What if the kid cares because the culture makes a big deal out of it? IMHO, kids should just be kids, not have all this organized, scheduled shit anyway.
Since my parents were working all the time, extracurricular activities were usually just not possible because no one was there to drive.
The result was that I spent my grade-, middle-, and high-school years (especially summers) simply loafing around - biking around the hood, kicking it with other kids, walking to the library, the mall or arcade, catching a bus downtown, futzing around on the computer and learning to program, walking, reading, thinking, etc.
Magical times...
People really only have 18 years guaranteed obligation-free, why rob them of that?
You can do more than 18 years obligation free. It's just people want more money.
I'd argue we have it backwards. More free time as we get older and more structure when we're younger. Not 100% scheduled, but not loafing around all day.
Where was an article not too long ago on HN about the benefits of "unstructured play" and how we are creating much more stressed out and a lot less adjusted kids by denying them that historic social practice of just figuring out their social place within their social group, independent of the social position of their parents.
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What if the kid cares because the culture makes a big deal out of it? IMHO, kids should just be kids, not have all this organized, scheduled shit anyway.
I wish I could upvote this a million times.
Since my parents were working all the time, extracurricular activities were usually just not possible because no one was there to drive.
The result was that I spent my grade-, middle-, and high-school years (especially summers) simply loafing around - biking around the hood, kicking it with other kids, walking to the library, the mall or arcade, catching a bus downtown, futzing around on the computer and learning to program, walking, reading, thinking, etc.
Magical times...
People really only have 18 years guaranteed obligation-free, why rob them of that?
Thank you. Very well stated. Sorry for the "right-on" comment but an upvote to you and the parent post felt insufficient.
You can do more than 18 years obligation free. It's just people want more money.
I'd argue we have it backwards. More free time as we get older and more structure when we're younger. Not 100% scheduled, but not loafing around all day.
Where was an article not too long ago on HN about the benefits of "unstructured play" and how we are creating much more stressed out and a lot less adjusted kids by denying them that historic social practice of just figuring out their social place within their social group, independent of the social position of their parents.
Wish I had saved the link...