Assignment # 1
February 11, 2011 by Bundeep Nanda
Childhood has taken a dramatic turn in today’s society. Today’s children seem to transform into adults so fast that they seem to barely be walking before they are acting out what they are seeing and hearing in this world.
The parents of today seem to have lost control of their children and don’t seem to have control over what their kids are seeing on television or on the internet. The games that little kids play today would have put mother in a faint in the 1950’s. The kids of today were born with many perks that the older generation did not have. Kids today know how to work a computer, plug in games, turn on the x box or wii without parental help and many can do it by age 5. Kids used to be told to go outside and play, today they are allowed to sit in front of the television for hours or play in their rooms on their computers without interruption by the parents. Not only does the child often suffer from obesity from sitting down all the time, they are also learning some extremely bad habits from what they are watching on television and the games they play.
Watch this video of a new game called Call of duty:Black Ops that was released last year. The violence is graphic, the blood flows, and the soldier dies. However, quickly the soldier can re-spawn to go back into battle. I bet this game had put an great deal of effect in children behavior and this is how kids tend grow up and act violently in real world. In which, this tends to lead children to commit adult crimes.
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg_8mPoloBo&feature=channel
Do we stop making games? I think the answer is no, we don’t stop making them. We make sure that our children play only games that are applicable to their age and maturity level. There are many good games made today, games that can teach your child to add, spell and use their brains to make good, logical choices in life. We can’t fault the game if our children are allowed to sit for hours unattended. We can be sure that our children are going to school, doing their homework and perhaps some chores. Sit down to dinner with your children, ask how their days were and did they need help with any homework. Do not allow games to become the only thing your child knows how to do by himself. The violent games can teach your child violence, it can teach them that death doesn’t really mean death. There are too many incidences where video games have shown a teen that shooting is okay. Read the following link where a video game was the mitigating factor for a boy shooting a girl. I was shocked when I read this article and I was amazed that a violent game can put children lives in danger.
2. http://gamepolitics.com/2007/02/28/video-games-made-me-do-it-defense-raised-in-oregon-murder-trial
Did you ever want to know how to build a bomb? Well our children can learn on the internet how to make one. Watch this video for a simple bomb, but trust me if you research further you can find by reading or ordering magazines or books on true bomb making on the internet. This is what I exactly mean. By showing how to make a bomb on internet or any other places will put people lives in danger. This is a lack of parenting control. This video shows how children can mentally and physical build anything that will put many people lives on risk because some children believe that they are grown ups and can act like adults so they tend to do illegal activites.
3. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/748115/how_to_make_a_bomb/
The internet is a wonderful thing when used properly. After all this paper will be turned in using the internet and the videos and a lot of the references for this paper came from the internet. However, when not properly controlled by the parent, children can get into an awful lot of trouble on the internet. The internet shows them songs with violence and filthy language. Children can research pornography and dating sites on the internet, sometimes with dire consequences. According to healthymind.com the statistics regarding pornography online shows the average age of first internet exposure is 11 years old while 90% of 8-16 year olds have viewed porn online. The largest consumer of internet porn is the 12-17 age group!
4.http://healthymind.com/s-porn-stats.html
Parents need to be active and diligent in their quest to know what their children are doing on their computers. So many kids are getting pregnant today, learning much about sex on the internet. Parental controls are available on home computers and should be used to its full extent by parents to protect their children not only from themselves, but, from sexual predators on the internet.
In my opinion childhood has been taken away from so many young children. They face their parents out of work, the economy is so bad that young teens can’t find jobs, every turn seems to bring them to violence in the streets, pornography in their music and on their computers. Unless parents put forth the effort to know exactly what their children are doing on their computers and take part in their lives again, children can’t be children anymore. The dinner table is a great place to pass along wisdom to your children and to find out what’s going on in their lives. Problems such as bills and jobs should not be stressed upon kids, they might think it’s a worthless cause to go to school. Protecting your children’s lives with everything in your power is the only way to bring back the innocence of childhood again. Parents shouldn’t watch adult language or content movies or shows on television when their children are around, if the parents do it, the children will too. Children can learn so much about life from watching their parents. Perhaps the parents bowing their head in prayer at meal time or watching wholesome television with their kids, or keeping adult business between just the adults, could start to turn some kids around.
