E wrote in to add to yesterday’s fairytale conversation: I was obsessed with fairy tales and mythology as a child. Back in the 60s, that meant reading the “Blue Fairy Book” and the “Red Fairy Book” from the school library and other books my parents bought me. It was still safe in those days for an 8-year-old girl to go wandering around in the woods, and I did that, imagining that this hollow log might be a portal to fairy land, or that I might see a real troll under a bridge! I was not surprised when I didn’t see any real fairies, but at that age, I still kept an open mind—maybe they ARE real! That is the process of childhood, sorting out reality from fantasy. At some point, the deeper meanings of the fairy tales became apparent to me.
This statement: "It was still safe in those days for an 8-year-old girl to go wandering around in the woods..." may be in keeping with contemporary sentiments, but it's not in keeping with contemporary facts. It's much safer for children to roam about than it used to be, as violent crime is far lower than it once was. The US violent crime rate peaked in the early 90s.
Parents imagining that going outside is so terribly dangerous for their children is part of what has parked them all inside in front of the internet. Where, among other dangers, they encounter trans groomers and pedos.
Maybe if todays kids were allowed to go out and play in the woods more they'd be healthier, both physically and mentally.
It’s been said so many times, but it still amazes me that all knowledge is immediately discarded when this issue raises its head We KNOW humans don’t mature psychologically until they are 25, we know it from.experience, but it is also now part of established science (though how scientific psychology can ever be is another matter). Regardless, there is solid research backing this, while there is little when it comes to childhood transition - and what is there is pretty alarming already. All we know about childhood development - disregarded in service to middle-aged men.
This is why I think we should be asking ourselves "are we comfortable saddling children with the responsibility of decisions that might be long-lasting or permanent?"
I think back to my own decisions even up into my twenties and feel grateful than almost none of them were permanent. I can't imagine making 13 or 16 year old me responsible for things that would impact me decades later.
What a burden that is to place on a child! Which brings me back to the idea that many adults must not have emotionally matured past their own childhood if they think saddling children with the responsibility of life-long medical decisions is a good idea.
Thank you for sharing these insights from Ginsberg, incredible. My mind went to the same place after I wrote that comment yesterday. Because I can remember exactly that feeling of deep immersion in fantasy, doesn't really seem so long ago. Besides fairy tales, Narnia was also very, very real for me as a child, as Harry Potter was for Eliza. Imagining myself in Narnia soothed my lonely soul and made me feel real and special in a way that nothing else did. I wanted to go to Narnia so badly! Like Eliza, I would never have told anyone that I secretly wondered if I might tumble into Narnia through a "wardrobe" (we didn't have those in my childhood, we had closets, but seemed much the same thing!) Why on earth would I not have imagined that I might be a boy--especially since it wasn't presented by my school, my doctor, and society as a fantastical story from a book, but actually truly possible?
This statement: "It was still safe in those days for an 8-year-old girl to go wandering around in the woods..." may be in keeping with contemporary sentiments, but it's not in keeping with contemporary facts. It's much safer for children to roam about than it used to be, as violent crime is far lower than it once was. The US violent crime rate peaked in the early 90s.
Parents imagining that going outside is so terribly dangerous for their children is part of what has parked them all inside in front of the internet. Where, among other dangers, they encounter trans groomers and pedos.
Maybe if todays kids were allowed to go out and play in the woods more they'd be healthier, both physically and mentally.
It’s been said so many times, but it still amazes me that all knowledge is immediately discarded when this issue raises its head We KNOW humans don’t mature psychologically until they are 25, we know it from.experience, but it is also now part of established science (though how scientific psychology can ever be is another matter). Regardless, there is solid research backing this, while there is little when it comes to childhood transition - and what is there is pretty alarming already. All we know about childhood development - disregarded in service to middle-aged men.
This is why I think we should be asking ourselves "are we comfortable saddling children with the responsibility of decisions that might be long-lasting or permanent?"
I think back to my own decisions even up into my twenties and feel grateful than almost none of them were permanent. I can't imagine making 13 or 16 year old me responsible for things that would impact me decades later.
What a burden that is to place on a child! Which brings me back to the idea that many adults must not have emotionally matured past their own childhood if they think saddling children with the responsibility of life-long medical decisions is a good idea.
Thank you for sharing these insights from Ginsberg, incredible. My mind went to the same place after I wrote that comment yesterday. Because I can remember exactly that feeling of deep immersion in fantasy, doesn't really seem so long ago. Besides fairy tales, Narnia was also very, very real for me as a child, as Harry Potter was for Eliza. Imagining myself in Narnia soothed my lonely soul and made me feel real and special in a way that nothing else did. I wanted to go to Narnia so badly! Like Eliza, I would never have told anyone that I secretly wondered if I might tumble into Narnia through a "wardrobe" (we didn't have those in my childhood, we had closets, but seemed much the same thing!) Why on earth would I not have imagined that I might be a boy--especially since it wasn't presented by my school, my doctor, and society as a fantastical story from a book, but actually truly possible?