Tag: children

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The Spirit of Christmas

Some people really lack all understanding of what Christmas means, and the spirit can’t even get close to them. Instead they gripe and complain about things I would consider awesome, like fancy meals, decorations, having friends and family visit, and most of all, presents.

I am shocked when I hear parents denying their children presents for their own selfish adult reasons. Reasons which translated to a child mean they are being punished for something. Children live in a world of reward and punishment on which their very survival depends. They always have to try to figure out which is what in order to be cared for. They don’t understand your adult shit .

Christmas is supposed to be a celebration, giving and receiving and eating way too much. It is to be a time of laughter and fun. What the fuck happened to that? Oh yeah, stupid adults.

Stupid adults on their own stupid agendas at a time of year when all agendas need to be cancelled, voided, nulled and thrown out! Oh we gave to the poor, or worse, make their children give up presents of their own for total strangers. Stop it!

I am not saying do not give to the poor – I am saying do both, stupid!

Show your children how they can do both too without punishing them. They will see your generosity, your Christmas spirit (hopefully all year long) and when they are adults themselves and understand that kind of shit, will follow suit. Show them by your actions, and don’t make them sacrifice their joy, their presents, what kind of shits are you? Miserable sots that you are, shame, double shame on you for being such miserable sots.

I am not saying you need to indulge every childish whim and desire, but for goodness sake, get them things that will make them squeal with delight. Things you have to wrap up and put under the tree – if you even can bring yourself to have a tree. Make Christmas happen people – for your children at least. Maybe even you might find some delight in it.

Also, the worst Christmas thing I ever witnessed was when my Mother and I went out for a fancy Christmas dinner at a restaurant, and next to us was a man and his young daughter. She was maybe 4 or 5 and was holding her toy bunny and listening to this asshole father explain to her that Mom and Dad were no longer going to be together and she would have to now visit them separately. Kept asking her if she understood this. Of course not you moron. She’s a little girl with her toy rabbit! And it’s fucking Christmas dick! Shame on you! Adults are miserable, selfish sots!

I am so glad I had the parents I did, and had Christmas that was full of presents, joy, and laughter without conditions and things I would never have understood in a million years. Thank God that although things were not perfect, my parents made the effort to make our lives worth living and never ever made us try to live in an adult world before our time. They let us be kids.

Amen to that!

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Tethered

Ahead of me a very old and tired looking man carries a big empty box with the word Stroller on it in large white letters.  He looks back, not at me, but at the woman and said stroller behind me, replete with screaming child, tethered securely in.

Strollers are a bad thing for children.  I realize, for many a busy, harried adult, they are a godsend.  But when these restrained children grow up, they are going to have plenty of leg, hip and back problems.

Strollers only compound a problem we already have with our youth, who sit for long periods of time in front of electronic devices.

Young children scream and squirm when in strollers because they need to walk, run and move around.  Sadly, I see many children who have now resigned to their fate and sit sadly in the stroller.  I have never seen a happy child in one.

As a child I walked everywhere with my Mom.  I loved stairs and would run up and down to my hearts content.  I am sure I wore my Mother out!  In later years she told me that it was the stair climbing that got to her the most.  She added however, that this is what parents are for – to look after their children, often at the expense of their own well being.   Her duty was to keep a watchful eye on me and keep me from harm, and to let me be a kid.  And kids are boundless energy.

Once she tried to put a harness on me and discovered I completely wound myself up in it the one second she looked away.  That was the end of that.  Instead both parents taught me to know restraint by using my brain, so I sat still on buses, and did not run off across the street.  They taught me to respect other people and their property so I restrained my curiosity and used my imagination instead.

I know that how I feel is an unpopular stance, but I think too often parents are only thinking of themselves and their own well being and forget what it means to be a child.  Let your children be free, and let them be children.  We restrain them in so many ways, not just with strollers.  They cannot explore or run, or even be on their own.  They miss all the magic and fun of growing up.

Let them be kids this Christmas.  I know for many it is too late.  They will spend all Christmas staring at blue light, instead of merrily ripping open pretty packages and delighting in toys and play.  Will there even be a Christmas tree?  Or music and laughter and dancing?  Will there be any activity other than fingers skipping madly over keys?

Throw away your strollers, open up the door and go out in the snow.  Have a snow ball fight, build a fort.  Decorate a Christmas tree.  Play with your children.  You might just find the kid in yourself once more.

Remember the true meaning of Christmas.  This is the time a saviour was born.  It is a time to celebrate, be joyous and active.  The spirit fills many of us with cheer because someone came to save us from ourselves.  Jesus loved little children and admonished those who would not let them be who they are.  Check it out for yourself.