The wealth of our Children

[Ancona]

Sitting in my new Barcalounger®, feeling pretty good about the world in general [it’s Friday after all] I began to drift off into a daydream. Listening to the kids in the yard playing and organizing themselves into teams for some game or another, I heard my 13 year old daughter in the background taking orders for popsicles. “Anna T. cherry; Alexis blue [??]; Joseph lime; O’kay guys, I’ll be right back so don’t start without me”. As she rushed past me to the kitchen, I began to drift into memories of my own childhood. Tree forts and rope swings, building dams in the creek and picking blackberries. “Be home before the streetlights come on” was our mantra. This way you got to participate in dinner, and you remained un-grounded yet another day. Life was good.

My wife and I decided before our daughter was born that we would not permit our child to become a slave to video games, and general technology. We agreed that our child would have the freedoms we enjoyed as kids and we would do our level best to let her experience life at her own pace, unencumbered by obligations made for her by overbearing parents. Since early on in her life, our daughter has been permitted to play barefoot, capture bugs, frogs and fish and eat the occasional bit of dirt. The effect this freedom is having is manifest in her empathy for others, love for animals and the environment in general. Without the perpetual commercial bombardment foisted upon most other children, my little girl is growing into a whole and caring person, free of the programming and twisted logic injected into children by video terror and subliminal television messaging.

My little girl is now enrolled in a private Christian school, whose curriculum is not required by the State of Florida to adhere to the training regimen required to get enough children to pass the FCAT so they can get their allotment of State money. They are free to teach the “three R’s” and more. My kid goes to gym for one day a week; about four hours I think. Gym consists of exploring the wetlands near the school, visiting NASA and going to the beach. If it is raining, they go bowling. Her religious training at the school is about a half an hour a day discussing the Bible.

If we give our children the upbringing envisioned by the Founding Fathers, we may actually survive as a nation, if we do not, we regress as a people. The children are indeed our future, and if we allow them to be poisoned when they are so young and impressionable with video hatred and murder, we will become a nation of automatons without the ability to feel true love or remorse.

I for one, do not wish to live in THAT world, do you?

[Ancona]

Hmmmmm.............................No one else out there has children?

[sunsetcliff]

Hmmmmm.............................No one else out there has children?

no one looks at off topic.

you are 100% correct on TV junk!

in the space of 30 years the play area shrunk.

I have no kids. it would look suspicious if I was too interested in any kids. However when they are near my house I will chat. I show them my plants and explain what I am doing with my yard. I ask them how school is, and I even yell at them if they get destructive.

So far I havent had a mad parent on my porch.

giving a child skills of life is a great gift. priceless.

I went to both public and private schools. there IS a difference.

when growing up-- most the time the adults let me listen in to the banter. even when they thought I wasnt listening, I was.

I feel it is crucial to tell the kids all that they are willing to absorb.

this is a timely topic. I have a niece who I never met. she is 21. my brothers ex wanted no one in her life. no child support and no contact. I knew that she would want to know us when an adult. during this time she was told, grilled on how terrible her dad was. but it was a lie.

so she and we missed out.

anyhow after she now has met the whole family- I dropped her an email. and now I wait.

I would not have the patience to be a parent. Nor has the chance ever come.


My sister is now expecting for child 2. She was on the fence about it. I said - to go for it. I dont know why- in that civilization is going into a dark age.

but she said it is never a good time. and she is right.

my nephew has that "smart" gene in him. he perked up when he seen me. it took me by surprise. well my sister shows him pics of the family and reads to him alot.

I wish I was closer. I would home school him.

[faithnotwork]

Sitting in my new Barcalounger®, feeling pretty good about the world in general [it’s Friday after all] I began to drift off into a daydream. Listening to the kids in the yard playing and organizing themselves into teams for some game or another, I heard my 13 year old daughter in the background taking orders for popsicles. “Anna T. cherry; Alexis blue [??]; Joseph lime; O’kay guys, I’ll be right back so don’t start without me”. As she rushed past me to the kitchen, I began to drift into memories of my own childhood. Tree forts and rope swings, building dams in the creek and picking blackberries. “Be home before the streetlights come on” was our mantra. This way you got to participate in dinner, and you remained un-grounded yet another day. Life was good.

My wife and I decided before our daughter was born that we would not permit our child to become a slave to video games, and general technology. We agreed that our child would have the freedoms we enjoyed as kids and we would do our level best to let her experience life at her own pace, unencumbered by obligations made for her by overbearing parents. Since early on in her life, our daughter has been permitted to play barefoot, capture bugs, frogs and fish and eat the occasional bit of dirt. The effect this freedom is having is manifest in her empathy for others, love for animals and the environment in general. Without the perpetual commercial bombardment foisted upon most other children, my little girl is growing into a whole and caring person, free of the programming and twisted logic injected into children by video terror and subliminal television messaging.

My little girl is now enrolled in a private Christian school, whose curriculum is not required by the State of Florida to adhere to the training regimen required to get enough children to pass the FCAT so they can get their allotment of State money. They are free to teach the “three R’s” and more. My kid goes to gym for one day a week; about four hours I think. Gym consists of exploring the wetlands near the school, visiting NASA and going to the beach. If it is raining, they go bowling. Her religious training at the school is about a half an hour a day discussing the Bible.

If we give our children the upbringing envisioned by the Founding Fathers, we may actually survive as a nation, if we do not, we regress as a people. The children are indeed our future, and if we allow them to be poisoned when they are so young and impressionable with video hatred and murder, we will become a nation of automatons without the ability to feel true love or remorse.

I for one, do not wish to live in THAT world, do you?

Interesting. It brought me back to my childhood, and got me thinking.
Have you seen a dirty kids lately. EVERY day we were dirty, or just about. Mud, grass stains, dirt, an occasional unknown substance...

Where I live, kids are very active.. out in the country.. lots of farm work to do.. but when you visit the relatives in the suburbs, the kids are scrubbed, never dirty, not as active and more sullen. Rarely do they look you in the eye and greet you.

I look out and see my neighbor kids chasing the dog, running their motortrack, jumping on the trampoline and occasionally doing something stupid, I kind of root for them. I make sure they aren't too out of control, but love the fact that they enjoy their time in the country. Their parents do not allow too much "TV time or game time".

We don't have kids, but my philosophy would be to have them keep busy, not with running around to this and that organized sport, but in the barn, taking care of the animals, doing chores and learning how to care for something.