Childhood is not the same

I thought about this during my 2:30am feeding... see what I do when I'm awake in the middle of the night/very early morning.

I've seen commercials for Cabbage Patch Kid's 25th Anniversary. Ok I'm going to date myself here... 25 years ago I was 10. 25 years ago I had not one but 2 Cabbage Patch Kids (actually I had the newborns). Do you remember the craziness of the first Christmas that Cabbage Patch Kids were out... I can remember seeing on the news parents getting in fist fights over a doll... anyway I digress, I didn't start this post to talk about the strange actions of people over the "it item" (hmmm that sounds like it maybe a good post in the future).

Ok back onto what I was thinking at 2:30am...

As I said I had 2 Cabbage Patch kids when I was 10 years old. That puts me in the fifth grade. I was not the only person in my fifth grade class with these dolls. It was not odd for a fifth grader to have a doll... Can we say the same thing today?? Nope! I look at my years teaching kindergarten and think about the fifth graders that I knew and can not imagine them playing with a doll. I can not imagine then even considering having a doll no matter how popular and "in" the doll was that year. I think a fifth grader who had a doll (other than one that may be part of a collection like ceramic doll kind of thing) they would be seen as immature.

Children now a days are expected to grow up a lot faster. From the academic expectations that are now put on young children to the behavioral expectations that are put on every child. I can even remember times as a teacher where I looked at behaviors of a child and deemed them immature... when if I thought about the same behavior when I was a child it probably would have been seen as normal.

What are we as a society doing to our children? I can't see this as a good thing, for the most part. Can we blame it on the tv shows and movies that children are allowed to watch? Can we put blame on the music that they are allowed to listen to? Can we put blame on the fact that the world has changed and children aren't allowed to play outside and feel safe? Can we put blame on the business of our lifes? Can we put blame on the technology that they have available to them?

I want my sons to feel that they can play. I want my sons to enjoy life. I want my sons to enjoy their childhoods because soon enough they will be grown up and childhood will be a mere memory.

Photobucket

10 comments:

  1. You are so right. I asked my 7 year old god daughter what Barbie she wantedf for Christmas because as far as I knew she was obsessed and she replied that "Barbies are for babies"! I think I played with Barbies until I was 12! Actually I can't wait until my girls get some so I can play again. BTW Cabbage Patch Kids were so impossible to get that my mom made me a Feux CPK that year and I loved it! Not sure that would fly nowadays!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oops I meant to type faux. Stella is in my arms as I type!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know - I wish that things were the same for kids growing up today as they were when I grew up!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. stumbled across your blog..

    Amen to all you said. Things were just so different then. Kids were kids, not young adult wanna-be's.

    OH- and we are about the same age, and I had a cabbage patch too. Thanks for taking me back. I think some lady ran me over trying to get the last one. good times!

    Thanks for allowing me to stop in!

    :)
    Amie
    www.heart-smiles.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I still remember my first Cabbage Patch Kid. It was one of the preemies with the tuft of hair on his head. His given name on his birth certificate was Duncan Delmar. A few months later I got another girl preemie and her name was Dina.

    I tagged you for a ful meme over at my blog. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I completely agree. I am watching this unfold a little between my neighbor and my sister-in-law. One is trying to keep the innocence of her daughter, the other is trying to keep her daughter "up with the times" The moms are friends and so "makes" the girls friends. They have had open battles about this. It really is a shame that it is coming to this.

    ReplyDelete
  7. i also aggree that kids are growing up soooo much faster today.. It is such a shame.. I mean, look at the educational pressure that is put on them! it is so insane.. kids should have time to be kids...

    ReplyDelete
  8. I had two - Inga and Craig. They slept in the bed with be until I was like fourteen I think...with my carebear sheets. And I've bought two for Lillian because they have her birthday. I hope that I can encourage her to enjoy who she is today and not make her feel like she has to be someone else tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Amen! My thoughts exactly!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. You are soo right. I think it is very sad. I wish Eliza would stay young forever. I remember my first Cabbage Patch kid. I think I was about to trun 4 when I got one. Her name was megan.

    ReplyDelete

I love to read the comments on my pages. Please share your thoughts and stories here!