How Much is Too Much?

As children, we were all told a countless amount of lies. Whether it was Santa Claus or that eating a watermelon seed would cause a watermelon to grow inside of you, lies have surrounded us forever. However, this obviously raises the question, how much of a lie is too much? In Billy Collins's poem, "The History Teacher, he presents us with what he believes is normal in modern-day America:
"Trying to protect his students' innocence he told them the Ice Age was really just the Chilly Age" - Billy Collins
Though the teacher's intentions are clear, we begin to wonder whether or not his protection is harming the kids rather than hurting them. From my experience, my parents' rigidity varied depending on the information I received.  Neither my brother nor me were allowed to watch YouTube by ourselves until we were in fifth grade, but we knew all about the Holocaust and its extremities by that age. I specifically remember a time in fourth grade when my mom ripped off the front cover of a Time Magazine that we had received because it had a picture of a breastfeeding mother on it. That same week, they allowed me to read a book on sexual harassment in India.

Personally speaking, I believe that protection should come in varying degrees depending on age. Yes, I do think it was okay for my parents to educate me on the horrors of the Holocaust by the time I was in fifth grade because it showed me the reality of war. But no, I don't think it was right of them to "shield" me from YouTube until I was older because it only made me more curious about what lurked online. Children deserve protection; we're only little kids for a short period of time. Nevertheless, they should not be given a false perception of the world or lied to consistently. After all, hiding history will only make it repeat itself.

A visual representation of one of the biggest lies I was told:)


Comments

  1. EthanSeptember 16, 2018 at 9:22 PM

    I love your personal connection with the idea of 'protection' because it's so relevant in today's society. Kids today have so much more potentially 'harmful' material they can encounter on the internet, but keeping them away from it will, like you said, just make them more curious. I think your opinion on the varying age is accurate because everyone has to learn the harsh realities at some point in life.

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  2. Sophia YeeSeptember 16, 2018 at 11:15 PM

    Dhatri- I really loved how personal you make your blog with the stories and even pictures! It gives it a really unique touch. I also like the statement you made about how keeping kids restricted from the internet causes them to become more curious and increased the possibility of them snooping around and finding even worse stuff. This reminds me of a psychology article I once read about how strict parents lead to sneakier and more rebellious kids rather than kids who actually follow all of their parents’ rules.

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