My dog teased me to sit up front on our ride home from camp. It’s a dangerous place for him but I allowed it for a few minutes. The sparkle in his eyes made me wonder what he was thinking? I pictured a bloodhound hanging his head out of a car window and I smiled as I saw his ears and jowls flapping in the wind. Riding in a car is not natural for dogs. They jump into the belly of a big shiny beast then travel faster than they could ever run, all this without moving a muscle!
Another thing that is unnatural is expecting kids to save their money. Kids are immediate gratifiers. At least in the old days, piggy banks had to be smashed open. A kid could not do it without being discovered and without their parents’ permission.
Who was the nut who put the rubber stopper on the bottom of banks? That was BAD business at the very least. The demand for new banks must have remained rather constant during the “smash to open” days. The bottom of the piggy bank market (pun intended) must have dropped out when the rubber stoppers began. They were now reused and became abused as a way to teach kids about planning ahead!
This all leads me to those crazy drink pouches for kids! The stain stick company MUST have had a hand in their development. I have never seen a kid who could hold one without squeezing cherry berry punch down their shirt. To top it off, the TV commercials show kids stomping on those almost empty pouches when the drink is gone. Oh yeah, the rug steam cleaners had to be behind those commercials!
When I read an article, listen to TV or even study history I keep these things in mind. My first question is,”What is “in” that information that could benefit the author?” I’ll tell you, so many comments,reports,polls and statistics are created for a reason other than informing a person. In order to survive this information age with a hint of integrity, one MUST always ask the ,What’s “in” it? question. I hate to make kids cynical but a dose of curious questioning is a good thing. It also can help us understand each other a bit better as people. By wondering where the other guy is coming from may just make you consider his view in addition to your own. We all operate from the way we see the world. I was quite old(at least 10) before I realized there is such a thing as color blindness, or that that yucky iron taste after you brush your teeth and then drink OJ is not experienced by everyone.
Teaching kids to ponder ideas and not always blindly accept them, is a good thing. We can never take the way we interpret anything as universal or not tainted by our frame of reference. Diverse means different not false. We also need to examine and reexamine constantly our views to keep from being fooled by someone elses agenda or blindness.
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