I’m sitting here in my kitchen, while my six-year-old daughter sleeps on the sofa, exhausted. The conversation I just had with her before she fell asleep is completely, 100 percent, absolutely ridiculous. And there is completely, 100 per cent, absolutely nothing I could do to avoid it. At least, nothing I alone could do (apart from maybe deserting society and establishing a new tribe with my little family in the wilderness). You see, the problem is here, in society. Or maybe it is here, in humanity. Or maybe both.
For her, it was in the classroom, from the mouth of a boy who proclaimed to be her friend.
And I can’t help but just say to myself, “Are we really still doing this? Really? More educational, inspiring, enlightening resources than we’ve ever had before, more history available to us, more psychology, more knowledge, more sharing of sympathies and feelings, more voices, all of these things are more accessible to the people in our society than ever before, and yet…we’re still doing this? Really?”
We try to shelter our kids from a lot of grown-up things in life.
We shelter them from things that we believe will have a negative impact on their childhood.
Some of these things — like drugs, alcohol, sexuality, violence, large-scale decision making—have scientific, physiological backing that supports our withholding, for the good of the children and their health.
Some of these things — like sarcasm, metaphor, mixed emotions (happy tears), intensely dramatic situations— are not necessarily harmful, but are withheld because they are simply outside a child’s understanding and would be confusing or upsetting to them.
Top Comments
Oh for the love of God! What the hell happened to 'sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me!' This was the mantra we chanted to bullies all our childhood and then promptly forgot about what had been said. This post is symptomatic of the problems with today's kids. They're coddled through perfectly normal childhood events as though they're made of thistledown. Take your child to a children's hospital and let her see what some little ones battle, sometimes for years. That'll put a bit of name calling into perspective!
What happened to it? Well we all know that mantra is a huge MYTH because names DO hurt, so that mantra died a death a long time ago.
"Indeed, it was normal, once, to be “fat.” -- Yeah NOT.
In my 38 years of existence, the word fat has always been used to harass, belittle, humiliate and tease.