Todays Child - Lost innocence
How complicated it has become for our children today. I think I can speak for many of us here concerning this. When we were kids it was simply do not talk to strangers. Seemed to have worked for us. Or did it. With the advent of advances in telecommunications and the Internet we now have "instant" news. And the disappearance of children has been pushed to the forefront of the news. Megan's law has seen the advent of the instant alert. And that has shown to have saved some of the children. I just have to wonder how many children really were missing when we were children ourselves. Has the number of missing children gone up over the years or has the reporting of this just increased?
Not to long ago I walked to the store with a friend's child. A beautiful 10yr old young lady. Long blond hair and very pretty. There is no doubt in my mind that she could and would be a target for a predator. And while walking she happened to mention to me that a predator lives on the next street. I asked her how she knew this. Turns out that the police had passed out flyer's upon the release of a sexual predator from prison.
Her parents discussed this with her to warn her of the danger of this person who now lived on the next street. They are constantly reminding her of people like this. They live in dread that she will disappear from them. What has been found many times is that the predator in fact is someone the child might in fact know from the neighborhood. And in time grows to trust them simply because they may see them often.
It just amazes me that this young child now has to worry about this in her life. One part of me is grateful that she is in fact aware. Another part of me is sad that not only does she have to have this information, but now she also is a possible target for terrorism. That she is even aware of that as being a problem. Going to a sporting event she will be scanned. At school she is taught about terrorism. She has security guards in place at the school to protect her. Her reality now is that we are no longer the Great Country that we have always taken for granted. But a target that many in the world hate and would do harm to if possible. And she must digest this as her reality.
9-11 has certainly changed our perception of reality as adults. But we did not grow up with that perception. We formed it as an adult in reaction to recent events. The child now a days grows up thinking that the world is a dangerous place and that there is no innocence. They have to not only worry about people that may live close to them. But worry intellectually about a perceived threat. And we as adults have a hard enough time with that. Imagine the child struggling with that as well.
Not to long ago I walked to the store with a friend's child. A beautiful 10yr old young lady. Long blond hair and very pretty. There is no doubt in my mind that she could and would be a target for a predator. And while walking she happened to mention to me that a predator lives on the next street. I asked her how she knew this. Turns out that the police had passed out flyer's upon the release of a sexual predator from prison.
Her parents discussed this with her to warn her of the danger of this person who now lived on the next street. They are constantly reminding her of people like this. They live in dread that she will disappear from them. What has been found many times is that the predator in fact is someone the child might in fact know from the neighborhood. And in time grows to trust them simply because they may see them often.
It just amazes me that this young child now has to worry about this in her life. One part of me is grateful that she is in fact aware. Another part of me is sad that not only does she have to have this information, but now she also is a possible target for terrorism. That she is even aware of that as being a problem. Going to a sporting event she will be scanned. At school she is taught about terrorism. She has security guards in place at the school to protect her. Her reality now is that we are no longer the Great Country that we have always taken for granted. But a target that many in the world hate and would do harm to if possible. And she must digest this as her reality.
9-11 has certainly changed our perception of reality as adults. But we did not grow up with that perception. We formed it as an adult in reaction to recent events. The child now a days grows up thinking that the world is a dangerous place and that there is no innocence. They have to not only worry about people that may live close to them. But worry intellectually about a perceived threat. And we as adults have a hard enough time with that. Imagine the child struggling with that as well.