Tag Archives: children

Electronic Leash For Children?

Back on 8-22-05, it was reported that GPS devices were keeping track of sex offenders. Wouldn’t you know that now minors are being monitored by GPS devices. Parents can know where their son or daughter is, know how fast they’re driving, and when/if they get to class.

We can debate whether this is right or not, but I’d rather connect this to another phenomenon and expand it.

It’s really not surprising that parents are taking advantage of this new technology. This youth generation AKA Echo Boomers, Generation Y, or Millenials is "more protected".

"’Parents feel as if they’re holding onto a piece of Baccarat crystal or something that could somehow shatter at any point,’ says Levine. ‘And so parents really have a sense their kids are fragile. And parents therefore are protecting them, inflating their egos. Massaging them, fighting their battles for them.’ [60 minutes, "The Echo Boomers"]"

This can be explained by the following:

"’Because they came along at a time when we started re-valuing kids. During the ’60s and ’70s, the frontier of reproductive medicine was contraception,’ says Howe. ‘During the ’80s and beyond, it’s been fertility and scouring the world to find orphan kids that we can adopt. …The culture looked down on kids. Now it wants kids; it celebrates them.’" [Ibid]

[If children are valued so much, why is the birth rate in this country still below replacement and why is abortion still so popular? – Funky]

What will happen when each individual has to act make decisions on their own?

"’Sometimes, they don’t know what to do if they’re just left outside and you say, ‘Well, just do something by yourself for a while,” says Howe. ‘They’ll look around stunned. You know, ‘What are we supposed to do now?”" [Ibid]

It’s probably my bias, but isn’t there some worth to just being able to do what you want for a time? Can’t it be better for the family as a whole?

It’s almost as if children have become more important than family relationships, especially between parents. Without being over-scheduled, families can sit down together for meal(s). Family activities that truly get a family to interact can help fulfill everyone’s emotional and even physical needs (interacting with the family).

Further, the parents who can have more time for themselves instead of trucking the children to the plethora of events has to be a good thing. The overall marriage relationship, which is most important within the family, has to be supported in each other.

Dobson’s Defense

I don’t know a lot about Dr. James Dobson, but from what I’ve seen, the media’s
been giving him a bad rap over Spongegate. A few days ago, I
challenged my readers
to go through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine and
find evidence of a hidden pro-homosexual agenda at the We Are Family Foundation.
Emily
did just that
. Go read about her adventures in digital dumpster diving!

The Down Side

Indiana University study: having children significantly lowers parents’ IQs

A five-year study run by Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction proves what many in the scientific community have always suspected: having children significantly lowers the IQ of both male and female parents.

Well, pro-lifers may be outbreeding
pro-choicers, but we’re
dumber for it. 😉 [It’s satire. – Funky]

Dance Marathon

Games to get kids off the couch

Some of the new video games on the market make children move more than their thumbs – they get the kids off the couch and get them to exercise. With television and video games often blamed for contributing to the growing problem of obesity in children, video game makers and children’s TV companies are creating shows and games that motivate children to move around or offer story lines that encourage exercise.

[…]

Lowenstein and others say the video game Dance Dance Revolution — which created
a craze in the nation’s arcades and is now popular among video game players at the
home — made the industry realize “gamers are willing to experience a game
other than in a sitting position.”

I played a version of this game at Dave
and Buster’s
recently. At first, it’s completely foreign and ridiculously complicated.
Once you get over the initial learning curve, though, it’s thoroughly addictive.
I spent more money on this game than I have ever spent on any other video game. Anyhow, anything that gets kids off their lazy arses is a good start to eliminating childhood obesity.