I recently read an article stating that parents today need to teach their children about technology in the same way they teach them how to use a stove, or cross the street: in stages, rather than dumping the child in front of whatever and letting them have at it.
Now, it is not this revelation that got my wires in a bundle. It’s the fact that it’s government-funded research.
Do none of these government people have parents? Are none of them parents? Of course one can’t just dump a little cherub in front of an appliance and expect them to know what to do with it. Cherubs need parental supervision!
Why do folks get paid gobs of money to study stuff like this?
I remembered this (and got irritated, as you might be able to tell) while walking last night. I’m training for the Breast Cancer 3-Day later this year and am building up my endurance. I passed a business with spray painted warnings along their retaining walls:
“No skating. No skateboarding. No in-line skating. No jumping.” There was more, but one can only remember a handful of admonishments at a time.
It seemed pretty sad that this business had to go to this sort of trouble to keep people from damaging property and/or damaging themselves on the property.
In addition to all the warnings, there were bars imbedded in the concrete wall to keep folks from grinding. That reminded me of the “arm rests” one will now find in bus stop benches; they aren’t designed for resting arms, they’re there to keep people from sleeping on them.
Why do we have to go to these lengths, obscuring the obvious and then paying someone large sums of money to present “findings” about stuff we should already know? It’s not polite to skateboard along someone else’s wall. Bus stop benches are for people to sit on while waiting for buses. Children need to be supervised by their parents when embarking on new technological adventures.
Children don’t grow up automatically knowing everything (despite our own youthful belief that we could). They learn from their friends as well as from their parents (shocking, I know). If parents don’t pay attention, then their children lose out on the stuff the parents have experienced and learned along the way.
Parents should pay attention to all the new stuff in the world that they themselves have never experienced, too. They should become familiar with things like ESRB ratings on games; they know what those movie ratings are, right? Parents need to know lots of unexpected things, like where all the clean restrooms along I-5 are and how to get to the closest one. They should teach their children, learn with them when they haven’t a clue and let children mature into responsible adults.
Growing up is a tough business. So’s parenting.
And no one paid me to research this! =)
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