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diff --git a/content/entry/organization-let-grow.md b/content/entry/organization-let-grow.md index 5a961e3..9325586 100644 --- a/content/entry/organization-let-grow.md +++ b/content/entry/organization-let-grow.md @@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ title: "[Organization] Let Grow" date: 2022-04-06T00:00:00 draft: false -makerefs: false --- # Paper Guns When I was in elementary school, my childhood friend and I became fascinated with paper guns. We rolled up pieces of paper and taped the edges together to form hollow cylinders, which in our minds were gun barrels. We performed a similar procedure to craft the gun handles, taping them to the barrels. For the ammunition, we crumpled up tiny paper balls for bullets. Then we would shoot them at each other by quickly blowing air through the opposite end of the paper gun barrel. @@ -12,7 +11,7 @@ We got pretty good at making paper guns. It was a blast. It was so much in fact I was the chief architect behind the "chaos" in the classroom and quite satisfied that the other children had taken to my game. I felt accomplished. But when I sat in the chair in the principal's office, I felt ashamed. I wasn't sure exactly what I had done wrong, but a bunch of authoritative-sounding adults decided it was wrong. I now realize that the adults were making a big deal out of what was actually normal childhood play. # The Swine Flu -On a different day, I was outside on the playground. Some other student had come up with a pandemic-like game similar to tag. It started with one "infected" person. That person tagged someone else who then became infected. So on and so forth until everyone was infected, and then we restarted. It was a fun twist on the game of tag and unlike tag, it had a definite ending. Given the timing, I think the disease was supposed to be swine flu[1] since that was happening at around the same time I was in grade school. +On a different day, I was outside on the playground. Some other student had come up with a pandemic-like game similar to tag. It started with one "infected" person. That person tagged someone else who then became infected. So on and so forth until everyone was infected, and then we restarted. It was a fun twist on the game of tag and unlike tag, it had a definite ending. Given the timing, I think the disease was supposed to be [swine flu](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_pandemic) since that was happening at around the same time I was in grade school. The playground monitor who watched over us, a woman probably between the ages of thirty and fifty at the time, told us that the swine flu game was no longer allowed. I never learned why not. It didn't make sense to me as a kid. It was just a modified game of tag where we simulated a pandemic that was already of concern anyways. @@ -31,7 +30,7 @@ Children are more resilient than they get credit for. They're not nearly as frag This is all in stark contrast to how our grandparents were raised. They weren't babied. They were allowed to be free and independent and have real childhoods without child protective services being called. In the span of a few decades, we've went from allowing children to play freely to coddling them to the point that they learn none of the skills they need to be functional adults. # Let Grow -A while back, I found an organization that's working to fight against these absolutely stupid trends robbing children and parents of the lives they deserve. It's called Let Grow[2]. They have a lot of good information on their website, such as recommended books on the subject[3], research[4], advocacy to change the laws surrounding child abuse and neglect[5], and educational resources for schools and communities[6]. +A while back, I found an organization that's working to fight against these absolutely stupid trends robbing children and parents of the lives they deserve. It's called [Let Grow](https://letgrow.org). They have a lot of good information on their website, such as [recommended books](https://letgrow.org/our-books/) on the subject, [research](https://letgrow.org/resources/essential-reading-list/), advocacy to change the laws surrounding [child abuse and neglect](https://letgrow.org/legislative-toolkit/), and [educational resources for schools and communities](https://letgrow.org/program/educational-resources/). I've read through some of Let Grow's stuff and I think their work is vital to solving this problem. I think the problem is real and quite serious. We have to give children their independence back. I'm not saying how children were raised in the old days was perfect. I don't want to idealize the old days, but in terms of childhood independence, it was better. So I just want to promote Let Grow and make everyone aware that there is a movement against this overprotective parenting. For more information about Let Grow, check out their website. @@ -49,14 +48,4 @@ Let Grow should be about children gaining more independence and parents and educ # Conclusion Based on what I've seen of Let Grow, they're doing a good job promoting childhood independence and I think they should stick to that. More childhood independence seems to be a very widely supported goal which shouldn't be diluted by taking public positions on the work ethic of millennials or the ethics of spanking. -If you have extra money, please send a donation to Let Grow[7] to help end helicopter parenting, restore childhood independence, and make parenting more bearable again. Thanks. - - -Link(s): -[1: 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_pandemic) -[2: Let Grow](https://letgrow.org) -[3: Let Grow - Books](https://letgrow.org/our-books/) -[4: Let Grow - Research](https://letgrow.org/resources/essential-reading-list/) -[5: Let Grow - Legislative Toolkit](https://letgrow.org/legislative-toolkit/) -[6: Let Grow - Educational Resources](https://letgrow.org/program/educational-resources/) -[7: Let Grow - Donate](https://letgrow.org/program/donate/) +If you have extra money, please [send a donation to Let Grow](https://letgrow.org/program/donate/) to help end helicopter parenting, restore childhood independence, and make parenting more bearable again. Thanks. |