Ruining Childhood

These days there are times when I think back on my childhood and wonder if I wasn't set off on a course for doom and gloom from the beginning. Not that I didn't have a happy childhood; on the contrary, I think I had a very happy childhood and the memories I have growing up are just wonderful. But now whenever I see the news or read about it in the paper, I feel that with each passing generation, the concepts of childhood are changing so rapidly that soon kids will just become miniturized adults who are so sheltered from the realities of this world that they are going to be in bigger trouble than many of us realize.

Recently in a school in McLean, Virginia a school principal decided (as was the case in several other schools around the country) that the game of tag was to be forbidden due to the fact that it promoted violence and could lead to undue aggression in kids. Now I don't know about the rest of you but tag was an essential part of my childhood. I don't say this because I was the best tag player around or because I dominated every person I ever played with but it was just a simple, fun and mindless game that you could practically play anywhere. Don't have an xBox 360 or in the case back then, don't have a Nintendo or Atari? Doesn't matter, the only thing you need for tag is you! It doesn't cost very much either. But nowadays it seems the focus has shifted and there is constant worry that kids are going to turn into violent, aggressive psychopaths so we need to shelter them.

I don't think kids are going to turn out that way unless the environment around them is conducive to that type of attitude. If all kids do is grow up in an environment of violence, and I mean real violence or aggression, not just stuff on TV but in the home as well, then isn't it likely that they will know what violence is? Playing tag isn't going to make them violent, it'll more likely make them competitive but then again that's bad too right? In every competition there is a winner and a loser (or losers in the case of tag) but that's thought to be a negative connotation because kids shouldn't be made to think they are losers right? They shouldn't be exposed to not winning. They need to know that they need to win all the time. Is this the message that games are sending our kids? All they are are games!

But we're tending to read too much into things these days. Episodes of "Sesame Street" that I watched as a kid are now rated for adults because of some 'questionable' scenes in the show. Are they scenes of violence? Does Big Bird suddenly take inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock and go around killing people? No. But because he hugs a kid, there is fear that this could inspire kids to sexually harass one another. What about the fairy tales we heard growing up? I'm sure it won't be too long before even those are censored or cut from childhood because they spread negative imagery and ideas to kids who are impressionable.

Take for example Jack and the Beanstalk (one of my favorite stories). In a lot of versions (I've heard variations) Jack's father is missing and he lives with his single mother. Though this is reality for many kids these days, it wouldn't do to sensationalize it now would it? Jack then sells off his family cow for the beanstalk beans. That teaches kids to give in to their selfish desires. That's another negative image that they should be sheltered from. Ultimately he goes up the beanstalk and steals from the Giant at the top. Stealing! How utterly wrong! And then the ultimate... he kills the Giant by chopping the beanstalk down as the Giant is chasing Jack. Murder! How insane! I guess that by today's thinking then I should be a selfish thief who will murder those who get in my way!

Take a look at practically any fairy tale and you'll see this same trend. Goldilocks enters the house of the three bears (breaking and entering) and eats their food and sleeps in their beds. Stalkers of Hollywood stars probably grew up reading these stories over and over again. Hansel and Gretel? They get left in the woods by their parents and so when the evil witch tries to cook them, they kill her by shoving her into the oven. I don't even want to get started on that one. The Three Little Pigs? That might be thought to be an insult if perhaps there is a Muslim student sitting in the pre-school classroom.

Is this the type of environment we want our kids to grow up in? Sheltered and protected from anything and everything? I've seen more violence and negative storylines presented on "safe" channels like Disney and Cartoon Network than I ever did when I was a kid. That doesn't mean that I would take a kid in to see violent or scary movie just because they wanted to, but I wouldn't shelter them so much that they aren't allowed to play a simple game of tag. We need to know what we are sheltering them from and to what purpose. Sheltering them for the sake of sheltering them is wrong and I don't think it serves any purpose. It just serves to ruin what childhood they could have.