As a parent, you always want to do what’s best for your babies.
Of course you do; we all do! In fact, we are morally and socially obligated to
do absolutely everything in our power keep our kids safe, healthy and adequately
educated.
Walk into any big retail store and you’ll find aisles upon
aisles of child-care products, ranging from new-age learning technology, to
potty training aids, to more mysterious must-have items with names like ‘the Summer
Infant Snuzzler.’
Today’s retailers are shameless about capitalizing on our
protective instincts. They clamour to sell us all kinds of items that are
guaranteed to enhance our children’s safety at home, at school, at the park and
in the car. If I were to accept the internet’s definitions on common
child-safety practices, my three-year-old would be dressed in full riot gear
every time he went for a bicycle ride.
Perhaps it was just a different time, but when I was a kid climbing trees and granary ladders, my mom’s biggest concern was that I
didn’t wreck another pair of jeans.
The social-media machine is doing a great job of fuelling
the deep dark fears of most young parents. My daily Facebook and Twitter feeds
constantly feature stories about shocking child tragedies that could have been
prevented if only the parent’s had purchased some new-fangled safety device.
It makes you wonder how anyone ever raised children without
a digital baby monitor streaming live video to their cell phones. How the hell did
they regulate the temperature of the child’s sleeping area? My God, it’s
amazing that any of us born in those pre-wireless days survived past infancy!
Granted, there are a few common-sense steps parents can and
should take to ‘kid proof’ the house; things like electrical outlet covers and
cabinet locks are pretty much mandatory. I’m pretty sure both my kids would
have tasted window cleaner by now if we hadn’t bothered to lock up all our
cabinets.
Educational technology is another cash cow for the kid-crap industry.
Apple and Microsoft would have us believe that laptops and tablets are ‘essential’
in the mental development of today’s toddlers. My boys get to play with Dad’s
iPad once in a while – if they are behaving. Though the iPad can buy us
precious minutes of peace and quiet, I’m definitely not comfortable with the
wide-eyed, zombie-like state those glowing screens seems to induce.
I know there is plenty of research to suggest that computers
are valuable learning tools, but my fatherly instincts tell me that playing on
a swing set, or building a snow fort is still better for my child’s development
that drawing shapes on a computer screen.
Today’s toddlers – mine included – seem to require rooms
full of expensive toys, gadgets and gimmicks to stay entertained, but I have a
hunch that when my grandparents were kids, they were perfectly happy playing
with homemade dolls, potato sacks and wooden swords.
Leo is a former Advocate editor.
Contact him by email at newsdeadline@gmail.com or
follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/LeoPare
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