Heaven forbid they lose interest!

So I listen to the radio online most days. For some reason they can't play regular local commercials online, so you get a whole lot of public service ads, most of which are just ridiculous. A couple that really get me.

The first one is partly from the Girl Scouts. A little girl is singing a lullaby to the baby, and is singing all about how sleep works and REM dreams, etc. etc. Kind of a funny song, that part's fine. And then comes the voice over:

A lot of girls lose interest in science by middle school, so it's up to their
parents to keep their dreams alive.

Here's what gets me. If they've "lost interest", whose dream is it that you're keeping alive? I mean, ok, if they've lost interest to more trendy things, but really wish that they could keep doing the science thing, I can see that. So teach them about doing what you like and want to do, even if it isn't cool. But seriously, you have to keep alive every dream that a kid has when they're 7? Every 7 year old wants to be an astronaut. So when they are in middle school and lost interest in that dream for, say, math, that should be discouraged? Yes, you want to encourage young girls to have ambition and follow their dreams, but if they lose interest in their original dream and move onto something else, what's wrong with that?

The second one is from Faith Hill. She says that kids should be involved in learning some sort of instrument, it will teach them all sorts of valuable skills that will help them in other areas of their lives, etc. Well, of course being into music I totally agree with that. Again, the last line of the ad is what gets me:

And remember, your kids all have an instrument that is free and sounds
great: their voice.

Ok, so technically that's true. And I do think you should encourage kids to do what they enjoy. But here's the thing. Not everyone is good at everything. Yes, your kids all have a free voice, but I'm sorry, they don't all sound great. Some people just can't sing. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just the way it is. If everyone was good at everything, that would be pointless.

Anyway, just a couple of thoughts for the day.