Think About This While Listening to MGMT (Kids)
It was on a Thursday night, shopping night in Australia, which is the only night when shops and malls remain open for business until around 8:00 to 9:00 in the evening. They close around 4:30 to 5:00 pm on normal days. Don’t ask me why it’s on Thursday instead of the weekends. I don’t even comprehend it myself.
Anyway, I was enjoying a sumptuous vegetarian meal, Southern Indian Thali, with my good mate, Ruchika, when I started talking about how kids act like adults nowadays. I don’t even remember how it started or how our conversation got sidetracked to this topic. Honestly, I have always been interested in it. Actually, it’s more of a concern for me rather than genuine interest. I remember that during the conversation, there was even a point when I was getting a bit emotionally stressed just talking about it. I was so stressed, I even uttered, “I dread the day I become a parent.”
It’s true though. I know how stubborn I am. I can only imagine what my kids will be like. Albeit I consider myself to be a good kid, I know that my parents probably sent a lot of prayers to the Big Guy up there to bless them with a lot of patience, wisdom, strength and courage to deal with a handful like me. In fact, my mum said that whilst I was still inside her womb, she prayed to God that I’d be a girl because she had a very strong feeling that I’d be hard-headed. She said that if I turned out to be a boy, she’d find it harder to control me. So she was relieved to know that I was born with XX chromosomes.
Yes, I have the tendency to argue a lot with people and question the status quo but I don’t classify myself as rebellious. I just want to know how things started, understand the reasons or logic behind methods and processes, and possibly discover alternatives to them. I want to know why things are the way they are and I guess, unlike other people, I just have the audacity to actually say and ask the questions out loud. Is this really how things should be? Why should they be done this way? Is there no other way? Why can’t we do it this way or that way? The questions are endless and honestly, I don’t have the time to talk about it now.
I am not a rebel. I am just a bit of a character and have always been. My mum told me that I was a pain when I was a baby. At 3:00 am in the morning, I would always shriek like a pig and wake up, not just the whole household, but also the neighbours. I would only stop if I got rocked to sleep in my duyan, which is a loose Filipino translation for a hammock (usually rattan-made) for infants. The duyan hung above my parents’ bed so they could rock me to sleep every time. What a pain!
My childhood wasn’t a walk in the park for my parents either. I was one of those kids who got into numerous shenanigans and have scars to prove them:
EVIDENCE
AGE
CAUSE / INCIDENT
COLLISION WITH
Scar on left eyebrow
2
Slammed my face into a …
Cabinet
Scar on my chin
4
While running in my sister’s classroom, I tripped and hit an …
Abacus
Re-grown, oddly shaped and sized fingernail (although barely noticeable)
9
During a course of a basketball game with my younger brother, in a stupid attempt to keep the ring from falling on my sibling (or so I thought it would fall), I managed to get my finger caught in between …
An Iron Bar
and
Concrete Block
(base for the basketball ring)
Scar on my chin (Same scar that opened again and rehealed)
11
Was sitting on an empty LPG tank when I leant forward, fell and hit …
Another LPG tank
Of course, my siblings and I got into a lot more misadventures when we were younger and I’m sure my parents had headaches over medical bills; repairing broken furniture, electronics and appliances; breaking up fights; or fixing noticeable damages to the house like holes through doors and dented aluminium doors caused by sibling fights that have gone horribly wrong. But you see, we were allowed to act like kids because well, we were.
Unfortunately, kids nowadays lose their innocence too early. They don’t get to enjoy their childhood. I shake my head when I see young girls, fully dolled up like teenagers. Kids are dancing to songs like My Humps, and teenagers act like adults. Who else is there to blame but the media? I grew up watching the telly, studied Media Communications, and worked for media companies but I still find it appalling that the media could sink this low.
Perhaps, I’m just getting old. I’m sure our grandparents weren’t impressed with John Travolta’s sleek hairstyle and punk attitude in Grease. And perhaps, their parents thought that Elvis Presley and The Beatles were devil incarnates. But I wish there’s just a bit of discretion. Or at least, try to target the audience appropriately and ethically. Seriously, I grew up watching teeny-bopper movies and shows, which almost glamourised sex. With permission from their parents, twelve and thirteen year old kids are having parties in the basement, but unbeknownst to their trusting parents, are taking turns to kiss and make out inside the cabinets. You’re also not “cool” and considered a prude if you’re still a virgin at 15.
Or maybe, the parents are not spending enough time with their children nowadays. This is the new millennium after all. There probably is less need for parenting. Kids are now being raised by cable televisions, the internet, along with different game consoles and gadgets that are out there in the market. Family time is no longer a part of the normal routine. It is now only reserved for special occasions like birthdays, Christmas or New Year’s. But hang on, I shouldn’t be silly. How can I forget that these days are now reserved for friends and lovers?
Look, I’m not saying that kids should be sheltered and sexually-repressed but seriously, at a very young age, should kids really be worrying about things like their cup size, waistline measurement, “love life”, or lack of sexual experiences? Since when did being a “virgin” become a stigma? Apparently, chastity and respect for oneself are regarded poorly in the status hierarchy of the modern society.
I am not a hypocrite. I do have concerns about being fit and watching my figure but I don’t starve myself to death to do it. Neither do I take fat-burning pills, designed for obese people, to lose weight. I don’t stick a finger down my throat to puke out what I just ate. But I was a teenager once and I know how it feels to be one. I once obsessed over my weight and physical appearance to the point of counting the calories of the foods I ate, and even thought about eating paper. I also helplessly dealt with life’s challenges as if there was no future, lacked trust for my parents, lived in a secret world, and worried about how guys might not find me attractive. Yes, it was really tough. I was insecure and felt like no one understood me and that I was being repressed by society. I was idealistic and was driven by as much angst as dreams and ambition. I was hungry for knowledge and was determined to prove myself to the world, as if there was a need to.
However, before I went through that stage and actually, even during that course, I lived like a kid. Even now, I feel like a kid at heart, but with a lot more life experience and maturity. Reading about that 13-year old British boy named Alfie, who practically looks like a baby himself, fathering his own child to his 15-year old girlfriend was, more than shocking, heart-breaking. Refer to http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article 2233878.ece
What is happening to this world? How naïve can children be about sex and parenting? Why are kids growing up so quickly? Why can’t kids remain kids for just a little bit longer? Why aren’t there enough good role models out there for kids to look up to? This brings me to the very controversial make-over of DORA THE EXPLORER. See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=37198
Fine, she has a funny hairstyle and she’s not as fashionable as the new one but who cares? Nosostros adoraba la bonita niña. I’m not sure about the accuracy of my Spanish but I do hope you know what I mean. Perdone para mi espaniol el terrible. Hahaha.
But seriously, what’s wrong with the current Dora? She’s meant to be a role model for the kids and as far as I’m concerned, the kids love her. We all do! Why do we have to commercialize her? Why do we have to make her wear sexier clothes and give her a salon-style hair? God forbid, they’ll improve her relationship with her amigo, Diego, into something more PG. When I was a kid, I didn’t care about fashion as much. I wanted to have lots of fun and I did, by not caring as much about my physical appearance. I cared about friendships. I cared about my pets and other animals. I remember getting excited about simple things and so every little discovery was met with enthusiasm and amazement. I didn’t have many toys when I was younger so I was content with playing with makahiyas, catching dragonflies, licking the sweet nectar from santan flowers, and blowing bubbles with the concoction I made from soap and pounded gumamelas. And yet kids these days are as spoilt and rotten as they can be.
Now, that, my friends, is what we call a tragedy.
Children are not an occasional acquirement; we are responsible for their salvation: The negligence of children is the greatest of all sins as it leads to extreme impiety: There is no excuse for us if our children are corrupt.
-- St. John Chrysostom