Timing, and the times, is everything

Taking a sort of different tact this time, and talking more in terms of the times, as opposed to the place. Yes, the events and general attitudes took place in South Toledo, but really they could have taken place anywhere.

I am about to become a father for the first time, apparently next September, yes Karly is pregnant. As I let my mind wander a bit, and dwell on all that that means, I, like probably most everybody else that has ever been in that position, wondered what the world that was waiting for my soon to be child would be like. My mind went back and forth between how my childhood (and have I mentioned that I had an awesome childhood? Oh, I have?) was, and then to how the world is today.

There have been some changes over the years.

One of my earliest memories, is of walking down the street one morning, with my (probably) fisher-price toy in hand, I think it had some kind of motion built into it so that when you pushed it, and made it’s wheels turn, part of it would regularly pop up and make a noise or something. I took that toy, and on my hands and knees pushed it down the block, stopping every so often as I hit a section of sidewalk that wasn’t level with the next (why was it always a bump, and never a drop-off, I never could figure that one out) and would try a few different ways to get that toy over it, maybe I would run it along the edge of that section, sometimes I would head it up a gently sloping hill of somebody’s front yard, like Mrs. Braun’s immaculately kept one. Then back down the hill and on to the next piece of interesting terrain. Sounds pretty boring right now, but I bet it was pretty entertaining at the time! I would say I was probably around 5 or 6 years old at the time. That’s right, 5 or 6 years old, just going down the sidewalk, not a care in the world. Flash forward to today. Would I want my child going off by themselves at that age? Not on your life. But as I look back, it was totally normal in that place, and at that time.

It really does amaze me now as I look back on it, how much freedom we actually had back then. As I think of that day, and then to the years that followed, I remember rising early, making my own breakfast, maybe Honeycomb, Captain Crunch, Rice Krispies or Cocoa Krispies, and then heading out to see what adventure would develop in front of me that day. That was what it was like, no real plans but the day and it’s activities would take care of themselves. We might end up prowling the alleys between the grid-like streets of the neighborhood, or maybe spend all day down at Highland Park doing who knows what. Maybe it was spending all day at a friend’s house who had a new Hot Wheels set, or the setting was my house playing G.I. Joes in the basement because it was raining. The possibilities were endless it seemed, and although I am sure that at some point, the words “I’m bored” did leave my lips, I honestly can’t remember ever saying it, and if I was bored, and did say it, that state of boredom was quickly forgotten. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that we knew how to entertain ourselves. And we didn’t need computers or video games to do it. Just our own imagination.

So I wonder if I can instill the same sort of fertile mind in my kids. Or is the deck stacked too much against them already, in this “cyber learning/playing” world? Is their idea of fun going to be staring at a TV or computer screen, or looking over a grassy hill, or down a lazy creek? I think and hope that I will be able to show them both, because as I am learning as I pursue my Elementary Education degree, modern technology can be a wonderful tool to assist in learning. And I don’t want to cheat them of those benefits, or else they will be passed up by the times, I just hope to not let that take over their lives, as it can easily do. I hope to be able to find that balance, the balance of nurturing their mind, and at the same time letting them bloom the old fashioned way, with a lot of good old fashioned dirty/sweating/ watermelon juice running down their chins playing outdoors kind of fun.

Now if it just wasn’t so hot down here in Florida.

(Edited to add new info on Jan 25, 2008)