Would you consider a sign like this offensive/inappropriate?

[Joanne]

I wouldn't want to explain what it means to young kids, especially if the kids were friends of my own kids. Can you imagine driving past that and having a car filled with 8 - 10 year olds asking you what it means?

 

distasteful, rude, and stupid on the part of the people who didn't consider kids may see it.

 

Married people have sex. Married sex, for all major religions I am aware of, is sanctioned, celebrated and endorsed. Why is explaining this (not so funny and unprofessional) sign an issue?

 

I'd have no problem explaining the joke to children of any age, mine or others.

 

I don't get the concern.

[Celia]

Not at all appropriate for the public!

 

Things have sure changed - when Dr. Suess wrote Yertle the Turtle, the editors were concerned about the word 'burp' being written in the story. Now look what our kids are exposed to driving down the street. Sigh

[WishboneDawn]

You know what? The more I think about this the more I think the business was perfectly fine with that sign. In fact, I think I sort of appreciate a business that uses a bit of bawdy humour and doesn't seem to be afraid of the potential backlash.

 

I think there's a difference between humour that denigrates or puts down a person or group of people and humour that pokes some fun at a perfectly natural part of life for most people.

 

If my child reads it and asks me about it, well, I just can't see anything wrong with that scenario. The sign isn't referencing anything evil, immoral or distasteful. It's just a little poke (ahem) at marital sex and I don't think kids or parents need any special protection from that or that public spaces need to be free of such things.

[CAMom]

Married people have sex. Married sex, for all major religions I am aware of, is sanctioned, celebrated and endorsed. Why is explaining this (not so funny and unprofessional) sign an issue?

 

I'd have no problem explaining the joke to children of any age, mine or others.

 

I don't get the concern.

 

I'd be really upset if an adult other than dh or myself explained the sex reference in the tasteless joke to my 8-10 year old!:mad: The timing of that discussion is up to my dh and I alone!

 

My own dd had an experience where another mom explained that AIDS was a result of having "bad sex." She was about 11. We'd talked all about periods but had not actually had the actual sex part of the talk. When dd told me about it she said, "Mom, I know we have to talk about sex but I'm just not quite ready to hear it."

 

We've since had that talk and continue to have open discussion but it was not for another mom to introduce the topic to my daughter when she clearly wasn't ready for it.

 

BTW, I think the sign is tacky and highly inappropriate for a business.

[Denisemomof4]

I'd be really upset if an adult other than dh or myself explained the sex reference in the tasteless joke to my 8-10 year old!:mad: The timing of that discussion is up to my dh and I alone!

 

 

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[Moxie]

Married people have sex. Married sex, for all major religions I am aware of, is sanctioned, celebrated and endorsed. Why is explaining this (not so funny and unprofessional) sign an issue?

 

I'd have no problem explaining the joke to children of any age, mine or others.

 

I don't get the concern.

 

Yes, but it is not public. This sign takes something that should be private and makes it public for the sake of a laugh.

 

And please don't explain sex jokes to other people's kids. It isn't your place.

[AuntieM]

In my dh's corporate environment, he could get into big trouble if he said something along those lines to a female coworker and she decided to file a sexual harassment complaint. I'm sure we could debate endlessly on whether or not she overracted, but the point is that folks in corporate America has lost their jobs over statements akin to this.

 

So, I think that's not a bad thing to keep in mind when putting such a statement out in public.

[Joanne]

Yes, but it is not public. This sign takes something that should be private and makes it public for the sake of a laugh.

 

And please don't explain sex jokes to other people's kids. It isn't your place.

 

If I were driving with other children in the van and they read this sign and wanted to understand it, I'd tell them.

 

It's not like I would *initiate* the conversation, create the joke or "go there" unprovoked. In this case, I'd simply say that someone connected to that business recently got married and the sign was meant as a joke that the couple not have difficult times - and that their "ups and downs" be fun.

 

Goodness gracious. I really don't get the big deal.

[NanceXToo]

Joanne, I do understand your point. But I also understand that parents might want to (and should have the right to) choose their OWN timing for explaining sexual innuendos to their children, and a public business should be more responsible than that. It's one thing for a kid to hear something on the playground, since you can't really help what other children say to yours.

 

It's another entirely for an adult business owner to throw it out there in the public eye, IMHO.

 

I can understand and appreciate your willingness to be perfectly open with your own children in a scenario like that. I can't understand your refusal to see or understand why other parents might reasonably feel a little differently.

 

Anyway, as a brief update, I drove past the sign around noon yesterday and the message was still there.

 

I drove past it at 9 AM this morning, and the message was gone. I'm not sorry to see it go!

[CAMom]

If I were driving with other children in the van and they read this sign and wanted to understand it, I'd tell them.

 

It's not like I would *initiate* the conversation, create the joke or "go there" unprovoked. In this case, I'd simply say that someone connected to that business recently got married and the sign was meant as a joke that the couple not have difficult times - and that their "ups and downs" be fun.

 

Goodness gracious. I really don't get the big deal.

 

I think the big deal (at least for me) was that it sounded like you were saying you would explain a little more explicitly. You started off by talking about it being sanctioned in every religion that it's good that married people have sex. Then went on to say that you'd have no problem explaining the joke (which is obviously referring to sex) to any child of any age.

 

So, I took that to mean that you would explain directly that it was about married sex.

 

Of course, the way you elaborated in this post has absolutely no reference to sex at all and I don't think anyone would have a problem with you using the exact words you used above with a child of any age.

 

Sorry if I misunderstood you the first go 'round.:)