Recently I was amazed to find out how many kids, and by kids I mean primary school, own cellphones and iPods. Some of the more rich kids even have iPad's. Now I'm all for bringing technology into our lives. I run a blog, constantly check my Twitter for updates by all those I follow and get all my news from the Internet. But what purpose does a cellphone serve in a 12 year old child's life? Sure, Mommy and Daddy are concerned and probably want to have a communication tool to keep tabs on poor little Johnny, and a good old Nokia 3310 will achieve that. But I see little kids walking around in shopping malls with freaking 3G phones and using Mxit. What happened to getting dropped off at your bud's place while your Mom and Dad go to the boring (back then) shopping mall? This made me wonder how things have changed.
When I was 10-12 years old there was nothing cooler than playing cricket in the yard, doing doughnuts with your bicycle in the street and playing till 8pm at night when your mom tries to drag you back into the house. You feel your knees open to the bone, scraped your arms against something rough and got dirty because it was fun. Take-away dinners were something that happened maybe ONCE in a month. Other than that you had to begrudgingly digest Mom's cooking, and if you didn't, you went hungry. Simple as that. Nowadays mom has to make what the kids want because all the child psychologists say that you HAVE to please a child. This leads to mom not knowing what to make and she simply buys McDonald's. When mom arrives with the greasy delights, the kids are unhappy because they don't like the toy that comes with the meal.
After the meal, mom and dad try to relax but not without letting the kids watch Hannah Montana or Ben 10. By the way, when did kids shows start airing at 8 o' clock at night? Back in the day 3pm to 5pm was prime time kids viewing. You could sit and stare at the Power Rangers kicking an over sized monster's ass, laugh at Darkwing Duck, wish you were as cool as the Biker Mice from Mars and dream of owning your own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Now you have shows where kids are being taught valuable life lessons and where the star of the show breaks into song every 5 minutes.
Another weird thing is the way children think about education. Remember the good old days where you're teacher had authority and homework was still necessary. These days you hear about teachers getting fired because they called a child out in front of the class for not doing their work. I wish that was the only consequence when I was in school. My teacher would give me the old wooden ruler to the hand if I was mischievous in class. I would then proceed to go home and tell my parents, and they would then call the teacher. Not to say "Don't you dare discipline my child!", but rather to say "Is that all he gets? Next time phone us and we'll come do it as well."
I don't know. Maybe I wasn't spoiled enough as a child or maybe I'm just not accepting the changes happening in society. But kids aren't kids anymore... I put together a little montage of cool stuff from my day as a kid! Hope you guys enjoy! Comment and let me know of the cool stuff you used to when you were a kid and how thing have changed.
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Well Will, I like your writing. I was looking for what dose it mean to be a kid today. and your writing gave me peace of mind. I relate or understand what your saying. times has changed from when i was growing up. your a lil younger than myself, but i follow your writing. things were a lot tuffer back in the day. for the last 2 to 3 years, My daughter has been cring that i don't allow her to be a kid. she is 19 now and has moved out of my home. now, my 16 year old son has been chimming her same sad song. they have every thing a kid could want, but they ddont hav ethe respect and understanding of the real world they need to to live a quality life that they have been afforded. they belive things are going to work out in the end like on the i-Carly Show and we all are going to sing and dance in the end.
without getting to carried away the "psychologists and having to please the kids...." statement is the root of social engineering. Distracting, shackaling, and dumbing down the parents and the children of our society. the children are the future. But, if the parents will not be allowed or can't parent because of all the NEW STANDERDs, how will the children/ kids know what being a child/kid is really about?
Enjoying the trip down memory lane! Good blog post Willie :]
ReplyDeleteWell Will, I like your writing. I was looking for what dose it mean to be a kid today. and your writing gave me peace of mind. I relate or understand what your saying. times has changed from when i was growing up. your a lil younger than myself, but i follow your writing. things were a lot tuffer back in the day. for the last 2 to 3 years, My daughter has been cring that i don't allow her to be a kid. she is 19 now and has moved out of my home. now, my 16 year old son has been chimming her same sad song. they have every thing a kid could want, but they ddont hav ethe respect and understanding of the real world they need to to live a quality life that they have been afforded. they belive things are going to work out in the end like on the i-Carly Show and we all are going to sing and dance in the end.
ReplyDeletewithout getting to carried away the "psychologists and having to please the kids...." statement is the root of social engineering. Distracting, shackaling, and dumbing down the parents and the children of our society. the children are the future. But, if the parents will not be allowed or can't parent because of all the NEW STANDERDs, how will the children/ kids know what being a child/kid is really about?
understand the time.
JAH SPEAKS