Well, oddly enough, I don't think promoting unstructured play is a bad thing. I think we've gotten to a point where we have to because parents don't do it anymore. However, I think all you have to do to do that is not schedule your child's every moment. You can't go from school to soccer to ballet to gymnastics to homework to bed and have your child able to function and more importantly grow. They need time to just BE. To explore. To imagine. And to even eat cookies from time to time. Now, on the flip side, I do believe idle hands are the devil's workshop from personal experience in my teenage years (I was too busy to even know about parties, much less go to them), but there has to be some moderation.
I honestly believe that fear is responsible for all of this.
I do not believe our world is the most horrible it has ever been. I do not think that violence is at an all time high. I believe the world is the same as it has always been. Violence and terror have existed since the dawn of time and will always exist. Per capita, I'm pretty sure we are far LESS violent now than we were in the Middle Ages. But we hear about the crimes of this world so much more easily now and they are presented in such horrific ways that we can't help but be afraid. We as a species, that is.
And so we do not allow our children to walk to school. We package them up in every kind of protective gear we can and do not allow them to take risks. We give all of them a trophy because we're so afraid that we'll hurt their feelings. And we make sure every second of their time is accounted for by activities so that we know exactly where they are at all times and that gives us the illusion of safety. If they are at soccer, in theory, they aren't making meth in the basement. If they are at ballet, they aren't smoking pot in a parking lot.
This is a good thing. But it's gone too far. Let them be. Let them be children, for God's sake! And for the love of all that is holy, stop teaching the tests and give them back recess! You can't expect small kids to sit still all day if they don't run around for a while! (Oh, wait! Would that maybe help with the fatness, too? I think it might!)
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branchandroot
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Date: Nov. 26th, 2009 03:33 am (UTC)I honestly believe that fear is responsible for all of this.
I do not believe our world is the most horrible it has ever been. I do not think that violence is at an all time high. I believe the world is the same as it has always been. Violence and terror have existed since the dawn of time and will always exist. Per capita, I'm pretty sure we are far LESS violent now than we were in the Middle Ages. But we hear about the crimes of this world so much more easily now and they are presented in such horrific ways that we can't help but be afraid. We as a species, that is.
And so we do not allow our children to walk to school. We package them up in every kind of protective gear we can and do not allow them to take risks. We give all of them a trophy because we're so afraid that we'll hurt their feelings. And we make sure every second of their time is accounted for by activities so that we know exactly where they are at all times and that gives us the illusion of safety. If they are at soccer, in theory, they aren't making meth in the basement. If they are at ballet, they aren't smoking pot in a parking lot.
This is a good thing. But it's gone too far. Let them be. Let them be children, for God's sake! And for the love of all that is holy, stop teaching the tests and give them back recess! You can't expect small kids to sit still all day if they don't run around for a while! (Oh, wait! Would that maybe help with the fatness, too? I think it might!)
Anyway...I'm going to climb off my soapbox now.