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Are The Kids Alright? Do YOU Have Any? How do THEY cope with some of this trauma?

DriftingByTheStormDriftingByTheStorm Posts: 8,684
edited November 2007 in A Moving Train
You know.
For all my venting and raving about the media, and public sentiment, and injustice, i have to admit something:

The media really has finally latched on to global climate change, environmentalism, and all sorts of green issues.
The news channels are doing things like "Planet In Peril" and "Green is Universal" and featuring lots of guests even on market shows on msnbc ... and the panelists are always talking about climate issues and green investment etc.

This is stuff i thought we were 20 years from ever seeing as short time ago as the late 90's. NOTHING was in the news back then.

HOW MUCH the world has changed (or atleast the media, lol -- wow, did i just say that?)

HERE IS MY QUESTION:

Given the medias new found stomach for much of this "hard" reporting, HOW ARE THE KIDS DEALING WITH IT?

I never had a clue how fucked we were until probably my 3rd year of highschool when i really took a focused look at environmental issues (after having found a copy of my dads "Whole Earth" cataloges, and meeting a friend who was raised by hippies and in to permaculture -- at a rave of all places)

Anyhow.
My point is that there was very litle mainstream news coverage of these adverse conditions when i was "young".
Today a kid can turn on the tube and watch 2 hours of horror stories about icecaps falling in to the sea and killing us all, and how china is eating all the worlds animals, and basicaly how we may all be fucked pretty soon.

They are also capable of stumbling upon lots of scary news about peak oil, or about things like a possible recession, or another war, or nukes in the middle east.

I probably would be COMPLETELY crazy if i found out about stuff like that in highschool.

What about gradeschoolers ... do they comprehend this stuff? Are they reacting?

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Do they ask you questions?

How are they processing and coping with this stuff?

I'm just curious.

The one thing i have noticed about adults is that they are VERY quick (TOO quick) to digest horrible news, process it with mild regret and then kind've just shrug it off with the "oh well, we're fucked, lets move on with our lives" attitude ...

is the new generation just giving in and "going under" (to borrow poorly from neitzsche) like the last ones?

Is this blanket acceptance a trademark of all human agegroups or are the young ones taking stock and internalizing these problems in some fundamentaly different ways?

Are your kids talking to you?
Are they worried? Are they scared? Do they even care?

DISCUSS!
If I was to smile and I held out my hand
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • jeffbrjeffbr Seattle Posts: 7,177
    Since I don't believe the world is ending, and since I'm not scared, neither are my kids. We talk about issues. We talk about the news. We talk about history. Most importantly, we talk about putting it in perspective.

    They are healthy, happy and well adjusted. They are looking forward to their bright futures. They are also mostly insulated from the extremist kooks who think we're living at the end of times. Since I make fun of such people, my kids are growing up with the right perspective about those kinds of stories.
    "I'll use the magic word - let's just shut the fuck up, please." EV, 04/13/08
  • chromiamchromiam Posts: 4,114
    jeffbr wrote:
    Since I don't believe the world is ending, and since I'm not scared, neither are my kids. We talk about issues. We talk about the news. We talk about history. Most importantly, we talk about putting it in perspective.

    They are healthy, happy and well adjusted. They are looking forward to their bright futures. They are also mostly insulated from the extremist kooks who think we're living at the end of times. Since I make fun of such people, my kids are growing up with the right perspective about those kinds of stories.

    Nicely done.... parents have to be proactive and not reactive to issues and allow their kids to see that things aren't always as good or bad as the media or others like to make them out to be.
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  • farfromglorifiedfarfromglorified Posts: 5,696
    DriftingByTheStorm wrote:
    ....I probably would be COMPLETELY crazy if i found out about stuff like that in highschool.....

    Anyone else find some humor in this?
  • jeffbrjeffbr Seattle Posts: 7,177
    farfromglorified wrote:
    Anyone else find some humor in this?

    * raises hand *
    "I'll use the magic word - let's just shut the fuck up, please." EV, 04/13/08
  • blackredyellowblackredyellow Posts: 5,889
    I was a kid during the oil/energy crisis of the 70's, the tail end of the cold war, the explosion of AIDS, starvation in Africa, Tiananmen Square, the space shuttle disaster, Chernobyl, big hair, bad music...

    My point is, every generation has terrible things going on in the world, but with each generation there is hope for the future... Yes, there are some screwed up things going on, but if you get so worried about them or let your kids get so caught up in the bad, you/they will miss out on all of the wonderful things in life.
    My whole life
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  • Drowned OutDrowned Out Posts: 6,056
    jeffbr wrote:
    Since I don't believe the world is ending, and since I'm not scared, neither are my kids. We talk about issues. We talk about the news. We talk about history. Most importantly, we talk about putting it in perspective.

    They are healthy, happy and well adjusted. They are looking forward to their bright futures. They are also mostly insulated from the extremist kooks who think we're living at the end of times. Since I make fun of such people, my kids are growing up with the right perspective about those kinds of stories.


    My kids are too young to present any of this stuff to…the only exposure they get to any form of media is thru Treehouse (Canadian no-ad-kids station)…BUT…when they are old enough, I will teach them to have an open mind, listen to ALL opinions and form their own….the truth is usually somewhere in the middle, which you can’t find without the extremes. …making fun of people is a way of dismissing someone without listening for any sliver of truth…critical thinking is a very important thing to teach kids IMO.
  • DriftingByTheStormDriftingByTheStorm Posts: 8,684
    farfromglorified wrote:
    Anyone else find some humor in this?

    that statement was made with requisite self-deprecating irony, by the way.

    I know how crazy i come off, and that was done intentionaly to give your like something to really laugh at.
    glad it paid off.
    If I was to smile and I held out my hand
    If I opened it now would you not understand?
  • farfromglorifiedfarfromglorified Posts: 5,696
    DriftingByTheStorm wrote:
    that statement was made with requisite self-deprecating irony, by the way.

    *phew*
    I know how crazy i come off, and that was done intentionaly to give your like something to really laugh at.
    glad it paid off.

    It most certainly did.
  • Solat13Solat13 Posts: 6,996
    I disagree about growing up without environmental news being made available to young people. My dad was a school teacher in the public school system in Philly and would have "Weekly Readers" that were distributed to his students. I went to Catholic School so we didn't get those.

    And I remember being in 4th and 5th grade in the late 80's and reading about the effects of stryofoam on the environment, the hole in the ozone layer, the effects of aerosol cans, and of course my favorite the impending Ice Age that was set to hit the world in the next 10-15 years. Looks like science struck out on that last one. ;)

    The thing is if you were interested - even at a young age, the information was out there. Most people in the world just don't care and children for the most part follow their parents' example.
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  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    I'm Canadian. Ever since I was a kid the government, media and education systems have been pushing the environmentalist agenda. It's Canadian law to recycle, it's mandatory.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    To address your questions.

    In all liklihood pre-adolescent children probably don't comprehend in full the consequences of global climate destabilization.

    Most pre-adolescent children's reactions to political or environmental issues are representative of their parents reactions.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • MattCameronKicksButtMattCameronKicksButt Posts: 4,317
    My child is too young to understand at the moment but I hope he grows up to care about the world but not necessarily believe everything he reads.
  • JeanieJeanie Posts: 9,446
    Solat13 wrote:
    I disagree about growing up without environmental news being made available to young people. My dad was a school teacher in the public school system in Philly and would have "Weekly Readers" that were distributed to his students. I went to Catholic School so we didn't get those.

    And I remember being in 4th and 5th grade in the late 80's and reading about the effects of stryofoam on the environment, the hole in the ozone layer, the effects of aerosol cans, and of course my favorite the impending Ice Age that was set to hit the world in the next 10-15 years. Looks like science struck out on that last one. ;)

    The thing is if you were interested - even at a young age, the information was out there. Most people in the world just don't care and children for the most part follow their parents' example.

    I'm with you. :) I can remember all kinds of environmental and social issues being a part of my growing up. Particularly when I hit my teens and Mum & Dad divorced. That's when Mum's perspective of the world kicked up a notch or 7 and we were often out protesting, joining up with green groups, living as an environmentally friendly life as our limited income would permit. I do remember there were classes at school about the environment and holes in the ozone layer and all kinds of information about styro foam and aerosol cans. We were particularly vocal and involved with People for Nuclear Disarmament, The Australian Conservation Foundation, The Public Transport Users Group, Greenpeace and a whole lot of community based initiatives. And I can honestly say that we weren't as involved or as vocal or active as we should have been. I find it interesting that this kind of stuff has been going on forever and much of what I have learned I have learned from my Mum, some of my grandparents and immediate family. Interestingly what has become a life long interest for me, has not for my sibling or some other members of my family. I think a lot of people are now getting on board with environmental issues because they've worked out a way to "market" it to the general population. And I'm sure I'm cynical, but I can't help but wonder if that's only because the marketing people and big business have figured out this is the way the general population is thinking and they've got to find ways to cash in on it.
    NOPE!!!

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  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    my children are okay. my two youngest at 8 and 10 dont seem overly concerned about the state of the world. every now and again they ask questions but for the most part they can listen to me during one of my almost daily soapbox rants. :D if something strikes their fancy they'll ask. otherwise, as all kids should be, theyre in their own little worlds. :)
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  • 810wmb810wmb Posts: 849
    kids are fine...

    we had they 'duck and cover" in case of a nuke attack...jezee, we turned out alright...didn't we?

    BAWHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    i'm the meat, yer not...signed Capt Asshat
  • RolandTD20KdrummerRolandTD20Kdrummer Posts: 13,066
    At that age you're too busy doing shit to give a shit...
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

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  • 810wmb810wmb Posts: 849
    RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:
    At that age you're too busy doing shit to give a shit...


    hell, that's what wrong with us!!!

    not busy enough, we gotta slam each other on the net

    i think i'll go play outside....
    i'm the meat, yer not...signed Capt Asshat
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