My name is Brad Stine. To my friends I am simply
referred to as brad. Anyone else can refer to me as sir, your majesty, your eminence,
or any number of titles befitting my exalted position as professional laugh
master and future has-been.

In reality I don’t care what an adult refers to
me as, BUT I do have a problem with what kids call me. To anyone younger than
me and hasn’t been given different instructions shut up and listen close. My
name is and always will be Mr. Stine.

Are you listening all you politically correct,
oversensitive, let’s lower ourselves to the kids level, pampering, naïve dorks?

I had a kid refer to me as Mr. Brad the other
day. Mr. Brad? What former hippie inspired neo-cultural reference is that, and
who thinks it’s appropriate. We have kids bringing guns to school to wipe out
there classmates and there are adults that believe expecting kids to respect
their last name is too oppressive?

Only in this new age of PC crap-ola would this
pass by unnoticed. I grew up with Captain Kangaroo. That’s right Captain…”KANGAROO”
not Captain “Tim”.  I grew up with
Mr. ROGERS not Mr. FRED. Making ourselves too familiar and accessible to kids
is only going to bring us down to their level not raise them up to ours.

 They
have to earn the right to be
considered adults. This isn’t helped when the icons they grew up with didn’t
consider themselves unique or, more disturbing, didn’t want to be considered more MATURE!

 They grew up with Barney. Not Mr. Dinosaur, or Captain Carnivore…
just good old reliable don’t expect any adult perimeters from ya barney. “Duh,…
look kids I’m just as dumb as you are! Do de do de do!” Blues clues refer to
their host as ” Steve” and later ” Joe”. Where’s the respect? Where’s the
subjugating yourself to a superior?

Grandpa used to be a term of endearment. An
acknowledgement of a life lived and experience gained. Now it’s a derogatory
term meaning ” old and useless”. ” Get outta my way Grandpa, I just got my
drivers license and I can’t wait to abuse it!”

We keep this up and the next thing you know
teachers are going to start dating the kids after they finish their homework…oh
wait, that’s already happening. How many new cases each day do we hear of a
teacher having sexual relations with her student? It couldn’t have anything to
do with the 24-year-old intern referring to herself as Miss Bambi to the 17
year old boys she teaches could it?

Kids need to be taught respect of their elders
not another way to diminish the line between adulthood and adolescence. There
has to be a specific delineation that constantly reminds the young ones that we
as adults are still smarter, more experienced, and better than they are.

If you are a parent and don’t have your kids
refer to you as mom Nancy or dad Bob why would you let them speak to other
adults like that? I know I know, some of you may think I’m being a little hard
on you and the truth is…I am. That’s what I do. Someone has got to teach the
country how to get back to sanity. I do it because it’s my calling and my life
purpose. Oh yeah, and cause they pay me.