"Bad Time Stories"
http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/first-the-bad-news/?ref=opinion
“Bad Time Stories” is an op-ed piece written by a mother, in which she expresses her fears and anxiety when her daughter questions her about horrible events occurring in the world. Most recently, her daughter became interested in the death of Jdimytai Damour, a Wal-Mart employee, when he was trampled by a crowd outside the store on Black Friday. She did not want her daughter to know of such evils, so she believed it would be best to shield her from this information- she did not want her daughter to know what she believed to be the evils of human nature.
However, this was not the first time her daughter, Emilie, had questioned her about such events. When Emilie had heard about 9/11 and the Holocaust at school, her mother was upset that teachers had not protected the children from this information. Essentially, she believed that children should be kept in the dark about these events and live a life they believe to be all good and happy, free of fear and anxiety.
Personally, I believe that Warner was too overprotective of Emilie. How can she expect her daughter to live a perfect life and never encounter any bad situations? Although these events may be challenging for parents and their children to discuss and deal with, it is essential that children learn about this because the only way we can improve the situation is through knowledge.
Also, no matter how much Warner tries to protect her daughter, it is inevitable that she will learn of events such as these through classmates and teachers and begin to question her mother once again. Wouldn't Warner feel better if she herself was the one to pass along the information to her daughter so she could help her cope with her reactions?
Either way, children in our society will be exposed to tragic and frightening situations, and it is parents' responsibility to provide their children with information and resources for help and information, so we can create a society in which children can learn from history and make the future a brighter place.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I agree that children should be made aware of things of importance in the news, even if they are violent and destructive in nature. From my perspective, it would be better to tell your child about such things, and explain to them what actually happened, rather then have them hear it from another kid or parent, who can contort the story. However, it is virtually inevitable in the internet age, and kids will hear about these kinds of things anyway.
I agree with that too. I also related it to the news in general. Just because the news is gruesome and horrible doesn't mean reporters should sheild it from the world. Everyone has a right to know what is going on the real world, even young children.
I think you saw the piece a little too harshly...by that, I mean I think she's not totaly trying to sheild her child from the evils of the world. Yes, the author of a the article might be slightly rediculess. But it's not like she's expecting her daughter to be full-out blind to the world's problems. If she wanted that, she'd have done a lot more than just try to explain everything: she'd have home-schooled her, kept her from going online, kept her from being with other people...there are endless ways for one to recive bad news.
I am in full agreement that children should be made aware of the goings on in the world, but I do think there should be boundaries of sorts. There's no need to unnecessarily burden a child with confusing and upsetting happenings that go on. Maybe it's just the idealistic part of me that wants to keep some semblance of innocence in a child's life.
It's really difficult to critique someone's parenting style. After all, who I am to say how a mother should speak to her daughter, when I hardly know anything about their lives?
What I do know, is that by keeping her daughter in the dark about the tragedies of human history, this mother is setting up disaster not only in her daughter's future, but in her generation's future.
If these young peope are not taught about the aftermaths of the these devastating occurences, mankind will experience these injustices again and again.
Its kind of hard to say what I would since I've never been a mother, but I WOULD say that if a child isn't showing any interest in such conflicts or isn't questioning then it isn't necessary to push violent information on them- chances are they won't really absorb it. But if they are showing genuine interest it would be wrong to completely sheild them because they should hear it correctly. A child also shouldn't have a rude awakening later in life when they've discovered everything at once.
Post a Comment