Is childhood disappearing in America?

Kids are growing up too fast today. Girls worry about their appearance and boys are driven toward macho behaviors far too early. Eight to twelve-year-old children stop playing hide and seek and adopt teen attitudes and behaviors. Maybe we should go back to the 50’s to decide what America’s childhood should look like.

Many children in the unhurried 50’s didn’t have TV sets and they listened to the radio with their parents or played board games rather than computer games. They spent a whole heap of time playing outside and most came to first grade not knowing their ABCs. Yet at the end of first grade, and every subsequent grade in fact, they outperformed today’s kids in most subjects.

Childhood discipline seemed different from today’s “democratic parenting” approach. Mom and dad told you what to do, and you did it, because they said so. Throw in unconditional love where children felt loved simply because they existed, not because they’ve behaved in a certain way, and their self-esteems seemed to develop just fine.

Here’s eight suggestions to preserve childhood and to allow kids to be kids!
(1) Declare childhood a “Golden Period” where freedom is not permitted to be seized by the tensions of the adult world.

(2) Teach children how to create something from nothing instead of getting expensive playthings that do everything for them. Playing hide-and-seek, statue, Red Rover or kick-the-can will once again brighten an entire afternoon.
(3) Allow tomboys to emerge once again.

(4) Empower children to feel genuine and not as if they’re on a stage all the time.
(5) Appreciate the fact that a small child may be more captivated by a tiny, green worm crawling across the sidewalk than by an elaborate swing set assembled in the backyard.

(6) Require “outside time” and allow kids to run barefoot, pick dandelions, climb trees, and catch crayfish or frogs in the local creek.

(7) Finance schools so they’re the most tantalizing, safe, and comforting places for children to set foot in, especially those in lower income areas.

(8) Furnish kids with Good Samaritan heroes/heroines. I had mine in the 50’s, like the Lone Ranger, Jackie Robison, and Roy Rogers. Today, there’s many that you can introduce your children to: Gabby Douglas, Malala Yousafzai, Saira Blair, Taylor Swift, Daniel Tiger, Neil DeGrasse Tyson or former NFL player Terry Crews.

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. Let’s hope we can allow our kids to be kids a while longer.

Robert Morton writes about family issues and is the author of the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster series. Check out his latest spy novel: MISSION OF VENGEANCE