My morning always begins with quiet contemplation and meditation, sometimes with gentle music, and sometimes not. I am content with deep silence, the chirping of birds, and the chattering of squirrels. My windows are opened now to let in the cool summer breezes, but I find the less natural and ever present noise distracting.
A preschool sits across the road and children are outside most of the time. These children scream incessantly and throw horrific tantrums. I cannot help wondering if this is normal human behavior, or if it is a product of our times. There are so many laws these days that parents and teachers can do little to discipline a child that is out of control (of himself.) Tantrums are an outburst of rage and frustration when a child cannot have his own way, or when he is seeking attention. They are a sign of the emergence of ego.
I do not know if this behavior in children was common a hundred years ago. I suspect that if it was, it was far more rare. Our lifestyles and our diets have contributed greatly to this parental dilemma. Consumerism has made available everything imaginable to children growing up in America today, to placate and pacify them. Today’s children consume large amounts of sugar, in food and sodas, which acts like a drug in their system.They may spend ten to twelve hours a day at a daycare facility, separated from the two people (mom and dad) who are best equipped to teach them appropriate behavior. The children may be tired from irregular sleep when naps are often taken in their car seat during commutes. Their forms of entertainment (TV, XBox, phone and other electronic devices) keep them confined indoors, away from the natural world. Although they have playgrounds in which they can expend pent up energy, they are vastly different from a child who is allowed to interact with and explore Nature.
Once was a time when children were sent outside to play soon after breakfast and told not to come back inside until suppertime. These children did not have time to throw tantrums because they were having too much fun. Smaller children were content to play with pots and pans or make mud pies in the dirt while their mom hung laundry or swept the porch. They did not require brightly colored plastic toys of which they would soon become bored. The current generations of tantrum throwing children will be the leaders of our world one day. Are we creating more Hitlers and Putins, who will be bent on having their way?
