One of my brother's earliest memories is climbin' up on the roof to look for radioactive spiders to bite him so he could become Spider-Man.
My other brother broke into a neighbor's house when he was about ten and found a fire extinguisher. He then used the fire extinguisher to make it "snow" on their front lawn.
I may or may not have possibly stolen a stop sign that may or may not be hangin in my dad's shop.
My dad's first arrest was at the age of fourteen when he and some friends were charged for indecent exposure and starting a fire on a beach. (I don't know a proper term for that one exactly.)
These are all things I'd say are perfectly normal for kids to do growin' up.
At this young age, you're s'posed to go explorin'. Push your boundaries. Get into fights. Find your way into trouble. Do sumthin' so crazy, so stupid, that you're surprised that you survived it. Get scars. Face your fears. Most these things will be unacceptable or taboo after a certain age. Kids should be allowed to be free and wild. They should be cut a lil slack every once in a while. There's nuthin' wrong with bein' free at that age. Hell, we should be free to do that stuff our whole lives but the world gets hold of you and wraps you in its chains. Then you have to be responsible and make good decisions. No more sleepin' in, eatin' tons of junk food, practical jokes, or doin' things that you were never s'posed to do anyway. None of that without payin' a price.
I see these parents today and they have their kids on leashes. Seriously? Like he's a damned dog or monkey to be owned and kept under control? Parents use up all the kids time with karate lessons, piano lessons, school, homework, studyin' and all this other crap. Parents work so much and put this emphasis on makin' money, they pawn their kids off on anybody they can pay to watch 'em for two hours. The kids are then left bein' insecure and irritated by parents that don't know a damn thing bout 'em. They have no free time to be creative and think independant thoughts. We're raisin' kids to be scared, witless, sheep. There's a reason why too few people have original thoughts and ideas. Fifty years ago we dreamed of goin' to the moon and colonizing it. A little over a hundred years ago the industrial revolution was in full swing. We used to have new inventions and ideas pourin' out of us. Now? Twitter? To Hell with Twitter. The internet? The biggest source of information anywhere and we watch some damned keyboard cat on it. Bacon flavored mayo? That just makes me sad for people as a whole.
Kids need a few hours a day to run free and unsupervised. Let 'em grab their bikes and some of the other kids in the neighborhood to go ridin' across town. My friend and I used to walk across town in Texas summers. 104 degrees out and we'd be dyin' when we got there but it kept us fit and we had plenty of time to talk and explore the city. We knew each other and our city very well. We had time to make jokes and laugh and think up crazy ideas. We got creative with the time we had.
Parents are so afraid that their kids are gonna be dumb or crazy or hurt by some other crazy that they keep 'em locked up. Fuck that! You know what happens when you do that? You get some spoiled lil pansy that's afraid of his own shadow and whines about a lil hard work. There are already too damn many of those brats. I for one can't stand 'em. You gotta let your kids out. Let em make mistakes. Let 'em take chances. Let 'em fail from time to time. They can't win everything. You can not keep them safe from everything. You can not keep them from feelin' bad. It's all gonna happen. Let 'em grow up learnin' all this for themselves. Let you kids sprout a pair on their own. Give 'em a chance to grow up independent and strong. Let them be those mischief makes with stories to tell of how they got arrested for sumthin' minor. Let them do sumthin' crazy and stupid. Be there to pick up the pieces. Love your child for bein' the mischief maker she is and let her know everything is gonna be okay 'cause you're there.
As much control as I'd like to have in my life, I know I just can't control every little thing that could go wrong. Plan A never works. Plan B isn't much better. Really, I just consider myself lucky if I can make it through the day without bleedin'.
I figure you gotta take the same approach with eveything in life. Know it's not gonna go according to plan. Know that if you make mistakes it ain't the end of the world. Get up off your ass and fix 'em to the best of your ability. This all starts in childhood. As a kid you gotta learn how to handle your mistakes and failin's. Kids need to know its okay to make mistakes. No one is born perfect and no one ever reaches that point. All you can do is think for yourself, make the best choices you can, and learn to pick up the pieces.
But then what do I know about parenting? I only did it for a bit. (Plus I been drinkin' a bit today. Max won't stop handin me beers. I think I'm on number 4 now. Lots more to go.)
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