Fact and suggestions!

This blog is going to act like a part 2 sort of to my first blog called
Raised, bred, pass a test, or shut up and watch TV. So, if you haven't read that yet, please do, as I wouldn't want you to be confused by my rambling style of writing that some would call gibberish.

This part of this blog is the fact to support things that I said on my last blog, and my suggestions on how to spend more time with your children. How am I qualified? I am admittedly not an official father, yet, because that time in Mexico doesn't count. Just kidding! And yes, I know that joke is the most over used thing that ever escaped the 90s or was it the 2000s. I don't know...but back to my point. My mom was the mother of 4, and always managed to spend time with her children. It sometimes wasn't the most enjoyable time. I will be honest with you. I mean some weeks it would be the time between her two jobs spent doing laundry. I wasn't all that happy about it then, but now I am really grateful for the time I had to spend with her. Even the bad times. She would constantly make the effort to make sure I did my homework, or how my social life was going. Though as some of you who read this know, she has also told me to hire a high-class hooker in order to give her grandchildren. I am glad to say that I have not done that.

Now that my little white rabbit I followed it out of the way, I will no present a few of the many facts that I have learned through personal experience and too many years of psychology classes. According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry(AACAP) children in American watch 3-4 hours of TV per day, and play video games also 3-4 hours per day. I will again say, or for the first time say because I can't remember if I have said this before. I do not think that Television nor video games are bad. This blog is also not directed at people who spend time and are involved with their children. I think they are bad in large doses, and I will explain why. Okay, okay I know back to the facts. Also according to AACAP children who watch to much TV are more likely to get lower grades in school, read fewer books, exercise less, and be overweight. There are also many programs,(usually not reachable until the ages of 5 and older I would hope), with violence, sexuality, race and gender stereotyping and drug abuse as common focuses. If you read my last blog then you know this is directed at parents who are not involved with their children and exposure to this at a young age can dramatically impact a mind still in development.
By saying this I will also say I am not suggesting hiding them from the world and the type of things that do happen, and they could and probably will be tempted with. However, if they watch a show and think for some reason that the guy doing drugs is cool, and you aren't around to tell them the bad side effects to such a thing... I don't even have to finish. That applies to everything on that list up there. Because they watch TV at young ages and think that it is acceptable behavior without someone there to tell them it is not.  I am sure you get the point I was trying to make. Sorry, I keep adding things in the middle of my facts, but I am trying to avoid the person who posts on here saying things like, "Oh you are just another one of those people from the government trying to get me to hide the truth from my children."  Or any other number of things they could say. In addition, to this I have found that the average american child spends less than 15 minutes outside per day. There are many more facts on this that I could take time to type out, but you are all capable of using Google.


Now it is time for my suggestions, which admittedly I don't have many. These are all also depend on how your daily life plays out, and only you truly know how to make time for your children, but here are my ideas nonetheless.

* Number 1: Take a little time each day to get up to date on theirs. This may not seem like a lot, but I like to think it shows you care.
* Number 2: Spend a little time per week to do something with them games, walking, talking. Even if it is something small, or even mundane. I spent a lot of time with my mother while doing stuff we had to do like chores. I hated it then, but now I realize how much it took from her. Time that she could have spend resting from working hard.
* Number 3: Make plans. I know some weeks you will have no time. Life is frustrating, busy and full of stress. So do this for both you and them. Plans to take a day and spend it with your family.
* Number 4: This is my last suggestion. Please always let them know in small ways that you care. Take care to congratulate them on their successes. It is the small things that really matter, and if all they hear is you grumping over all the things they do wrong they will never know you see all the things they do good.

As a side note the image at the top belongs to kidshealth.org, and I am not trying to use it to make a profit in any way. Second image is also not mine, but was on my computer. Yeah.

Raised, bred, pass a test, or shut up and watch TV.

You get the picture? I was raised on the border of these mentalities. Maybe I was lucky to have escaped its pull, or did I?
Nope.
My problem with the United States currently is its education standards and the way in which children are raised. Oh, I know, I just stepped on some toes with somebody who has children. "Who are you to tell me how to raise my fucking kids?" ~Angry voice~ Now shut up before you start. This is my blog, which means I am writing on my opinion on things. Don't begin to get butt hurt before I finish where I am going with this. Hear me out, and maybe I will begin to make sense to you.

I will start with how kids are raised. Yes, I am starting with my second idea first because I want to and this isn't an essay. I look at the world and it is beginning to look less and less how children are raised and more like how they are bred. Sure most parents might be there the first five years, but I don't see it anymore. I have more people i know who sit their child down in front of the children network than I think I should see. Am I saying that TV is bad? No, in fact I love TV and am a raving fan of Dr. Who. #Fangirling! Just kidding, I don't use hash tags. But, how many of you over use it as a substitute for parenting? Aren't those shows suppose to be a helper for the teaching you are already doing? Before you answer that tell me how many hours do you have them in front of the tube instead of interacting with them? 4,5, 8 or more hours? Now tell me how many hours a day your baby is awake, and what percentage of it's waking day is in front of the TV. Which brings me to my point; how many children are being bred and not being raised? You may say,"I still raise my kid even though I put them in front of the TV for long periods of time." Oh, do you really now? Well I mean we technically also "raise" cattle, the ones kept in captivity, fed through a tube, and all freedom taken away because they are there for only one purpose.

What is the purpose for our children? Where is the real education,(ah, see what I did here I tied it in for my other point), where is the learning? They don't really get any until college, and that is still only a select few teachers who are able to inspire their students to learn and to ask questions. They are put in to a system where all the children are treated like they have the ability to learn the same way? Most of their creativity suppressed, and yet we wonder why there is a giant wave from previous generations to take children out of schools. Schools that don't inspire learning, but gear them to pass a test. They forget over half  mere hours after the test because they aren't truly learning what they've been "taught" After they finish school, even college, they aren't even close to ready for the job they've studied. Most leave college with no experience and only have of what they learned still in their heads. So, ask me again what is my problem with this country? These are just 2 of many, but I will save the rest for another day.

Why did I write this blog? To rant? Well, yes, maybe. Actually it is because I don't feel like I see enough complaints about this. This seems like the future of not only our children, but also our country. People should be outraged! We blog and blog of twinkles when they shut down, and god forbid anything else so unimportant. Yet, when it comes to our children we don't spam the web? Where is our rage and our anger when we are setting our kids up for failure? Well this is my rant, and my first blog I hope you have enjoyed reading. Feel free to leave comments the internet is a free domain.