Three Things Kids Need When They Go Back To School!
Posted: Friday, August 26, 2011
by Bob Alexander
http://www.bluemarlinbob.com
When my kids went back to school, I thought of when I had trod those dusty halls a generation before. When my grandkids returned to school after summer vacation this year, the same memories revisited me.
Bravery: Few kids today know the joy of having to walk to and from school. My brother and I had to hike one and a half miles every morning and afternoon. We didn’t think of it as a hardship, it was just something we had to do.
My grandkids know little about bravery, because they have never been in situations where it was required. It is not all their faults though. When I was in the first three grades there was no such thing as child molesters. There is probably a law somewhere making it illegal for children below a certain age to walk to school. I’m not sure I like that law, but I see the in necessity of having it in today’s society.
Kids today should be armed with the same weapons in their arsenal as I had when I was a kid. Guns were not really allowed and everyone had to have courage, bravery and respect for others.
Courage: With bullying going on in large numbers in every school, a child has to have the courage to withstand the onslaught without retaliating in violence. If they use violence they will no doubt become the one who is punished. It’s weird and insane, but that is what has happened to our kids. We had bullying when I was in school, but not to the extent we have it today. If we did, it wasn’t reported.
Our children today know little of camping out. That is how I learned courage. To a nine or ten year old, hearing some snap or crackle in the dark outside your tent, he thinks it has to be a cold eyed wolf or bear coming after you. You either stand your ground or run crying and screaming back to your house. No matter it was usually only a few feet to your back door.
We didn’t know much about monsters and child stealers back then. We knew about the Lindberg baby, but that was in a different time and place so did not really affect us. You learn many things about life when you are sleeping outside with a few of your buddies.
We learned more about courage when we camped out in the wood close to our house. We would hear sounds of varmints in the woods near where we were trying to sleep. Besides animals lurking in the dark, we were convinced that there were ghosts and goblins were just waiting for us to step out of the tent. We knew about ghosts and gardens and knew we had the courage to stand up to them, but we didn’t know about kidnappers. That just wasn’t done back then.
Respect of Others: We were taught to respect our elders and treat people the way we would like to be treated. We also learned not to take crap from anyone bent of doing us harm. Kids don’t have the luxury of providing physical education to bad people in school today; if they did stand up for themselves, they would probably be the ones to get tossed out of school, not the bully.
Bob Alexander is a son of the south. He has gained expert status in eating barbeque, telling fishing stories and leisure living.
Visit his site at: www.homeandgardenbob.com
This Article has been viewed 503 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)I enjoyed reading about your childhood, Bob. I also had to walk to school for many years, and I loved walking so it was easy for me, but I didn't have to go through scary areas. I'm glad you came out unscathed! Times are so different now, and children so easily hurt. I think it's awful that they have to be so overprotected, and I agree with you, it has some detrimental effects.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.