My gorgeous sister lessa has a lovely post on her site today, about innocence
(http://lessa.web-log.nl/lessa/2007/01/dolls.html)
One of the things that came to mind this afternoon when I was thinking about that post, was the fact that generally speaking children can't retain their innocence for as long as they used to. I know this is something that a friend and I had long debates about, but I truly feel this to be the case, and I witnessed a lot of examples of this over Christmas.
At school plays now, the headteacher has to ask everyones permission to allow parents to film the show, or to take photos. There have been quite a few incidents of school play footage turning up on less than salubrious sites, the camera homing in on little bodies.
My younger daughter turned to me at the end of her play and told me that the man in the front row had made her and her best friend really uncomfortable, as he'd been taking photos of them most of the time. I told her he was probably taking photos of his child in the show, but she was well aware - and explained to me - why some people take shots at occasions like this. I can't tell you, I truly can't, how sick you feel when your eight year baby explains to you about paedophiles.
If my older daughter goes out with friends, or shopping, I make sure she has her mobile on her ( and actually charged!) and every hour, she 'prank calls' me. Not actually calling to speak, but letting the phone ring once so I know its her. This way she doesn't lose streed cred through having to call her mum!
We have to teach our children about drugs, which are now as freely available in schools as cigarettes used to be. Kids don't have the freedom to play outside as much now, and the majority of children play computer games non stop at home, frequently using titles which kill, maim and destroy people/places. I can't allow my girls to go and ride their bikes in the fields nearby - I can't take that risk.
I know that some children have never really had the childhood of innocence through various, often traumatic circumstances. But today, I feel that few kids ever will.
When I was little, I remember playing in fields near our house, in the days when summer seemed to last forever. These days children are very aware of possible dangers - they have it drummed into them by schools, the media and parents.
But this awareness might be enough to save a life.
What a wonderful world we live in.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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3 comments:
I'd go to that guy and slap him in the face and tell him he had no permission to take pictures of your little girl... I certainly do not like creeps like that...
it is sad that kids can't go out and play in those fields any longer... they should lock every creep who is a danger to the kids playing in the field...
We regrettably live in a very different society from the one we grew up in....not least that we know much more about all the dangers you mentioned now, and they appear to be more widespread (much of what we face every day now has existed in poorer areas even when our grandmothers were children, we just never heard about it).
I often wonder if there is something about the 'immediacy' of today's media which has a bearing on this too. If something happens, we know about it straight away, there is a whole industry which survives because of 'news'. In the same way, for those seeking gratification, sexual or otherwise, its there at the touch of a button.
Many of us live incredibly busy lives, often to sustain what we choose to believe is a 'better' standard of living from the previous generation. The sense of 'community' many of us grew up with, where everyone watched out for each other, often suffers for that. For many, what goes on around them has simply become 'not my problem'.... and yet the slow erosion of a decent society, of the values we instill in each upcoming generation, is something we should surely all bear some responsibility for.
There is an advert on the television at the moment to do with recycling, where a child says 'its our future, please don't throw it away'.... how poignant, and equally applicable to much more than where we put our household waste dont you think?
love and hugs xxx
huggsss lessa - I know how you feel - I had words with the head master at the time, I wasn't a happt bunny to say the least. And my girls often joke that they have a Welsh mum and a Dutch mum too, they know how protective you are of them.
M:e - yes, its true that community often no longer exists as it used to. We hardly know our neighbours, except the couple of houses either side of us.
The 'not my problem' syndrome exists in many avenues and feeds through to the children, who often see bullying and say/no nothing because after all, they rationalise,its nothing to do with them.
My sister, who is ten yeras younger than me, had less of a 'childhood' than I did - my kids have less of a childhood than her. God knows what their kids will have in the way of childhood - up to the age of 3??
hugsssssssssssssssssssssss
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