"Jangchub" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:29:06 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...onsbox1&sub=AR


I didn't have to read the whole article because I've been saying this
same thing for years now. You go into a theater waiting for the show
to start and people are so dependant on constant stimulation they are
either on their phones, playing on their phones, watching television
on their phones, typing on their phones, surfing the web on their
phones, or talking incessantly. There is virtually no down time, yet,
there is not much production either. It's a vast wasteland of
business and motor movements which do not really require the skills of
self entertainment. Mostly mindless blather provided to the XBox land
of killing images and sexually inappropriate ideas.

When I was a kid, an only child, I'd play for hours and hours alone
with my Give A Show Projector, Barbie dolls with home made (by me)
houses or accessories. Now you go buy Barbie Hummers and houses. I
played with tinker toys, erector sets, Etch a Sketch, and my favorite
Flintstone Building Blocks.

When it snowed we'd be out in it from morning till night, frozen.
We'd build forts, and snowmen and run around in it, throw snowballs at
everything, laugh and play. Mindless playing with actual fun. Today
kids have so much stress being busy doing nothing they need
medications to keep their legs from moving at night! I know someone
who couldn't stand their son moving his leg from nervousness, so they
finally got their ADD diagnosis and put him on Ritalin (sp?) and as a
side effect he stopped growing. His teeth couldn't fit in his stunted
mouth and he needed to wear this incredibly disgusting stretching
device. Still, he is only about a bear five foot and by now he is
about 14 or so? I left that friend in the dust for all sorts of
reasons, but mainly for being a lunatic.

Oh, then there were very long days in summer when we'd ride our bikes
which had foot brakes and no gears for hours and hours. Our parents
had to drag us inside when it got dark around nine thirty at night.
Those were the days when parents actually did things with kids. We'd
go to the fireworks every Tuesday night at Coney Island and have a
Nathan's hot dog, go on the Bobsled ride and ride the horses around
the track at Steeplechase (long gone now).

So, I don't need an article to see how far down this country has gone
and what is being produced in our sorely lacking elementary school
systems and the rates they pay teachers is so retched nobody of any
mind is taking a teaching position that fast any more. It used to be
a great job. No more. Sad really.

None of this applies to those of you who are actively involved in your
children's' lives. I applaud anyone who even has kids these days.

Victoria

Pretty much same/similar experiences here. No, not a Barbie doll guy.

My perception is that children are guided by their peers, not their parents.
TV and their peers require certain stuff for children to be fulfilled, if
you will. Thereby, deem it a necessity. Their parents consent to all the
accessories you mention, plus others not mentioned. Thus, the child's peers
guide their parents.


Parents should actively guide their children. Spending alot of time with
them playing video games, watching the latest DVD or pay-for movie, and such
is not active involvement. Not saying you intended to communicate contrary
to that, but, that others do not perceive that notion.

Having a child is a result of performing a bodily function. Promoted by
hormones and personal perceptions of the partner. Then, as now, teens still
get pregnant, and have children. I would hardly applaud that.
Dave