What kind of kids are we raising?

United States
April 7, 2007 6:17pm CST
I just wanted to see what kind of response this would garner. My kids are very multicultural, and learning about many different nations. I encourage them to read, play roughly, ride bikes without helmets or pads, and things like that. I am of the belief that our children are being raised to be wusses with the way society is dictating we keep them protected constantly. I was listening to a skit by either Jeff Foxworthy or Bill Engvall one day, and he was making the comment that he was in the back window of his dad's car, laying there, while his dad was driving. I can remember sitting on my dad's lap...it was wrong, I'll agree with that, and very dangerous. I'm not saying we should go back to those days. I'm saying that our kids don't know how to defend themselves anymore, and that they are being taught that violence has no purpose. To a certain degree, it doesn't. The laws of nature differ with that assessment, though, and teach us that it is survival of the fittest. Kids are supposed to get bruised up, get scrapes and bumps, and learn from it. I never, in my life, have used a helmet for bike riding or skating. When doing tricks, sure, but not for something normal. Yeah, I've had my fair share of wipe outs, but they were things that having a helmet on would not have prevented anyway. I never landed on the top of my head. Making a boo-boo all better is part of nurturing, and parenting. If it's bleeding, you clean it off, put some ointment on it, blow on it to take the sting away, and kiss it to make it feel better. What happened to those days? Are we, in fact, making our children into what we ourselves had either been teased as or did the teasing to, in school? My 7 yr old was having issues with kids teasing her at school. The teachers and principal never did anything about it, so her dad and I had a nice long talk about it with her, and told her that it's time to start standing up for herself. After telling her that it's alright to do so, she finally did it a few days later, and the kids started to leave her alone, because she was showing them it no longer bothered her. These are some of the things that our country is telling us -not- to do with our kids, and to let adults handle things. How are they going to learn to be independent, if we handle things like that for them all the time?
2 people like this
3 responses
SirMattias
@SirMattias (106)
• United States
8 Apr 07
I haven't yet had the chance to raise little hell spawn of my own but i have to say I'm all for not babying my kids. All i know is that when i do finally have children, I'll be raising them just like that.
Makena1968
@Makena1968 (682)
• United States
8 Apr 07
I totally agree with you in the way you are raising your children. I raised mine to have open minds, and to respect other's religious beliefs, and life styles, and other cultures. We lived out in the country, so they were out in the fields and woods alot, and they got their fair share of "booboos," too. We didn't use anti-bacterial soaps, and sometimes they didn't take bathes every day. My kids were different, too, and they had to struggle to overcome the teasing and so on. I was very proud of them, as they stuck it out, and were true to themselves and their own beliefs. They were raised around alot of animals, too. They didn't spend alot of time watching television, or playing video games, either. I home schooled them some, not nearly as much as I would have liked to, though. My son read all the time, and he spent alot of time studying the stars (yes..we could see the stars from where we lived..alot of stars). He was listening to classical music by the time he was fourteen or fifteen. They listened to rock music, but mostly 60's music. I did try to let them handle their own arguments, work things out on their own. Today's children, I feel, are way too protected, and spend way too much time in front of the computer or tv, or on their cell phones. They eat all the wrong foods, and get away with way too much, as teachers now have to be so careful about how they address children that misbehave. Kids are alot tougher and smarter than we think. All they really need are parents who truly love them and support them and gently guide them as they mature and grow into adults. They need parents who respect them, and who don't want to control them, who will let them be who they are, and not who the parents want them to be. We have to let them learn on their own, figure things out for themselves...we have to have faith in them that they will. We mustn't make them co-dependant on us, but teach them to be independant.
sapphiresage
@sapphiresage (431)
• United States
8 Apr 07
I'm with you on this one. I don't agree with babying our kids beyond the time when they really are babies. Childhood is full of learning experiences, and I feel we do deprive them of them if we stop them from having those experiences that, while not fun, are also not truly harmful. Good topic!