December 15, 2002
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Before I get into what I had already posted private, for the current blog, I need to address a comment made by CatInTheMist. She mentioned that she couldn't understand that people don't see the dangers of riding in the bed of a truck. I don't think people are truly stupid about the dangers of certain behaviors at all. I consider that it's an attitude problem.
As many of us know about childhood/teen mentality, they believe they're invincible. More than that, it's the attitude that 'It will NEVER happen to me,' it only happens to other people.
It's like the sudden changes in our country, based upon the reality that our country is NOT exempt from the terrible effects of terroristic attacks from the WTC/Pentagon incidents. The sad thing about our Nation's sudden realization in that regard is that 9-11-01 was NOT the first incident. Remember Oklahoma City? How about the explosion in the parking garage under the WTC?
It is my belief that the deadly viruses that have invaded our borders may have some ties to some of that too. West Nile Virus is from North Africa. Denge Fever is from the Middle East. Both of these are mosquito-born, easily transported from their origination points & both have taken conciderable toll in recent times.
Anyway, I'm getting a bit off-track now. The point is that as parents, it is our responsibility to protect our children from the dangers of life. Although this isn't always possible, we do our best by giving them the tools they need to help protect themselves.
For example, we teach them not to go with strangers. We teach them what plants not to eat. We let them know that certain activities are dangerous, like the extreme sports. We teach them how to be safe, even though they insist upon participating in such dangerous sports activities. We limit, as much as we can, their life & limb threatening behaviors & equip them with as much safety gear as we can.
In the Dr. Spock child-rearing principles, some of what parents were supposed to do in raising children wasn't done. Those children, parents now, lack some of the vital tools to pass on & it certainly shows in our crime statistics. Children are practically given free-reign at raising themselves. But I drift again, since this topic is so critical to me. Let's be parents & do as we are supposed to, by keeping our children as safe as we possibly can!
One of my absolute Christmas favorites!
Marvelous Toy - Tom Paxton
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D A7 D G
When I was just a wee little lad, Full of health and joy,
G D E A7
My father homeward came one night And gave to me a toy.
D A7 D G
A wonder to behold it was, with many colors bright,
G D E7 A7
And the moment I laid eyes on it, it became my hearts delight
Chorus:
D A7 D G
It went zip when it moved, bop when it stopped and whir when it stood still.
G D A7 D
I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will.
The first time that I picked it up I got a big surprise,
For right on the bottom were two big buttons that looked like big green
eyes.
I first pushed one, then the other, then I twisted its lid
And when I put it down again, here is what it did.
Chorus
It first marched left, then marched right, then marched under a chair.
And when I looked where it had gone, it wasn't even there.
I started to cry, but my daddy laughed, for he knew that I would find...
When I looked around, my marvellous toy, just a'chugging from behind.
Chorus
Well, the years have gone by too swiftly it seems, I now have my own
little boy,
And yesterday I gave to him my marvelous little toy.
His eyes nearly popped right out of his head, he gave a squeal of glee!
Neither one of us knows just what it is, but he loves it just like me.
Chorus
In case you are unfamiliar with lyric formats, the letters above the lines are the guitar cords. I was amazed to learn how many more songs this excellent artist has performed. Click on his picture above for his official website!
Comments (7)
I love that song too.
Tom is VERY cool!
Check out Tom Russell as well, speaking of men w/that name.....
Damn fine points noted above...
Sail on... sail on!!!
Very good point...it has nothing to do with fear or not knowing its wrong to do..its that teen tude...my sons think the same thing..no matter what or how i have tried to teach them they think nothing bad happens to them..and then when it does they go oh duh gee maybe i shouldnt have done that...
some kids choose to learn the hard way..others listen..
B.
I'm blessed with a son who has to argue & do it anyway. That's why I mentioned giving our children the proper tools. It doesn't seem to occur to him that what I speak of I have direct experience in, either through personal experience or being close to another who has.
great christmas look you got going here!
i agree, us parents can only do so much and the rest is up to the kids themselves. they need to figure out what is good for them or not based on the things we taught them. you can only do so much...
I think a lot of the population has this attitude especially the male half. lol! I know Doug acts like he's invincible sometimes and so does Nathan but they're getting better. And as to your comment: it's not that I don't love my mom or want anything to happen to her. It's just that not a day has gone by in the past 6 months (or possibly longer) that she hasn't kept me on the phone griping about Nathan, and most of it's just petty stuff that she makes out to be a big deal. You'd think he was the devil himself to hear her talk. It's bad, and I mean seriously bad. It gets on my nerves.
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