Blurry Lines

Just a few days ago I wrote here about how we have forgotten how much our actions impact on our children and then I came across the news about the mother who let her 11-year-old son go to school dressed as Christian Grey from Fifty Shades of Grey on World Book Day. Sigh.

The chap who played the character in the movie

The young lad and his mother.

The point of World Book Day is to dress your children up as a character from a literature book in order to create awareness and according to the mother, "Grey is one of the most famous book characters in years". She also insists she dressed her son that way because she thought it would be fun seeing how much press the book got and how it was also made into a movie. Well, the school did not see a funny side to it when her son showed up in school in the costume complete with eye masks and cable ties as were used in the movie! They called her to tell her how inappropriate the getup was and how the poor lad had been excluded from partaking in photograph sessions and other activities with the other students.

Although she insists her 11-year-old son has not seen the movie nor read the book, he already knows what it is about as did most children his age because they recognized him when he arrived in class. Can you see what I meant about forgetting that the children are watching us while we carry on like we are alone in the world? The mother insinuated that the amount of media (both conventional and traditional press) the movie got, ensured that kids that young had an idea of what the movie is all about.

Personally, I think clearly the lines between adulthood and childhood have become very blurred and it makes me lost in deep thoughts as to what to do about it. 

What's your take on what the mother did? Fun or too far?

Picture Credit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2982244/Boy-11-excluded-school-turning-World-Book-Day-dressed-character-erotic-novel-Fifty-Shades-Grey.html