Monday, March 27, 2006

Our children’s cultural deficiency

I was listening to NPR this morning and a reporting was talking about the decline in cultural participation of today's children. He sited things like iPods, video games and satellite TV and cell phones as the main culprits. He stated that fewer kids are being exposed to Mozart, Bach, Van Gogh, Shakespeare and many other great cultural icons in history. The reporter felt that the decline in our children's desire to learn more about or be exposure to classical music, live theatre, poetry, great novels and great actors will keep our children from passing on the value of these historical and cultural events to their families

We as parents should be responsible for teaching them about these types of cultures. Take a look at what your kids are exposed to. Do they spend all their time watching TV, playing video games or text messaging on the phone? Do you? Take some time to teach your kids about the world around us and the world of the past.

I'll never forget the day my daughter and I were driving in the car and she asked me very plainly, "daddy, when did we turn color?" I asked her what do you mean "when did we turn color?" She said that she had watched some TV shows that were in black and white but most are in color. When did our earth turn to color? Wow, her little mind actually thought the world had been black and white at one time. Of course I explained how TV evolved. She seemed to buy it.

So take the time to pass on what you know and get your kids involved low tech activities.

[1] NPR

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1 comments:

  1. Interesting post. It really got me thinking - How I was exposed to "culture"? The biggest impact was just the fact that Dad kept it available around the house. There were always Grieg CDs to listen to and so many books to read. If you have a love of literature, art, music, etc., I really think that it will pass naturally to your children due to the fact that it will be in the home. They'll be involved in it, often whether they want to or not; I remember us whining about Dad singing along to Judas Maccabeus while he cleaned up the piles in his home office on Saturday mornings. (Or Dan Fogelberg, but hey - that's LEGITIMATE whining.) Anyway, thanks for the thought-provoking post!

    Chelsea

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