There’s a sign that has become a staple in our society today. One that once upon a time you hardly saw at all. Ever. It usually begins like this, a show comes on, or a cartoon, or a reality contest and suddenly on the screen these words appear;
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME
or another one
ATTEMPTING THIS STUNT CAN END IN DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY
and finally
ACT PERFORMED BY PROFESSIONAL STUNTMAN DO NOT ATTEMPT!
These are very very good warnings to have. After all you don’t want some guy dumping live craw dad’s down his britches. You wouldn’t want to see some person attempting to race a train and flip the car before landing safely on top of that locomotive. Not to mention it would be pretty awful if some kid decided to drop an anvil on another person’s head.
Yet we are seeing an increasing number of incidents just like that. The sucker punch game should have had just such a warning on it because it became a brief fad in which teens would try to knock someone out in one punch and get away without being caught. They chose senior citizen’s for the most part. The elderly in question were not amused and several teenagers were shot and killed.
Another prime example of this madness has to do with two twelve year old kids stabbing their friend repeatedly in an attempt to kill her and thus gain the favor of a mythical character online called ‘ The Slender Man ‘.
There’s plenty of other examples but my question is simple.
What the hell happened? In my day we watched Wile’ Coyote being blown to bits, smashed into a pancake, stretched into a noodle all because of that rascally road runner. Yet I don’t recall a single incident of a kid strapping another one to a rocket for lift off.
Yosemite Sam shot at pretty much everything that moved and we had toy guns and would often race around firing at each other and pretending to die slow agonizing deaths. Yet I don’t think we had one school shooting at the time unless that was in some way related to the war. In fact back then the kids had a healthy respect for a gun. If they played with it they had been taught to keep the safety on and the bullets out of it. They knew the penalty of being caught would be a good switching to the ass.
My mom didn’t have those cutesy little plugs for her outlets nor did she have baby proof locks on the cabinet. I learned via time out and having my favorite toy taken away. There also seemed to be a large amount of heavy TV’s that sat on flimsy trays in relatives and friends houses sometimes even our own and the thinking seemed to be ‘ Let them pull it on them a few times they’ll learn. ‘
Yup good ol days. I learned about fire because my mom caught me playing with matches she lit one and let me hold it. Obviously it burnt my finger which hurt and I cried while she put aloe on it and said ‘ See? That’s an owie don’t play with that never play with that!’ and you know what? I didn’t. If you watch southern home videos you’ll see rednecks amusing themselves in pretty dangerous ways by our standards and yet they managed to live long enough to procreate and make a show all about that kind of living.
So what gives? Too many softies as parents. Yup the world has changed but one thing remains the same something that was dangerous then is dangerous now and removing it and not letting a child develop an understanding that some thing will hurt and taking time to impart empathy for the pain our actions can cause others is creating a breed of…..stupidity?
Before I get trolled for daring to call a young one stupid I might point out again….twelve years old and decided to stab a friend to death? One of the things the ER doctors hear the most when they get young gang members in with first time gunshot wounds is ‘ I didn’t think it would hurt that bad! ‘
Then of course you have these kids who drive like they are playing one of their video games and have been sheltered so much they really don’t realize that there is danger in the world and they are quit convinced life is a big kid proof box because mommy and daddy taught them so.
If these kids are doing stupid pranks they see on TV then at least one of these main deterrents is missing. Good Judgment. Common sense. Oh Alcohol doesn’t help either. Are we born with common sense? Are we instilled with good judgments? No absolutely not. These are things that have to be taught to them by an adult. Let your child take a tumble occasionally use the opportunity to teach them that things will hurt and then show them the right way to do something that will lesson the chances of them getting hurt again.
Can’t be bothered? Don’t be surprised then if the kid does something that burns your house down. Enrolling them in Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America is a good idea. Getting them involved in Church is just as good. Why not go one better? Take them off that damn PC and outside for some rough and tumble play. Expect skinned knees and maybe black eyes and use that as a learning experience instead of putting them in a glass bubble.
Because you know what happens to glass when it crashes into reality right? It shatters and that child who has no coping skills, common sense, or good judgment will stand there like an idiot then decide for the hell of it to leap into something dangerous because after all mommy and daddy have taught them they are invincible.
I think scrapes, bruises, and minor burns are a much better to cope with then standing over your son or daughters casket wondering why they tried to run up a wall and jump off a roof and died because they impaled themselves on a fence picket. Surely a little ice pack on the knee or minor goose egg is better then that. Surely it is.
