The topic: today's youth.
Two days ago, my young cousin E called to wish me a happy birthday. I politely thanked her, wished her a Merry Christmas and asked what Santa had left under the Christmas tree. E delightfully announced that Santa had left a "big flat screen TV". I was genuine when I replied with a "wow!" as she rambled off the other things she had received, among them some Juicy Couture bikini underwear that display the days of the week with a shiny "girl" across the butt.
Let me preface the rest of this by saying that my cousin is a bit spoiled. Her closet is filled with Juicy shirts and pants, Ugg boots and the purses she refers to as "brown" and "blue" are Louis Vuitton and Dooney and Bourke respectively. Her pink iPod nano is engraved with "Happy 5th Birthday E" and unbenonst to her, a "Happy 7th Birthday" iPod touch will be given to her tomorrow--complete with wi-fi and facetime capabilities.
When I was 7, I was delighted by Barbies and dolls, books galore and watching Arthur on television every so often. My plastic roller skates entertained my sister and I for hours as did rearranging the doll house and having sleepovers on the hardwood floors in our small red tent. We occupied ourselves by wearing bathing suits in the winter and dancing around the house--complete with twirling umbrellas and slipper ballet shoes.
Where has the youth of todays youth gone?
Today's children are mini-adults that are missing out on the exquivit-ness of childhood. Childhood is about learning and playing, trying and growing, being innocent, carefree and having fun. Now, children are too worried about how they look, what clothes they have on and whether or not they are getting the electronic device all their friends have.
A few months ago, my friends 9 year old sister received a cell phone and laptop for her birthday. While I can understand the cellphone as a safety device, she has texting enabled and a contact list a mile long. Why and WHO is a 9 year old texting? Her laptop has a built in webcam and her father downloaded Skype to the desktop so she can chat. Again, why and who is she webchatting with anyone? Giving her these devices will get her in trouble and enable problems.
When I am married and older, I want to have my own children. In (hopefully) around 5/6 years (oh my gosh--how soon does that sound??) I will start my family and bring children into the world in a time where technology has advanced to a point that no one believed was reachable. As they do, shows will change, toys will change and life will change and I wonder bout how I will bring my children up maintaining their innocence and carefree nature. I want my children to delight in the simple life where reading is the best thing in the world and digging a four foot hole in the backyard is okay because its a learning experience. I want my children to play all day and not spend hours upon hours straining their eyes with video games, computers and phones. I want them to experience the small things like chalk on a sidewalk and knowing the words to showtunes and the plays they come from like my mother taught me.
Everything now is older, older, older. Everyone wants to grow up quickly and be adult and have everything. I remember the time where I couldn't wait to grow up and now, I am 20 and the years keep going by quicker and quicker and they will only speed up from here.
Its easy for me to remember when Teen Nick was definitely just for teens and shows with bong-hitting Miley Cyrus didn't promote themselves to 3-8 year olds. When video games and computers were for the big kids and pogo sticking and jumping rope was cool. Now, these things are trivial to the youth of today and hopefully, there are children out there experiencing a childhood where adult life isn't pressing upon them and hopefully, life might slow down again to the point where kids are kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment