sj_zero on Nostr: This summer I came to a different conclusion. I've made a habit of going to going out ...
This summer I came to a different conclusion.
I've made a habit of going to going out with my son.
The first year he was alive it was too hot that summer. We read a lot instead, and there aren't many toddlers on the planet who have been read as many words as mine.
The second year, we went for walks in his stroller but he wasn't really mobile enough to go to a park for real, so we'd stop and swing on a swing now and again but not much else, and the focus was walking.
This year is the third year, and we've gone to the park from early spring until late fall. I got into the rhythm of going friday after work, twice or three times on Saturday, twice or three times on Sunday, and at least once on Monday. (Always once in the morning and once in the evening, and some days before supper and after supper)
I did this because I'm nuts and really think it's important to be getting outside like that and reading a ton and doing all these things, but I don't think everyone should hold themselves to the same standards I keep. However, one thing I eventually realized is that we basically had the park to ourselves. It wasn't just one park we went to, either. We went to several, and we almost always had them to ourselves.
We went on walking paths, had them to ourselves. We went to beaches, had them to ourselves.
I've called this phemonenon "living in ghost world". Walking around an empty world with no people, no parents, not even any kids.
I think people end up making the wrong arguments. I heard some people saying "Oh, parents don't have the money to do stuff with their kids", but I didn't spend a penny going to the park, walking on the walking trail, going to the beach (It wasn't anything fancy, just a rocky outcropping next to a creek you could sit on). These things were free, but nobody else was there. Sure, perhaps parents are working a lot, but I don't think most households have both parents working straight 12 or 16 hour days, there are such things as days off. You'd expect at least some parents would be able to spend an hour at the park.
I think it's devices.
I think after a long day's work, the parents sit on their phones, the kids sit on their tablets, and they just sit there consuming content. It's one of the few models that makes any sense to me. Even for parents who don't work (It isn't like welfare went away), why go outside when you can just slap a tablet in their hands and keep them quiet?
But the fact is, we are seeing the negative consequences of doing what everyone does. Parents have already built themselves up to whatever extent they will, but kids have not and if they don't get a chance to experience the world they'll head out not realizing there's an amazing creation just outside their door. If they aren't read to early, they won't have a chance to realize they have a grand cultural inheritance. If they aren't being taught letters and numbers early, then they'll lose the chance for their minds to wire themselves to these unintuitive concepts early. If they don't have morality taught to them early, they'll fall prey to the problems of liberal ideology (intended to apply to a state) becoming a totalizing ideology and the harm that causes.
I've made a habit of going to going out with my son.
The first year he was alive it was too hot that summer. We read a lot instead, and there aren't many toddlers on the planet who have been read as many words as mine.
The second year, we went for walks in his stroller but he wasn't really mobile enough to go to a park for real, so we'd stop and swing on a swing now and again but not much else, and the focus was walking.
This year is the third year, and we've gone to the park from early spring until late fall. I got into the rhythm of going friday after work, twice or three times on Saturday, twice or three times on Sunday, and at least once on Monday. (Always once in the morning and once in the evening, and some days before supper and after supper)
I did this because I'm nuts and really think it's important to be getting outside like that and reading a ton and doing all these things, but I don't think everyone should hold themselves to the same standards I keep. However, one thing I eventually realized is that we basically had the park to ourselves. It wasn't just one park we went to, either. We went to several, and we almost always had them to ourselves.
We went on walking paths, had them to ourselves. We went to beaches, had them to ourselves.
I've called this phemonenon "living in ghost world". Walking around an empty world with no people, no parents, not even any kids.
I think people end up making the wrong arguments. I heard some people saying "Oh, parents don't have the money to do stuff with their kids", but I didn't spend a penny going to the park, walking on the walking trail, going to the beach (It wasn't anything fancy, just a rocky outcropping next to a creek you could sit on). These things were free, but nobody else was there. Sure, perhaps parents are working a lot, but I don't think most households have both parents working straight 12 or 16 hour days, there are such things as days off. You'd expect at least some parents would be able to spend an hour at the park.
I think it's devices.
I think after a long day's work, the parents sit on their phones, the kids sit on their tablets, and they just sit there consuming content. It's one of the few models that makes any sense to me. Even for parents who don't work (It isn't like welfare went away), why go outside when you can just slap a tablet in their hands and keep them quiet?
But the fact is, we are seeing the negative consequences of doing what everyone does. Parents have already built themselves up to whatever extent they will, but kids have not and if they don't get a chance to experience the world they'll head out not realizing there's an amazing creation just outside their door. If they aren't read to early, they won't have a chance to realize they have a grand cultural inheritance. If they aren't being taught letters and numbers early, then they'll lose the chance for their minds to wire themselves to these unintuitive concepts early. If they don't have morality taught to them early, they'll fall prey to the problems of liberal ideology (intended to apply to a state) becoming a totalizing ideology and the harm that causes.