While Bryant was in PA he picked up a few Calvin and Hobbes comic books. Naturally I have been reading them periodically since he got home, and it made me realize how much I love those books. Bryant and I used to read them all the time when we were younger. We'd start acting like Calvin and Mom would ban us from reading them. But then she's always either forget that she had banned us or took pity on us, because we'd get right back to reading them. The things that Calvin comes up with are priceless, and it made me think some about my childhood. That and the Andy Griffith episodes Bryant and I watched today reminded me that I had a pretty darn good childhood.
I saw on the American Girl Doll site that you can now create a virtual doll and play with her online. I was outraged. That defeats the purpose of having a doll! The company also discontinued the two dolls that I own... a further outrage. Whatever happened to kids using their imagination? Sometimes I look at all the crap that is invented for kids nowadays and I'm convinced we're trying to ruin the younger generation. We give them no room to create world of their own, to make swords out of sticks and pies out of mud. There's no room for kids to be kids now. Parents don't want to put up with their children so they stick them in front of a TV. Sure there are some exceptions to these parents, but I still am losing faith.
My brother and I were a little older when we started reading Calvin and Hobbes, obviously we wouldn't have been able to understand it when we were much younger. I guess Calvin and his tiger friend were staples of my 'middle school years' and maybe don't fit into what I'm ranting about. The Andy Griffith show was just a staple of my family, a TV show I grew up watching with my parents. But that was usually only an episode a day. The times I remember most growing up were spent out of doors. There's a picture on Facebook of Bryant and me taken when the family was camping. Both of us are dirty, a little sweaty, but so happy our smiles probably made our faces hurt. We were children and were allowed to act like children. Shouldn't that be the way the world works?
To be fair, I know kids at my church who have just as good of a time being children as I did, but the society today scares me. Kids are being given alternatives to playing outside and using their imagination. Computer games, video games, hand-held games, and portable DVD players are now provided readily to children. And then when they reach fifth grade their being given cell phones and immediately learn to text. What a convenient way to teach our children how to not pay attention to the world around them or communicate effectively with other humans. What gets me is when I see families go out to eat and spend the whole time texting. Or the parents who bring portable DVD players to entertain the children. Great parenting skills. I weep for those children.
Maybe I'm being pessimistic. Maybe there are more children who are given the freedom to enjoy their childhood, and maybe there is more communication going on with live people than I think. It just seems that every time I look around I'm seeing more and more disturbing inventions.
Childhood for me was exploring the woods behind Anna Beth's house, building forts, playing pioneer, jumping around in the sprinkler, playing man-hunt at church, playing with my real doll, and talking to my parents around the dinner table. Is this concept of childhood in danger? Will fewer and fewer children enjoy the wonders of nature and imagination? Or is there hope in mankind after all. I guess as long as we don't let technology rule our lives we'll be just fine. Still, it's something that worries me.
With that cheerful update, I shall go. Sorry to be depressing, I was just thinking about it today. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a few cheerful thoughts to blog about. And I can tell you about my crazy adventures. Oh wait.... that's my imagination talking. Guess my childhood was a little too effective.
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