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Huh... I am the opposite. I want my kids exposed to the brutal realities of the world asap. I reflect that my innocence caused me to make some extreme major m

Huh... I am the opposite. I want my kids exposed to the brutal realities of the world asap. I reflect that my innocence caused me to make some extreme major mistakes as a young adult that took a decade to show itself. I cannot go back, and now I am suffering terribly. I blame my parents at least a little bit, but I blame western idealism more majorly.

hrimfaxi 7mo ago
I am intrigued by this. I have long thought that exposing children to optimism and "what could be" allows them to envision a world different from our own. Kind of like how once you're in capitalism it's hard to think of alternatives.
- hackinthebochs 7mo ago
  I've always found it strange how Americans like to validate their ideals using their kids as vehicles. Instead of teaching kids how to be successful in a less than ideal world, we teach them our ideal view of the world. Like teaching kids violence is never the answer, instead of sometimes a situation does call for violence. We raise kids for a world that doesn't exist. It's up to the kid/adult to unlearn those obviously bogus ideals after they make contact with the world. It's just odd how we're so practiced at setting up our children for less success in the real world.
  - hrimfaxi 7mo ago
    How did you arrive at this being uniquely American? I would say it's Western society more generally.
    - hackinthebochs 7mo ago
      I mainly said America because I only feel qualified to speak on America. But I do think there is something uniquely American about seeing the march of "progress" as an ultimate ideal and stagnation in any form as a defeat. Economic and social progress is basically a founding ideal of American society and is a major driver of our success over the centuries. It permeates our culture in so many ways, e.g. the idea that your kids should have it better than you. So shaping the next generation by way of shaping the views of your kids, despite the potential mismatch between the ideal and the reality is seen as just a part of the march of progress.
- DangitBobby 7mo ago
  I think we do a little too much of this and end up hiding the way the world really is from kids who grow up middle class. So their politics and ethics suffer. The kids could arguably be better adjusted when naive but we aren't doing ourselves any favors in the long term.
randusername 7mo ago
Aren't you worried about overcorrection? If my old man slapped me on the back at 13, called me a man, and made me scroll through the morbid reality subreddit and do a book report on the Nanjing Massacre or My Lai I think that would be really damaging. I think the stories we tell our children about the world, naive as they can be sometimes, tell us a lot about what we value in our societies and the ways in which we hope future generations will surpass us in overcoming our own failings. Everyone has to learn later that the truth is messy, yet the existence of brutality doesn't disqualify idealism and goodness. I don't mean to imply that I'm denying your experience, but for most people, I hope, cynicism is temporary response to the disillusionment of the complexity of the world and not a persistent worldview.

hrimfaxi 7mo ago

I am intrigued by this. I have long thought that exposing children to optimism and "what could be" allows them to envision a world different from our own. Kind of like how once you're in capitalism it's hard to think of alternatives.

hackinthebochs 7mo ago
I've always found it strange how Americans like to validate their ideals using their kids as vehicles. Instead of teaching kids how to be successful in a less than ideal world, we teach them our ideal view of the world. Like teaching kids violence is never the answer, instead of sometimes a situation does call for violence. We raise kids for a world that doesn't exist. It's up to the kid/adult to unlearn those obviously bogus ideals after they make contact with the world. It's just odd how we're so practiced at setting up our children for less success in the real world.
- hrimfaxi 7mo ago
  How did you arrive at this being uniquely American? I would say it's Western society more generally.
  - hackinthebochs 7mo ago
    I mainly said America because I only feel qualified to speak on America. But I do think there is something uniquely American about seeing the march of "progress" as an ultimate ideal and stagnation in any form as a defeat. Economic and social progress is basically a founding ideal of American society and is a major driver of our success over the centuries. It permeates our culture in so many ways, e.g. the idea that your kids should have it better than you. So shaping the next generation by way of shaping the views of your kids, despite the potential mismatch between the ideal and the reality is seen as just a part of the march of progress.
DangitBobby 7mo ago
I think we do a little too much of this and end up hiding the way the world really is from kids who grow up middle class. So their politics and ethics suffer. The kids could arguably be better adjusted when naive but we aren't doing ourselves any favors in the long term.

randusername 7mo ago

Aren't you worried about overcorrection? If my old man slapped me on the back at 13, called me a man, and made me scroll through the morbid reality subreddit and do a book report on the Nanjing Massacre or My Lai I think that would be really damaging. I think the stories we tell our children about the world, naive as they can be sometimes, tell us a lot about what we value in our societies and the ways in which we hope future generations will surpass us in overcoming our own failings. Everyone has to learn later that the truth is messy, yet the existence of brutality doesn't disqualify idealism and goodness. I don't mean to imply that I'm denying your experience, but for most people, I hope, cynicism is temporary response to the disillusionment of the complexity of the world and not a persistent worldview.