(I'm sorry for not posting a new entry in a little while. I was just honestly a bit upset from receiving essentially no comments. I have received a few now so far. I appreciate and thank those who have commented so far. I hope to receive more comments in the near and coming future).
Have you ever considered where many of the social issues originate from? There are, of course, many origins to these "issues", but one of the more major (or at least more influencing) factor is poor parenting.
As suggested/hinted at in my previous entry parents play a significant role in our people turn out.
The old saying about how the children are the "future" is quite true. What I believe many parents fail to realize is that their offspring are the future. A poor level of parenting significantly contributes to the child not having a clear focus on life.
Many of these individuals often end up doing illegal drugs, committing petty thievery, and all sorts of horrible things.
Some end up being addicted to, for example, World of Warcraft. Others block their minds out from the rest of the "real world" and turn themselves completely into the "virtual world".
It is true that many of us enjoy technology, such as the Internet, but the distinguishing factor here is the level of involvement.
Another issue with parents in general is something quite unfortunate. As many of you readers probably have experienced or know of someone who as, parents tend to compare their children to others. It's almost as if parents see their children as a commodity or a property and continuously compete with other parents and their kids to be "better".
What is "better"? Is it just grades, "achievements", what college the child gets accepted into, the kinds of hobbies involved, clubs...
Although these activities enrich the mind, it would seem that many parents unfortunately live by this competitive setting.
Competition is good and healthy. But there are more things to life than these things.
What a child learns, the experiences, the chance to free-think for themselves, the chance to do what he/she wants to do (as opposed to told to do), the chance to figure things out on their own (no matter how long it takes), the freedom to make mistakes and learn...
That's something that should be stressed. This hyper-competitive world that we live in today almost blinds us; a sandbox if you will. These Socio-mental barriers that prevents many children (of whom will collectively literally become the future) are being pushed away from their potential because of these demands.
Of course, when a parent is questioned about, most will say that they are good parents and let their children do this and that. But really?
There seems to be this traditional, generic life path that is set for the child. The parent may allow the child to do some things on their own, but often we see the child being criticized with the response, "See? I told you so." and then in "successes" often the child is given a "Good job!" response. But really...is that at the child or a self-reassuring mechanism?
What do you think about this? Please comment below.
Update
I found a relevant YouTube clip that displays poor parenting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dXcIZFPpow
There are a few issues here.
1. How could a parent not be able to watch over these children to the point where another child actually dies from suffocation?
2. How could a child be not competent enough to understand that burying anyone in sand and leaving that individual there for minutes can lead to suffocation and possibly death?
3. For a television show such as Naruto, how could a parent not be aware that the show may be impressionable on the child and to either moderate the child when the child is watching it or simply not allow the child to watch it?
4. What happened to the parents teaching the child the difference between "virtual reality" and "reality"?
* I am not necessarily saying that violent media (in this case Naruto, albeit intended for audiences who are a bit more competent and mature), is a definite cause to replicating the same kind of behaviors.
* The issue I am discussing is the lack of parenting, or at least some form of supervision. Younger children tend to be more impressionable from everything that they experience.
* Should it really take a death of a child for a parent to be surprised or shocked that something like this could happen? In this case, I would probably guess that this parent(s) would simply come to the conclusion that Naruto is automatically bad and it is the cause for all of such behavior.
* Often, this type of thinking process would be considered scapegoating. Yes, it is strongly suggested that what the child did does resemble much of what he must have viewed on Naruto, however for the child to actually go about and mimic what he saw is a disturbing, especially when the child should have been at least able to conceptualize (i.e. imagine) what would happen if such steps were taken as to mimic what he saw on the television.
* I would hope that after this incident that the parent discussed with the child what he did was inappropriate. I would also hope that the parents don't simply blame Naruto for this behavior as if the parents were aware or at least more involved with the child, I would assume that it is likely the child may view Naruto but probably not go as far as to taking the life of (what I assume to be) a friend.
I found a relevant YouTube clip that displays poor parenting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dXcIZFPpow
There are a few issues here.
1. How could a parent not be able to watch over these children to the point where another child actually dies from suffocation?
2. How could a child be not competent enough to understand that burying anyone in sand and leaving that individual there for minutes can lead to suffocation and possibly death?
3. For a television show such as Naruto, how could a parent not be aware that the show may be impressionable on the child and to either moderate the child when the child is watching it or simply not allow the child to watch it?
4. What happened to the parents teaching the child the difference between "virtual reality" and "reality"?
* I am not necessarily saying that violent media (in this case Naruto, albeit intended for audiences who are a bit more competent and mature), is a definite cause to replicating the same kind of behaviors.
* The issue I am discussing is the lack of parenting, or at least some form of supervision. Younger children tend to be more impressionable from everything that they experience.
* Should it really take a death of a child for a parent to be surprised or shocked that something like this could happen? In this case, I would probably guess that this parent(s) would simply come to the conclusion that Naruto is automatically bad and it is the cause for all of such behavior.
* Often, this type of thinking process would be considered scapegoating. Yes, it is strongly suggested that what the child did does resemble much of what he must have viewed on Naruto, however for the child to actually go about and mimic what he saw is a disturbing, especially when the child should have been at least able to conceptualize (i.e. imagine) what would happen if such steps were taken as to mimic what he saw on the television.
* I would hope that after this incident that the parent discussed with the child what he did was inappropriate. I would also hope that the parents don't simply blame Naruto for this behavior as if the parents were aware or at least more involved with the child, I would assume that it is likely the child may view Naruto but probably not go as far as to taking the life of (what I assume to be) a friend.
