Quote:
|
In many respects children are now considered to be adults by age 18. There is, overall, tremendous pressure on children to grow up very quickly.
|
Child, I have not been a mother, but understand all to well a mother's feeling that children "grow up to quickly". But there is an argument that today's children may be restrained by society into an extended artificial "childhood" as well, warehoused in schools, with no opportunity to contribute to society, or accept any type of responsibilities. Add to that the media-induced ideas of what being grown-up is (doing whatever you want), and a type of "hip" pseudo-sophistication and world-weariness.
Hobbits may have grown slowly, but I'm sure that all their children had what we would consider very grown-up responsibilites to shoulder. Sam was probably doing work with his father from the time he was old enough to handle a hoe.
I recently watched a program where modern families lived for 6 months in a working frontier settlement. Without the modern distractions of our culture, the older children seemed to develop a more "child-like" outlook on life, singing, playing games, exploring their environment. Yet at the same time they had to do the very real work of adults, haying, tending cows, chopping wood. If they did not shoulder these responsibilites, the very survival of the family would have been threatened.
And you know what? The kids themselves admitted to being happier, better people because of it. When these teens returned to modern society, they started to lapse into the sullen, discontented adolescents that seem to be all to common these days. But now they knew WHY they were discontented.
Another tangent that I could go off on is education and modern societies devaluation and belittling of what used to be known as the "skilled trades". I see too many of this generation indoctrinated into believing that the purpose of a "good education" is so that we can all go on to college and become financial analysts, CEOs, and other types of business gurus. The thought that you might work with your hands is a cause for shame, and I sign that you are, at best, an underachiever, and at worst, stupid.
I myself have worked in trade most of my life. The few times I have worked in a white collar environment, I found I was unhappy, and, quite frankly, inept. Unfortunately, with the destruction of trade unions, and the devaluation of these types of jobs, "working with your hands" is not an option for many these days. Not unless you want to starve.
Whoo, talk about your tangents! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
[ June 02, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]