We have an over 4 year-old daughter, we live in a big and crowded city. Everyday, we send her to a kindergarten near 1 km to our house where there are about 100 children cared in a 5 floor building with ground-size of 200 m2, without greens and open-space for them to play.
On the days-off, she stays at home with us in a four-wall space full of sounds, images, lights of TV and polluted by dirty air from street outside. Not similar to what I used to have, her childhood now is being flooded with child-games of digital devices, real TV shows..
The rare hometown trips do not give her a real feeling on a openwide landscape that I would have when I was a child. This environment had made my soul liberal from reality and made my physicality healthy from natural energy gained over through green of fields.
I deplore her childhood a lot but what could I do?
Comments
Hi my friend, first of all, I would like to thank you for your nice comment, really, it gives me a cause to keep choosing the topics which I feel they are a vessel for my soul, Thanks again.
My friend, I agree with you, as apparent, when you said:" it's better to have a balance between nature and technology" but the children don't concern about that. As a parents all what is concerned us is; to have our children their share from happiness and playing. Children know a lot more about how to have a good time than most adults. They know how to laugh. They don't need much to laugh at. Sometimes they don't need anything at all. They laugh because it feels good. A rock or a beetle or a little ant or a mouse is a source of wonderment to a child. Everything is a new and exciting experience, to be absorbed. Yes, they be happy when we take them to the country side, not because there are a lot of spacious green places, but because they have a new adventure ( after a while they get bored and they want to go back at their narrow flat) even if we take them to visit their cousin at his narrow flat, they be very happy. As I said at my previous comment; children have an enormous imagination. It enables them to learn and to retain and develop so quickly. Really they don’t concern about the place, is it large or small, is it green or desert. I think, children have a great a ability to a just with their environment, regardless of its facilities. And at the end, when they grow up, their minds will be crowded with a very lovely childhood memories, and they always feel thirsty to these memories, and if they went back at the time when they were children, I am sure they will not change anything.
Finally my friend, stop worrying about your beautiful daughter, she is okay.
Thank you sewar. It's great to see your comments here 'cause you seem being a very keen and diligent analyser to the issues you concern. Your effort gives us an inspiration to follow my learning work at EC.
Return to your issues you raise in your comment, I totally agree with your view. We cannot judge or conclude about feeling of our children because they was born and grew up in a different age, thus their feeling and worldview also are different with ours. Obviously, I cannot substitute my daughter to live her life, or in another word, I cannot have her to feel and to think as I ever.
I just think life likes a streamline, it's moving ahead unstoppably, the new things will negate the old. However, you should agree with me that there should be a balance in our life. In this context, it's better to have a balance between nature and technology. Children need a pure, spacious and safe space for them to play, and to feel how the natural world is. That's the best way form a positive soul on life around, also to keep them from harmful impacts of modern life.
I don't know how other children are, but my daughter always feel exciting every time she has a chance to return my hometown. Looking at her tiny feet jumping on paths along with spacious green field has made me feel pity for her childhood with full of technology, concrete buildings ..
Hi my friend, let us don't feel pity on our children, do you know why? Let us see;
They are better educated. They think more for themselves and not blindly accept the ideals of their elders. They enjoy a more comfortable and pleasurable life than their elders. They enjoy the facility of foreign travel. So, why we feel pity on them!!!
Did we ask ourselves, at least for onetime, what our children want? Did we try to see the world through their beautiful eyes? Why do we always think that our childhood is better than theirs?
When I was a little girl I used to hear my mother says:” Our generation had a very lovely childhood, we had spacious green places for running freely, and we used to invent our games by ourselves, our daisy had unforgettable taste, really, I feel pity on your generation, you don’t know the real meaning of playing and laughing”. Till this day my mother repeatedly says the same words for my children, and for my siblings’ children as well, and she adds more few words, such as;” They life is controlled by technology games, they will be blind because of play station, TV,………etc”. But I ensure you my friend that our children are very happy, as much as we were, and maybe more. I realized , every time I take my children to the village, where my mother lives now, they get bored, and they stick with one sentence which is;” When we return at our home”. Actually, they do what my siblings and I used to do with my mother when she takes us to visit our grandparents in the same village. When we were children we don’t care about the meaning of pollution or traffic jam or the feeling of the natural sights beauty, all what we were caring about is playing, no matter where or how, we used to build our imaginal world and we live in happily, and really, our children are happy in their imagined world.
Finally my friend, let us stop worrying about our children, they are okay. God bless you and your family as well.
Thanks for sharing Barbare. Impact of technology on our life is unavoidable. Sometime the best way to keep our children away from digital devices is to quarantine them within a camp until they get age 6. :D. But we both know it's impossible..
Thank you all for sharing your opinion and experience here with me. Actually, seeking a park or a public space in my place is not something too difficult, but should you've ever been here, you must accept a truth that they are almost used for lovers :D, it's terrible for kids to play there, besides the romantic scenes. :D
I also often take her to my hometown, normally at weekends or in holidays but as I mentioned above, some such homeward trips are not enough for her to deeply feel an open-wide atmosphere and to play, to enjoy her childhood purely and wholesomely.
IAV, I truly appreciate idea of the woman in that article. I think that's a great decision to help her child discovering this world. It's similar to a 11 year-old boy in Vietnam who recently has exhibited a painting gallery at Ly Thai To street (nearby Luala Street Live Concert). Parents of this boy also has allowed him to leave school for living with his uncle in a mountainy farm to discover environment and life by himself. And now, he's becoming a genius painter....:)
Mr. vvquang, I suppose you and your wife must be busy working on business days. You can spend time talking her to other places at the weekend or on holidays. I just read an article days ago which wrote about a woman who spent family savings and let her children go off from school to travel around the world. She wanted her children to attend school of life. I think it's interesting article to read. Of course, it's is very difficult or it's impossible to make a decision like that in our life. But at least we can take care and educate our children as best as we can.
Create more chances for her to close to the beautiful nature!For instance, you can take her to camp! ;-)
Hello, You and I must have had similar childhoods. I was always outside playing. That is not true today for our children as you said. Here in China where I live now, there are so many buildings. But one thing I like is there are also many, many parks. Everyday the parks are full of people enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Like Noa said, maybe you could find a park nearby, and when you go invite some of your daughter's friends to go with her.
Well .. I never been to your Country nor to your City. But I'm sure there would be a park, even a small one where you could bring her. I'm sure in the park you could teach her some outdoor activities and not just digital games. Good luck.