Throwback to ‘03

Hey guys!

Almost done with the week, can you believe it?

So today I accompanied my mom, brother, and three little cousins on a trip downtown to visit the Houston Children’s Museum, and while technically I was a little out of the age range, I have to say I really enjoyed the experience.

And actually, it was a very interesting place in which to observe a few social experiments in action. But more on that later.

Sorry, please excuse the crude Snapchat quality of this picture. It was all I had I swear.

This trip also brought back a lot of memories, (though according to my memory, the museum was a whole lot bigger and a whole less crowded) as the last time I walked those halls, I was exactly 11 years younger. So, five years old, or my youngest cousin’s age. And I didn’t speak a word of English (although today I noticed that they vastly increased the number of translated signs for both Spanish and English speakers. Kudos, HCM, kudos, wish that had been there when I was lost in your bee exhibit and couldn’t ask for help.)

Though on the one hand I liked how independent the kids could be in handling all of the interactive components of the exhibits, sometimes it would have been great to have some sort of control in the form of a teacher to show the kids how it’s done. I mostly only felt this in the Kidtropolis area of the museum (which, for my Mexican readers, was a lot like a smaller Kidzania) where the kids were plunged into a miniature corporate world where they “work” and “buy” things with KidKash and move from profession to profession, supposedly learning how they each work. However, none of the shops or “offices” had any supervision to help the kids understand what they were supposed to do, leaving them to just sort of drift from place to place without any deep interaction. I did really enjoy the supermarket however, as when I was a little kid my dream was to work the cashier at a grocery store (yeah, I know, dream big right?) and it was great pushing a tiny trolley around and getting told off by a miniature manager because I wasn’t “following the rules of no more than five items in your cart”. Psh, what is this, Whole Foods?

Aside from that though, I liked how they incorporated lots of complex mind puzzles and innovative ways to teach science to kids in a way that they could relate. And I loved the new Fitness Play Center! Such a great way to get kids moving and enjoying working out at a young age! And yes, I did climb after my cousins on the mushroom structure, and yes I did almost get stuck.

Actually, while we’re on the subject of the fitness center, I just wanted to share my observations on my little cousins as they encountered all of the play structures and games. Some background information though, all three of my cousins have grown up fairly sheltered-from sweat, heat, and all things uncomfortable-so throwing them into a museum filled with screaming children and interactive games was an interesting experience for them. It was weird for me to see because all of my life, my brothers and I were complete opposites to my cousins. Rather than asking for permission to play and jump on things, like them, my mom would turn her back and by the time she looked again we would already be at the top of the structure, climbing on a wall, or balancing on dangerous precipices. This, I credit to my oldest brother for never really understanding the term “fear” and for the pressure I put on myself to never be left behind by my half-goat brothers. Thus was born my adventurous childhood, filled with wonderful mishaps, falls, and discoveries. But anyways, I did notice that the oldest seemed to be the less influenced by his “sheltered life”. The second oldest began the day a bit rocky, hating the sun and the “itchy feeling beneath his arms” (a.k.a. sweat), but then got into it more as the day wore on and we did more hands-on building activities. The youngest however (and the only girl) was so completely and utterly afraid of everything, that she just couldn’t handle doing anything. The highlight of her day was legitimately the outdoor picnic we had beneath the shade of Houston park’s giant oak tree, and I’m 99% sure that was only because it involved food. It was just astonishing to see a result of this new generation of kids, the 2000’s and up, who are at a loss of how to entertain themselves when technology is taken out of the equation. They just don’t know how. And that to me is mindblowing, because my childhood was the kind that still involved VCR’s and wind-up tapes, 5000 pound desktop computers with no wi-fi, and most of all, entertainment in the form of books. Funnily enough, the oldest cousin is the only one of the three who reads for fun and on a constant basis.

But anyways, so my youngest cousin, with a gentle nudge from me, finally decided to try out the monkey bars in the gym. She got her hands on the first bar, took a deep breath, annnnnd immediately let go. She was just too afraid. I noticed, unsurprisingly, that her most-uttered phrase was “NO I can’t! I can’t do it!”

This kind of attitude is something that has become more and more common the closer we merge with technology. Of course, I know many will roll their eyes at the same old debate of how “technology poisons the minds of the young”, but I still stand by this: the instant gratification that comes with high-speed internet and accessible comfort 24/7 (like air conditioning) has cultivated a new generation of brattier kids, unwilling to try anything outside of their comfort zones or anything involving change. It’s not all kids of course, and maybe not to such a dramatic degree as this seems, but I truly think that if the parents fall for the comfort and immediate gratification of (for example) giving their iPhone to their five-year-old child to quiet them down and keep them busy so that they aren’t bothered, well, is it truly any surprise that the child doesn’t like being active and simply doesn’t know what it is to use their own imagination, creativity, and skills to entertain themselves? I mean, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Just be careful parents, to make sure the right balance is always struck. Technology isn’t bad per se, but with the wrong dosage and the wrong timing, technology can ruin a childhood most of us grew up with- playing make-believe and hide-and-seek outside with the neighbourhood kids, then crying because you fell on the rough pavement, but always immediately feeling better with the taste of the most loyal of desserts: ice cream.

Sigh. Those were the days.

Until tomorrow’s observations and thoughts,

Regina L.