Shifting the Blame

Video games were around from a young age. Super Nintendo was the rage when I was a wee lad My brother and I played it often, but we were just as often playing outside with friends. Video games became a part of socializing only in recent years, with the introduction of playing with friends via the internet. Sadly, this seems tobe becoming a replacement for socializing amongst younger children. The same can be said for the internet. In this regard, it's terribly sad and a big mistake. Sure, children can socialize in this manner, but it doesn't teach them important physical, face-to-face cues and things of that sort. In short--life skills. They may find themselves avoiding eye contact, wringing their hands, perhaps even feeling rather nervous in face-to-face conversation. I feel that the lack of real socializing is a very real problem in today's world. My mother regularly tells me about the fun she had with her friends--baseball games, concerts, jobs, things I didn't start doing with my friends until recently. Times have changed--children can't get on a bus, go to a stadium, and watch a game. The world seems to be too dangerous. You can't blame parents for protecting their children. The thing is though, you can unplug your children from electronics, as my parents did. Kids who remain plugged in, electrical waves penetrating their irises are, quite frankly, missing out on a lot.

Similarly, spoiling one's children is not the proper way to gain affection. A child cannot grow up having everything handed to them. It's a timeless lesson,but one that still needs to be learned. As a child grows, the problem only gets worse. By the time they're adults, they're still in the mindframe of being a dependent. Having a child work for what he gets is an important part of life--the child needs to earn something in order for it to have value. I remember when I was a child. If I wanted something and I didn't get it, I would get upset. Eventually, however, I realized that I could whine all I want, but I still wasn't getting it. It's not that my parents were strict becauseI can hardly remember a time I was punished. Then again, I never really acted up either. It's not that we were poor--we've always lived comfortably.

My parents were teaching me a vital life lesson, and looking back, I'm glad. Life is something that changes often. We can't expect things to be given to us--we need to work for them to establish a value, to grow into adults.

With all of this in mind, parents look to take a step back and look at themselves--stop blaming television, the internet, the video games, movies. Take responsibility. Restrict access to these things. Blaming a company is only shifting the blame and teaching children that whining is a way to get something, whether they're 7 years-old or 45. Also, I feel bad for children in these days. When they're eighteen, twenty, forty, or fifty, they're going to feel that they had missed out on a lot--they did--and they're going to have some weird

nostalgia.