So, a hardy thank you for the freedom we enjoyed as kids. As I watch my kids play outside, one realization comes home fast. I must watch them. Our society has changed greatly from the freedom we enjoyed as kids. I am sure this was also true of the generation before us. Dad, did you guys start working at 8 and smoking by 10?
We would wake up, and head outside. Playing hard until we couldn't play anymore (or more accurately, until the yellow light came on). Think of the imagination this freedom created. I struggle as a parent to make sure my kids are able to explore, and learn without having a pre-scripted life. It's hard though. I work in an emergency room and have developed a cynical edge. Every person I cross on the street is an oxycotin abuser or pedophile.
Thank you mom and dad for that freedom. I am sure there was 'give and take' and outside of a random toad-fueled run to the carnival, we didn't abuse it. We had our own world in the "forest". We created elaborate forts and trails. We were explorers. Baseball started every afternoon, immediately after lunch. Currently, I need to stand in line for an hour to sign up for the hope of my kids playing baseball. We played (and ultimately loved) baseball with absolute freedom. Rivalaries were born among the streets. Take that Meadowside!
Is this age dead? I'd say no, but its vastly different. Multimedia has scared the average parent. I'm sure random things happened to some kid in Topeka in 1983 but we didn't hear about it. Now if a kid escapes to the local carnival at age 7 with his trusty toad, he is no longer the character in a Pixar film, his parents are arrested. I'm only 4yrs deep in it, but I've found there is no need in dwelling on this fact. Just adjust and move on. I will fight to find exploration for my kids. I don't want them to be drones.
I am constantly looking for outlets for the kids, and would welcome suggestions. This post corresponds with the doldrums of winter. I need ideas. Send them out if you have them.
P.S. Mom and Dad, the yellow light is on, on our deck. You know what that means, come on home.
7 comments:
Is Aiden going to be a Cub Scout? Emma a Girl Scout? I know it is a little early, just free thinking here.
I think Cub Scouts will happen. I'm not versed on the ways of the cookie peddlers though, so don't know about Girl Scouts.
I think they do a lot of those adventure things too. I do know about a more advanced group called the Venture Scouts or something that is both girls and boys and they do more outdoorsy stuff, but that is when they are older.
I am not sure...I was a Brownie dropout in the 2nd grade. :(
I'm sorry to say this, but Chris, I believe the age of our youth is completely dead. Obviously I don't have kids so my point of reference is completely observatory, but yes, it's long dead in the cold, cold ground. It may be alive in the outskirts of Montana or Nebraska, but that's it. I think it's the lack of community comparatively to year's past. When we were kids, you knew the neighbors, the neighbors knew you and then your parents came up with acceptable places to play based on those meetings and understandings. Now, we're all jaded. I love the crazy little thing, but it's the result of that world wide web people keep talking about. It really is. Internet changed everything, and not necessarily for the worse, but it definitely turned is into a more defensive and paranoid society. Do more bad things happen now or are we just mroe acutely aware of EVERYTHING that goes on? I think it's the later, but how are parents supposed to act when the hear about every abduction, every pedophile, every internet stalker out there? Protective is the only natural response, and that make perfect sense. It's just too bad, because I think the parent's freedom provided to us was also based on a more trusting view of the surrounding community. I might be totally wrong, but I'd be terrified the first time my little girl figured out how to go online - I have no idea how I'd handle that.
I'm pretty sure Sharon and Al were up to no good.
I think the same thing, just don't know what...nags at me.
too much lap sitting
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