I’m not angry, just sad.
A baby human is a blank canvas. Within some genetic limits, you can mold it into the next Einstein or a total leech of a couch potato who does nothing but scroll 24/7 and spends their life as a leech on society.
And so we (American society) wax on extensively about how our kids are the most important thing, but then we systematically fail them at pretty much every available decision point. Usually with good intentions, but fail nonetheless.
TikTok etc are an example. We want to be Very Sure kids aren’t exposed to VIOLENCE or PORNOGRAPHY (god forbid little Timmy see a boob before his 18th bday) so we create things like TikTok and YouTube Kids. And we censor the hell out of them- god forbid little Timmy hear someone discuss death or violence. We feed Timmy a diet of 30 second videos that are ‘Kid Safe!’ And then we have no idea why Timmy grows up with a 45 second attention span and no understanding of the world.
Meanwhile some mother trains her kids to be self-reliant and lets her 12yo walk a quarter mile to school and she gets the cops up her ass for child endangerment.
yeah well, we train our kids to be like ourselves.
and most americans are lazy and entitled tiktok scrollers who HATE anyone who ‘makes them look bad’ so… that’s why they call the cops on the mom that teaches basic life skills.
i have 4 nephews. parents all scream at them to ‘get off the phone/tv’ while the parent is watching TV, and going from laptop/tablet to phone.
yeah well, we train our kids to be like ourselves.
Perhaps by intent, but not by action.
Look at the stereotypical boomer generation. ‘When I was a kid I walked 20 miles to school uphill both ways’ ‘when I was a kid we didn’t have any of this tech we went outside and played ball’.
Then from the same group
‘OMG you can’t let your kid go unsupervised it’s not safe!!!’ ‘You let your kid walk on a public road without an adult? What’s wrong with you?’ ‘We need to make sure every kid knows how to use the Internet we’ll ditch textbooks and give every kid a shitty laptop instead!’ ‘You can’t go in the park without an adult there might be PrEdAtOrS!!!11 stay inside!!!’
So we raise our kids perhaps with the desire they be like us, but while providing a totally different childhood experience. And then we complain that they don’t turn out like us.
lazy and entitled tiktok scrollers who HATE anyone who ‘makes them look bad’ so… that’s why they call the cops on the mom that teaches basic life skills.
Further than that- they never consider that the responsible answer to a problem may simply be to ignore it, that the solution may be worse than the problem, especially when it impacts a kids safety.
So you have a tiny handful of child predators and rather than do the sane thing and say ‘hey kids, here’s what to watch out for, and here’s a panic button push it if you see anything sus’ they say ‘we must do EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO KEEP EVERY KID SAFE!!!11’ and the result is kids aren’t allowed outside because it’s ‘not safe’.
Not that anyone questioned if keeping kids inside was bad for the kid for other reasons…
i have 4 nephews. parents all scream at them to ‘get off the phone/tv’ while the parent is watching TV, and going from laptop/tablet to phone.
That speaks to a larger problem I feel is happening- that parents aren’t parenting their children nearly enough.
When I was a kid my house was full of books of all reading levels, like everything from ‘A is for Apple’ to ‘War and Peace’ or ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. My parents took significant time to read together, and encourage me to read anything I felt like. We watched very little TV, and that was an intentional decision. This was high-effort, high-time-investment parenting and it’s a huge part of why I am who I am today. But they did it by example. Screens weren’t a big part of their lives, and while we had technology there was a deliberate effort to prevent it from consuming our lives.
Now I go out to a restaurant and I see a bunch of people out to dinner- all the kids are on one end of the table with 3 ipads leaning together so everyone can watch something. I’m sure it’s easier than training your kids to carry a conversation or training them to sit quietly while the adults talk, but it’s also training them that there’s no need for self-control and the digital babysitter will alleviate all boredom. And the parents can’t be bothered to stop scrolling themselves.
I know a few people who are in education so I hear from them the result. When a kid acts out the parent is more likely to fight the teacher than reprimand their child. Mondays suck because the kids spend the weekend chock full of junk food and screens. Getting any attention span beyond a few minutes is pulling teeth. And at the 3rd grade level, where I (and much of my class) was reading chapter books, kids are now still sounding out words Kindergarten style.
Plus which- in an effort to ensure kids don’t suffer social stigma, the decision was made that we now no longer hold kids back a grade pretty much ever. So if Timmy can’t handle the 3rd grade material, we just rubber stamp him into 4th grade where he’ll be even farther behind. Repeat this for another 8 years and you have kids who can’t read going into college.
Sad thing is- I can rant all I want, and I suspect you’ll agree with much of it. But it’s damn near impossible to fix it. The populace is divided over do we want the red asshole or the blue asshole in charge, and while the blue asshole might be a bit better on education there’s nothing like the real radical reform we need.
your mistake is you assume human beings aren’t slightly smarter parrots with opposable thumbs.
if you assume this, you’ll be much happier and less angry at how stupid people are.
hahaha
I’m not angry, just sad.
A baby human is a blank canvas. Within some genetic limits, you can mold it into the next Einstein or a total leech of a couch potato who does nothing but scroll 24/7 and spends their life as a leech on society.
And so we (American society) wax on extensively about how our kids are the most important thing, but then we systematically fail them at pretty much every available decision point. Usually with good intentions, but fail nonetheless.
TikTok etc are an example. We want to be Very Sure kids aren’t exposed to VIOLENCE or PORNOGRAPHY (god forbid little Timmy see a boob before his 18th bday) so we create things like TikTok and YouTube Kids. And we censor the hell out of them- god forbid little Timmy hear someone discuss death or violence. We feed Timmy a diet of 30 second videos that are ‘Kid Safe!’ And then we have no idea why Timmy grows up with a 45 second attention span and no understanding of the world.
Meanwhile some mother trains her kids to be self-reliant and lets her 12yo walk a quarter mile to school and she gets the cops up her ass for child endangerment.
yeah well, we train our kids to be like ourselves.
and most americans are lazy and entitled tiktok scrollers who HATE anyone who ‘makes them look bad’ so… that’s why they call the cops on the mom that teaches basic life skills.
i have 4 nephews. parents all scream at them to ‘get off the phone/tv’ while the parent is watching TV, and going from laptop/tablet to phone.
Perhaps by intent, but not by action.
Look at the stereotypical boomer generation. ‘When I was a kid I walked 20 miles to school uphill both ways’ ‘when I was a kid we didn’t have any of this tech we went outside and played ball’.
Then from the same group
‘OMG you can’t let your kid go unsupervised it’s not safe!!!’ ‘You let your kid walk on a public road without an adult? What’s wrong with you?’ ‘We need to make sure every kid knows how to use the Internet we’ll ditch textbooks and give every kid a shitty laptop instead!’ ‘You can’t go in the park without an adult there might be PrEdAtOrS!!!11 stay inside!!!’
So we raise our kids perhaps with the desire they be like us, but while providing a totally different childhood experience. And then we complain that they don’t turn out like us.
Further than that- they never consider that the responsible answer to a problem may simply be to ignore it, that the solution may be worse than the problem, especially when it impacts a kids safety.
So you have a tiny handful of child predators and rather than do the sane thing and say ‘hey kids, here’s what to watch out for, and here’s a panic button push it if you see anything sus’ they say ‘we must do EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO KEEP EVERY KID SAFE!!!11’ and the result is kids aren’t allowed outside because it’s ‘not safe’.
Not that anyone questioned if keeping kids inside was bad for the kid for other reasons…
That speaks to a larger problem I feel is happening- that parents aren’t parenting their children nearly enough.
When I was a kid my house was full of books of all reading levels, like everything from ‘A is for Apple’ to ‘War and Peace’ or ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. My parents took significant time to read together, and encourage me to read anything I felt like. We watched very little TV, and that was an intentional decision. This was high-effort, high-time-investment parenting and it’s a huge part of why I am who I am today. But they did it by example. Screens weren’t a big part of their lives, and while we had technology there was a deliberate effort to prevent it from consuming our lives.
Now I go out to a restaurant and I see a bunch of people out to dinner- all the kids are on one end of the table with 3 ipads leaning together so everyone can watch something. I’m sure it’s easier than training your kids to carry a conversation or training them to sit quietly while the adults talk, but it’s also training them that there’s no need for self-control and the digital babysitter will alleviate all boredom. And the parents can’t be bothered to stop scrolling themselves.
I know a few people who are in education so I hear from them the result. When a kid acts out the parent is more likely to fight the teacher than reprimand their child. Mondays suck because the kids spend the weekend chock full of junk food and screens. Getting any attention span beyond a few minutes is pulling teeth. And at the 3rd grade level, where I (and much of my class) was reading chapter books, kids are now still sounding out words Kindergarten style.
Plus which- in an effort to ensure kids don’t suffer social stigma, the decision was made that we now no longer hold kids back a grade pretty much ever. So if Timmy can’t handle the 3rd grade material, we just rubber stamp him into 4th grade where he’ll be even farther behind. Repeat this for another 8 years and you have kids who can’t read going into college.
Sad thing is- I can rant all I want, and I suspect you’ll agree with much of it. But it’s damn near impossible to fix it. The populace is divided over do we want the red asshole or the blue asshole in charge, and while the blue asshole might be a bit better on education there’s nothing like the real radical reform we need.