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Deleted member 65149
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Thousands of pounds have been allocated to build an “Urban Sports Park” for our local community. This will basically be a skate park with a few extra bits and pieces added around it. This has come about following an impressive campaign by a group of youngsters who gathered 700 signatures in favour of the proposal. Our local councillor said “We do have very little in the area for young people. There are a lot of parks for younger children in the area, but not so much for children of this age [8 – 15].” She went on to say that “Similar projects in other areas have proved to be successful. They help keep children off street corners, and research has also shown children who take part in activities like this are more likely to go to school.”
All this sounds reasonable and I hope that it is indeed successful. But my question is are we pampering kids too much these days to their own detriment? All the time we hear that all the troubles in our country are because there’s nothing for kids to do. The riots of a year ago were blamed on this. Yet there appears to be so much more for children to do now than there ever has been.
Way back in the fifties when I was a young lad in West London we had virtually no TV, no computers and no games consoles. Within a 30 minute walk we only had one playground, which consisted of two swings, a slide and a roundabout. But for Londoners we were lucky to have a couple of good big parks to run around in and a grass slope to tumble down. The River Brent provided hours of fun skimming stones or catching newts. Our imaginations kept us occupied and our stealth ensured we weren’t in trouble too often!
Now kids seem to have every conceivable thing to keep them entertained. They have everything but still we’re told that they’re bored because there’s nothing for them to do. All the kids round here appear to be hooked on electronic entertainment almost from birth. The very youngest are plonked in front of TV for hours every day within a few months of being born, and then by the age of 2 or 3 they’re playing with mum’s iPhone or their own Nintendo at every opportunity. With entertainment spoon fed to them during every waking hour they don’t have to think about being creative. So when they get a bit older and they’re bored with exercising their thumbs, or mum says they must go out and play with their friends, they’re at a total loss. So all they can do is hang around on street corners! It’s all our fault for giving them everything isn’t it?
This forum has a good range of members from different backgrounds, so I’d be interested to know what everyone’s opinions are on this.
All this sounds reasonable and I hope that it is indeed successful. But my question is are we pampering kids too much these days to their own detriment? All the time we hear that all the troubles in our country are because there’s nothing for kids to do. The riots of a year ago were blamed on this. Yet there appears to be so much more for children to do now than there ever has been.
Way back in the fifties when I was a young lad in West London we had virtually no TV, no computers and no games consoles. Within a 30 minute walk we only had one playground, which consisted of two swings, a slide and a roundabout. But for Londoners we were lucky to have a couple of good big parks to run around in and a grass slope to tumble down. The River Brent provided hours of fun skimming stones or catching newts. Our imaginations kept us occupied and our stealth ensured we weren’t in trouble too often!
Now kids seem to have every conceivable thing to keep them entertained. They have everything but still we’re told that they’re bored because there’s nothing for them to do. All the kids round here appear to be hooked on electronic entertainment almost from birth. The very youngest are plonked in front of TV for hours every day within a few months of being born, and then by the age of 2 or 3 they’re playing with mum’s iPhone or their own Nintendo at every opportunity. With entertainment spoon fed to them during every waking hour they don’t have to think about being creative. So when they get a bit older and they’re bored with exercising their thumbs, or mum says they must go out and play with their friends, they’re at a total loss. So all they can do is hang around on street corners! It’s all our fault for giving them everything isn’t it?
This forum has a good range of members from different backgrounds, so I’d be interested to know what everyone’s opinions are on this.
