A wise man once told me: "If you want to be inspired stop staying inside your personal space, stay in a place where you can absorb a lot of things." - Kiko Escora
Nature vs . nurture... this is the most back and forth, seasoned debate through child development. Growth, is the fruit that this debate oversees. Indeed, the seeds need to be of prime state but the quality of the fruit remains to be in question depending on how it is grown. I recently passed through Ateneo, from the grade school area to the high school to see how things have change almost ten years since I left Katipunan. There are changes here and there architecturally that I think they should have just preserved. Architectural preservation, yes...such a great premise for this post. What struck me the most, was the fact that there were no more children playing.
Back in the day, it was either playing ball or you played games like "touch-ball" (a local version of dodge ball). There was also agawan base, and luksong baka all of these Filipino games. Saying all these games we used to play , gave me a flash - back of the legendary game Pog...and the rise of the trumpo as well. A game that yes, even suburban grown kids played(spare me the ignorance).
All of these are games were played universally by all school kids way back... so i observed, and asked myself...what do they play now? Now, all you'll see are kids / young men sitting down in a line of benches attacking their PSPs and their Nintedo DS with as much amore as the pizza slices beside them. Take note.. it was most of them. Back in the day, us boys were known to be stinky, sticky and smelled like the sun. (now that's AMORE!) Now, these new boys smell like powder and they only seem to be sweating because their Solid Snakes have been discovered. These guys have now equaled the cleanliness that can be found in majority of all girl schools.
Gone are the days when children learn to interact face to face, verbally , looking people straight in the eye and learning how to read emotion. Gone are the days when, what you learn from playing in the streets you apply in campus or vice versa . Now, from what I see they interact with a barrier made from plastic, metal and powered by alkaline. Recently, I discovered that more and more Filipino children are turning out to be obese. In my day, you were very special when you were chubby... Or a little bit too chubby. Now it's becoming a norm? Not only that, it's becoming THE norm to just be in trapped inside the virtual world. Being in awe is fine, but being in awe in exchange for growth is just flat out lame.
What is at stake here? What's at stake here are two things; a child's pro - activeness and their health. So what's at fault? I think it's the fault of these parents who a). spoil their kids too much b).are undereducated in terms of taking care of their children and putting in a first hand experience c). Parents who choose convenience over quality of nurturing. Yes, you may be busy as a parent, trying to keep the family's belly full and under the roof, but nothing beats TLC. And d). Kids who don't / never dare to check their horizons. People don't grow exponentially boxed inside a controlled environment with limits... they belong in fields to roam around in. Isn't that how humans evolved? By walking around and exploring their surroundings.
What should not be lost in our country is the art of exploration... exploration of environment, of one's self and also the exploration of capabilities.
Nature vs . nurture... this is the most back and forth, seasoned debate through child development. Growth, is the fruit that this debate oversees. Indeed, the seeds need to be of prime state but the quality of the fruit remains to be in question depending on how it is grown. I recently passed through Ateneo, from the grade school area to the high school to see how things have change almost ten years since I left Katipunan. There are changes here and there architecturally that I think they should have just preserved. Architectural preservation, yes...such a great premise for this post. What struck me the most, was the fact that there were no more children playing.
Back in the day, it was either playing ball or you played games like "touch-ball" (a local version of dodge ball). There was also agawan base, and luksong baka all of these Filipino games. Saying all these games we used to play , gave me a flash - back of the legendary game Pog...and the rise of the trumpo as well. A game that yes, even suburban grown kids played(spare me the ignorance).
All of these are games were played universally by all school kids way back... so i observed, and asked myself...what do they play now? Now, all you'll see are kids / young men sitting down in a line of benches attacking their PSPs and their Nintedo DS with as much amore as the pizza slices beside them. Take note.. it was most of them. Back in the day, us boys were known to be stinky, sticky and smelled like the sun. (now that's AMORE!) Now, these new boys smell like powder and they only seem to be sweating because their Solid Snakes have been discovered. These guys have now equaled the cleanliness that can be found in majority of all girl schools.
Gone are the days when children learn to interact face to face, verbally , looking people straight in the eye and learning how to read emotion. Gone are the days when, what you learn from playing in the streets you apply in campus or vice versa . Now, from what I see they interact with a barrier made from plastic, metal and powered by alkaline. Recently, I discovered that more and more Filipino children are turning out to be obese. In my day, you were very special when you were chubby... Or a little bit too chubby. Now it's becoming a norm? Not only that, it's becoming THE norm to just be in trapped inside the virtual world. Being in awe is fine, but being in awe in exchange for growth is just flat out lame.
What is at stake here? What's at stake here are two things; a child's pro - activeness and their health. So what's at fault? I think it's the fault of these parents who a). spoil their kids too much b).are undereducated in terms of taking care of their children and putting in a first hand experience c). Parents who choose convenience over quality of nurturing. Yes, you may be busy as a parent, trying to keep the family's belly full and under the roof, but nothing beats TLC. And d). Kids who don't / never dare to check their horizons. People don't grow exponentially boxed inside a controlled environment with limits... they belong in fields to roam around in. Isn't that how humans evolved? By walking around and exploring their surroundings.
What should not be lost in our country is the art of exploration... exploration of environment, of one's self and also the exploration of capabilities.
i don't see kids flying kites anymore. it's sad.
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