough, but, at the risk of sounding like a prude, I'm going to examine it further.
In the name of fun, kids are being taught to let go of their inhibitions as they let their arms just go where they may. While engaged in the Harlem Shake, kids aren't responsible for their actions. They don't know exactly what their arms will do, and it's socially acceptable at that moment. In fifth grade it's a simple dance, but how far is that from drinking alcohol to knock out inhibitions? Or taking drugs?
I know it's a stretch, and this isn't meant to be a condemnation of a dance. Rather, this is a commentary on culture. One dance isn't going to turn kids into drug-fueled alcoholics. Nor is it likely to significantly alter the course of anyone's life. What the Harlem Shake is, however, is a picture of all the messages kids are receiving from peers, the media, their music, and all that the world has to offer. "Just do what feels good. Let your inhibitions go. You're not responsible for your actions." These are the messages that bombard our kids everyday.
Our duty as parents is to shield our kids from such messages when possible, and to guide them through a logical and godly analysis of them when it's not. I’m not a perfect parent and my kids aren’t perfect kids, but I can hold my head up high and say that I am proud of what I have taught them and what they, in turn, have taught me. Maybe it's time we all take a closer look at what the rest of the world is teaching our kids.
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