Editor –
Look at a picture of children playing in the street and see what the world used to be like for a child.
The simple game of volleyball or soccer, and the simple bond of friends who could laugh and play without a care in the world until the streetlights came on and they had to go home for supper with their families.
The world has robbed these children of the innocence of being a carefree child. The streets are now quiet, as the children are now indoors on cell-phones, PlayStation or the Internet.
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They are being planted in front of ‘babysitters’ that are called television sets.
Gone are the bonds of friendship where a child would go to his / her friend’s home and talk face-to-face. They now send electronic messages to each other, even if they are in the same room.
With this new age of technology comes a bigger loss of innocence; the child is now able to have access to all corners of the darkest, most dangerous world of drugs, violence and predators that prey on naïve children.
In days gone by, our parents spoke of walking everywhere, meeting at a park to play or even the Town Pool.
They spoke of knowing every neighbour. If you ever needed help and your parents were not at home, you could go to a neighbour. In today’s world, there is no trust in friendships bonded over time.
We teach our children respect, manners and obedience, and then it gets taken away.
Our children morph into young people we recognise but don’t know.
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If we could go back in time, it would be simpler, but we can’t – the world has moved on, swallowing all innocence that existed in a child. We can only hold onto our little ones for a few years.
We can only steer them and their minds in a direction where the use of technology benefits them to become better people and remain the loving, caring people they were born to be. We can encourage them to join groups like a running club or gym.
We can take them into nature on weekends for hikes or bike rides. Most importantly, we must not allow ourselves, as parents, to be too lazy to have conversations with our children and let them find the answers on social media.
To bring back and maintain the innocence of youth, we must encourage our children to be young. Go and experience the great outdoors again, and form friendships face-to-face that will last generations.
Cindy Lello
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