I have been finding such joy in the time I have spent recently with my friend Susan and my mother-in-law as we try to get together to walk several times each week. However, this is not a dieting, or fitness, or, go me I'm on the move sort of post. This post is about the culture I find myself in.
On average I have about 10 different kiddos that come and go from my home each week. I also have one who lives with me all of the time. On Wednesday evenings I have the privilege to brush shoulders with 30-45 kiddos at Kids Club. This gives me a front row seat to some of the troubled situations young people are facing today. I would be hard pressed to come up with a list of 5 of these kids who are with their complete biological families. If you work with children at all, I am sure that you have experienced these sorts of numbers yourself.
This particular post may seem a bit preachy or rant-y however, the flabbiness reared it's ugly head in my home just last night so, I thought I'd process a little by writing out my thoughts. I would love any feed back or ideas about how I can respond rather then react to "flabbiness" in the children who I come in contact with on a daily basis...
I sense a flabbiness in our culture. It seems to me that people are watching TV, playing video games, and entertaining themselves to the extent that not only are they suffering; so are their kiddos! This breaks my heart! I see it in the glazed over eyes of the kids that I come in contact with, in their unkempt appearance, and in their "slouchy" mannerisms. When did it become ok for children to continually make bodily noises, refer to any and every body part, and not return pleasantries when spoken to?
The reason I think of this as flabbiness is because it seems like all of the afore mentioned items stem from the same activities that cause flabbiness of the body. However, our world is dealing with a flabbiness of the mind and heart. I fear that our culture is headed swiftly to the "non-talking beasts" that C.S. Lewis refers to in his Chronicles of Narnia series.
The Bible talks about how the word is sharper than a two sided sword. It seems to me, that all the world can wiled is a butter knife, if they feel like it. I want to be on the Bible side. I want to fight against this flabbiness at every turn!
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI think you nailed it on the head. The "couch potato" mentality not only affects the body but also the mind. When children are raised with a "no care" or "you can't change me" attitude, their outward look becomes less than desirable. They can relate better with lego type creatures, movie stars and video games than with members of the human race. I would like to see a revival of good old fashioned manners and time spent with people - real people. Maybe we need to give our thumbs a rest and spend some time talking.
Sad but true. Sharing this!
ReplyDeleteAs a third grade teacher I see this all the time. My way of fighting back is to introduce them to other things, like outdoor games they've never encountered because no one ever played with them. If they get interested in them they will repeat them. (Also indoor games.) After we play a few times, they beg for them. Examples: freeze tag, kickball, streets and allies, drop the hankie, telephone, board games, origami, etc.
ReplyDeleteThanks for these comments!
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