Much has happened over the past couple of decades to help sabotage our children’s outdoor play and physical activities. Not the least of the culprits are video games, computers and so many of the highly technological gadgets that kids seem to automatically know how to operate without apparent benefit of being taught. In addition to these, there are DVDs and VCR cassettes to provide hour upon hour of visual entertainment requiring no physical activity save pushing a few buttons.
For a long time, I’ve attributed the noticeable absence of children playing in parks, on the sidewalks and outdoors in general to the above-mentioned existence of "electronic joy". However, there’s more responsible for this absence than that. We live in a time when close, constant supervision of our children is necessary to ensure their safety. I’m not referring to very small children who should always be under the watchful eye of a responsible adult. I’m thinking more of those in the eight to twelve years of age category.
Until I was a few months past my eleventh birthday, I lived in a small town. At an early age, I was taught the usual cautionary warnings: don’t talk to strangers, don’t accept candy from strangers, don’t accept a ride from someone you don’t know even if they say they know you or someone in your family, etc. Those warnings (or reminders of) being said, I was free to go off on my own without supervision by the time I was eight years old. I visited by "old lady" friends, I played out in the woods behind our house, I walked up the road to play at my best friend’s house. I always told my mother where I was going but I didn’t have a cell phone, access to text messaging or a camera phone to show a picture of exactly where I was to contact her immediately if my plans took a slight deviation. My mother knew I would phone her from a friend’s house if I wanted to do something different or go somewhere else other than where I originally told her. When I moved to our new home, I was allowed to roam the countryside surrounding our house or take a walk to the next town which was not terribly far but walking along rural, out of the way roads was necessary to get there. Sometimes I walked there myself, other times with a friend. I felt perfectly safe.
It never occurred to either my mother or me that at any time someone might swoop down upon me and steal me away, torture or sexually violate me, kill me or God Forbid! all of these horrors. When I was out and about, I had the good sense to stay away from places I knew I had no business being. When I think back to the places I went and where I played with my friends sometimes, even they were ripe for opportunity for would- be assailants.
One of the events I looked forward to every year was an annual book sale/carnival held at a school in a neighboring town. While my parents were lost in the joy of perusing the stacks of used books for sale inside the school, I was given free reign to enjoy the carnival rides, booths and food with a small amount of pocket money to my heart’s content. It was a fledgling’s flight of freedom and I loved it. When my daughter was eight or so, I allowed her to go off with her friends to an annual little agricultural fair we have here at the end of May. It was a chance for her to enjoy a couple of hours of sweet freedom from the ever watchful eyes of her parents. This was only less than 20 years ago but times have changed so that I probably wouldn’t grant this freedom today.
When my children were very young, I allowed them to play in the front yard, giving them the illusion of a taste of freedom. I stayed inside but always near the window to watch from a little distance. I don’t think I’d even do this today if I had small children. No sir, I’d be right out there with them in plain view the whole time. This is very sad because I think it’s important for children to stretch their boundaries even just a little.
Were these abductions, unimaginable acts of violence and, often, murder always going on around us? Were we merely oblivious to them because we didn’t have an internet, a web or 24-hour, world-wide, in-our-living room, in-our-faces news coverage providing constant updates of these heinous crimes? I’m not foolish enough to think that any generation has been free from these horrible tragedies but I’m pretty sure they are happening more frequently these days. Why?
It’s a crime that we have to keep our children inside, under constant surveillance. It’s a crime we have to live in constant fear of our children being swept away by some malevolent stranger whose intentions are far from honorable. I don’t know what the answer to this problem is but harsher sentencing and a carrying out of this sentence is necessary for those who are caught and convicted and I don’t mean sitting on "death row" year after year!
What do you think?
2 comments:
As a mother ( and step) to two five year olds, I must say that I try not to rely on "plugging them in" too much. We do not have conventional "tv" but we have a library of tapes and dvd's for them. I do limit how much they may watch, so it is not hours on end. The kids are alowed to play in the front porch with it enclosed, only because they are in full view. The idea of them playing on the street as I did terrifies me. It is a different time now, than 20 years ago. I have found though, that there are a great deal of "kid" friendly places that they enjoy to play, and be and that is good. There are several indoor structures and play areas for children when the rain has put them inside. Imagination is not dead in kids...my daughter makes elaberate games with her Barbies and ponies, and animals. However, the freedom is dead. Will I let my daughter go to our town canival alone at 8, no with a buddy at 10, no perhaps at 12, and this is sad as I live three blocks form the site. It is unfair that so many "bad" people do bad things to good children.
I tend to think that the nuts have always been out there... In this world of sensationalism and instantaneous news, we just hear about them more often, because it's what gets folks to tune into the newscasts. Which is not to say we shouldn't be watchful of our children. But I think at some point you have to give them that little bit of freedom and just trust that they'll be okay. Lisa :-] http://journals.aol.com/mlraminiak/ComingtotermswithMiddleAge/
Post a Comment