Among School Children
It’s amazing how you can grow up and forget childhood-excitement, or the feeling of it. I was watching a whole lot of small children a while ago and was sad to realise that I’ve lost some of the wonder of being a child.
I was near to a sweet stall and it was amazing to just see the looks on the children’s faces as their gaze fell upon the colourful treasure. Their eyes glowed and all of a sudden their hands transformed into magnets, attracted to the sweets. Some would just walk to the stall, grab a sweet and shove it in their mouth before anyone could stop them. I saw twins, a boy and a girl about two years old. They both had huge blue eyes and couldn’t resist reaching out to the sweets. Their mother tried desperately to stop them and the little girl looked at her with those irresistible eyes and smiled as if to say, “How can you resist me?” All the while the mother was probably worrying about them getting rotten teeth.
We have forgotten the innocence of childhood and sometimes cannot see just the positive aspects of things. Another little girl, about five years old, brought a friend to choose some sweets. While choosing what they wanted, the little girl pointed to some and said, “Those are bubblegum. But you can’t have them.” Her friend asked her why and she answered, “Because I’m not allowed to.”
We sometimes forget how to appreciate and enjoy a moment to the fullest. When children see their friends it’s as if just seeing them gives them an enormous amount of energy.
They run up to them shouting in excitement and immediately they run off together to play. Children are able to show their true emotions in a way grownups can’t/won’t. They don’t worry about other peoples reactions, they act on impulse.
Sometimes I think that we burden children with our worries and fears and in a way we steal their treasured childhood. Instead of forcing them to rely on their imagination, we just switch on the television and let actors entertain them. Children become desensitised because we expect them to handle things that are beyond their understanding. We trap their abundant energy by feeding them junk to keep them quiet and buying playstations to keep them occupied instead of letting them run around and play, and then fall asleep, exhausted, to their own dreams not simulated ones.
The 360 acre tract that Sidney Investments is considering is located in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. The elevation of the site does not vary much, ranging from 400 to 460 feet above mean sea level. The soil, being primarily composed of sand and silt, is quite mesic and highly drained. The annual precipitation in McCurtain County averages 48 inches. The average annual temperature is near 66°F and there are around 260 days in the growing season. Though shortleaf pine prefers a site with a little more moisture, it will, nonetheless, grow well on this site. Because of its characteristic tolerance of varying site conditions, shortleaf pine will outperform any of the other southern pines on this site.
Imagination does not always involve dealing with realistic feelings or reading books and having to understand ideas in an intellectual way. Imagination does not need to be taken seriously; intelligence, on the other hand, should be taken seriously. Giving a child a book will test his reading and literacy skills. Putting a child in front of a 20/20 broadcast will confuse him. Reading books are meant for learning, not to expand one’s imagination. Children are not supposed to believe that television and video games are bad for them when this addictive hobby only makes them happy. It is only an excessive amount of television entertainment that will truly damage a child’s intellect. Adults, however, understand both how to read and the difference between reality and fantasy worlds and the effects television has on their intelligence.
In “Television Harms Children”, Ann Vorisek White claims that the intellectual and cognitive development of children who frequently watch television is threatened. To support this claim, she points to the findings that “the more television children watch, the weaker their language skills and imaginations” (White, 2006). Before the brain fully matures around age 12, it is in the stage of rapid development. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) “recommends that children under the age of two not watch TV or videos, and that older children watch only one to two hours per day of nonviolent, educational TV” (White, 2006). A study from the AAP (as cited in White, 2006) found that the average American child watches four hours of television every day. Considering "expression and reasoning are not automatic" abilities, young children who routinely watch television eventually become "passive and nonverbal" to stimuli in their environment (White, 2006). Since the normality of curiosity and imaginations of young children are the foundation of how they learn, remaining passive for extended periods of time affects their intellectual and moral development.
A child is known for having innocence, and bad experiences strip kids of it. In Sarah’s
There are controversial moments occurring in the world every day, as seen across news stations and internet pages everywhere. The U.S has been home to a plethora of controversial moments such as the Coalgate, Chinagate, Deflategate, and Monicagate scandals. These scandals share the common suffix “gate” from the original “Watergate” Scandal, which is considered to be one of the largest political scandals in American history. This scandal is possibly one of the most significant series of events to occur in the entire world to this day for several reasons. Primarily, this scandal filled every American citizen that followed it with doubt, fear, and complete mistrust for the government system due to the casual attempt to abuse a position of power multiple times from then President Richard Nixon. What exactly went down during this long-winded
Keim, R. F., Dean, T. J., Chambers, J. L., & Conner, W. H. (2010). Stand Density Relationships in Bald Cypress. Society of American Foresters, 56(4), 336-343.
Patel, R. (2010, November 3). Children and the Media: The Effects of Movies on Children. Retrieved March 23, 2014, from Loving Your Child: http://www.lovingyourchild.com/2010/11/children-media-exposure-effects-movies-children/
Loss of innocence can happen in many ways. Some losses are enormous and hugely impactful, like killing, while others are small and subtle like growing up. Innocence is lost in the most innocuous ways, most of which aren’t noticeable, which brings this paper to a closing question, something implied through both of these works; something to think about. Is every loss of innocence bad, or are they just stepping stones on the path to becoming an adult?
For example, play such as climbing, skipping, running, and hopping assist in the development of the child’s gross motor skills. Similarly, cutting with scissors, and drawing assist in the further development of the child’s fine motor skills (Davies, 2011). In addition, play is instrumental in social development. Preschool children learn values of prosocial behavior such as comforting, helping, controlling aggression, and sharing via cooperative play. For example, turn taking is an important aspect of play that fosters sharing, moral reasoning, control of aggression, and conflict resolution because it is an essential aspect to the child’s establishment friendships and maintenance of relationships (Davies, 2011). Consequently, because friends spend more time playing together, they have more conflicts but are more likely to negotiate a solution. Ultimately, because of the child’s desire to be accepted and valued by peers, conflicts become opportunities for the child to learn how to, control aggression, share, and resolve
One of the alarming times in American history came directly after August 9, 1974 when President Richard Nixon was forced to resign by the United States Congress. Nixon had been convicted for secretly recording every conversation he ever had in the White House, whether in person or on the telephone, and for the discovery of his involvement behind the Watergate complex break-in. Although considered a victory for the Constitutional government of the United States, Richard Nixon’s resignation for the crimes of the Watergate Scandal of 1972 brought an inadvertent consequence for the American people of a growing lack of faith and cynicism for the government and the office of the president.
Franklin, J. F., et al. (1981). In Ecological Characteristics of Old-Grow Douglas Fir Forest, (GTR PNW-118). Retrieved July 9, 2005, from USDA Forest Service Web Site: http://
When play involves adults, children “lose some of the benefits play offers them, particularly in developing creativity, leadership, and group skills” (Ginsburg 3). It is crucial for children to participate in unstructured play because it teaches them how to consider the feelings or views of their peers (Morgan 2). With children learning to consider the feelings and views of others, it exposes them to vital social skills like working in groups, sharing, negotiating, how to resolve conflicts, and learning self-advocacy skills (Ginsburg 3). It is through unstructured play children are able to create and explore their own world. Children are able to create a world where they can master and conquer their fears while practicing adult roles (Ginsburg 3). As they master their own world, they “develop new competencies that lead to enhanced confidence and the resiliency they will need to face future challenges” (Ginsburg 3). Through this, children not only learn how to respond to certain situations and how their actions affect others, but also learn more about themselves and their own emotions (Morgan 2). Unstructured play allows children to move at their own pace and “practice decision making skills, discover their own areas of interest, and ultimately engage fully in the passions they wish to
“The youngest children have a great capacity for empathy and altruism. There 's a recent study that shows even 14-month-olds will climb across a bunch of cushions and go across a room to give you a pen if you drop one.” Alison Gopnik
Working with children can be very rewarding. Children tend to be very happy and innocent and pleasant to be around, however, there are times where it can be sad depending on the child’s situation. One thing that excites me with working with children is seeing their smiles when
Almost at the age of seven, I made a friend named Dani. I liked being with her because she was always smiling. We played together and giggled a lot. Sometimes, she’d randomly dance, spin around, or run away alone, but I never cared or wondered why. One day, there were these older kids pointing and laughing at her. I skipped up to them. “Dani’s my friend,” I blurted out happily. They laughed even harder.