#BaxtersBuzz
Go and out and see the world! That would be my advice, though I have yet to follow it. I've never done much traveling. My Dad never took me out of town and never promised to do so. I didn't think much of it. He was in his mid 4o's when I was born, so he'd done much of his traveling. He was in the Army, serving in the Korean War, and being stationed in multiple locations during his time.
I was always surprised when my friends would be traveling. They'd say, "We're going to Florida." I'd be like, "Really!?" I would just stay around town and think nothing of it. Sure, my Dad would take me up north to Baldwin, MI. I'd go visit my family in Ohio. And that was pretty much it. This "not traveling" stuff is going to end this stinkin' year!
I believe exposing children to different things early gives opens their eyes to the possibilities of the world. Whether it's traveling, volunteering time, or talking about expectations at dinner , children who are able to experience that see things through a different set of eyes. I'm 29 years old and have learned things this year that many teenagers have known since they were tykes. Typically, you can link certain experiences (or lack of experiences) to family income. There are exceptions. Overall, those with money are commonly exposed to more. Children who don't leave their surroundings, may not understand that there is so much more in the world. I was in Farmington Hills this past weekend watching my 10 year old twin nephews play baseball. They were the only 2 black kids on their team. Heck, I think there were 4 total of the 4 teams playing. Exposure is what is most important. Resources and exposure are very important to the development of us all.
Meeting a person who's in a profession we'd like to pursue or seeing people from our neighborhood become a productive member of society breeds confidence and inspires. Maybe if young kids, especially from the inner cities, could turn on the television and see lawyers doctors, or engineers instead of athletes and musicians, there would be more children looking to emulate them. What does this all mean? I'm not sure. It all comes down to everyone doing their part by going out of their way to invest in our children. I'm attempting to do more. Who will do the same?
I'm curious whether the exposure should come to the children, or to the parents. It's great to expose children to new things, but when they return to a household that doesn't value education, politeness, respect, generosity, and takes every handout imaginable, you will see the kids grow up in the exact same fashion.
ReplyDeleteTrying to give children these great experiences can only go so far without the core teachings of how to function in society. Those teachings must come from the parents, and those parents don't understand how to function. How could they possibly teach their children?
Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with helping children. However, if I had a choice in the matter, I would much prefer to see things done to improve entire families, not just the children.
It's sad that adults are so hard to teach. So hard to break their pride. So hard to make them understand that acting like a jackazz will not get them any respect. It's sad that many people don't care what other people think, and act like idiots just because they feel like they can. Just because you can't stop them. Just because they're so immature and irresponsible that they think they're being cool. They do things just to get attention.
Sadly, when you have neighborhoods that are full of the same type of people, it's going to take some major work to transform how people think and act. Transform how they raise their children.
It would be 100x easier to help the children if the families of an entire neighborhood let their guard down and said "lets stop this nonsense and improve ourselves". "Let's allow our children to have a chance". Many people simply don't care, and it's very very sad.
Some people say adults can't change, and I tell those people that ANYONE can change as long as they WANT and INSIST on changing.
It's funny, just as I finished writing this, this commercial came on where th guy says:
ReplyDelete"if we can fix this block, then we can fix the next block, then we can fix the next block, then we can fix the next block"
"we start with children from birth, then we stick with those children for the rest of their lives."
To fix entire blocks, you have to be there for ALL of the people on that block, not just the children.