Children these days Aren't the same

international | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis

Friday April 17, 2009 01:14

by Philip O' Rourke - None

phish20007 at hotmail dot com

6 Ridgewood Avenue, Swords Co. Dublin

Some things have changed that will never be the same.

When I was young we used to be out from 10 o'clock in the morning til 10 o' clock at night. The boys would be playing football while the girls would be making up dance routines or talking about the boys they fancied. Times have changed? But what has changed them?

Think back 15 years ago, there was no such thing as a Playstation, a Nintendo Wii, a Xbox 60. Kids had to use their imagination to have fun. They wern't stuck in the house living thier lifethrew a televsion screen. They wern't scoring goals on an imaginary football field. Instead they were out in the fields, the greens in thier estates kicking a real football around, out in the real fresh air, making thier local green or park their theatre of dreams.

It sad that most kids these would now rather sit in their bedrooms and use their hands with a controller to play the 'Beautiful game'. Its a sign that maybe the creative minds of the children today are disappearing and the virtual world takes over.

When I was young we used to build go-carts out of blanks of wood, we used to build base's in the forrest, we used to have water fights on the hot summer days, although them hot summer days were rare.

As well as limiting childrens creativity it limits their, what I like to call, 'Street eduacation'. Every kid has to learn how to live their life on thier own, learn their own mistakes, and lets face it no computer or Ps3 can ever teach them that.

My point is that these virtual games and computers are changing the way kids should be living. More of them are going to become obese, unhealthy, short-sighted and not 'street educated' which will have bad implications for their futures. It will also harm their social skills. If they are in their bedrooms playing games on their own and not out playing with their friends their social skills are going to be harmed and maybe never ully developed by the time they grow up. What is the saying, You can't teach a dog new tricks.

I think we should be urguing the kids today to be as creative as they can be, not stuck in playing in a unrealistic world where violence rules and shooting people dead gets reward. Because this is going to become a real problem in the future.

save preference

Comments (12 of 12)

Old Men.

by Aristolle

Sat Apr 25, 2009 02:00

Wise words from Greece from 3,000 years ago:

"When you complain about the young it means that you are old."

Aristotle,no less, said that.

.

education at home

by hans c. a.

Thu Apr 23, 2009 23:33

The right to homeschool children is enshrined in the Constitution. Some groups have done it well and many individual parents have benefited from educating their children and themselves. Even if you send the kids to school you might find useful themes and activities for creative play at home on these sites:

http://www.homeschool-ireland.com/ireland.php

http://www.henireland.org/

http://www.hedni.org/

alternatives to mainstream education

by Soupstone kindergarten

Thu Apr 23, 2009 19:33

Worth checking out Waldorf education approaches which are all about encouraging children's own imagination and
creativity using as few plastic toys as possible and mostly working with natural materials etc.

There's a new Waldorf kindergarten in Dubln - details at http://www.indymedia.ie/article/92040

teenage kicked parent

by mr blue - eternity in their hearts

Wed Apr 22, 2009 07:30

it was good to read this thoughtful, non-polemic, pro-parents piece on INDYMEDIA. it's great that Aimee M has come to a place of sympathy with her mother (and father?). i will smile when my teenager has children of his own. i will try not to gloat!

here's something i wrote 6 months ago about my soon-to-be-leaving-teens son:

Teenage Kicks (with apologies to The Undertones.)
______________________________________

at fourteen: throwing furniture down the stairs,
at fifteen: growing matted dreadlocked hair,
at sixteen: spray painting public walls
bringing a 2 a.m. Garda call,
at seventeen: gang-bang-chanting hip hop,
his drum kit boomed non-stop,
at eighteen he passed the driving test,
our car frequently absent, north, south, east, west
at ninteen now in college & having a ball
it’s a wonder that exams get passed at all.

we’ve had the food & fashion fads,
the f-offs to this slightly stressed-out dad,
the blithely ignored important parental texts,
the refusal to talk about hormones & sex.
i kept open the door that i was tempted to slam,
giving second chances when he did’t give a damn.
- but it was great to see the tricks on rollerblades,
casually climbing roof tops & tall trees, never afraid;
long frog observation taking place at ponds
& a fascination with foxes, of which he’s really fond.

L is a leader, its evident in his genes,
his friends faithfully follow, he gets them all quite keen,
he’s their route plotter, the reader of maps
he’s pretty street smart, not yet fallen in a trap.
L is a laugh, always up for a dare:
running down the garden naked, without a care
- but its the hungry heart i’m really after,
the brief meaningful talks & occasional easy laughter.
I pray Christian hope for him, I pray God’s covenant care
may he always know he’s loved & never give into despair.

amen to that

by Hans c. a.

Tue Apr 21, 2009 23:32

Great attitude there. You looked at your children's potential imagination and you took decisive action. There are too many passive parents sadly.

Take it off!

by Brown Pelican

Tue Apr 21, 2009 20:56

I know there is a problem with technology and how little children are children these days. What I don't understand is why parents feel as though they are powerless to do something. And you know this is what they should do: Get rid of the television. Get rid of the computer. Just get rid of it all. Anyting with an extension chord and/or flashy lights--just dunk it. It's all a bunch of JUNK!!! Go to a library or used book store and get some books to sustitute for television. I tell my own kids, you want a movie, pick up a blasted book and go to mars, Africa, colonial America, the Klondike, anywhere you like. My children are not allowed to watch any television in our home unless it is approved by the people who brought them kicking and screaming into this good world--their parents. Little Joey, 7, has a bug kit. Right now he has a centipede, a caterpillar and some other creepy crawly, some rocks and twigs and if he gets antsy--because the word "bored" is banned in our house--he can go outside and add to his insect menagerie. We parents have power and we need to exercise it or lose our children many years from now. God knows I am not a perfect parent, but this I know I did right.

Teenage Kicks?

by Aimee M

Tue Apr 21, 2009 14:45

lilmissaimee2005 at hotmail dot com

Are bad teenage anticks down to bad parenting?
Every year hundreds of teenagers are involved in acts of stupididty and are injurerd or sometimes even killed. This asks us the question are the parents to blame for their childs behavior?
The answer is no, in todays society it is the in thing to drink and take drugs or conform into a social group i.e EMOS or Chavs. In my own personal opinion i dont belive a parent can control their child no matter how hard they tried.

Although I am only twentyone, I have been through a lot with my mother and i have not made it easy for her. I was a very aggressive teenager i enjoyed drinking and acting the fool. But I changed the day I realised my mother blamed herself. She raised me the right way but I felt it natrualy to rebel against her.

We sometimes laugh at how idiotic my behaviour was and I always appologise. All i needed was a push in the right direction. Which is exactly what my parents did.If you know anyone who is having problems with their teenagers maybe offer soem advice. My mother really benifited from her friends opinions and offers of help.

After feeling like I couldnt control my anger or hate anymore i eventualy ended up in a pit odf depression. Which is why i feel the need to explain my story to people who are also having problems with their children just like my own mother did.

creativity

by hans c. anderson

Sat Apr 18, 2009 14:19

Before the tv age children were expected to make their own entertainment, indoors during wintry weather (although if it snowed there were always slides, improvised sleds and building snowmen) and outdoors during dry mild months. Play, simulation, role fantasising and sport were the old reliables inherited instinctively down through the passing centuries. The tv, that mesmerising gogglebox churning out sensation, sedation and eye-gum, has gradually taken away children's creative urges. Nowadays they are dependent on entertainment created by others mediated by endless bombardment of flickering pictures. What would happen to millions of adults and children in developed countries if the tv channels were suddenly crippled by power failures and strikes? People would have to fall back on their inner resources for satisfactory passing of time alone and with others. But what if there are no creative resources left - wouldn't the consequence be rioting and hysteria in the streets?

( I cant get no) Satisfaction

by pseudonym - children of bygone years

Sat Apr 18, 2009 06:14

Brings the memories flooding back , of long summer nights where children would just play outside and no competition such as Television .

We made our own fun and used our imaginations to full potential ,respect for our parents and property was to the fore , do you remember IF we got
a slap from our school master and made the mistake of going home to relay the news to our Father ,we got another clip on the ear ,for upsetting the
teacher in the 1st place , Sunday afternoons were often spent listening to the wireless and my mother would have it tuned in to a programme called
'Movie Go Round ' ,with extracts of new films ,music and voices , Then came The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and off we went in search of what lyrics
we had heard , the rest is history .

lost childhoods

by maverick - the rock that doesn't roll

Fri Apr 17, 2009 15:00

halloween is different; no birthdays with cake & indoor games; grazing knees & elbows or smashing teeth while learning to cycle (without stupid stabilisers!). carolling choir boys under streetlights at Christmas; sunday school attendance stamps; harvest festivals with fruit, nuts & sheafs of wheat.

all gone....

my local childhood suburban den was a small forest with a stream & field. it is now an extension of a housing estate, thanks to a local religious order. (i trust that they shared their profits prodigiously with the poor.....)

when oil goes through the roof again & we have candles in our sittingrooms we will have to learn to live without internet, email & INDYMEDIA! then the streets may be a re-claimed by the local kids.....

come and play, come and play, forget about the movement

by active person

Fri Apr 17, 2009 13:23

hide and seek, blind mans buff, sherades, tip the can, 'kerbs', squares, skating, football, street hockey, playing with chalk, drawing, inventing stories and imaginary situations, going for adventures in the park... I could go on and on. These are just some of the every day activities my friends and I got up to, as well as all the situations where we got into trouble, the process of life. Now all the kids want to be the best at Halo, in the virtual world.

I would call on all political movements, parties, organisations whatever you want to call them to act and change the way children are amused. Its so easy to sit them down in front of a TV. Organisations should be out there getting kids onto the street, encouraging them and showing them there are better things to life than x-box. Playing games where you are a WINNER or LOSER, and violence is normal. Where boys are violent and macho and girls are frilly and nice. Radical change is needed... Smash the system yes, but help our children too.

Outside paly

by Fergal - none

Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:50

Interesting piece.There was a book published in the 80s which included a list of 500 street /childern's games played on thes islands.I can't for the life of me remember the writer's name.How many would "modern" children know or play these games today?
Along with computer games has come mass ownership of cars and motorways/roads.From a street playing perspective they have destroyed any real sense of freedom or autonomy previously enjoyed by children.Try playing football on a new estate with its 2 million cars and "rat runs"!
Chances are that the forest you played in before is now a housing estate or a road!

Number of comments per page

Upcoming Events

New Events

Other Press

User Preferences

Feeds

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

The Saker

Public Inquiry

Voltaire Network

Children these days Aren't the same

Comments (12 of 12)