So I wrote this silly little column in today’s paper about summertime and what a great time it is to let kids be kids. Down here in the South kids have already begun their summer vacations, and I admit, I get wistful when I drive by children playing on Slip-n-Slides on their front lawns on my way to work.
So I wrote about it. Not my best work by far, but whatever.
And in response, this morning I got this lovely e-mail from a reader concerned that my prose is somehow contributing to the delinquency of American youth. (I’m leaving it in all caps because that’s the way it came to me and, well, the shouting just adds to the delight):
“YOUR PERSPECTIVES COLUMN OF TODAY, ‘BEST PART OF SUMMER IS FINDING SOMETHING TO DO,’ MISSED THE POINT OF WHAT CHILDREN SHOULD BE LEARNING AS THEY GROW UP TO ADULTHOOD. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS WHEN CHILDREN WORKED DURING THE SUMMER AND LEARNED MANY OF THE VALUES NEEDED IN THE ‘REAL WORLD’. GET REAL, LIFE IS NOT ALL PLAY!”
I’m sure glad he’s not my dad.
6 comments:
Maybe his 33-year-old son is still living at home, frolicking on the slip-n-slide and catching fireflies in a jar.
How seriously can you take people who communicate in a perpetual state of "caps lock" ????
No kidding!
The dude has clearly gone his whole life without running through a sprinkler.
I was one of those kids who WORKED ALL SUMMER AND LEARNED THE VALUES NEEDED IN THE ‘REAL WORLD’. What I have become is was a workaholic who feels guilty about taking time out to have fun. Childhood is too special and too brief to require kids to spend their time time “LEARNING” the harsh realities of the “REAL WORLD”. I plan to let my kids be kids. They will have plenty of time to be adults in the future.
Does this guy actually picture the underwater handstand champion as a 17 -year-old high school senior shirking her duties at her part-time job at Pizza Hut in order to practice 'holding her breathe just five more seconds?' Come on, the column was clearly written about YOUNG children. Besides, if his 33-year-old son is still at home it's probably because he was over-scheduled throughout his entire childhood and never left with any down time to learn self-motivation.
Holy crap... that might actually be my dad!
Post a Comment