Category: General

Children Should Not Be Shackled

“D.C. Public Defender Andrew Crespo remembers a 2011 case where his client, who was 8 at the time, was led into the courtroom in 2-pound restraints. The boy, who weighed about 60 pounds, sat in a chair with his feet dangling. Prosecutors said the boy allegedly touched a little girl inappropriately at his birthday party hours earlier and he was arrested for sexual assault. Before the hearing, Crespo said, his client kept whispering: “My mommy said I can still have my birthday cake. I can still have my cake, right?” Crespo recalled. The charges were later dropped.”

Jesus. This hit really close to home. My daughter is 8 and I could see her acting very similar. Haunting to imagine your own child in that situation. Maybe I should become a public defender.

The groups working to correct this overreaching and repugnant behavior are the National Juvenile Defender Center, D.C. Lawyers for Youth and the D.C. Public Defender Service.

Minecraft Over My Little Pony

“The idea that sitting and watching Spongebob should be tossed into the same bucket as playing ABC Mouse is absolutely insane. …[My] Nine year old wants to lay on the couch and watch Ninjago all afternoon. Not happening. Want to play Minecraft with your friends all afternoon? Yes!”

Gabe over at Penny Arcade shares his thoughts around limiting ‘screen time’ with children. I’m in the same boat – if Kari wants to be creative and build a village/cat hotel in Minecraft, by all means do so. If you want to watch The Today Show and/or a 30 minute cartoon with 10 minutes of crappy commercials? Nope.

I’m never going to make a living or save a life because of the skills I’ve developed playing video games, but they have enabled me to express creativity, learn how to solve problems, and work within the constraints of design (not to mention some pretty slick hand/eye coordination) that passive media such as TV can never present. Heck, they (THEY!) have recently done research into the benefits of letting children play video games.

Related, I also think kids should go romping in the woods/creek/neighborhood more often. Check out this  NPR story titled, “Where the Wild Things Play“.