I’m almost 22 years old and I have never seen or read anything regarding Harry Potter. Being an English major, the book series has come up quite often throughout college. When it’s my turn to talk in class all I can say is that I don’t know anything about it. More often than not the response that follows is something along the lines of, “Oh. You’re probably really religious and grew up in a sheltered home, huh?” Kind of, yes. My family is religious. My mom was what some would call a ‘helicopter mom' but I wouldn’t say I grew up sheltered, even though there were many things that weren’t an option for me. From what I know, Harry Potter has magic in it, and that’s not something my family personally believes in. So yes, it was off limits. Same as Pokemon and many others I won’t list out here.

When I would go to a friends house she called the adult that was present, got the address, and basically an itinerary of what would be happening for the time I was there. During the MySpace era, she had my password until I was about 14 or 15. When I started getting into music and obtained an iPod, she went through my music library. If I had downloaded anything iTunes deemed explicit, it was deleted. I was rarely allowed to watch MTV or anything that wasn’t Disney Channel or Nickelodeon.

I tell you all of this because I’ve noticed a trend on social media lately. Almost every day I get on a site there is someone ranting about Beyonce, Chrissy Teigen, or the Kardashians having a negative influence on their children's lives. If they’re not ranting about a celebrity, they’re praising Ayesha Curry and the other ‘good’ famous people that we ‘need more of.’ What I haven’t seen from these people is effort on their end. When did it become those celebrity's job to teach your children life lessons. I understand that parenting is a difficult job. I’m not one, but believe it or not, I have a couple; and according to my observations, is it not a parent's job to instill in their children what's right from wrong and what they believe?

I'm just confused as to when it became society's ‘issue.’ The age we live in has technology and social media growing every day, I don't understand why everyone is so upset about what their kid might see or hear on TV or the radio. If you are worried about what your children might be around or pressured by, be that helicopter parent. Monitor what they're doing. Tell them what is right and wrong. Teach them morals and whatever you believe to be acceptable.

I hated when my mom was all up in my business getting every single detail of everything. It was so annoying. But she went to that extreme to ensure that I wouldn't be around or 'influenced' by anything she didn't want me to be. Here I am 22 years later, having never seen Harry Potter. Believe it or not, I survived that awful restriction.

All I'm saying is, try focusing a little less on what celebrities and the media are 'influencing' your kids to do and a little more on influencing them yourselves.