06-01-2011, 09:58 PM
Hi,
Maybe. But both my parents worked, and a fair number of the people I grew up with had two working parents.
We have, indeed, become a nation of cowards.
I don't agree. I think entirely too many kids are spending too much time with their parents. As in being driven everywhere by one or more parent, and being under some parent's supervision while their own parents are standing by watching. Yes, they need time away from TV and video games (we all do -- if we'd all spend at least half our free time at a gym, pool, on a bike, running, or doing something physical, we'd all be much healthier). But replacing one structured activity with another is not my idea of how to develop independent thinking.
Yeah, doing things together with a parent is good when it is really appropriate. Be that helping in the kitchen (and learning a bit about how to cook) or going hunting or fishing or camping or going to a ball game. But just 'hanging' with the old folks? No so good. remember that the parents need always to be parents first and foremost -- friends is a long way second and, really, optional.
Free time, as unsupervised as possible -- way beyond the modern comfort zone -- is what I'm speaking of. Yeah, there are some dangers. That's how we learn to handle danger. There will be injuries -- kandrathe got his from horses, I got mine from knives. That's how we learn that it's OK to get hurt, and how to cope with it when we do. The rough and tumble of unsupervised play develops a flexibility in us that will let us survive. As opposed to the fragile rigidity we are developing now,where nothing bad ever happens and the slightest disappointment or failure or injury is devastating.
My generation had nowhere the angst that kids seem to have today because we learned to shrug things off, to live with them. Literally.
--Pete
(06-01-2011, 07:00 AM)MEAT Wrote: ... because [both] parents work more, ...
Maybe. But both my parents worked, and a fair number of the people I grew up with had two working parents.
(06-01-2011, 07:00 AM)MEAT Wrote: ... parents prefer kids to stay safe at home rather than unsupervised outside ...
We have, indeed, become a nation of cowards.
(06-01-2011, 07:00 AM)MEAT Wrote: Parents need to spend more time with their kids, ...
I don't agree. I think entirely too many kids are spending too much time with their parents. As in being driven everywhere by one or more parent, and being under some parent's supervision while their own parents are standing by watching. Yes, they need time away from TV and video games (we all do -- if we'd all spend at least half our free time at a gym, pool, on a bike, running, or doing something physical, we'd all be much healthier). But replacing one structured activity with another is not my idea of how to develop independent thinking.
Yeah, doing things together with a parent is good when it is really appropriate. Be that helping in the kitchen (and learning a bit about how to cook) or going hunting or fishing or camping or going to a ball game. But just 'hanging' with the old folks? No so good. remember that the parents need always to be parents first and foremost -- friends is a long way second and, really, optional.
Free time, as unsupervised as possible -- way beyond the modern comfort zone -- is what I'm speaking of. Yeah, there are some dangers. That's how we learn to handle danger. There will be injuries -- kandrathe got his from horses, I got mine from knives. That's how we learn that it's OK to get hurt, and how to cope with it when we do. The rough and tumble of unsupervised play develops a flexibility in us that will let us survive. As opposed to the fragile rigidity we are developing now,where nothing bad ever happens and the slightest disappointment or failure or injury is devastating.
My generation had nowhere the angst that kids seem to have today because we learned to shrug things off, to live with them. Literally.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?