Consequences of a delayed childhood

I was just reading the thread about the two high school "children" being shot during a break-in where the owner of the property was present during the break-in. This is called aggravated burglary in England and can be a terrifying experience for the owner of the property.

The word "child" conjures up the concept of a small helpless being needing direction.

The concept of "childhood" developed in the 1800s when previously children were sent to work as soon as they could labour.

The Victorians introduced schooling and the concept of childhood developed.

The early definition of childhood lasted a few years after they previously were sent to labour.

However gradually "childhood" has extended to 18 yo and beyond as the English government tries to make everyone go to further education in order to get a worthless degree.

Here in England we now have a whole generation of 15-25 year olds who frequently lapse into child-like behaviour and do not know how to face the consequences.

Although the Victorian ideology was reasonable i.e. give children knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic, the current concept of treating 15-25 yo as though they know no better and blaming everyone else for their behaviour will just encourage them further.

The situation is expected to remain unchanged for the foreseeable future.

reply to post by dr treg


To me it seems like people go through a phase
1. Parents/caregivers work to get baby through their milestones before the Jones' baby beats em to it.
2. "Let the kids be kids, they're only children." (They don't have a concept of right and wrong because they need guidance and direction, they aren't free range chickens.)
3. "Grow up!, stop acting like such a baby/child" (because apparently there comes a certain time when babies and children are detestable beings worth being compared to.)
4. People go around telling others that they're young at heart and never too old. (Because suddenly grey hair, wrinkles and a certain level of "maturity" (What that level is depends upon the individual) are something to be ashamed of.)
5. People reach a certain age where they are granted societal freedoms that younger people don't feel that young people deserve. (I'm speaking in terms of behavior here, not social security or whatever)
How bout it, anyone know what I'm talking about?
I believe that parents like myself ought not to depend on other people for what my son knows or doesn't know.

Perhaps the younger generation such as myself feel that the state of world affairs is a very poor one indeed.

If one thinks to much on these problems it can get quite depressing, the world has never faced so much all at once.

I am not excusing men / women who just wallow in their sadness and do nothing.

But

I can certainly understand why the younger generation feels kinda bad...


SS

I'm glad you brought this up, it is very interesting and something I have given great and weighty thought on. Because I have kids across an age group and I constantly brought to bare my own childhood and that of my parents and their parents.
The difference is astounding.
They have tried to guide civilisation with schooling (in all forms, some recognised others, not so much), which for the most part is good, and they put their parents to work so they needed to do something with them.

A lot is put onto childrens shoulders quite young though, and today being exposed to ideals and comformity on all sides, they are exposed to very adult themes of restriction and interplay also.
It's heavy.
I believe a blend of two schools could better achieve an overall positive outcome, if they included some freeflow into the corriculum hand in hand with wholehearted recognition for those who layed those plans. It was a mighty job.
With our aging population here they are trying also to speed up the work process with apprenticeships and traineeships, which we have here throughout the high schools. Learn more about the one line of education to get into the field quicker, kinda thing.
This is beneficiary in a society that has structures of assistance and building in place, with views for a future, but it also lessens the time of learning and not just in relation to subjects, but of childhood and being able to imagine your own future. To then build that.
You can never force a child to show you the future, if you are still and listen, they show you in their own time.
I saw it first when the old boys on the building sites would want their sons to follow in their footsteps, then it found it's way into the schools.
Their imaginations and free spirit energy is molded too young, and as a consequence some kids slip through the cracks and must wait for someone in their future to help guide them back. The ones who are relegated to the back and medicated are overlooked and an untapped beautious resource, this is where the great imaginators come from. Yet they damage them with their medicine (hand in hand with parents who have forgotten how to get on the floor and play in the dirt) and I see a fading picture of a divided plan to achieve their own perpetual motion.

Most of us don't learn enough from our children, and listen enough to what they need, so they can become better us's, by only taking that which was right and true (as they are allowed to grow), and leaving what they knew to be not.
If they are allowed to be, and become, and climb trees and go wild while little (in absolute family safety), with the occassional bite to bring em back, they would flourish like nothing you have even seen and paint the future with their minds and hearts and souls.
Look out for them when they need it and set them free when they don't, this goes for all levels.
If they can not make mistakes while they are young, which is always fogivable, what kind of mistakes will they make as an adult in charge of very heavy things, who has never releasd the child within?

May he be tickled to tears before he can hurt.

I believe a butterfly just farted, sorry......didn't realise how deep those thoughts went, going for some air.....(lights cig)
lovelivelearnlovesomemorelivesomemorelearnsomemorelovegrowlivegrowlearngrowicouldgoonandonx

Originally posted by Spike Spiegle
Perhaps the younger generation such as myself feel that the state of world affairs is a very poor one indeed.

If one thinks to much on these problems it can get quite depressing, the world has never faced so much all at once.

I am not excusing men / women who just wallow in their sadness and do nothing.

But

I can certainly understand why the younger generations feels kinda bad...


SS

edit on 063030p://pm3032 by Spike Spiegle because: women

My case in point
_________________________________

For you Spike, I am going to do all I can as an individual, don't be afraid to forge your way brother.

Originally posted by Spike Spiegle
Perhaps the younger generation such as myself feel that the state of world affairs is a very poor one indeed.

If one thinks to much on these problems it can get quite depressing, the world has never faced so much all at once.

I am not excusing men / women who just wallow in their sadness and do nothing.

But

I can certainly understand why the younger generations feels kinda bad...


SS

edit on 063030p://pm3032 by Spike Spiegle because: women

I disagree. If you take the last three hundred years, the world faced situations just as bad, if not worse. This is being human.

reply to post by artnut


Hello.


How wrong you are, for the first time in recorded human history mankind is effecting the Oceans, the forests and all fauna at an unprecedented rate.

You're telling me that during the Napoleonic wars and the American revolution mankind was in the same peril?

Please, I read books so don't try.


Extinction is as old as life on Earth - about 3.5 billion years - but scientists calculate that we are losing species at a rate of somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural "background" rate of extinction.

So if you have any FACTS to back up your thoughts, fire away.


SS

Originally posted by Spike Spiegle
Perhaps the younger generation such as myself feel that the state of world affairs is a very poor one indeed.

If one thinks to much on these problems it can get quite depressing, the world has never faced so much all at once.

I am not excusing men / women who just wallow in their sadness and do nothing.

But

I can certainly understand why the younger generation feels kinda bad...


SS

edit on 063030p://pm3032 by Spike Spiegle because: women

edit on 073030p://pm3020 by Spike Spiegle because: s

I like how when someone makes a thread about a thread YOU posted, you get uppity. But when it's not yours, you don't seem to have any problem with it =)

Any way, OP. I tend to agree with you, but we can't necessarily blame the children (not that I am implying you are). I also reminds me of a thread posted on here not so long ago about how humans are at their lowest point intellectually than ever before. Before, intelligence was rewarded with life, and stupidity was rewarded with death. In our (relatively) easy going lifestyle of today, you can be as dumb as you want and not have to worry about much. Those kids got what they would have got in harder times. If they went poking around in a saber-tooth cat cave, they'd get killed. In this case, they were shot. It's pretty simple really.

Originally posted by Spike Spiegle
reply to post by artnut

 

Hello.


How wrong you are, for the first time in recorded human history mankind is effecting the Oceans, the forests and all fauna at an unprecedented rate.

You're telling me that during the Napoleonic wars and the American revolution mankind was in the same peril?

Please, I read books so don't try.



Extinction is as old as life on Earth - about 3.5 billion years - but scientists calculate that we are losing species at a rate of somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural "background" rate of extinction.

So if you have any FACTS to back up your thoughts, fire away.

Hello, I read books too.

Let's go back even further to the Black Death. I would like to use this period of time to illustrate the devastation it created in the human population. Would you liked to have lived during the plague? There are so many other wars and terrible events throughout history on this planet. I could go into this all day, but then again, you read, so you can do it yourself.

I am truly sorry you have such a negative outlook on life, but I suspect if you dig deeper, you will find someone even more unfortunate than yourself. This is what I meant by being human, all kinds of suffering, and since the beginning of time. Humans really have not changed much after all of these years.

We can discuss rates of extinction all day long too, although since we have not discovered every species, nor could we possibly track all the the species that have become extinct since whatever time, I don't like to work with what some scientists "estimate".

There is only so much we can do as humans. The problem is actually getting everyone on board, this will never happen. No one actual group or person has the right to decide how we get on board, so that is part of the problem. I like George Carlin's comedy piece about the earth, how he talks about how the earth will take care of itself. At one point we will no longer exist, and that is pretty far off, so I think endless worrying about it will lead to nothing.

Now, if you are truly that concerned, have it become your mission to educate others to make a difference. All I am trying to do is to get you to see the glass as half full. I have a twenty year old son who has a completely different attitude about the world than you do, he sees the glass as half full. That does not mean he walks around ignorant of the world's troubles, he just understands there is a limit to what can be done, and how much he should worry about it, or how it affects his life.






SS

edit on 073030p://pm3020 by Spike Spiegle because: wars

Originally posted by AussieAmandaC

Most of us don't learn enough from our children, and listen enough to what they need, so they can become better us's, by only taking that which was right and true (as they are allowed to grow), and leaving what they knew to be not.
If they are allowed to be, and become, and climb trees and go wild while little (in absolute family safety), with the occassional bite to bring em back, they would flourish like nothing you have even seen and paint the future with their minds and hearts and souls.
Look out for them when they need it and set them free when they don't, this goes for all levels.
If they can not make mistakes while they are young, which is always fogivable, what kind of mistakes will they make as an adult in charge of very heavy things, who has never releasd the child within?

Very true... in Psychology we learn that children need to learn to make their own mistakes with their parents watching over them, and being being able to come back to the parents for safety when they have been hurt. this way they will learn consequences of their actions.

Some sociologists also argue that the concept of the 'child' has gone too far, and that because society sees children as vulnerable, they are overprotected and therefore victims of more crimes. If we did not see children as vulnerable and innocent, then they would not be as victimized by criminals who seek to prey on their vulnerability.

In my opinion, people need to teach their children things from a young age in order to protect them! keeping information from them just makes them more vulnerable to predators and more dependent on the parents. give them responsibility (not too much), and give them knowledge as you would with an adult, then they will be able to handle themselves in the real world.