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Reading this made me sad, but for a different reason than I'd anticipated when I first started reading. The trigger for me was the realization that our children
by AndrewUnmuted 11y ago
Reading this made me sad, but for a different reason than I'd anticipated when I first started reading. The trigger for me was the realization that our children are not having the conversations that they ought to be having.
Talking with/to children is important for their mental development, or so I have been told. I am no expert on this matter, but this is what I have come to understand. It's rooted on the understanding that social expertise is developed by means of continual practice; if kids do not play/socialize/work together at a young age, they risk not sufficiently developing this skill as they grow.
If we are seeing anti-social behavior from children these days it would seem that trends in contemporary society have caused a decline in the opportunities kids have for conversing with others. The lacking development of our auditory sensory skills means a lacking development in the other sensory categories - speaking and hearing are the categories we master first as humans.
I don't believe the cause of this is limited to the apparent advances in the stupidity of early childhood educators, as it is likely that the on-demand exposure to engaging media content at younger ages and other related trends are also to blame. After all, if a kid is staring at a screen, they are not developing their social functions, either.
In general, I believe this damage can be sourced back to the general trends of the modern household, which has both parents working full-time just to get by economically. The humans with which the child is most willing to converse are not available and instead the child is left in a scenario that more resembles Lord of the Flies.
This is all why I, personally, do not plan to bring children into this world until I can afford the time to raise them with the love and attention they deserve. So that the availability of finances has no bearing on their future. I owe any being I bring into this earth at least that courtesy.
- fr0styMatt2 11y agoI've always found a strange dichotomy in this. On the one hand, we're supposed be these extremely socially-driven creatures. Yet on the other hand, it seems like we very easily gravitate towards isolation. The gravitation towards on-demand media and 'looking at the screen' has to be appealing, more appealing en-masse than socializing, otherwise why would we collectively gravitate towards it as a large group? I think what I'm saying is that I think people gravitating towards TV and solitary activities is the symptom, not the cause. The real question is - what's making people more anxious about being social? Is this really a rise in social anxiety, causing a rise in people being isolated?
- gohrt 11y agowatching TV, and playing video games, does feel social! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus
- danharaj 11y agoWhat if we raised our children as a society instead of turning it into an adversarial sector of the economy that is dictated by the interests of politicians, military leaders, factory owners, and every other adult who sees power to be apprehended and utilized when they see a child? I share your compassion for your children, for all children really.
- pyre 11y ago> What if we raised our children as a society This presumes that we could come to any sort of group consensus "as a society" on how to raise our children.
- anigbrowl 11y agoWell, quite a few European countries have taken the approach of building an environment that somewhat devalues personal gain (through higher taxes) but drastically reduces fiscal insecurity (through free education, healthcare, extended parental leave etc.) in order to make it relatively easy to raise a family.
- eru 11y agoTheir birth rates are generally lower than US birth rates.
- kiiski 11y agoAccording to this[1], that seems to be true for Germany, but the other rich European countries (western and northern) are pretty close to the USA. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_birth_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_birth_rat...
- eru 11y agoThanks for looking it up!
- 11y ago
- smtddr 11y ago>>This is all why I, personally, do not plan to bring children into this world until I can afford the time to raise them with the love and attention they deserve. So that the availability of finances has no bearing on their future. I owe any being I bring into this earth at least that courtesy. Just be careful you don't end up like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL1-340ODCM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL1-340ODCM As someone with 2 kids, while there are definitely clear "Wrong Times" there is no time that completely feels like "The Right Time", there's always a "More savings", "Just one more promotion", "That one vacation I didn't take", etc.
- TheGunner 11y agoI second this, there's no right time and having children will be a pretty big shock to the system no matter how much you prepare yourself mentally or financially. I must say though if you could take day care out of the equation. Kids really don't cost that much in themselves unless you want to have the newest fanciest everything and designer clothes ha. If you want children don't put it off for the perfect time, there won't be one