I'm going to change that. It's a big part of my attitude adjustment. I've been spending too much time (again) worrying about boys and focusing on derby that all the other things that are important to me have fallen to the wayside. I think I have mentioned this recently. As many times as I have to say it in order to fix it is what it will take. I'm thinking that I need to evaluate how I spend my time and make sure that I am spending reasonably equal time on the things that are important. Like making sure my kitchen is clean and my laundry done. Spending less time on the computer and more time making things. I need to get me back on track.
Meanwhile, I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine last night. She believes that our society is too dangerous to allow children to run about the way we did when we were children.
I don't agree. I think that the world was just as dangerous then. Pedophiles, drug dealers, speeding cars all existed back then, but we still ran fairly free. We knew our boundaries, we knew when to get home. We might have Watchdog.org now to tell us where the sexual offenders are lurking, but that doesn't mean that they weren't in the neighborhoods we grew up in.
I think as a society we have become overprotective in many ways, and underprotective in others. I agree that sites like MySpace and Facebook offer a whole new dimension to children's lives, but I also think that it should be up to parents to monitor what children do on the net. Block those sites (My cousin cannot email anyone not on her safe list) watch what's going on during homework time. Teach them that not everyone online is safe just as we were taught not to get into strange vans or take candy from strangers.
I think we do children a great disservice by locking them in the house for their own safety. I don't think I would be the person I am today without memories of forts among the trees and hours spent riding my bike up and down the street. Of jump rope on the sidewalk and walks to and from school.
Perhaps I will change my tune as my niece grows older or if I should have children of my own. But I hope not. How can a kid grow without sunlight and fresh air?
1 comment:
I wholeheartedly agree. Between worldwide instant media and an ever-growing population, the world only appears to be worse than before. There are probably more events happening on the whole, but they are proportionally the same as before. More importantly they are reported disproportionally more often. Bottling your kids up out of perceived fears will only make them want to rebel even more and actually DO dangerous things.
The associated fear I have with this is that our society has become so hyper-vigilant that kids can no longer "blow-off steam" in any form without getting put through the wrong end of the legal system. Our parents (generation) used to go out in the boonies, drink a few beers around a bonfire, and maybe shoot at some tin cans. I used to ride my motorcycle in the hills and hang out in abandoned/restricted areas. I'd be arrested within minutes of going to those places now for everything from trespassing to environmental damages.
That's not to say that those offenses wouldn't be legitimate, but the punishments would be heavy-handed - even for kids. What will our kids do when they try to blow off some steam and there's nowhere to escape to, or anything they do that would have gotten us a stern talking to lands them in jail?
Post a Comment