My Two Cents!

Well, here it is...my two cents worth!
If you're new to this conversation...I'm giving my two cents on a video at this site...
oceanstatelibrarian.com

I agreed with Mr. Tulley on all points! I'm a little leery about breaking the DMCA, but I agree it can have it's merits. Let me explain:

In his talk he mentions first about all the silly labels you find everywhere. I find these "muy ridiculoso". In my opinion they stand in place of parents to consumers who probably grew up without mom and dad's fine teachings. Who can underestimate the "valuable opportunities to learn from the world around them" that he speaks of when you give a child a cup of hot cocoa! No warning label is going to teach them that the cup and the cocoa inside are HOT! A burnt tongue cannot be taught by a label saying, "it's hot!". Trust me, kids have to find that out for themselves. One burnt tongue says paragraphs to their delicate little brains the next time they have a cuppa in front of them! These monumental teachings should follow them into adulthood! Campfires? Anyone ever gone camping? Can you keep the kids away from the firepit? They are drawn like moths to the front porch light! Here again, these are valuable lessons...think about the poor kids who start fires in inappropriate places. They probably never got a chance to play with it under controlled situations with Daddy's watchful gaze. I also have noticed that my kids were drawn to candles at the dinner table. Big sigh here folks. But they had to do it...burn their fingers in the flame and put their fingers into the wax. They were learning there too. Now, knives...mmm...that's going to strike fear in any parents' heart and this one is tough. I talked to some of my patrons at the library after having them look at this video. Several told of how Grandpa let them play with his knife and taught the grandkids how to whittle! Wow! Good old fashioned Grandpa Lore. That's a missing commodity in our society today. Please believe me that I do NOT think you should hand a kid a pen knife and say, "go have some fun!" Bro. Ed has given a few of my kids knives! Now the spear throwing one is interesting. I wonder what would happen if we took all those poor ADD/ADHD kids out to the field and handed them a spear, taught them how to throw it and then guided them into getting out some of their energy? I truly believe that there is no such thing as this pesky label. God has given our kids (most ADD kids are boys!) Energy. Capital word there. They are supposed to have Energy. Kids in the past have had to walk 19 miles to school in the snow after they have plowed the back 40. What outlet do our kids have these days for Energy? Not much...note all the lamenting on obesity going on. Our kids need to get these life skills, and they do...on video games. But not in the real life arena. I'm talking to myself here everyone. I know I've scratched my head over what to do with my last few sons. How to get them "out there" and busy. Maybe we should give son #6 a spear? To tackle the tearing apart of small appliances idea. Again, WOW! What an idea. Why didn't I think of this before? When son #6 watched this video, he said, "I told you I wanted to tear apart old stuff Mom!" I didn't hear him. How sad. But, it's not too late. I let him tear apart my broken coffee grinder the other day. Him and Bro. Danny. They had fun and I overheard Bro. Danny "teaching" a few things to #6...cool! After school, at the library, a little boy comes everyday and it's very apparent that he's lost out there. Seems like a latchkey kind of kid. He tries to get my attention any way he can. So...here's what I'm thinking...I'm going to get an old mixer or something at the Goodwill before next week and a few tools...and I'm going to let him take it apart at the library! Maybe I can capture his attention instead! Breaking the DMCA. That's a strange concept and I can only think that Mr. Tulley brings this in because in this day and age our kids also need to be digital savvy. But I can also see that our kids need to use their brains to understand for themselves why they should obey certain laws or in some cases bend them a little. How many laws do get broken by accident? There are some obscure waters out there these days that take a very savvy person to know how to navigate them. We as parents need to try and make ourselves understand the digital age...and it's a stretch for some. But it's going to pay off in the end or else the digital world is going pass us by and we'll be left by the side of the road. It's not going to be a pretty picture either. We've got to know these things ourselves so that we can help our kids navigate. Either that or they are just going to do what everyone else around them is doing and sometimes...like in the case of MySpace...what everyone else is doing is not safe or pleasing to God. (please understand I believe that there are many people out there using my space in an appropriate way! But I work at a library and I've seen a lot of junk!) And finally, driving a car! Whooppeeeeee! Who didn't dream of the open road and a driver's license? I love this idea of parent led driving in an open lot. This has already been going on since the dawn of the auto age. Think farm kids here. Open fields and a pickup truck. What else do you need? Now bring that forward to the big city and you can take your kids to BiMart's parking lot after hours and let them drive. How much fun can that be? Son #6 told me that son #3 let him take the wheel once. Now that's a scarey thought!

So, there's my two cents! Add your thoughts and we can all consider them...