Daily Bread

[Lainey]

WS,
a little bit related to your last entry: Yesterday I was thinking of how many toddlers I see in strollers who are given smartphones or tablets to keep them amused. The toddlers aren't looking around, they are watching a screen and scrolling. Maybe today's parents don't see the difference, but I believe these little ones are definitely missing something - they're not seeing or interacting with anything in their real environment like people, animals, landscape, sky, weather.
Maybe this is the brave new world they will inherit so it won't matter, but I think it diminishes them and us as humans. Will be very interesting to see how this generation grows up.

[Teacher Terry]

I definitely think it’s a bad idea to hand a toddler a cell phone to keep them amused. I used to have tons of physical books. I only have 20 now. I resisted the newspaper online until they repeatedly threw it under the car no matter how much I complained. Once I started reading it online I was saving a bunch of money. Then I realized I wouldn’t have to wait for a book to arrive if I downloaded it plus it’s cheaper or free if I downloaded from the library. Then I don’t have to physically carry a book. I enjoy not having so many physical objects.

[frugal-one]

WS,
a little bit related to your last entry: Yesterday I was thinking of how many toddlers I see in strollers who are given smartphones or tablets to keep them amused. The toddlers aren't looking around, they are watching a screen and scrolling. Maybe today's parents don't see the difference, but I believe these little ones are definitely missing something - they're not seeing or interacting with anything in their real environment like people, animals, landscape, sky, weather.
Maybe this is the brave new world they will inherit so it won't matter, but I think it diminishes them and us as humans. Will be very interesting to see how this generation grows up.

My DIL would not give her daughter toys at all as a baby. I thought it was ridiculous. I gave her a toy at my house and she drooled and acted nuts. I think you can overdo anything.

[Teacher Terry]

Toys are how kids learn to play and entertain themselves. That’s bizarre.

[Williamsmith]

I don’t know what makes a child terrified at night in his bedroom. Is it the argument his mother and father are having downstairs? Is it waiting for the glass to break or the furniture to be upended? Is it the silence after hearing the front door slam and the quiet sobbing? Is it what he might find if he creeps down the stairs in his bare feet and looks around the corner of the bannister? With his mouth tasting the lacquered woodwork staring at the driveway for headlights, does he dare to ask if everything is alright or try to return to his bed without causing the steps to creak and give him away. He knows the third step below the top landing is loose. Put your foot near the wall and it won’t make a sound.

Get back in bed. Everything will be okay. Pull the covers up over your head and leave a spot for your nose and mouth, it’s over now. The rain outside is dancing off the window and the wind is rattling the pane. The shadow of the maple tree makes it look like arms are writing on the wall as the limbs sway back and forth. The gutters are directing sheets of water away from the house. The sky is angry. Don’t move. Just stare at the wall and you’ll fall asleep. The tree branches are conducting a symphony.

You are calmer now. But you suddenly become aware that your t-shirt is drenched with sweat. You slip out once again and in the dark slowly pull open the second drawer down on your dresser. You feel for a dry one. You peel the other off and toss it on the floor. You smell the new one before you stretch your arms in and flip it over your head. Somehow, it is a symbol of starting over. Now you are too awake to fall asleep and so you lay on your back, then on your side and roll a few times before you realize fear is not keeping you up. Loathing is.

But a child is nothing if not adaptable. These things happen in everybody’s family from time to time. Whatever these things are. Tomorrow nothing will be said, it will be as if it never even happened. Maybe it never did happen. Tomorrow night you might not be able to sleep again and they will ask why. They will be holding hands at the dinner table and kissing each other. It’s just the way things are. And when you can’t go to sleep again tomorrow night, he will come in and put his hand on your forehead and sing you a song. The same hand you heard the night before, the same hand that grasps a leather belt, the very same hand.

But his song is calming you and you feel as if it’s safe again. It is safe again isn’t it? But for how long? Was it really ever unsafe? You are just a child. Maybe you just don’t understand. You should be stronger. Your older brother doesn’t seem to notice. Maybe you shouldn’t either. Maybe you should just listen to the words of the song and go to sleep.

[Teacher Terry]

Never heard my parents have a argument. Felt very safe.

[catherine]

Never heard my parents have a argument. Felt very safe.

I identify with WS's story. Deeply.

[JaneV2.0]

My parents rarely argued--there was one time when my father pruned the rose bushes a little too vigorously, but I wasn't around to hear the fallout from that.
I didn't have a bad childhood.

[iris lilies]

JustThe other night I experienced a little bit of anxiety by putting my hand over the edge of the bed because in my half-asleep state, I thought someone might grab it from under the bed.


What is that about? I don’t know but it’s not about my childhood.

[Williamsmith]

JustThe other night I experienced a little bit of anxiety by putting my hand over the edge of the bed because in my half-asleep state, I thought someone might grab it from under the bed.


What is that about? I don’t know but it’s not about my childhood.

Just to be safe......check under the bed tonight before you crawl in.