I watched the NFL halftime show, and I came away with a simple conclusion:
It was not appropriate for a family audience.
This isn’t about musical taste or generational differences. The performance relied heavily on sexualized imagery, suggestive choreography, and themes that do not belong in front of millions of children watching what is advertised as America’s most mainstream sporting event.
The Super Bowl is marketed as a family-friendly tradition. Parents gather with their kids. Friends host watch parties. Children wear jerseys (and stay up late in parts of the country) for a special night.
And then halftime arrives.
Year after year, parents are left sitting on the couch wondering how we got here — and why this kind of content is now treated as normal.
A Breach of Trust — and a Wake-Up Call
The NFL deserves criticism for promoting this kind of content without meaningful warning. But as parents, we also need to be honest with ourselves.
We should know better than to assume that large cultural institutions will guard our children’s innocence for us.
This trajectory has been clear for years. What once would have been widely recognized as inappropriate for children is now defended as entertainment, artistry, or simply the way things are.
If anything, the halftime show should serve as a reminder that our role as parents is not to outsource discernment, but to exercise it.
This Is How It Spreads
What’s troubling is not just one performance, but how pervasive sexualization has become across our culture.
Extramarital sexual themes, provocative messaging, and the normalization of moral confusion are no longer confined to certain corners of society. They are increasingly embedded in:
- mainstream entertainment
- popular music
- advertising
- books and materials marketed to teens
- programs labeled as “for young people”
It rarely arrives with a warning label. It slips in quietly under the cover of humor, relevance, or celebrity. And if we’re not paying attention, it shapes our children before we even realize it’s happening.
This Isn’t About Blame — It’s About Responsibility
It’s easy to point the finger at the NFL, Hollywood, or the media. And some criticism is warranted.
But ultimately, parents bear the responsibility to know what is forming their children.
That means asking harder questions. Previewing content. Being willing to say no — even when something is popular or culturally celebrated.
We cannot afford to be passive consumers in an aggressively formative culture.
Preaching to Myself Too
I want to be clear: I’m preaching to myself here too.
It’s easy to write an article like this and sound like the problem is simply “out there.” But the truth is, the pull of the culture is constant for all of us. None of us can afford complacency.
Parenting today requires more than occasional frustration or pointing fingers. It requires steady engagement. It requires discernment. It requires being awake — not just when something outrageous happens on national television, but in the quieter ways the culture seeps into our homes through phones, streaming platforms, books, music, and everyday messaging.
This is why Scripture gives us such a clear and beautiful standard:
“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable… think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).
That is not just a suggestion for personal devotion. It is a framework for family life. It is a call to parents to ask:
What is shaping the minds and imaginations of our children? What are we allowing into our home? What are we treating as normal?
Philippians 4:8 reminds us that Christian parenting is not merely about avoiding the worst things. It is about pursuing what is good — filling our homes with what is pure, strengthening, and life-giving.
A Call for Parental Discernment
We cannot shield our children from everything. But we can teach them discernment, model restraint, and set boundaries rooted in wisdom rather than fear.
If we do not, the culture will gladly do the shaping for us — and it will not teach what builds strong families, healthy marriages, or moral clarity.
I watched the halftime show. It wasn’t appropriate for a family audience.
But more than that, it reminded me that protecting our children is not someone else’s job.
It’s ours.