Favorite Blog Post : 4th Quarter

My favorite blog post this year is "What does your name say about you?"

My favorite blog post that I chose has many connections to what we have been talking about in class and I enjoyed writing it very much. I think that this quarter I definitely dropped the ball on blogging. I have almost no blogs for the month of April and only two for May. But do think that my blogging this quarter has greatly improved. I'm not going to lie, at the beginning of this year blogging was much more of a chore to me than something I enjoyed. But, as the year has progressed I have come to really enjoy blogging and am so glad I am in a class that does it. Blogging has made me more comfortable writing and forced me to make connections from out class to the real world. Although I may not continue blogging after this class I will surely (shirley?) continue making connections from the news to my life.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

How Old is Old Enough?

        Over Thanksgiving, my older sister's married friends joined us and brought along their 14 months old son Josiah. I know whenever someone a baby they all respond with, "That is the cutest baby I have ever seen!!". Well I can assure you, he was. Like all babies he was passed from stranger to stranger while we all gave the little man hugs and kisses. Watching him run around the backyard and house I noticed how relaxed his parents were, not rushing to his side and fawning over him every time he stumbled and fell. Josiah would just stand back up and continue running in the same direction like nothing happened. I have seen other children start to cry and whimper every time they fall over because they have learned that when they do this they get their parents attention and they parents come running over to ix their broken child. While i was playing with Joey in the hammock in my sister's back yard, I was swinging him and  as I swung the hammock one way Joey decided to roll in the opposite direction. This action ended up with Josiah rolling off the hammock and onto the ground. My first reaction after making sure Joey was ok was to look over at his mother, I thought she would be running over to check on Josiah, but instead she was hunched over laughing, When I looked back to Joey, he was standing up underneath the hammock, tangled up in the rope and looking very cute, and slightly dazed. After untangling himself, he let out a fantastically cute giggle and tried to get back on the hammock. 
        Later on in the day, Josiah's dad was talking about an article about a newspaper columnist who allowed her 9 year-old son to navigate his way home on the New York subway. Here is that article. Which brings me to the question, How old is old enough? Is nine too young to ride the subway? How old should you be to ride your bike to school? To walk to school? To make your own lunch? To get a cell phone? How much independence should parents give to their children?
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4 comments:

  1. Katie MNovember 30, 2009 at 4:24 PM

    I think this is a very interesting topic. Personally, I believe that it all depends on the situation. My mom has reasonable concern with me taking the train by myself into the city because there are stops in some "bad" neighborhoods. However, if I'm riding the train with friends, its o.k., because she feels there is safety in numbers.
    When deciding whether or not a kid is old enough to do something, I think you have to look at the all aspects. If a child wants to walk to school alone, is it safe? Are there areas where the child's security could be threatened? And what are the risks of them being potentially kidnapped and not being able to defend themself? I also think that for different children, different rules apply. Some kids are more self-aware, and would be fine riding their bike to school independently. Others may have less risk for harm riding in a group. How much independence parents should give to their children depends on how much they can handle, given the circumstances.

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  2. Sophie MNovember 30, 2009 at 5:05 PM

    This is a really interesting topic. Personally, I think 9 is too young for someone to be wandering the New York subway alone. The city- whether it be New York or Chicago (like Katie said)- can be dangerous, for adults as well as kids. This is a boundary issue, and in this case, I think the boundary was crossed. At my elementary school, you had to be in third grade (9 years old) to ride your bike to school. You had to be 9 years old to ride your bike no more than a mile in a safe, familiar area. At the time, I thought this was a lot of freedom, but I was able to responsibly handle it. There's no way that I would have had the confidence or knowledge to safely make my way through a crowded, unknown city at the same age.

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  3. Sam HNovember 30, 2009 at 5:34 PM

    Random fact, but the thing that makes children adorable is called padeomorphism. IT is human attraction and sympathy towards rounded objects. As the human grows, the face becomes more jagged and cut, therefore changing from cute, therefore eliciting protection from their parents, to attractive, therfore eliciting sexual desire from possible mates.

    Also, tell the parents they should get their child checked for a nerve deficiency... It is a very serious and devastating affliction.

    Anyway, I think that children do need to be protected to an extent. I think that a parent will have the best knowledge of their child's abilities and therefore will be able to judge his or her abilities well. I think that if the boy was OK after his trip into the city, then what is the problem?

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  4. Sam HNovember 30, 2009 at 5:36 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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