Friday evening I was walking along the Beach Road pathway, getting some much needed exercise. When I'm shuffling along at my loser's pace, I feel a kinship with all of the healthy, active folks who jog past me. I'm part of the community enjoying Saipan sunsets and the sound of the ocean. I'm a contemplative person, mulling over the day's events and enjoying other thoughts, both the mundane and the complex. In other words, I'm alive.
At one point, a child raced past me. Then I heard the mother call out, scolding the child for running. "Stop running," she said. "You'll get tired." And I thought, what are you doing to your child? Why shouldn't a child run on the beach path? What's wrong with getting tired, especially after sunset when bedtime can't be all that far away? Is this a child with a heart disease who must guard against over-exertion? There was no indication of this.
And this isn't the first time I've heard parents scold their children for doing normal, healthy activities in an appropriate place. I've witnessed parents I know telling children to stop jumping and leaping from spot to spot when they were playing out of doors. I've listened silently as other parents I know caution their children not to "get dirty" when they are at home on a Saturday afternoon and nothing is about to happen.
What's wrong with some exuberant exertion? (Nothing) What harm does a little dirt cause? (None)
I've also heard praise for the sluggish, the lazy, the apathetic. Puh-leeze. The child who sits still, the child who doesn't wander far, the child who lacks the curiosity to find out what's making that noise, causing that light, creating that smell may be an "easy" child to care for now, but in the long run these are the children who face obesity and boredom.
I don't say anything when these things happen. I feel it would be rude to insert myself unwanted and unbidden into someone else's parenting decision.
But to my own daughter, I say run, run and run faster. Wear old clothes so you can get dirty. Move, go outside, and have fun.
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3 comments:
Always went with the wear 'em out school myself.
I wouldn't, but you might also say 'eat dirt'. I keep reading that our fixation on the anti-bacterial product of the month is creating a generation of bubble kids.
Yes. Run, jump, play, use your imagination, ask, and for Dog's sake get dirty. It's good for you.
Yay for you. Common sense is getting in shorter and shorter supply while resentment of normal parenting activities like washing your kid's dirty playclothes is running rampant.
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