Visions of the Future for Children of Today.

1. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 9 years ago

   Do mothers, fathers and grand-parents think about what kind of world their children and grand-children will inherit?
   Can we visualize what the future holds for them? What do our crystal balls say?
   
   Feel free to vent, panic or freak out.
   
   Valid reasons for remaining calm and hopeful...
   would be especially appreciated.
   
   
   
   1. How are current trends in contemporary society, i.e. schools, churches, family life, governmental policies, media, etc. 
   impacting our children's future?
   
   2. Are necessary skill-sets being taught...
   or not...
   by teachers and/or parents?
   
   3. What are the effects of negative trends in our society...
   Are these trends stoppable?
   
   4. What are the positive trends?
   How will these trends contribute to the survival and happiness of our children...
   by the time they reach adulthood?

   replyreport
   1. 77

      Kathryn L Hillposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      The question is where is sanity?
      In a home there is sanity when the parents agree, where fighting is down to a minimum.  In a community, there is sanity when people agree with love for their home town. In a nation it when the majority agree and come to sane conclusions about life and they vote accordingly. Today there is little agreement about anything.
      
      Today there is bickering and hatred everywhere you look. There is no compromise, there is no looking toward common sense solutions and is no wilingness to sacrifice for the sake of future generations.
      
      Children are taught their ABCs, 123's and colors. These are static and never change.  After they learn these things, the world must seem like a nightmare.
      
      What's to become of them? Mothers leaving their children in daycare, fathers taking care of children knowing nothing about child development and not the maternal instincts to do so. Teachers hating their jobs because of government stipulations, and students getting kicked by the dog, so to speak.
      In general I am starting to freak out. I don't see much on the horizon to give me hope. Students learning computers over handwriting and handling screen technology way to soon. Children being exposed to too much junk on TV. Junk !!!
      They grow up too fast. They are expected to know too much, too soon and in too many ways.
      We need God everywhere and God is being pushed aside to the point of being nowhere.
      This nation is our home. Our home is in chaos.
      and Why?  Because of a lack of motivation to believe in God.
      Chaos will result… is already resulting. Will it get any better?
      Not without God.
      ...and this is a Non-Religious rant. We need common sense and we need what is is practical.
      We need God and we need Him now…
      TWISI

      replyreport
      1. 59

         Michael-Milecposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Kathryn, you see it right. Many do and we might be in agreement with you; Due to the complex of issue, it isn't simply or easy to give answer to each of the points why to my understanding we do not have any contribution after these many days.
         Returning to solid fondation to the eternal truth would be good indication of willingness for improvement, before the cataclysm appears...

         replyreport
         1. 77

            Kathryn L Hillposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Hi Michel-Milec
            Thanks for responding. Thanks for your thoughts. Here are some more of mine:
            
            Freedom of will is undervalued and taken for granted. Will power is not fostered in significant directions. Instead, people sit around watching too much television and waste too much time on computers and screen technologies. And we encourage our children to do the same. We have all become dependent on endless entertainments. We have everything we need at our finger tips. In a way, life is just too easy for most people. Furthermore, credit cards, and cell phones encourage us to sit around and order whatever we need. And we are stuck in jobs we hate to make sure we can maintain this dull lifestyle.
            
            We need to comprehend that what we eventually tap into and depend on for happiness is our own independent will. Self-guided free will is the common thread running through all of us, no matter what age, nationality or gender. The ability to rely upon self-guided will is what fosters Joy of Life and in all actuality, sanity. What fosters the development of will-power? Liberty.
            
            The joy of working and seeing results, using the mind, hands and body in dynamic ways only takes place when there is a sense of liberty. In liberty, crafts, rafts, and tree houses are built. In liberty we play, jump, run, explore, hike, crawl through bushes, ride down streams and roll down hills. In liberty, we learn to how to swim in lakes and oceans, camp in mountains and fish in rivers. In liberty we learn everything we must know in order to survive on this earth and thrive in the culture we were born into.
            
            These days, every family in my neighborhood has a gardener. Children no longer help dad in the yard. I feel sorry for them. My brothers and I loved to cut the grass, rake and take care of our yard. Also, children are not enjoying the freedom of summer as much as we did in the 60's. We set up pup tents in the back yard, slept outside, gazed at the stars and talked till we conked out. Summer was a time to forget about time and be in the present, to wake up when you woke up and go to bed when tired.
            
            Most kids I know, these days, must attend summer school. And then, August 12, (typically, when most parents get off work to take the family camping,) children are expected to go back to school. Of course, many children attend day camp all summer, since mostly both parents work. These kids may welcome school after being shuffled from one activity to another all day, every day in day camp!
            
            So, now the children are are back in school. Is that so bad? Well, here, the average teacher is EXPECTED to be very tyrannic and dictatorial. The necessity of testing and grading takes precedence and the joy of learning becomes impossible. Instead, teachers feel they must force their students to learn. A spirit of joy or encouragement is non-existent in the average public school classroom where joy and creativity has been replaced with expectation and force: dismal, depressing force.
            
            
            How will belief in God help?
            By encouraging and instilling in our youth a sense of appreciation for That which created all things purposefully with intention. By helping them develop a sense of love for the great and amazing force which is behind all existence and working with that force for the good of all. For instance, learning and following the laws of nature and the laws of life.
            
            Boundaries offer freedom. Without them, there is no freedom. For instance, the ten commandments provide boundaries. If a child is not taught the ten commandments, he will not have within him a sense of how to live. I know a woman whose father stole when ever he thought it would do no harm. He had a garage full of items he took from his place of work. So, this woman developed a life-long habit of taking what she needed. For instance, she will help herself to the plastic containers which are stored behind supermarkets. She has little conscience. Why? Because no one taught her otherwise.
                 
            
            TWISI.

            replyreport
   2. 84

      tsmogposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Kathryn in all fairness I share I have tried to answer these questions for a few days now. Each time I do the contributing comment becomes hub length LOL. So, sharing in my research to understand trends firstly are these two references:
      
      I first pondered each generation having its own set of trends and values. I was amazed discovering there are actually six generations existing today. Each has their own unique value systems and trends. This reference is an easy to read and understand online article. I today have more questions than I did yesterday seeking to answer or comment on this thread.
      
      http://www.marketingteacher.com/the-six … in-america
      
      For today’s current trends I began reading at Pews Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org There is a lot to assimilate, so I will have to ponder for a while to answer or comment.

      replyreport
      1. 77

         Kathryn L Hillposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hi guys. Thanks so much for your regarding this thread in a serious tone. The question of the future is probably the only guiding compass we have in making decisions in present time. How will our decisions today actually affect the people of the future. When you put a face on those people, so to speak, (our children, who we love and care about so much,) our choices become so real: we realize our decisions will impact them directly!
         For instance, do we really want our children to live in a country with open borders…no borders would equal no country. Do we really want to remove the home land? Especially when you consider that the future generation could be called the "home-landers!"
         
         Do you really want less freedom for our children in the way of implementing soft despotism through socialistic policies?
         
         Do you really want these psychic souls to shut off their belief and openness to God (who exists everywhere with love and joy) by denying His existence?
         
         William Strauss and Neil Howe state: Americans of all generations should work to elevate moral and cultural standards. "What we do now may not close down many Unraveling-era carnivals, but will serve two critical longer-term purposes: to help protect the world of childhood and to help resacralize public institutions and re-infuse them with a much needed sense of public purpose. A decadent or nihilistic culture is a seedbed for fascism. The less self-control the media or public exercises now, the more likely it becomes that some outside authority will impose a despotic control tomorrow." The Fourth Turning, Broadway Books, New York. Pg. 313.
         
         The following is another quote from this book which discusses the differences in the generations and the seasons as they manifest in our nation, based on their very insightful research and observations.
         
         "History is seasonal, but its outcomes are not foreordained. Much will depend on how tall we stand in the trials to come. But there is more to do than just wait for that time to come. The course of our national and personal destinies will depend in large measure on what we do now as a society and as individuals, to prepare." Ibid, pg. 302

         replyreport
2. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   I think the world today is not so different from the world we grew up in.  people are still people.  Racial disparity is down, gender disparity is down, violent crimes are down, only media hysteria is up and we need to stop rewarding it with our attention.

   replyreport
   1. 84

      tsmogposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I agree. The media hype focuses on 'what is wrong' causing fear. There are over 35,000 incorporated towns and cities in the US. Each have communities. For instance Chicago has 77 recognized distinct communities. A single incident, the media hypes it up, and it is projected that will happen to every community. Fear festers and soon everyone is suspicious of everyone else, even though as you shared the negative is actually on a trend downwards, which is a positive direction, such as crime. [Source: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/cr … lent-crime ] Connections? I dun'no . . .

      replyreport
      1. 77

         Kathryn L Hillposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Are you kidding? In the past kids could play in the street, walk home at dusk from the park, ride bikes to visit friends a couple blocks away. Today, no kid goes anywhere alone or unsupervised. They don't even walk to school by themselves! All activities are structured as in soccer, little league, play dates. Thanks to the internet, child pornography and child abductions are on the rise, so parents have to be ever vigilant for their children's safety. And yet, they are ever separated from their children because both parents must work.
         
         Yes, everyone knows that two parents must work to afford one home. Therefore, daycares and preschools are thriving. If you visit one, you will see unsmiling, sad children who are waiting to go home to be with their families.
         
         But, even at home they can be lonely.  Most parents don't cook. They pick up food from the nearest fast food place. They don't sit down as a family to eat and they don't even watch TV together. Children are in their own rooms playing games on their own computers or watching weird cartoons on their own TVs.  Back in the day no one had their own TV in their room!
         
         Things have changed and the difference is big.  Perhaps only those who grew up in the 50's and 60's can see the situation clearly.
         
         These are negative trends which I have witnessed in modern homes while babysitting or visiting.
         
         What are the positive trends? I need to be enlightened, obviously.

         replyreport
         1. 84

            psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Crimes against children are down.  All that changed is the media told us about what can happen and we changed how we parent.
            
            I would argue there is less undisclosed crime than ever before because there is reduced stigma attached to being a victim of sexual assault, and some things that weren't even crime before have been criminalized, like spousal rape.
            
            Last year there was a great Time mag article looking at the real numbers and showing just how far public perception is from reality thanks to media scare-mongering.

            replyreport
         2. 84

            tsmogposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you Kathryn for the recognition. I apologize for the length of time returning. The trends I was referring to are national crime trends. Specifics of communities with child rearing and parenting I simply cannot comment upon. My personal knowledge is limited to visits with siblings, co-workers both dads and moms, the neighborhood I live in, and the neighborhoods I lived in of the past. I may have a lean of relying on information rather than having subjective knowledge as shared.
            
            Trends of lifestyle and parenting I agree is not what I remember while growing up (1st grade '61 - '72 graduated). I have never had children, so I do not know any child rearing trends personally. I only know what parents and siblings have shared with me, what I see on mainstream visual media - TV, and read. (That trend from Print to Internet) Reading in my view trumps mainstream visual media. Therefore I am definitely limited to resources and what I am exposed to personally and those demographics.
            
            Addressing crime and crime only I share this. Where I live at Escondido, CA the highest crime rate was 2004 at a rate of 371 steadily declining reaching in 2012 a level of 275. That is a downward trend. You can go to this site [http://www.city-data.com/city/Chicago-Illinois.html] find most any city in the U.S. scroll downward until the crime rate table is visible to see the trends. of murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts, auto thefts, arson, and overall rates from 2000 - 2012. That is for cities and not communities. It is interesting and offers great information if a move is in one's future. However, nationally since 1960 the crime rate nationally increased from 2% to 3%. That can be see at [http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm], so yes over that span it has increased per incidents and population.

            replyreport
   2. 85

      gmwilliamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Totally agree, our society is becoming more heterogeneous than ever before.  There is more acceptance of  different races and/or ethnicities than ever before.  There is more freedom between parents and children.   Parents are less authoritarian with their children than parents in the 1950s and 1960s which is refreshing.   Parents are more giving emotionally and psychologically to their children than parents of the past who insisted that their word was law.   
      
      However in some aspects, society has become worse for those who are classified as the have nots.   There is more, undisclosed crime in poorer neighborhoods.  Children in poorer neighborhoods have a worse quality of education than those in affluent neighborhoods.  They oftentimes go to school where they aren't allowed to take books home for fear those books will be lost and the school has no monies to refurbish them.  They often have teachers who are afraid of them because it is believed that such children are potential delinquents or worse.  Yes, poor children have it MUCH WORSE now in the scheme of things.  Of course, affluent children are FAR BETTER OFF than they ever were, that goes without saying. They have access to the very best that money has to offer in terms of education, health, and other aspects of life.

      replyreport
      1. 77

         Kathryn L Hillposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         These are great insights, gm! Thank you tsmog and psycheskinner. Also good points. Glad to know things are not as bad off as the media makes it out to be.

         replyreport
3. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 9 years ago

   Positives that I see: Children are much more aware and open to reality. They seem to be old souls and nothing shocks them. They can handle frightening movies and they can apparently handle violent video games. They are less prone to follow the teacher blindly and and tend to think for themselves. They are hep to teachers and can spot the phony sorts immediately. They have love in their hearts in general and are more open to showing that love to adults and to each other. They are more open to higher learning and from what I have witnessed, love art and science, especially astronomy. I have also witnessed they are generally hard working and obedient in classrooms when they are on task, (sometimes it is hard to get them to settle down.) They are quicker in general and know much about life on the material side. Probably more so than many of us oldsters do now! They are also adept at using computers and other technologies.

   replyreport
   1. 85

      gmwilliamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That is so true.  Children today are more intellectually sophisticated, mature, and savvy.  They must be in this postcomputerized, postindustrialized, 21st century.  That is par with these postmodern times.  They realize that this society is vastly more sophisticated and complex and they see that they must be up in their game.  Children are also more sensitive and attuned to the psychic and metaphysical elements of life also.  There is the phenomena of indigo and crystal children.  These children are far beyond sophisticated-they are KNOWING.

      replyreport
4. 85

   gmwilliamsposted 9 years ago

   Thank you, Kathryn.

   replyreport