No..Not Tag!

[Rosie]

People complain about EVERYTHING and schools are afraid they will have to be held liable in case a parents wants to sue. I've had parents ask me if I can take their child with me during my lunch period because their child thinks the lunch room is too loud (I usually tutor during my lunch period at my own accord). Parents don't want teachers to mark student's papers in red ink because it makes the child feel bad. Every year, my school has a punchball competition (baseball with a handball and no bat) parents complain that their child hasn't been chosen to be on the team. They complain that their child doesn't have the biggest part in the school play, they complain that their child sits in the middle of the class instead of the front. [huh] I had a parent act as though she were going to beat me up (until I stood up and she saw that I was WAY taller than her and outweighed her) because get this: I told her child to make sure he came to school prepared with books and pencils (this child came to school for 4 days in a row with no bookbag, books, paper, nothing).

I just came across this artice the other day where parents are holding their children back a year in preschool because they don't want their child to be the smallest in the classroom. :eusa_doh: [huh] . Things just get more and more weird.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/nyregion/19kindergarten.html?em&ex=1161489600&en=18c9250f08f63475&ei=5087%0A

 

[Phil]

Lady Day, I was about to post that.
:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap
Very nice, you beat me to it.
But mark my words, we'll stop looking awkwardly at the "bubble-boy" for being too safe and start looking at the "non-bubble-boy" as a reckless danger to everyone and himself. Just wait.
"Children, that water is a little too wet. You could get overhydrated."
"Children, that air has a little too much oxygen in it, we can't risk your lungs."

 

[Nashoba]

One of my SIL's best friends has a son who has led an incredibly sheltered life. He has been told from an early age that he doesn't have to share anything he doesn't want to, he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to, and that he can do whatever he feels like whenever he feels like it. His parents have "their own lives" and routinely chose it over him. He is the most selfish, tantrum throwing, whiney and believe it or not insecure child I have ever seen. (and my background is psychology, I worked with children for a long time)
His mother recently took him out of a very expensive elite private school because he didn't want to particiapte in Field Day (where you don't have to do school and you pretty much play games and do track and stuff all day). The teachers told him he had to, he threw a fit and she took him out of school. SHE TOOK HIM OUT OF SCHOOL!!!!! The child is already having adjustment problems, has very few friends and pretty well annoys most people that he comes in contact with. He was playing with my dog once (who I will admit is rather large, playful and doesn't know his strength) and my dog accidently (or on purpose I wouldn't put it past him) stepped on his foot and knocked him to the ground and immediately commenced in licking him to death. This child literally FREAKED out. He screamed for 20 minutes. Not because he was afraid of dogs because he isn't. But because he is a huge wimp and he is so because of his parents. It is no wonder that there is a generation of people who cannot stomach world events. They have been raised to be that way. It will be a great day when these kinds of parents realize that they cannot shelter their children their whole lives and that the real world is a hell of a lot scarier than playing tag on the blacktop at school.

 

["Doc" Devereux]

So here's a scary question: after all this cosseting in childhood, how are they going to treat their kids when the time comes?

 

[Nashoba]

that is a scary thought...

 

[Lady Day]

Hurt is a part of life no one wants. No one! But it happens. I think these parents think that if they spare their kid from all hurt, they will be better off. Yeah, in childhood where it does not matter, but as an adult, when they can actually impact the world, what reactions will they have to a world where people learn to live with hurt, and appreicate the good it offeres as well? The rug will be so pulled out from under them, theyll flip.


Sorry, off topic

LD