What kind of person begrudges a child a day off?
So much of what is wrong with modern Britain was summed up this week.
A report into modern childhood expressed the view that parental selfishness and a preference for career and personal leisure over children's happiness were causing children to grow up without much of the attention, love and understanding they need. Immediately, there were howls of protests from the soupies (self-obsessed urban parents) claiming that working parents were being demonised, which was not the case at all. People were saying that their habit of dumping their kids in a nursery from an early age and barely seeing them again until they turned 18 was teaching them all kinds of positive things, ambition, a work ethic, etc. It was pointed out on the radio that many schools now had breakfast clubs etc, making life easier for working women. The fact that schools are becoming more and more like prisons and that some children now have a longer working day than their parents didn't seem to bother anyone.
The day after this, a huge fuss was made over schools closing because of the snow. Now, when I was a kid, we used to pray for snow to close the school and I, remembering how it felt to be a kid (and in my case, to be beaten up every day at school), am perfectly happy for schools to close at the first flakes. And, if you think I'd feel differently if I had kids, bear this in mind. No child of mine would ever go near a school. Schools are unsuitable places for children. They learn far less than they would at home and often suffer intolerable torment.
This week, kids got to play in the snow and many played with their parents, who couldn't get to work. For a little while, children who have been trapped in our miserable, cruel, arbitrary education system, where even small children are tested and made to feel stupid and worthless were able to be just children and to have some fun.
The next day, some cold-hearted harridan, definitely a feminist, expressed the view that schools were failing in their responsibility to parents by failing to keep the kids out of their way for a day. She said she resented the fact that she had to look after her grandchildren when they were not at school, because her own children had been placed in childcare. She took no pleasure in the fact that her grandchildren were enjoying the day, she just saw spending time with them as an unspeakable intrusion on her me-time.
So, the report was right. The biggest blight on childhood today is the selfishness of adults. The problem with that woman is that she is sending a message to the children that they are unwanted burdens and do not deserve her time. When they grow up, she and their parents will be their models of parenthood. And we wonder why young parents can't relate to their children!
My mother was a stay-at-home mum. She enjoyed the peace when we were at school, but also loved the moment when we came back into the house. The knowledge that she was there, waiting for me with a cup of tea, made all the horrors of school more bearable. On the rare occasions when snow closed the school and the much more frequent ones when bolshevik teachers' strikes did, she viewed the day as a special treat for all of us. We'd do stuff together or the three of us would fill a bag with provisions and go off together on an adventure, but if the adventure proved disappointing, we'd return to her for inspiration, because our mother knew how to have fun.
She managed to encourage us to aim high and have ambitions, but she also taught us that love mattered more. Money was never a god to us, neither was the selfish pursuit of pleasure. What all three of us value above all other things to this day is being with those we love and knowing that they are happy. We never break a promise or shirk a responsibility. We work hard for our employers and never take a day off sick if we can struggle to work. She also taught us that women should not be judged by how much money they make, but by who they are.
Feminists loathe women like my mother, women who choose to be parents first and all else later. I've had feminists tell me my mother is oppressed. No woman was ever less so. I pity the patriarchal male who tries to oppress any woman in my family. She simply has what it takes to be a good parent, an infinite capacity for love.
A report into modern childhood expressed the view that parental selfishness and a preference for career and personal leisure over children's happiness were causing children to grow up without much of the attention, love and understanding they need. Immediately, there were howls of protests from the soupies (self-obsessed urban parents) claiming that working parents were being demonised, which was not the case at all. People were saying that their habit of dumping their kids in a nursery from an early age and barely seeing them again until they turned 18 was teaching them all kinds of positive things, ambition, a work ethic, etc. It was pointed out on the radio that many schools now had breakfast clubs etc, making life easier for working women. The fact that schools are becoming more and more like prisons and that some children now have a longer working day than their parents didn't seem to bother anyone.
The day after this, a huge fuss was made over schools closing because of the snow. Now, when I was a kid, we used to pray for snow to close the school and I, remembering how it felt to be a kid (and in my case, to be beaten up every day at school), am perfectly happy for schools to close at the first flakes. And, if you think I'd feel differently if I had kids, bear this in mind. No child of mine would ever go near a school. Schools are unsuitable places for children. They learn far less than they would at home and often suffer intolerable torment.
This week, kids got to play in the snow and many played with their parents, who couldn't get to work. For a little while, children who have been trapped in our miserable, cruel, arbitrary education system, where even small children are tested and made to feel stupid and worthless were able to be just children and to have some fun.
The next day, some cold-hearted harridan, definitely a feminist, expressed the view that schools were failing in their responsibility to parents by failing to keep the kids out of their way for a day. She said she resented the fact that she had to look after her grandchildren when they were not at school, because her own children had been placed in childcare. She took no pleasure in the fact that her grandchildren were enjoying the day, she just saw spending time with them as an unspeakable intrusion on her me-time.
So, the report was right. The biggest blight on childhood today is the selfishness of adults. The problem with that woman is that she is sending a message to the children that they are unwanted burdens and do not deserve her time. When they grow up, she and their parents will be their models of parenthood. And we wonder why young parents can't relate to their children!
My mother was a stay-at-home mum. She enjoyed the peace when we were at school, but also loved the moment when we came back into the house. The knowledge that she was there, waiting for me with a cup of tea, made all the horrors of school more bearable. On the rare occasions when snow closed the school and the much more frequent ones when bolshevik teachers' strikes did, she viewed the day as a special treat for all of us. We'd do stuff together or the three of us would fill a bag with provisions and go off together on an adventure, but if the adventure proved disappointing, we'd return to her for inspiration, because our mother knew how to have fun.
She managed to encourage us to aim high and have ambitions, but she also taught us that love mattered more. Money was never a god to us, neither was the selfish pursuit of pleasure. What all three of us value above all other things to this day is being with those we love and knowing that they are happy. We never break a promise or shirk a responsibility. We work hard for our employers and never take a day off sick if we can struggle to work. She also taught us that women should not be judged by how much money they make, but by who they are.
Feminists loathe women like my mother, women who choose to be parents first and all else later. I've had feminists tell me my mother is oppressed. No woman was ever less so. I pity the patriarchal male who tries to oppress any woman in my family. She simply has what it takes to be a good parent, an infinite capacity for love.