16 replies to this topic

[Parubilla]

I have to disagree with you here, I don´t think that homework is bad, because that,s a review of the day so children can absorbed everything they have learned in the day, I don´t think it cut off the time with the parents, because homework is also an opportunity as a parent to see what your kid is learning in school and also share the learning experience that some parents think is only responsability of the teachers.

On the other hand I do agree that all of the activities in modern schools are calculated, scheduled so they leave little or no space for the kids to relax at school and see it as something fun like I believe was for me, but I think most kids nowadays see it as boring and don´t have the same desires to go. For example when my brother was in Elementary school he had the lunch recess but it was only to eat they didn´t have a space to play with a ball that wasn´t allowed they just had to sit there, and I was like ?????? they are little kids they are supposed to play a lot, run, do a lot of physical activities that are required for the kids to be healthy. So I believe that´s why so many kids doesn´t perceive physical activity as fun but as a subject they have to pass, or the sport they have to take not because is required.

Off course I also think is responsibility of the parents to not allow their kids to be slaves of the television or video games but to show them different activities they can do to learn but also have real fun directly interacting with real people.

sheepdog, on Nov 30 2009, 10:40 AM, said:

I love this statement.
I still hold the old fashion belief that it is the responsibility of the parents to raise the children. But the way it works today, parents have little or no control of their children. As someone else pointed out, far too many of our childrens activities are scheduled, programed, and totally controlled. There is no space for spontainious play. The schools overload the children with "homework" which I believe is a complete infringement on the parents rights, it cuts out any time the parents have to give instructions of what they believe is important for their children to learn. And the general bleeding heart do gooders have made it so a parent has no way to control or deal with bad behaviour in their children. How are children going to learn respect or responsibility if they are allowed to do whatever they wnt, when ever they want with no reprocussiong for bad behaviour?

[princeofvegas]

My children RARELY watch TV anymore unless it is an educational show. I try to keep them involved in activities that will keep them active and away from the TV. I even have my kids at the point where instead of a sugar snack they prefer to eat fruits like strawberries or something of that nature. It is all about how you spend your time with your kids and what they come to "learn" as being fun from you. If you sit around and watch TV .. your kids are going to end up sitting around and watching TV. This is the biggest reason that I am divorced now was because I would come home from work and my ex wife would be sitting there watching TV while the kids were in their room watching TV. Once I got custody, I obviously changed that. In short, just spend quality time with your kids that does not involve television.

[fermin25]

I am totally agree with you... The homework doesn´t have to be a bored activity for the kids because they are consolidating all they learned in the day... The problem is when the fathers have bad examples for their kids and they imite all their fathers do...

Watch TV is a great way to lose your time and make the time run and run and get a lof of diseases that the sedentarism makes.... The obesity is a world program and the kids are the most affected because they imite the actions of theirs fathers and start since they are really young to sit in front of the television and spend their time seing things that only give a little entertainment but don´t give nothing for the learning of the kids...

Learn is easy in these days with the educational channels when the tv works for the kids development... but the channels of movies and music only distract the attention of the kids and that give them a false satisfaction sense that is only temporal and the kids only earn deception in the long time...

Believe you or not the tv damages a lot to the young heads that the only simple fact of watch a program TV in one hour create in the kid the feeling of a unexistencial world that make him dream but don´t allow him think and make that is the reason because the human race is better than animal...

Please put your kids away the television, give them books and practice sports with them.... Because their physical and mental health depends on you.... And want you or not the future of your sons is your future....

With the homework point I am totally agree too... The homework is one of the best activities for the kids and you have to help them to understand that the homework is fun and no a bored activity...

Dont watch tv for entertaiment your kids, wath tv only for learn...

[nolan]

I'm sorry to say, but parenting plays the biggest part in a child's behavior. If you have a child who shrugs off family interaction to watch TV or play video games on a continuous basis, that reflects more on your parenting abilities than generational trends. Sure, you can't be the only one involved in your child's life, but you're already the most influential just by virtue of your role. Instill in them the values you want them to carry and believe they should have and everything else will come together a lot easier.

[harrison858]

I'd have to disagree on the idea... but technically it is changing.

The definition of fun does not need to be forcefully changed. Time is changing the definition of fun, not the parents, not their friends or family.

The definition of "fun" throughout history has always been changed, and will always be changed as time progresses. Its a natural way of changing the definition of fun. Its also natural that every generation says "ok, we need to stop. Too many things are changing... lets go back to the way it was."

If everyone wanted to take a step back, would we advance in technology and academic knowledge and discoveries?

The world is naturally changing. The world changes with time. People change with time.

Technology changes with time, and fun changes as our technology advances.


In the colonial days of the United States, children used to play with marbles, they used to play with hammers, they used to help farm and build houses. That was all they had to do. Nothing else "fun."


Before the computer ages, we used to go to the beach and build sand castles and whatnot. Not like we dont do so today, but we do so less often

Now, we are stuck to Online gaming, console gaming, and multiplayer games, in the Technological Revolution.

Let us all be involved in it, and not try to change the definition of 'fun' forcefully, but naturally as time progresses.

[DodgyPhil]

I know this isn't the argument at hand but.. It's the older generation's fault. I'm 16, and I'm aware that I'll sound like an ungrateful child, but I didn't choose how to be raised. Neither did I choose how my generation was bought up, or how the world was sold to us. We didn't ask for electronics- greedy corporations and a swathe of lazy parents handed these things to us and said, "This is fun".
I currently work around three hours a night in preperation for my GCSEs which have apparently been 'dumbed down'. I didn't ask for them to be made easier, but the British government- averagely aged 50- decided it would get more kids into University, and send them off to unsuspecting employers with Mickey-Mouse qualifications in a vein attempt to boost the economy.
The only time I see my family is when I share a 30-minute meal with them whilst watching television. I was raised well, and my parents are madly keen on old-fashioned 'ideals', but with the workload and the temptation to use electronics as a release, I don't have the time for them or conventional 'fun'.
Children of the sixties, hang your heads in shame. Just kidding, we're cool.

On an unrelated note, I enjoy being told that "Drugs are bad" by people who probably smoked dope more than me. I know for a fact that my mum and dad smoked constantly through University in the 70s, and Jacqui Smith (the god awful government worker who reclassed Cannabis as a grade B drug) single-handedly consumed the world's weed supply during her school days.

[dancemaster]

Fun can be anything. For me fun has no particular definition. If your kid is enjoying something badly ,It is the perfect activity for kid.