i came home early from school yesterday (hmmm... i shouldn't even have been in school really) and adri and i decided to take issa and sam for a short walk to the playground.
by then, most of the streets had been cleaned of fallen plants and branches, so there was barely a trace of frank's aftermath in our little subdivision. the height of the creek's water the day before was marked by plastic bags caught on plants growing on the stone wall.
there wasn't anyone at the playground, and just a few boys (and men) playing halfcourt basketball. sam and issa played at the swings, slide, monkey bars and seesaw (bakit walang playground nung bata ako?) for a bit and then we took the long way home.
barely a trace of frank's aftermath, no one at the playground, no classes...
we hardly ran into anyone on the street, no kids on bikes, no kalye badminton, no bouncing balls, no running kids in rubber slippers, no one. just a maid walking a dog, people cleaning the street and watering their plants and a few construction workers on their way home. all adults. wow, where were all the kids? at the risk of sounding old, i HAVE to say... dati basta walang klase nasa kalye na kami! patintero, bikes, or just roaming the streets. i suppose now the kids were inside playing some game, or surfing the net or watching tv or a (pirated) dvd; discovering the world from inside their rooms.
ay, iba na talaga. i suppose my nieces and nephews wouldn't know patintero from shato, or piko from agawan base. back then, indoor games meant scrabble or monopoly or pusoy or clue (which reminds me, adri was able to install clue on my computer.. so now you can play a game originally meant to be played by three or more people by yourself!).
Now, that's scary... I'm reading "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder" (well, quite slowly, because I'm out a lot) and well, kids staying indoors is a function of what keeps them inside (virtual reality) and prevents them from going out (concern for security, etc.)
ReplyDeleteBut what I'm really concerned about is a fear of nature that seems prevalent among parents (and therefore kids). Am I just imagining this, or have you noticed it, too? (Survey, anyone?)
yup, you're right anna! you know almost all my pamangkins are afraid of dogs, at fino-foster pa ng mga magulang nila! parang namang nung bata kami hindi kami gumulong sa sahig with puppies! or naligo sa ulan na malamig! (well, i'm not a parent so i really don't know where the paranoia comes from. but you're a parent anna! pinagbawalan mo bang maligo sa ulan ang anak mo? :)
ReplyDeletenope! but unfortunately, i had to raise her with other people - relatives, lolas, her yaya, etc. i think they sort of passed on some of their fears to her! (i remember taking her hiking when she was 8 and she wouldn't touch the rocks! i knew that didn't come from me.)
ReplyDeletejust curious, what would be the science background of these parents who are scared of nature? also, were they exposed to nature as kids?
You think this is what they think? (There are, of course, other C&H strips that celebrate the outdoors. More later!)
ReplyDeleteI took a bath in the rain with my mother several years ago. My mother still brings home chicks, ducks and goslings from the farm so that her great grandchildren can play with them. Mikeli used to take a bath with the goslings in her bathtub. Mikeli brought home a friend once who was deathly afraid of chickens and she ran back into the car when she saw the chicks... where on earth did that come from???? We passed by her old school to say hi to her teachers and she noticed that the grass was growing in the schoolyard. She told her teacher that during her time, they did not give the grass a chance to grow since they were playing all the time in the schoolyard. The teacher said that Mikeli's class was one of the last ones that truly enjoyed playing in the garden, girls with boys... My niece who taught at a kindergarden said that there was a boy that was afraid to walk on the grass... Kids now spend too much time indoors infront of the computer. I'm sorry but I think the computer is not a substitute for the real things in life like taking a bath in the rain and enjoying a good walk outdoors... I did not allow Mikeli to buy a playstation even if it was with her own money. I told her that I'd rather have her outdoors than stuck infront of a screen doing mindless things....
ReplyDeleteKids do not know what they are missing... and it is cheap, and it is fun...
My parents are protective...as in bawal maligo sa ulan and etc...but when i was a kid - my cousins and i would sneak out to go in the rain and we loved it! Pag may bagyo, we would even dig int he mud until we made parang a small swimming pool and we would go swimming there!! yuck but it was sooo much fun. My younger brothers grew up with the same parents, puwede naman tumakas para maligo sa ulan, hindi naman bawal maglaro sa kalye BUT I never remember them getting dirty like i did! I agree with Ixi, super sayang, daming namimiss ng kids ngayon.
ReplyDeleteSo eto ngayon ang plano witht he upcoming baby...NO TV until he/she is hmm....lets see, 7? 8? 15? hehe Definitely no video games, no computer games until they're old enough to read to play educational games! Gagapang ang baby sa lupa, sa sahig, madadapa sya, at kung anu-ano pa! hmm sabagaykung san san ako nakakarating ngayon...so paglabas naman ng baby ko ang first word niya would be tweet. hehe or should i say sound? :P
go kitty! i'm sure you'll be a great mom... just like ixi and anna! :)
ReplyDeletewaaaah! im 3 mos pregnant and Ed and I are already kidding that our baby should have an email account...being married to an IT guy, our kid will definitely be exposed to cyberspace probably earlier than most others (will this trigger the nature deficit disorder?)...pero ang mga pasa at sugat nya ay magmumula sa baseball, fishing, at skate boarding...
ReplyDeletepero iuuwi ko din sya sa Pinas para makaligo sa ulan (sobrang lamig naman kasi ng ulan dito) at para matuto ng patintero at shato...at hopefully makapagsalita ng maayos na Filipino...kung gusto nya maging bird watcher di ko sya pipigilin...
hehe! i'm sure you'll be a great mom too jen. even if your baby is exposed to cyberspace early, i'm sure you'll balance that with outdoor activities! yup, at kahit dyan sa connecticut ay hayaan mo syang maglaro sa snow (balutan mo lang ng husto ). kahit maging kasing kulit pa nya si calvin (of calvin and hobbes), hayaan mo lang sya! :)
ReplyDeleteituro mo din ang mga birds dyan! bumili ka ng libro para maituro mo ang mga hummingbird at cardinal at mockingbird. hehe.
sad but true :)
ReplyDeleteHey, listened to a podcast on NDD, too, and it seems even we well meaning moms just don't get them out enough more than the infrequent weekends and vacations. Alon gets to bike at CCP's sculpture garden but is that enough? When's the next kidbirding? I always thought I myself would be giving Alon his nature education, but it's too boring for him sometimes not being with other kids. Sure, he has trekked to mudsprings, walked across a high hill in Oregon, spend five days on a boat from Baler to Dikapinisan and been outdoors a lot, but not usually with other kids. That is why I take him home to Lipa where playing with kids had him doing spider wars (sorry for the sensitive animal rights folks, but at least they're not icked out by creatures) and why I took advantage of the nature camp offered by Kidsahoy. http://ipatluna.multiply.com/photos/album/23/Nature_Camp_with_Kids_Ahoy_and_Blue_Water_at_Pinto_Gallery
ReplyDeleteNako, lumalabas kung gano ka na katanda..
ReplyDeletetsktsk...