Double-edged Sword for Today’s Children
An article from CBC entitled It's
never been safer for kids to play outside — or more dangerous to be inside caught
my attention.
Maybe it’s true?
Being outside is wonderful for children.
It helps them explore the natural world around them. It encourages unstructured free play. Smelling fresh outdoor air is also good. There’s something about bare feet outside
that’s good for the soul. On and on.
Maybe it’s not? There
are countless beneficial activities that occur almost exclusively inside. Baking together, reading, coloring, and so on. In my opinion as a mother, long gone are the
days where (in most cities and towns) it’s a good idea to “send the kids to the
park by themselves.” See where this is tricky?
I’ve reasoned that one thing that makes parenting young
children today uniquely more challenging than most other times in history is
all of the rigmarole involved with car seats.
There’s almost no way a child will be out of a five-point harness prior
to the age of four. You’re looking at
close to eight for just sitting in a plain ol’ seat. Car seats are a pain in the seat. But here’s where it gets me: I always think it’s really rich when people
my age and anyone older say things like, “well, we never had seats like that and
we made it just fine.” Oh, right –
because the children who died in car crashes are here to speak.
In an increasingly competitive academic landscape, it’s a well-known
reality that schools “teach to the tests” and kindergarten is a shadow of its
former. I’m all for letting kids be kids
for longer, but surely if a parent doesn’t get the ball rolling bright and
early that child is at a disadvantage.
And while it’s not some “competition” as to who has their kid reading
first (or any other academic accomplishment), isn’t it to the child’s brain’s
benefit to read as many words as possible?
In a conversation I had today, we discussed how Red Rover
has died on the playgrounds of yesterday.
While my husband may relish the memories of schoolyard games, I, on the
other hand, was the little kid who always seem to get hit straight on the
noggin with the dodgeball. Wham! Playground games and schoolyard picks are
good for children socially, physically, etc. – and then someone gets a
concussion.
The internet produces a treasure trove of fantastic resources,
of all different varieties, for children and parents. It also produces a ton of resources for predators
and the black market. Sweet.
“Screens” allow for video chats with daddy when he’s gone on
work trips, easy sharing of old family recipes, and exchanging pictures of
cousins who live far away. Also, screens
are arguably the arch nemesis of today’s children.
Here, children and parents, take up this double-edged sword
of parenting in the 21st century.
You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
Perhaps the older I get, I realize that I have fewer and
fewer answers. That realization in and
of itself is probably the real “tale as old as time.” In this particular instance, when wielding this
razor-sharp sword of today’s parenting, this may be the only think I know
to be true: all things in moderation.
#AnitaVP #parenting #parent #parentingtoday #doubleedgedsword
#tricky #gooutside
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