Child's Play

Watching my niece and nephew play today took me back to the carefree years of my youth growing up. My brother and I were very close and we often played games together or a good old fashioned game of cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers together. Most kids today have way more toys than they need and more than I probably got all the time I was growing up. It was nice seeing my niece and nephew partake in a game today that required them to use their imagination. I know there are a large range of toys and lots of variety for kids to play with, but one thing that bothers me are that a lot of the toys out there these days think for the kids. They tell the kids what to do, and how to react. Where is the good in that? We need children who are able to be creative and think outside of the box. I remember playing with a can of water and some old bowls and pans my mother had given me and pretending it was a kitchen and mud was often what I served up. Another thing that bothers me about children today is that a lot of the parents let them stay glued to video games and the television set. My dad would call the television set an idiot box. There is no harm in them doing these things some, but children should be outside playing when the weather is nice. They should be creating and reading and growing. Not just stuck in front of a television full of advertisements and hooked up to a video game that may set unrealistic expectations on life for them. Not that I'm bashing video games. I actually think when played some and not in large quantities they can help broaden the mind. It's just if that is all they ever do, it's not cool in my opinion. Last night I was actually talking to a few people at the party about children and how I believe they should sit down and eat before play. We were also talking about kids that act like wild banshee's in public. I just don't get that. Never in a million years would I have ever even considered throwing a tantrum in public, but today's kids do it all the time. My niece and nephew do good most of the time, every once in a while though. Wow. But today they were children at play with a world laying at their feet full of promise and mystery. I'm scared for our children. Our government doesn't allow them to learn lessons I personally feel are an integral part of growing up. The schools are no longer allowed to let the children play tug of war, instead they call it tug of fun. When games are played at school everyone must get a ribbon, because heaven forbid little Johnny learn as he should that life isn't always fair and that you do lose sometimes. I had a friend in high school, actually two grades ahead of me. He was the golden child you might say. He got straight A's and was liked by all. He had looks too. Everything in school was handed to him on a silver platter and I doubt he ever heard a bad word at home. When he got out of school he couldn't handle life. It wasn't all being handed to him anymore. He hung himself in a motel in Florida the summer after graduation. So the schools are robbing our children of lessons I feel they need to learn. Life isn't always fair. We have to use our imaginations. We have to fight and push forward. After all it would be great if all of life were child's play, but those of us in the real world know it isn't.