Friday, March 11, 2005
*Hums quietly to self whilst swatting invisible flies*
Am turning into Cousin Dell.
My formative years never really, well, stopped, as formative years usually do. Likewise my teenage protestations against this and that and whatever else comes along. At the moment I am painfully aware of generation gaps, cultural differences, class systems and all other disintegrations within society. Or, the multiple societies which co-exist in the world.
I never liked being told what to do. This can usually be dealt with by deciding not to participate in certain things, or eating ones annoyance, plastering on a fake smile and/or air of good humour and play along nicely with the other kids. The problems obviously occur when one needs advice from someone, asks for advice, and then gets advice that one doesn't like.
See how I've reverted to third person there?
I never liked being told that something wasn't possible. To this day I believe that kids need to be encouraged - unless they want to jump from a very tall building or eat chips all day (there's a Jamie Oliver discussion in there, but I'll get to that another day). I think kids need to be made aware of their limitations but certainly and even more so their abilities - so that if you don't have what it takes to be a concert pianist you may still be able to climb Mount Everest.
I always hated the 'but nobody else does that'- argument. Variations over this could be: 'but that's how everyone else does that' or 'that is just not done' (by whom one might ask). I just don't think that this is reason enough for me to be discouraged from doing something fun/harmless/beneficial for me.
I feel that this is the one thing I have fought for all my life - acknowledgment that maybe I would be able to do this and maybe that would be nice - even though other people don't do it that way.
Too abstract for ya? - Still in my formative years and will not be able to divulge any further...yet.
Am turning into Cousin Dell.
My formative years never really, well, stopped, as formative years usually do. Likewise my teenage protestations against this and that and whatever else comes along. At the moment I am painfully aware of generation gaps, cultural differences, class systems and all other disintegrations within society. Or, the multiple societies which co-exist in the world.
I never liked being told what to do. This can usually be dealt with by deciding not to participate in certain things, or eating ones annoyance, plastering on a fake smile and/or air of good humour and play along nicely with the other kids. The problems obviously occur when one needs advice from someone, asks for advice, and then gets advice that one doesn't like.
See how I've reverted to third person there?
I never liked being told that something wasn't possible. To this day I believe that kids need to be encouraged - unless they want to jump from a very tall building or eat chips all day (there's a Jamie Oliver discussion in there, but I'll get to that another day). I think kids need to be made aware of their limitations but certainly and even more so their abilities - so that if you don't have what it takes to be a concert pianist you may still be able to climb Mount Everest.
I always hated the 'but nobody else does that'- argument. Variations over this could be: 'but that's how everyone else does that' or 'that is just not done' (by whom one might ask). I just don't think that this is reason enough for me to be discouraged from doing something fun/harmless/beneficial for me.
I feel that this is the one thing I have fought for all my life - acknowledgment that maybe I would be able to do this and maybe that would be nice - even though other people don't do it that way.
Too abstract for ya? - Still in my formative years and will not be able to divulge any further...yet.
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