Water pistols and stuff

[Earl Sande <sandes@CODETEL.NET.DO>]

It seems not such a long time ago when children could play all sorts of
games and explore the wide world in safety.  And, not such a long time ago,
we could give the kids a hug to encourage their learning, or, a slight swat
to discourage the same.

You and I probably squirted each other, ran around killin' whatever
happened to be the "enemy" of the week, appreciate the freedom to just hang
around with the guys or hike to the local swimming hole (where we often
doffed our clothes so our mothers wouldn't find out, snitched a green apple
from the neighbor's tree.  All innocent fun, well recorded by Mark Twain in
his books.

Somewhere along the line, though, we reacted to the events that existed
even in those innocent days, to sexual abuse, to hate crimes, to a host of
situations that our own parents knew of but warned you against.

Those crimes were, indeed, real.  My best friend was shot by another child
when exploring their father's guns, most experienced or were aware of
people who "touched you" where they shouldn't.

As parents ourselves, we have tried to remedy by ruling.  To ensure that
our children can avoid the unpleasantness of inappropriate touching by
legislating (either legally or socially) that touching of any kind is no
longer appropriate, that someone attempting to help a lost child in a mall
is suspicious, or ensuring that our children are accompanied at all times
without the freedom to wander off independently.  And that the old swimming
hole must now be supervised and chlorinated at all times or safely secured
with barbed wire fencing.

Yet, I'm not so sure if we haven't traded off a tremendously valuable
experience for our children and placed them in a cotton batting that is,
ultimately, to their (as opposed to our) benefit.

I hope that we can find and deter whatever is really threatening them, to
provide a world of relative safety and sanity.

I hope that in the near future, we can say to our children that we trust
them and want to provide them with what we had, independence to learn to be
responsible individuals.

But, until that time, I hope that we can, as adults, keep the perspectives
on our rules and apply them as appropriate, not just because they are "The
Rules"

Earl

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