Tex, you make good points but I didn’t take Darcy’s post in that way. I think she was referring to discussing the supernatural. This opens their minds to what is out there and prepares them for what they might face. I don’t think she meant a child should go without guidance or restrictions on possible physical dangers. This was just my take I will let her respond.Darcy said...
"I find it very sad that adults don't understand that when you strip a child of choice, imagination, creativity, self expression, free thinking, etc... and stuff them into an empty box -- eventually you get what you created. 'sigh'. It is bad enough when the Child continues to blame the Parent. It is past ridiculous when the Parent decides to blame the Child."
There is a real reason why children are not allowed to drive cars, own guns, enter into binding legal contracts and get married. I find it very sad when parents let kids make decisions that they are not yet emotionally or intellectually mature enough to do so wisely. Not letting a kid drive a car isn't taking anything away from a child it is protecting them until they are ready in REALITY to take on that responsibility.
I see too many kids these days doing things that they are not old enough to do wisely. Little girls like to play dress up that is good. Letting a 9-year-old dress like a streetwalker and look like she is a lot older and goes out with older "friends" is asking for trouble and shirking your responsibility as their parent.
My daughter had imaginary friends that we had to be careful not to sit on, step on, or take out to eat. They had terrible manners. I always encouraged her imagination and read to her every night to offer her a love of reading. We went on adventures together and most of the time my wife felt like she was our referee and Mom to two kids as we sword fought and played around the house.
with all that said she didn't date until she was 16. There were people that she wasn't allowed to spend the night at their homes. (the Dad was a slimeball drunk and I didn't trust him.) She had chores and 2worked for me for years during the summers. Between jobs, we spent a lot of time at museums, swimming, and at the library...or we went out on the back country roads and I let her drive. We had a lot of fun. She grew into a very happy and successful adult. She CHOSE to live beside me with her family and now I have a new playmate. I took a year off work so that they could both work and catch up on the bills and kept my Grandbaby all day for the first year of her life.
They named her Danni and she spends the summers with my wife and me and lots of weekend sleepovers. My parents were a big part of her life and my daughter wanted Danni to have that too. I wasn't blaming the child in my post. I was simply stating a known fact that kids don't always make good decisions and parents need to watch over and protect the kids from this.
It bothers me that so many parents really do just store their kids in low-cost daycare. Little ones need love and physical affection and they can't get that much in an overcrowded daycare. I know that for many single-parent families this is a must but even then there are alternatives. In order for my wife to be able to be a stay at home Mom we also were a registered small daycare. We picked our kids carefully because they were more than just a job. They were part of the familly. They even had unpaid sleepovers with us so their Moms and Dads could have some free time. they went with us to my parent's house and when we ate out they went with us. When I got home from work I would have a lap just full of kids and we would have cartoon time so my wife could have a little alone time.
I love kids. I can hold and rock a baby for hours and feel a contentment that is hard to describe. People usually are surprised by this. I'm well past 6 foot tall and a big burly man. I work hard and am not a soft looking person...kids see right through me.
I raised a child that could see and know things at a very young age. It was necessary to explain some things I would rather not have. I can see her point having had to deal with it. So I’m looking at her post from a different perspective.