Last night I looked at photos of children playing in a jumping jack at my granddaughters 1st birthday party. They were all smiling and laughing, having the times of their lives. In other words, they were doing what kids are supposed to do, enjoying being kids without adult interference.
In my youth this was common place, as we would go outside and play all day. We learned how to play baseball, football and basketball, and those that were good enough went on to play in high school and college.
We had fun as we played at our own pace and enjoyed every minute of it, no one telling us when and where to play. Younger kids learned the games from older and more experienced ones. Trial and error and the joy of learning to run, catch and throw at a leisurely pace. You didn't mind sitting on the side lines watching, as you knew your time would eventually come as you got older and better.
This joy was taken away by modern day parents, who wanted to take away this natural process that had been going on for ages. The old uniform of shirts and skins was soon replaced by modern major league looking uniforms. Vacant lot fields, with card board bases were replaced with major league looking, manicured fields. A tattered glove, a bat held together with nails and tape and a ball wound up with electrical tape were prized possesions. Now new equipment has to be purchased every year.
Now we have four and five year olds who can't run, throw, catch or field, being yelled at by adults, and the kids have no clue as to why they are yelling. Heaven forbid one of them swings the bat and the ball hits it, or as he stands their, with the glove up, and a miracle occurs as the ball lands in the glove, and stays there. This unlucky kid just kissed away his childhood, as the parents begin to search for special instructors and training camps, for this future major leaguer.
It's not only baseball, as kids spend their most enjoyable years in a car going from one practice or game to another, treated as robots and not kids.
Don't abuse your kids by taking away this precious time when they get to dream and pretend and to play all those silly games. To soon they will be teenagers and they can make these decisions on their own.
I know what your thinking, it's an old fool who is ranting and raving and showing his age and doesn't understand how things are today. Just do me one favor, look at the children's faces as they practice or play. You won't see them laughing or smiling and enjoying themselves. The only time you will see that is when the game is over and they are getting those treats for playing and amusing the adults.
Do yourself and your children a big favor. Go outside and meet your neighbors and talk to them, let the kids meet and play their games and enjoy the laughter that will soon fill the air as the kids run around and do things kids were always meant to do.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Nice essay on kids playing sports.
So true.
Parent's living vicariously through their children.
My parent's didn't do that. In fact, they really have no idea what my childhood was like...except that I was always gone somewhere. I was exploring, collecting pop bottles so I could buy a hatchet or ice cream, figuring how to get on the back of the neighbors horse...or cow...it didn't matter., ordering greeting cards or seeds to sell from the back of Boys Life magazine, having a lemonaide stand or making the rounds selling my mom's donuts in brown paper bags. Delivering newspapers in the winter on a bike...that's a trick. Trying to get one of two preachers daughters to fall in love with me,...either one would have been great. Trying to figure out how to get the trout in the watercress filled spring to pay attention to my bait, making a fort by hollowing out the neighbors haystack...oops. Big mistake. I knew where the fruit trees were and knew I'd be competing with the birds if I misjudged the ripeness by one day. They always pecked the top of the cherries. I knew where every worthwhile resource for fun or food was...within miles of my house.
Yeah Pelmo, today, kids are so much more one dimensional than they used to be. Less balanced.
But, I notice they still have the potential to "spark" if given the opportunity to do something completely free and unregulated. I think that is their natural state.
Xman you are way better then me at putting thoughts into words.We do have to let kids go and let them experience the things we did as kids.
We take away the real joys of life and replace them with plastic imitations.
They bowl in front of a TV set, instead of a real bowling alley. Same with tennis or baseball.
The potentiol is there, and if we just allow them a few minutes of free time by themselves, they do return to that natural state of smiling and laughing.
Hey Pelmo,
I don't know if I'm any better at putting words together...maybe just different. I always enjoy someone else's take on the same subject...from a different angle. I identify with your appreciations for simple, human life.
A younger 1/2 brother and his two boys around 8 or so just came down for a few days and I really enjoyed watching them react and interact with the Baja Mexico world. One quiet as a professor, but sponging it all in...the other almost hysterical (in a positive way) in his reactions to everything new. It was interesting to see them become friends with the mexican kids almost immediately....just as if they were kids in their own neighborhood. Going through the street market was a trip. It was like I had let a couple squirrels out of their cage. They were everywhere....exploring all the new and unusual.
Later,
T.
You hit it right on the head. On our farm in Central Illinois we have a Fall Frolic, where many young children show up with their parents.
A lot of them are strangers to one another, but within a few minutes they are all running around laughing and having fun.
They don't come up asking for things to do, they just invent their own games. Like you said, a bunch of squirrels, letting their minds absorb the new found freedom.
Post a Comment