If
it was
up to
me,
which it
isn’t,
I’d
declare
that all
kids get
to be
kids
until
they get
to a
certain
age.
That
means
they get
to play
outside,
run
around
the
house
barefooted
and act
like
children
should
act.
I am
somewhat
distressed
by an
article
I read
last
week
which
states
that
more and
more
children
are
having
to
attend
therapy
sessions
in order
to learn
how to
deal
with the
excessive
homework
they are
bringing
home
these
days.
Some of
the
parents
complained
that
their
eighth
and
ninth
grade
children
were
spending
four to
seven
hours a
night
for six
to seven
days out
of the
week on
homework.
Folks,
that’s
ridiculous.
What
happened
to kids
being
allowed
to play
and
enjoy
the
experience
of just
being a
kid?
I might
have
mentioned
it, but
here it
is
again,
last
year I
was
talking
to a
family
member
who kept
giving
her five
year old
daughter
allergy
pills
every
few
hours or
so. I
asked
her if
her
daughter
was ever
allowed
to go
outside
and just
play.
She
looked
at me as
if I
were an
idiot
and
said…
“You
mean
outside?”
I just
nodded
and
said…
“Yes,
that’s
what I
meant.
Outside,
like in
the
yard, in
the
street…outside
the
house.”
She
quickly
advised
me that
there
was not
any way
she
would
allow
her
daughter
to
venture
out into
the
backyard,
just too
many
things
out
there
that are
dangerous.
Now, you
would
think
these
people
lived in
some
large
populated
crime
drug and
crime
infested
area of
the
country,
but
nope,
they
live in
a rural
area
that
doesn’t
have a
lot of
bad
things
going
on. I
went on
to
explain
to her
that I
think
one of
the
prime
reasons
for kids
getting
so many
allergies
and
other
stuff is
that
parents
don’t
allow
them to
get out
in the
yard and
play.
When was
the last
time
your kid
had a
scab?
When I
was a
kid, we
played.
After
school,
on
Saturdays
during
the
summer,
whenever
there
was any
spare
time. We
got
dirty,
we went
barefoot,
we got
cuts,
bruises
and
scrapes
then we
went
home,
washed
them off
and
stuck
something
called
monkey-blood
on them
to get
them to
heal up.
The most
danger
kids
today
can get
is a
sore
thumb
from
playing
too many
video
games
and a
fat rear
end
after
only a
few
years.
Isn’t it
a shame
that we
can’t
just let
kids act
like
kids
while
they’re
young?
Teachers
tell me
that
they are
under
pressure
to
‘teach
to the
test’ so
their
students
will
pass
certain
required
levels.
As a
result
there
doesn’t
seem to
be any
time
left for
play
time, or
family
time,
just
study
and more
homework.
When was
the last
time you
actually
sat down
at a
dinner
table at
night
with
your
kids and
ate a
meal?
Not a
holiday
meal,
just a
average
old
weekday
dinner?
If we
don’t
talk to
our kids
at the
dinner
table,
when do
you talk
to them?
At
soccer?
At
gymnastics?
At piano
practice?
At judo
or
karate?
Lots of
luck.
We are
on a
treadmill
leading
to
destruction.
By the
time
these
kids
grow up,
they
will
have
forgotten
what it
meant to
have
someone
inquire
about
their
day or
express
concern
over
some
aspect
of their
lives.
They are
so
focused
on
success
that
they
grow old
before
their
time and
before
our
eyes.
They are
not
being
allowed
to be
children.
It’s as
if we
are fast
forwarding
them
from
babies
to
adults
and
skipping
the part
that
allows
the
child to
enjoy
life in
the
sense
that
only a
child
can do
at their
age.
As
adults
we know
the
feeling
that
comes
over us
when we
look
back
over the
good
times in
our
lives.
We
remember
when we
played
baseball
with our
friends
or rode
our
bicycles
in the
neighborhood.
I can
look
back and
remember
friends
and our
conversations
from
many
decades
ago,
they
were a
large
part of
my life.
I think
our kids
today
are
missing
our on
those
wonderful,
but
short
years.
I don’t
have a
clue as
to how
we stop
this
vicious
cycle,
but I do
know one
thing.
Kids who
aren’t
allowed
to be
kids
grow up
to be
frustrated
adults.
Frustrated
and
angry…not
a good
combination.
